Mixed 'N' Matched Love

Nick's POV:

I sat in Drew’s bathtub and stared down at my toes as the warm water from the shower head above splashed over onto me. I was supposed to be taking shower, but those ended too quickly and I was in absolutely no hurry to get out and face Drew as he sat on our bed waiting impatiently for me, so now it was basically a bath for me filled with too many bad memories.

Brand new hot tears appeared at the corner of my eyes and started rolling down from my cheeks and started getting mixed in with the water. As I stared down at the clean, white tub, yesterday’s dinner date came rushing back into my mind.

It felt as if the event had just occurred a few minutes ago to me, even though it’s been a total of twenty-four hours already. I could still remember everything just as clearly along with what everything that had been said and done, especially those of Pat’s.

Flashback:

Auntie had made me get dressed in another one of her infamous short dresses, but luckily for me, this time I got one in a color of my choice. I chose black, of course, because what else could I possibly pick besides that?

And just like last time, I was forced to wear matching jewelry and makeup along with that dress. But, by now I was actually kind of used to all of that by now, because it was almost every day since that day that I've been getting all dressed up as Nikki for Drew or all hot Nick for Pat.

It seems almost as if Nick was permanently gone now. It was almost as if she never even existed and neither had Nicolette. Both were dead and only Nikki was living now. But, I don’t really think that I could have wished for it to have happened any time sooner.

The dinner date was actually making me feel as if I were meeting Drew all over again. I was dressed like an actual just like the last time that I was meeting up with him and his family for my wedding proposal.

Except this time, I wasn’t completely and utterly in love with him and I was expecting him instead and was resenting it as well. I wasn’t all too happy with the fact that he was coming over and I intended to make him know that all through the night.

After taking a nice and long cold shower, I got dressed into the outfit that I had picked out from auntie’s closet and let her fix me up a bit more. And before I knew it, the sky had already darkened and all the guests were here and mingling amongst themselves.

Butterflies flew in and were taking over my stomach making it gurgle loudly and churn around making me feel all sick with every step down the stairs and into the dining room. I tried to mask the pain that it was causing me and disguise the sickly expression on my face as I approached Drew’s parents and all the other guys.

Everyone there was all dressed up as if they were at a real party instead of just a little dinner. Drew’s mom wore a bright red knee-high dress which only made her look as young as ever and his dad in a black suit with a pair of matching slacks, a white shirt, and black tie to complete the look.

That was mostly what all the guys were wearing – Cal, Daniel, Dex and Drew – while the girls – which were only Anne and Nyla – wore dresses. A short pink flowery one for Nyla and a red and black silk one for Anne.

It wasn’t until I saw Pat standing in the corner next to his brother, Cal, wearing an outfit that was similar to Mr. M’s, but with a black tie instead and his hair all gelled and combed back, that all my worries began to wash away and make my heart swoop up.

He looked so handsome and dashing and so unlike his usual bad boy self. He had a sweet smile on his face and his hands in his pockets.

Immediately, I was transferred into a daydream of me wearing a wedding dress and Pat standing with the priest. I began walking down the aisle with a bouquet of white flowers to go along with my dress. My eyes never took off his as I came to a stop in front of the two.

I stood in front of them and waited for the priest to begin saying the wedding vows. My heart thumped loudly as I waited impatiently for the best words to come.

Finally, Pat opened his mouth with his sincere eyes still glued onto me, but instead of him saying the words that I wanted to hear ever so badly, a much deeper and older voice responded back and broke me out of my dream world.

Shaking my head hard, I came back to earth and realized just where I was and what I was doing.

“Ah, Nick, dear, it seems like it’s been forever since I’ve last seen you!” Drew’s dad exclaimed as I forced my eyes away from Pat and onto him.

“Oh yeah, I totally agree,” I gave him a fake smile. Mr. M has always been my favorite as I was his. He was a real father to me than my own father was. “How have you and Mrs. M been?” I looked at the two of them standing together, looking like such a happy couple – which they so were.

“Better than ever now that Drewy’s finally getting the chance to marry such a perfect girl as you, darling.”

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” Mrs. M told me.

I smiled politely and nodded. “Thank you. You do too.”

After all the greetings and compliments were given and taken, dinner began and I was seated next to Drew and fortunately across from Pat, which gave me a great view of his face. So now I could look directly at him and there’d be no question as to why.

Dinner was basically tasteless to me. I wasn’t too hungry since I was already still pretty full from when Pat had treated me to some pizza back over at the bowling alley.

With him everything was so different. With him, I could eat and do whatever I pleased and he still wouldn’t mind and just simply call it cool or just chuckle quietly marveling at my weirdness.

And that’s exactly what I really loved about him now. He wasn’t the same guy as he was before; he’s changed so much and for the better now.

Anyway, I was probably the only one with food still leftover on my plate after at least a half hour. I wasn’t really in the mood for all of this and was just aimlessly stirring the mashed potatoes with the chicken and tuna salad around my plate.

