Please Stay Forever With Me

It was well into the night and a mixture of too much coffee and too much excitement left most of still awake after the fireworks. While Denise and Kevin Sr. went to bed, followed by a yawning Frankie following soon after, the rest of the house sat in the den watching a scary movie in the dark. Demi and Joe were cuddling under a blanket taking up a love seat, neither paid attention to the movie. Kevin was stretched out on the floor a pillow propping him up; he was playing a game on his phone. Nick sat on one end of the couch his head being held up by his hand. I on the other hand had my face buried in a blanket while I tried to curl into a smaller ball. I was the only one really paying attention to the movie and it was getting harder to hide my small yelps of surprise as ghosts popped up out of nowhere.

“Look behind you!” I yelled into the blanket as the person on the screen was being followed by the sinister ghost. “Why won’t you listen?”

I heard the laughs of the others in the room as they noticed how scared I was of the movie. I flipped them off before quickly returning my attention to the movie.

“We’re going to bed.” Joe said with a rather obvious fake yawn. “See you guys later.”
Demi said a quick goodnight before leaving the room with Joe both with knowing smiles on their faces. I caught Nick’s eye and we both rolled our eyes.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night too.” Kevin said pocketing his phone. “I missed the whole movie anyway.”

That was true he hadn’t put his phone down at all, not even when he had laughed at my outburst. There was maybe a half an hour left of the movie so of course it was the scariest part of the movie. I watched the TV closely telling the people what to do under my breath. After a ghost had surprised attacked, causing me to jump so bad I moved Nick, I had had enough of the movie. I looked at Nick and saw him silently laughing next to me.

“Don’t laugh.” I said glaring at him. “It’s scary!”

“Honestly I haven’t been able to watch.” Nick said with a last chuckle. “You are much more entertaining.”

I threw my pillow at him which he easily caught and threw back at me. This was the start of our pillow fight. It was a relentless fight both of us too stubborn to give up. The movie was long over before I finally gave up, my arms were aching and I had a headache forming from the constant blows to the head. I threw my pillow at Nick’s face he hit it with his then pounced. I fell backwards onto the ground taking Nick with me. He effortlessly caught himself before he fell on top of me. I looked up at him a scowl on my face.

“That’s not fair.” I pouted. “You can’t tackle me!”

“We never specified rules.” Nick said laughing quietly. “I win.”

I had a response at the tip of my tongue but I never had the chance to say it. Nick kissed me fast before I had a chance to register what he had done. He pulled away and looked at me. I held the look evenly before putting a hand on the back of his neck and pulling him down. We stayed like that giving each other small kisses not daring to take another step. It was in the back of both of our minds that what we were doing was wrong, but like always I couldn’t resist Nick.

We fell asleep on the floor wrapped in each other’s arms. I had my head resting on Nick’s chest while he held me tight against him. The sun hit my face the next morning coming in from the big open windows. I groggily sat up Nick’s arms falling limply off of my body. My body ached from the pillow fight and sleeping on the floor I tried to stretch the muscles as I stood up. Nick rolled over into the couch causing him to wake with a start. He sat up and wiped sleep from his eyes.

“What time is it?” He asked through a yawn.

“A little after ten.” I answered looking at the clock on the wall. “Everyone else is probably eating breakfast.”

I was about to walk out of the room when Nick grabbed my hand. He pulled me close and kissed me softly on the lips. I sighed into the kiss loving the feeling of his soft lips on mine. I wished it could have gone on for longer but Nick pulled back after a moment.

“I love you.”

It was barely over a whisper but I heard it as if he was shouting it from the roof tops. I didn’t know I had said it back until I saw the wide smile cross Nick’s face. He hugged me tightly he was saying something but my mind was somewhere else. To a boy who was waiting for me back home.

**

That afternoon I went on a girl’s day with Denise and Demi while the boys golfed. It was to be a day filled with shopping and fun. While browsing through a rack of shirts with Demi we talked about what had happened that morning.

“So you go first!” I said smiling.

Demi blushed and turned away from to look at the shirts. I did the same while I waited. Demi looked across the room where Denise was trying on a pair of shoes before she spoke.

“Joe and I finally did it.” Demi said under her breath.

“Did what?” I asked my attention on a shirt instead of the conversation.

“Seriously, Bobbi?” Demi asked all focus off of the clothes in front of them.

I placed the shirt on my arm where a pair of jeans and a dress already sat. I looked up at Demi an eye brow raised in confusion.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” Demi asked exasperated.

Finally I remembered what we were talking about. I let out a laugh before answering.

“No, I got it. You guys had sex.” I said causing Demi to blush.

Normally she was open about these kinds of things; she had once gone into detail about her first time. She shushed me and glanced at Denise again.

“So how was it?” I asked moving around her to look at another shirt that had caught my eye.

“Amazing.” Demi said smiling wide, her trademark Demi smile. “He was amazing. It felt amazing. It was just-“

She trailed off a dreamy look crossing her features.

“Let me guess, amazing?” I asked finishing her sentence.

“Yeah, amazing.” Demi said with a content sigh. “I mean I’ve done it before and so has he but it was different, even he said it was a lot different than anything he had experienced.”

“Probably because you guys are in love.” I said giving her my own side smile. “I’m happy for you Dem.”

“Are you girls finding anything?” Denise asked from behind us.

I turned around and smiled at her as I held up my arm full of clothes.

“I need to try them on.” I looked at Demi who hadn’t found anything because she was too busy thinking about Joe. “I’ll do that really fast then we can move on to another store.”

“No rush, honey.” Denise said as she took a seat in a chair near the dressing rooms.

After another three stores out arms were being weighed down by multiple bags. We
stopped by our car to pile the bags into the back before stopping for lunch. We ate a small café that where Denise and Demi raved about the food. As soon as I took my first bite of food I was agreeing with them.

“So girls, what do you have planed for later?” Denise asked glancing between Demi and I.

“Joe said something about going dancing.” Demi replied.

“That will be fun.” Denise said with a warm smile. “How are you liking Texas?”

She directed the question at me and I had to quickly chew the food that I had just stuffed into my mouth.

“I love it.” I said before taking a long sip from my soda. “I’m having a lot of fun.”

“You and Nick seem to be getting a long again.” Denise said a knowing look in her eyes. “you both looked very cozy this morning.”

I felt my face grow warm as it turned a bright red. I stalled by taking another huge bite of my sandwich allowing time for me to come up with something to say.

“We didn’t mean to fall asleep like that.” I finally said. “I don’t know how that even happened.”

I knew by the look Denise gave me she knew I was lying, but she chose to ignore and move on to a different topic. Demi was more than happy to tell Denise about a music video she shot before coming to Texas. I had already heard all about the music video so I was able to finish my sandwich with having to really contribute to the conversation.

After lunch we headed home the boys were still out but Demi and I had to get ready for the nights festivities. I dressed into a new outfit I had bought that day loving the way I looked in it. I was debating what to do with m hair my phone rang. It was a familiar ringtone and my heart stopped. It was Hunter. It was time to let him know what had been happening in Texas, the full truth.