I'll Be Your Girl

“How was work?” Nick asks me when I show up on his doorstep at around six-thirty, having come straight from work. I’m even still wearing my apron.

“No fair,” I grumble as I step inside and shrug off my coat. “You didn’t even give me time to ask about the signing.”

He waves his hand carelessly. “It was like any other signing.”

“Fine. Then it was like any other work afternoon for me,” I retaliate, mimicking his hand movement. “Oh, except that someone tweeted that I work at the café, and apparently I’ve been having ‘guests’ all weekend.” I make quotation marks with my fingers and roll my eyes as I walk to their badass home cinema room, where Joe’s already sitting watching re-runs of… I think it’s Gossip Girl, but I can’t be sure as I rarely watch TV. I drop down onto the same couch and land my feet in his lap.

“Cute apron,” he remarks after muting the TV, and I pull a face. “Ooh, what’s this?” His eyes focus on the take-out container in my hand, and I shrug as I hand it to him.

“Freebies from work,” I say, and he squeaks with joy when he sees the collection of slices and desserts that I managed to sweet-talk the chefs into giving me. “Oh hey, the brownies are sugar-free,” I say as Nick walks in, carrying a big bowl of microwave popcorn. “Save ‘em for my boyf.”

“Call me that again and I’ll lol as I kill you,” Nick threatens. “Oh, and thanks.” He leans over and steals the brownies before Joe can get into them. “You’re the best girlfriend ever.”

I grin as Joe rolls his eyes. “And do you think you’ll ever stop with the boyfriend/girlfriend jokes? They’re getting old.”

“Nope,” Nick and I say simultaneously, grinning at each other.

“Oh hey guess what, Joe?” Nick says to his brother through a mouthful of popcorn as I go to choose a movie from their extensive collection. “Remy has had stalkers at work all weekend.”

“Really?” Joe asks, all interested now.

“Yep,” I confirm. “I had a couple of girls ask me where you guys live. Ha, and if Nick was a good kisser.”

“What’d you say?” Nick chuckles, and I shrug as I run my finger along a row of DVDs.

“That I wasn’t really sure. It’s hard to tell with all the saliva you produce,” I joke, and feel a handful of popcorn hit the back of my head. “Hey!”

“You’re the one that drools in her sleep!” Nick scoffs, and I flip him off. “Dude, no rude gestures in the house of God.”

I snort. “God doesn’t live here!”

“Try telling that to Joe.” I glance back over my shoulder to see Joe grinning smugly.

“It’s true. I am the Almighty.”

“Yeah, the Almighty Pain in the Ass,” I giggle, slipping a DVD out of the row. “Also some kid asked me out. You know, for when our relationship crashes and burns, because you’re a ‘bit of a moron’,” I tell Nick, and he pulls a face. It’s actually kind of humorous, now that I look back on the whole situation with the dreaded table seven.

“What a punk.”

“So Remy,” Joe says as I slip the DVD into the player, “are you freaked out yet? Because you know, you can give up at any time… go back to having a normal, private life.”

“And you know Joseph, someday soon I’m going to race you up the stairs of the Eiffel Tower and win. I’ll tell you why; it’s because you’re a pathetic loser, and hence you don’t have a chance in this bet.”

“At least I’m not freak-tarded enough to actually use the word ‘hence’ in a sentence,” Joe mumbles.

“Enough, children,” Nick orders, throwing popcorn at both of us. “Your juvenile behaviour is tiring.”

Joe picks up the remote again and flicks over to the DVD channel. “Shaun of the Dead! I haven’t seen this in forever,” he sighs, sending me an appreciative smile as I crawl across the floor to sit with my back against Nick’s sofa.

“Uh, there’s plenty of room up here,” Nick says, patting the space next to him.

“Yes I know, but it’s been a long day at work, honey.” I smile expectantly up at him.

He rolls his eyes. “I guess this is the part where I offer you a massage,” he grumbles and I nod enthusiastically. Then the movie’s starting and Nick’s got his hands on my shoulders, rubbing and massaging with just the right pressure. I relax and let his fingers do their work as zombies reign on the screen, and it’s not long before my eyes are slipping closed, my mind drifting off into another world.

~

When the movie finishes Joe looks over to see that Nick’s still got his hands on the sleeping girl’s shoulders. His fingers are gently running up and down her neck, touching her jaw line as he stares idly at the rolling credits onscreen. “You know,” Joe says thoughtfully, and Nick starts at the sound of his voice, as if only just remembering he’s there, “something’s changed about Remy.”