I had expected auntie to say something along the lines of, “Nicolette, please stop playing around with your food!” or “Eat what you want and just save the rest for tomorrow, why don’t you?” but she didn’t say anything at all to me and just remained all smiley and cheery as she watched her guests in full satisfaction.

At first, I chose to tune them all out and just concentrate on making funny doodles on my potatoes, but the moment I heard something interesting, I perked my ears up a bit and decided to listen in on them.

Apparently, they were talking about our “first meeting together” – between Drew and I, I mean. And that’s when I realized something – something huge! Auntie doesn’t know much about Drew and yet somehow she set up a proposal with him. How?

I looked up at them, eager to find out how in the world that was even possible, but by then the adults had already moved onto another subject. I continued to stare helplessly and with a confused look on my face at auntie, which only earned me a scowl from her.

“Nicolette, what are you doing?!” she scolded me. “Are you eating your food or creating something new of it?”

I snapped out of it then and looked down at my plate. She was right, I noticed, it didn’t at all even look like what it used to be anymore. I wrinkled my nose at it before looking back and up and at auntie.

”I’m sorry auntie, I guess I’m not really in the mood for eating right now.”

”It’s alright, dear, I get it.” She assured me.

“You do?” I was surprised; could auntie really know what was up? Could she really be aware of my feelings and what I was going through these days.

“Of course, I do! I’ve treated you like my own child, why would I know when there was something wrong?” I looked up expectantly. “You obviously are too anxious to hear the wedding date to even think about eating!”

My face fell then and I just nodded my head a little. It wasn’t really in agreement to what she was saying, but that it was simply impossible for her to even know what was going on even through the little hints and disappointment in my face. I forced a smile at her, so she wouldn’t find out that she was so not it!

Even though there was a part of me that wanted to so badly just tell her and everyone else at the table about everything that’s happened and about what kind of guy Drew really is, I kept quiet. For so long, I’ve been doing everything for myself. I was a selfish person. I did what I wanted when I wanted and never thought of the consequences or how it might affect the people around me. I’m a bad girl and everyone knew it. But, now I no longer want to be that girl anymore. I want to make people happy. I want my dad, my sister, and my auntie to feel proud of me. I want them to know how sorry I am for all the pain and suffering that I’ve caused them throughout my behavior and the best way to do that was to go through with what they wanted from me now even though it’s not what I want. I don’t want to embarrass and humiliate and make them upset any longer. I have to do what’s best for them. I can’t call off this wedding; I can’t just break their hearts all over again. I just have to suck it in and force myself through all of this.

And besides, I knew for a fact that what I had with Pat now would never last for forever. He would one day get bored of being tied down to just one girl and eventually get up and leave me alone. If not now, then it would happen soon enough and I don’t think I could live through that. So, now I knew that it was just best to do what the grown-ups thought were the best for me, even though, I was no longer a child and old enough to make my own decisions, I know it would be a disaster if I didn’t marry Drew.

“So, honey, I don’t think we should delay it any further,” auntie spoke up suddenly. “I think it’s time to announce the date now, don’t you all think so?”

She looked left and right at the other adults who just nodded eagerly and agreed along with her.

“The date of the wedding will be…” auntie trailed off, adding in some tension.

The room suddenly felt as if it had turned fifty degrees hotter. My face and whole body felt hot and my throat felt dry. It was as if I were sitting in the middle of the Sahara desert in August.

I tried to keep my eyes on auntie, but they kept on drifting off. First, they unfortunately went onto Drew, who had on the same expression on his face as he had this whole night – one of happiness beyond control. Then my eyes moved onto Pat who looked solemn and a little too quiet. Nyla and the other guys were next, who all had a kind of awkward and sad look.

They knew how I must’ve been feeling about all of this. I wasn’t the same girl I used to be. In the past few weeks, there has been a sudden change in me that no one else besides the nosy little sister that I had could’ve ever noticed.

My eyes nervously moved on back to Pat and I saw him look up just the tiniest bit so that our eyes locked, but then all of a sudden, he snapped his eyes back down and onto his drink. I didn’t dare look back at Drew again, so I just kept my eyes trained on auntie and waited for her to just spit the answer out already.

“The date will be tomorrow,” auntie finally decided on. “The wedding shall be tomorrow night.”

The walls suddenly felt as if they were starting to close up on me and I felt as if the necklace around me was starting to shrink and choke me. My stomach began to boil and I just couldn’t take it anymore. It was enough to set me off and out of my seat.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” auntie immediately noticed and questioned me.

“Nothing,” I answered her almost too quickly. "I just...I don't think I'm feeling too good, so I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and get some fresh air."

Before anyone else could say anything or even react, I quickly sprinted out of the room and up the stairs. The last thing I heard before I shut the door to my room was auntie gushing out, “Aw, she’s feeling shy! How sweet!”

'Sweet? Ha!’ I thought to myself as I tried to catch my breath and control my stomach at the same time. 'More like sick. Terribly and horribly sick to my stomach!’

To Be Cont…..