Nothing Like This

“Thank you so much,” Beth gushes as she smiles widely, accepting a rose from a little girl.
“You were amazing. Stole the show,” someone else chimes in.
“Thanks so—“ she cuts herself off when she sees me. “Thank you. I’m sorry, I just…” The guy who looks around our age turns and sees me. Beth squeezes between him and the family talking next to him. “You’re not supposed to be home for another week.”
I stick my hands in my pockets and shrug. “So, maybe I overestimated the time a little.”
She smiles widely and throws her arms around my neck. I un-pocket my hands and hold her tightly. “I missed you,” she squeals.
“I missed you, too.” She lets go, and we head back home. “So, you start traveling in two weeks, and I leave for filming in two weeks. You’re all mine until then.”

“Nick!” she shrieks, locking her arms around one of mine. “Stop it!” We share a laugh, and I pull her to my other side away from the street.
“Coffee break?”
She nods and kisses my cheek. “Yes please!” She tugs me into the Starbuck’s by my jacket sleeve and slides her fingers into mine as we wait in line.
“So, how’s that whole thing with Annie going?” I wonder. Beth sighs and shakes her head.
“Uh, I guess Tyler was thinking of leaving her, so she stopped taking her birth control.” My eyebrows fly up in surprise. “And that’s how it all happened.”
“She did it on purpose?” Beth nods. “Oh my god.” She shrugs and tucks herself a little more into my side. “I think it goes without saying—“
“I would never,” she cuts me off, backing out of my side. She’s staring at me like I have four heads.
“I know. I was just clearing it up.” She rolls her eyes and approaches the counter, ordering her favorite drink she found on Pinterest. I order a black coffee, and we wait for our orders. Our drinks are placed before us shortly, and we take them and head back onto the cold, busy NYC sidewalks.
“That’s just so…twisted,” Beth continues. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m super into you, but I’m not getting knocked up to keep you around.”
“I can’t believe she did that. What’s Tyler going to do?”
“As much as he thinks she’s crazy, it’s his kid. He was talking about trying to gain custody over the baby, I think.” She shrugs again. “I’ve been so busy, I’ve barely had any time to talk to anyone except the cast.”
“It’s nice they gave you all a week off to completely rest. They never did that for me.”
Beth laughs. “Well, you didn’t travel with the show.” She sticks her tongue out. “Can we go see a show tonight?”
“Yeah, what do you want to see?”
She looks around at the all the Broadway signs lit up down the street in Times Square. “Wicked.” I nod in agreement.
We’re walking back from the show, and Beth stops next to me. “My feet are killing me,” Beth groans, gripping my shoulder and stopping me to fix her shoes.
“You look great,” I tell her, pulling her in front of me and kissing her lips softly. She smiles and kisses me again.
We continue our walk home, and I keep catching glimpses of someone walking behind us. I’ve already checked several times but found nothing.
“Nick, what’s the matter?” Beth questions, holding my hand a little tighter and looking over her shoulder as well.
“I just thought I—never mind.” We both turn around, and Beth shrieks. My immediate reaction is to pull Beth behind me where she clutches to my jacket.
He just stands there in front of us and doesn’t say a word for a few moments. “All of your valuables,” he demands.
Ideally, I’d like to take a moment to analyze the situation. We’re a block from my apartment, and maybe we could make it back if she kicked off her heels and ran.
“Nick,” Beth whimpers.
My attention snaps back to the situation, and I pull my wallet out of my pocket and take off my watch. I hand them both over. “Her, too.” He nods towards Beth.
“She doesn’t have anything,” I defend. “I was paying for her.” He shoves me out of the way and approaches Beth.
“Nick…” Beth sounds absolutely horrified.
“Don’t you touch her.” He turns back to me and, in short, beats the crap out of me before taking off down the street with my wallet, watch, and Beth’s purse. “Oh my god, Nick.” She kneels on the ground next to me.
My head is pounding, I can’t see out of my left eye, and there’s a significant aching in my chest.
“Help! Someone, help!”
“My phone, babe,” I stop her, clutching to the aching in my side with the words. She shuffles frantically through my jacket pockets, finally pulling out my phone.
While she’s on the phone, an older couple approaches us. The woman also calls an ambulance while the man helps me into a seated position. “Are you alright, son? What happened?”
“We were on our way back from Wicked, and we were mugged.”
“You’re pretty beaten up.”
Beth comes back. “An ambulance is on the way,” she relays with a shaky voice. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. What about you? Did he hurt you?” She shakes her head, and I can see the tears brimming in her eyes. She drops down on her knees next to me and locks her arms around my neck.
It doesn’t matter that I’m in so much pain that it hurts to embrace her back, but I still do it. “He could have killed you,” she chokes out.
“Beth, don’t.”

We wait a minimum of five minutes before the ambulance pulls up with a few squad cars. She gets in the ambulance with me. “Can you call my mom?” I ask Beth.
She nods and removes my phone from her coat pocket. “Denise, it’s Beth…yeah, he-he’s okay. Well, kind of.” I hear my moms voice rise from the other side of the phone. “We were walking back from the Wicked theatre when we were mugged.”
It gets silent, and I’m hardly paying attention to the EMT’s checking my vitals. “Sir?” I snap my attention the EMT. “Do you have an medical conditions we need to be aware of?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m diabetic,” I reply.
“I mean, he took the brunt of it, but he’s okay. He’s talking and—“ She stops and watches the EMT work as she listens to my mother continue asking probably a thousand similar questions. “We’re in an ambulance now. The police are meeting us at the hospital to take our statements…Absolutely. I’ll let you know when we’re there.”
Beth sits next to the bed, holding my hand, and responding as needed to the texts pouring into my phone as people begin hearing about what happened. “Demi says: oh my god, I just heard. Please let me know how you and Beth are doing. Sending prayers your way!” She sighs heavily as I hear the phone buzz twice more. “Kevin says: Dani and I are on our way.” She clicks her tongue a few times as she responds. “And your mom wants you to know that they’re almost here.”
“I just wish they’d get here. I’m exhausted.”
“You and me both,” she agrees. She gets quiet for a moment. “Are you upset with me?”
“What? Why would I be upset with you?”
She shrugs. “Going to see Wicked was my idea…”
I squeeze her hand. “I’m not at all. I promise. I’m just glad you’re okay.”