Your Love Will Be Safe With Me

Nick had agreed to drive the hour to my school, so I wouldn’t have to miss a week. I would have had it off, but I had called my teacher on Friday and told her I didn’t need to miss it. We drove the hour listening to a mix of all of the Ryan Cabrera songs he had on his iPod. We both shared a love for the guy. He laughed when I told him I had a huge crush on him when I was thirteen to fifteen.

He parked the van and we walked to the door hand in hand.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to come in with you?” He asked nervously.

I nodded, “Yeah, as long as you don’t bother me.” I smirked.

He chuckled, “I brought my lyric book to keep me occupied.”

I smiled then walked through the door to the last table out of the four that were there. “Hey Rilee.” I greeted my teacher.

Rilee was a tall girl with long strawberry blonde hair. She’s the oldest of her siblings being only twenty-eight. She knew how to connect with her students and always knew what to say. She was a nice girl and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher.

She smiled at me, “Hey Sawyer.”

“It’s cool if he stays for the session, right?” I asked referring to Nick standing behind me. “He’s not from anywhere around here and had to give me a ride out here; my car died on me.” I explained.

She nodded, “It’s fine as long as she doesn’t bother you or give you answers to your tests.” She joked.

He shook his head, “I’m just going to work on some lyrics.” He said sweetly.

We sat down and Rilee quickly got me started on my science labs on the school laptops.

“So he’s cute.” Rilee said once Nick shut the door to the bathroom behind us. I smiled to myself. “Are you guys dating?” She asked. Rilee was my teacher, but she treated me like a friend.

“I just met him on Monday.” But we had kissed. Were we dating? He had said that he didn’t date for the sake of the girl and touring.

“You came in holding hands, though.”

I blushed, “Well I don’t know. He kissed me yesterday and told me he likes me.”

The door opened behind me and Rilee just smiled at the two of us.
---
“Have you ever eaten at a Hibachi grill?” Nick asked as we walked to the van after my session.

I looked over at him, confused. “A wha-?”

He chuckled, “You know, where they cook in front of you?”

“Oh! Of course!” I said dismissing it with a wave of my hand as he unlocked the van. “You haven’t had anything like that unless you’ve eaten at this place my family has been going to since before I was born.” I said once we were both in the van.

“Really now?” He smirked.

“Oh yeah. My parents always try one everywhere, they go and nothing compares.”

He pulled out of the stall and made his way to the exit of the shopping center. “Where to now?” He asked.

“Do you mind driving over to my sister’s house?” I asked shyly. “It’s just down the street.” He shook his head and turned right once I told him.

“By the way, you’ll probably be mauled when you get inside.” I said as we crossed the street to get to her house.

Nick looked at me with wide eyes, “Wha- what do you mean?” He seemed so scared.

I quickly backtracked, “No, no, no!” I laughed, “She has two kids and two dogs.”

He visibly relaxed and sighed, “Okay. I thought there might be a bear in there or something. I stopped walking and looked at him, eyebrow raised. He stopped walking a foot ahead of me and looked back. “What? It could happen.”

I scoffed and began walking again. “Wow.”

Malinda answered the door, wearing her usual attire of all black clothing. She had either just gotten off work or was on the way there. Her makeup was the usual silvery gray eye shadow and bright lipstick. Her hair had changed again since the last time I had seen her. It’d been bleached and more of the pink color that was in it had become very dominant. Malinda is a hair stylist. She worked at Fantastic Sam’s for a majority of the time she had her hair license, but now she was running her own shop and it was doing rather well. Malinda was also only twenty seven years old.

“Hey!” She said happily then pulled me into a hug.

“Hi,” I said, returning the hug.

We both pulled away at the same time and I introduced her to Nick and vice versa.

“Nice to meet you.” Nick said sweetly as we walked inside the house.

“You too.” Malinda said as she shut the door. That’s when the two dogs came running.

“Hey guys.” I said in a high voice as if I were talking to a baby.

The two terrier-Chihuahuas jumped high in the air in excitement. They quickly got tired of me and went after Nick. He crouched down and began playing with them. They immediately jumped on him and started licking his face. “Oh man.” He laughed while Malinda and I watched, amused. “What are their names?” He asked as he turned to look up at us.

“Roxy and Buddy.” I answered.

“Guess who’s who.” Malinda laughed.

Nick chuckled then got up, “I’m a dog person.” He said almost embarrassed. I smiled at him as Malinda led us into the kitchen.

“I have to leave in a half hour, but I want to talk to you guys.” She said as she grabbed her cup of diet coke and pack of Menthol Marlboro cigarettes from the counter.

