Stopping the World

It wasn’t until Nick and I had been dating for a month, I told Rachel that he knew about the world one night when we were back in our dorm room. And to say she freaked out was an understatement.

“Wait... but how?” she asked. “I thought you said that he didn’t even see you!”

“Well... that was kind of true at the time,” I said. “I didn’t think he saw me, but it turns out that... he did.”

“Well, what are you going to tell your parents?” she asked next. I thought about my answer.

“I’m not going to tell them,” I admitted finally. She gaped at me, and I quickly added, “And if you’re my friend like I think you are, you won’t tell them either.” She was silent for a few moments before finally answering.

“Aw, fine,” she said. “I won’t tell them. But if they somehow find out, I’m not going to be blamed for keeping it from them, understood? Because no one in their right mind lies to your parents.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said sadly. “That’s why I hope they never find out.”

“Are you going to invite Nick to go with you over break?” She asked next. I hadn’t really thought about that. Our next break would be our one for Thanksgiving, which would be toward the end of the month.

“Probably not,” I said. “I mean, he said he was probably going to his home in Texas. And I mean, Massachusetts isn’t exactly close to there.”

“That’s true,” she said. “But, you know you could always use the globe to travel back and forth between the two.”

“Right,” I said. “Rachel, Nick already knows, and if I did that... his family would be wondering what was going on... if I told them I lived in Massachusetts yet still managed to visit him everyday.”

“Hm... well, maybe you should ask him to go with you, then,” she suggested. I shook my head.

“We’ve only been dating a month,” I mentioned. “Maybe next break, if we’re still together.”

>>--------------------------------------->>

As it would end up turning out, Nick and I did end up staying together. And by Christmas break, we had been together for two months.

We were sitting in this café near campus one Saturday morning, and I was trying to work up the nerve to ask him to come visit me halfway through Christmas break. That way, he’d have Christmas with his family, but yet would still see me during break. I finally was about to speak, but before I could, he interrupted.

“So...” he started, looking up from the hot chocolate he ordered. I had one as well. I hated cold weather, but I had to admit a plus was hot chocolate during the winter time.

“Yes?” I questioned, smiling. I was actually kind of glad he interrupted, seeing as I was kind of nervous to bring up my idea anyway.

“Would you... I was wondering if...” I could tell he was nervous, and was wondering if he was going to ask what I was going to ask him. He wasn’t, was he? “What I’m wondering is...”

“Out with it, Nick,” I said, smiling again. “It’s just me, no reason to be nervous.”

“But that’s the point, it’s you,” he said. I raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I don’t know how to like, ask you this, but-” I immediately started to frown.

“Wait... this isn’t your weird way of coming about a way of saying that you want to break up with me, is it?” I asked, concerned. “I mean, I had thought things were going fine between us...”

“What? No! No, no, no!” he exclaimed, “I was just going to ask... if you’d like to come home with me during break.”

“Oh,” I said, then laughed. He raised an eyebrow. “It’s just... that’s what I was going to ask you, except... the only difference is, I was going to ask you for half of break, so you’d get to spend Christmas with your family and stuff.”

“Oh,” he said, mimicking me. “I didn’t think about that. You probably want to do that too, right? Spend your Christmas with your family.”

“Well, actually...” I started, “your Christmas with your family is probably a lot more festive than mine. I mean, my mom can’t cook worth, well... anything, and my dad can, but he’ll probably be busy with something else for once. This past Thanksgiving we actually ended up ordering takeout from a local Chinese restaurant... it was pretty disappointing, really. And ever since me and my brother each turned ten all my parents have ever really bothered with are gift cards, for Christmas presents... seeing as they had no idea what to get us...”

His frown kept getting deeper as I continued. I didn’t really blame him, seeing as I was pretty disappointed with my parents, myself.

“So, I...” I tried to continue, but stopped myself, “if I did miss Christmas, there wouldn’t be too much to miss.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and not in the pitying kind of way, either... in the way that he actually meant it. I shrugged.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” I said. “Well, the presents thing, I mean. And now that I think about it... my tenth birthday may have been the last of the presents I ever got for birthdays as well; with the earth and all. But the meal thing... it kind of hit me for this year’s because my mom used to at least try at each one previous to make something. Even if it wasn’t a turkey; just a meal we could eat together.”

“Well, the offer still stands,” he said softly, leaning in closer to me seeing as we were sitting across from each other. I nodded.

“Okay,” I said. His eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I mean, as long as your family’s okay with it. I mean, I’d hate to intrude if it’s just like, a strict family thing-”

“No,” he said, immediately shaking his head. “I mean, they’ve been dying to meet you, seeing as I keep telling them all about you, and mentioned you over Thanksgiving-”

“You talk about me?” I interrupted, smiling at the thought. He blushed.

“Yeah, I mean...” he trailed off, I assumed because he didn’t know what to say. I laughed.

“It’s fine,” I said.

“Oh, and there’s something you have to know,” he said. “I, um... well, when we leave for the airport, or I guess when we get there... we may, um, attract attention.”

I was about to ask why, but then I remembered. So instead all I said was, “Oh.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, it’s not so bad now because my brothers and I have stayed on the down low, but... there may be paparazzi.”

“I understand,” I said. “I mean, it’s just something you have to deal with, right? You don’t have control over it or anything.”

“Right. So, you’re okay with it?” He asked this as if I wouldn’t be. But I nodded.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? But I can see your point. If you’re okay with keeping something a secret as big as the one I have, then I can handle a little bit of paparazzi.”

So that Christmas, I went with Nick to see his family in Texas. And I ended up finding out that the paparazzi were a bigger problem than Nick made them to be. Then again, though, there may have been more of them because I was with him; because it was such a big deal if Nick had a new girlfriend.

Who would’ve known that my paparazzi statement would backfire?

But I will admit that the Christmas vacation was the best one I had in some time. And that New Year’s Nick and I ended up sharing our first kiss. And I know what you’re probably thinking: why the long wait? Well, Nick and I were taking things slow in our relationship.

But things would prove to fasten eight months later. This is where we get to the interesting part, folks.

Because that eight months later was when I ended up stopping the world.