“Has it?” Nick asks, acting disinterested as he folds his hands in his lap. He hadn’t even realised he was still touching her up until Joe broke the silence.

“Yeah well, for one: she’s hot now,” Joe states the obvious, and Nick furrows his brow.

“Shhh Joe, she’s right here,” he hisses, but Joe shrugs carelessly.

“She’s so out of it she might as well be dead,” he remarks. “You know what she can be like.”

Nick figures he’s right and relaxes back into the cushions, subconsciously twirling a lock of Remy’s hair between his fingers. “She’s always been beautiful,” he mutters fondly, smiling to himself.

“Trust you to say something like that.” Joe regards his little brother pensively, a grin beginning to grow on his lips. “You’re different too, you know.” He watches as Nick glances across at him, confused. Joe can’t place it, but he knows that something’s changed in Nick these past few days, spending so much time with Remy. Or maybe not so much changed, but some aspect of him has been enhanced. And suddenly Nick’s even more intense than he’s ever been. It’s a familiar feeling, like it’s happened before. “Are you in love with her?”

“You can tell?” Nick freezes as he realises what he just said, then frowns again, shaking his head. “But no. I can’t be.”

“Why not?” Joe retorts. He actually thought they were making progress for a second there. He got Nick to confess! Sort of.

Nick drops Remy’s hair and rubs a palm across his face. “She’s my best friend, Joe. And I’ve known her practically my whole life. You’d think something would have happened by now,” he says sceptically. “Who says she feels the same way?”

“Maybe she’s just confused,” Joe suggests. “Feelings between best friends can be pretty hardcore - it’s hard to distinguish sometimes.”

Nick pulls a face. “Since when are you the expert on feelings?”

“I’m not, I’m just saying--”

“And why are you pushing this?” Nick sighs, getting a little irritated now. Frankly, this conversation is awkward for him. He’s found it hard enough dealing with what might’ve happened last night without Joe’s prying, thanks. “Nothing’s going to happen between me and Remy. Drop it.”

Joe simply puts his hands up in defeat, although Nick has an uncomfortable feeling that he hasn’t heard the end of it. Not if Joe has a say in it. Which he shouldn’t, but that’s meddling brothers for him. He supposes he should probably keep an eye on Kevin too, just in case he also decides to make a comment. And Kevin, being Kevin, sucks at subtlety, so there’s a high chance he’ll say something in front of Remy - even while she’s conscious. Nick doesn’t really want to be submitted to that kind of embarrassment, if he can help it.

He watches as Joe yawns and heads for the door, giving him one last pointed look before disappearing to bed. Nick’s afraid to disturb Remy for a bit, as if she might somehow figure out what they were talking about just by the air in the room, but eventually he realises how stupid he’s being and moves around to crouch down in front of her. “Rem, wake up,” he whispers, nudging his fingertips against her cheek. A moment later her eyelids flicker open, and her hazel irises groggily take him in.

“Whad?” she mumbles, her voice cracking slightly with tiredness as she frowns at him.

“We’re going to bed.” He offers her his hand, which she takes. They stand slowly together, and she leans limply into his side, eyes already closing again as her mouth stretches into a yawn. Nick’s pretty sure she’s fallen back asleep by the time they stumble up the stairs and into his room, as she doesn’t make so much as a grunt as she flops down onto his bed. He chuckles silently to himself as he pulls off her apron - because that can’t be comfortable to be tangled up in - and her socks - because he knows she hates sleeping with them on. As he lifts her upper body to try and manoeuvre her under the blankets, he feels the bones at her hips. Jeez, that’s new. Of course he’d noticed that she’d lost weight, but it was weird for him. He was used to her chubby bits; the baby fat that she never shed until now.

He remembers the way she used to come to him, crying as a ten-year-old, wondering why none of the kids at school loved her as much as he did. He’d hold her hand and sing softly in her ear, but was always too afraid to say anything against those girls. If it had got back to Elise then... no, that was over now. The point was that the next day Remy’d go back and face the kids at school, braver than ever because of him. Nick realises that it must have taken a lot of courage to stand up for herself at ten, especially when she was reduced to the same tearful mess every day. And when the Jonas Brothers started touring, well… that must have been the worst for Remy.

“No wonder you’re so strong,” Nick whispers, sweeping the hair out of her sleeping face. He traces his finger along one of the blue streaks, admiring the way it still holds its vibrancy even in the dim light. But then suddenly he realises what he’s doing and draws his hand back quickly, shaking his head.

Jesus. Joe makes one little comment and now he’s becoming paranoid about everything. Maybe he should get some sleep and forget about it.

Yeah, sleep is good.