“Really? What about?” I asked.

She shrugged then walked back into the living room. “Just to catch up.” She plopped down onto the overly cushioned green couch and opened her pack of cigarettes.

I sat down on the couch opposite of it and pushed Buddy off so Nick could sit down as well. He was looking around at the pictures hanging all over the walls. Pictures ranging from her wedding to nights in Hollywood with her friends and of course her two kids.

“Where are the kids?” I asked as she exhaled a puff of smoke.

“Grandma and Christine took them to that bounce place or whatever.” She said with the flick of her wrist.

I shook my head with a chuckle, “What about Danny?” I asked referring to her husband.

“He’s working until seven.”

I nodded then looked over at Nick. He was subconsciously petting Roxy and staring at the pictures above the flat screen.

“So Nick, where are you from?” Malinda asked.

Nick snapped his head back in Malinda’s direction, mouth slightly open, “huh?”

“Where are you from?” She asked then took a drag off of her cigarette from the side of her mouth. I always found it weird that she smoked her cigarettes out of the side of her mouth, but she always complained that it would make her teeth ugly if she did it out the front.

“Braintree, Massachusetts.” He answered. “It’s a suburb of Boston.” He added.

“That’s a long ways from California.” She said.

“Well I’m always out this way; I live in Arizona whenever I’m not in Mass or on Tour.”

She nodded, “Our mom lives out there.”

He nodded this time, “Sawyer told me. In Parker, right?” He asked and she nodded. “I’ve never been there, but I’ve stopped in Quartsite a couple of times to and from California.”

It was silent after that.

“So I heard you want to take my sister to Vegas.” She said and I laughed as Nick’s eyes widened slightly.

He looked at me for help; he thought she was upset. “U-uhm. I might have mentioned it.” He stuttered.

“If you do, I want to go. I have a guy that gets me deals on rooms. Plus I love Vegas.”

He visibly relaxed and sighed in relief. “Well I talked to the guys about it and they’re up for it.”

“Oh really?” I asked since it was news to me. He nodded. “Malinda, get those rooms.” I said with a laugh.

“I’ll do it tonight when I get home. What days will we be there?”

“I thought it’d be cool to be there on her birthday and not driving there that day, so if we could find a room then tomorrow?”

‘That’s fast’ I thought to myself. He was obviously a very forward guy.

“Well I won’t be able to get out there until Friday because Charlie has that thing with school tomorrow night. Danny could probably go.” She sat and thought for a second. “Yeah, we’ll drive out once he gets off work. He gets off at three on Friday.”

I nodded, “Sounds good.”

We stayed and talked for a little longer until Malinda had to go to work, so she could be there to close the shop.

“Where to now, Dahling?” Nick asked as we sat in the van. He was suddenly speaking with a Boston accent. I raised an eyebrow at him. “What?” He asked as if he didn’t just sound like he was some guy sitting at a Red Sox game.

“Do you try to hide that accent of yours?” I asked with a smirk.

His eyes widened, “Was I really talking with an accent right now?” He asked, mortified.
I nodded, trying to keep myself from laughing out loud. “Ah shit.” He cursed, “Sometimes it just slips out.” He said sheepishly.

I smiled at him, “It’s cute.”

He blushed then began to drive out of the neighborhood, “Where are we going now?” He asked, waiting to pull onto the main road.

“Dinner. Turn left and keep going until you reach Mountain then turn right. You’ll be going straight for a while.” I said then picked up the iPod that was connected to the radio playing Kenny Chesney (he really loved his country music). “Can I change the song?” I asked as I scrolled through his artists.

He shrugged, “Go for it.” He said as he kept his eyes on the road.

“You have 'When I Get Up' by Tegan and Sara? Even though it’s only a live song?!” I exclaimed.

He looked at me in shock, “uhm, y-yeah. I love Tegan and Sara; they’re rad.”

I smiled and clicked on the song, “You just scored so many cool points in my book.”

He chuckled, “I’m glad.”

“When I get up well so do you. When you get up, I sleep right through. On the road I sleep alone. I can’t wait until I’m home. I don’t need air; I don’t need to breathe. I don’t need rest; I don’t have time to sleep cause I’ve got you and you’re got me and that’s all we need.” I sang out loud. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick smiling.

Even though I hadn’t even known this boy for a week, I knew he would make a big impact on my life in many different ways and I was okay with that because I felt myself letting him in on my life and myself. Even after three days, I felt myself becoming immersed with him. This couldn’t be good.