Thank You, Gravity

Nick’s P.O.V

I open my eyes and blink at the glaring sunlight, brushing any crust away from my eyelids. My forehead’s sweating and I’ve got a huge headache. I roll over and glance at the alarm clock - 4:34 PM. I slept a long time. Hardly a full day in Joe’s apartment and it’s making me sick.

I slide off the bed and stumble through the room, almost tripping over some boxes. The house is completely dark, so I turn some lights on and walk into the bathroom. I rummage through the medicine cabinet, looking for some Tylenol. None to be found. Sighing, I rub my head. I’m shivering even though the house must be eighty degrees. “Joe?” I call, walking through the hallways as I rub my arm with my hand to get it warm. Joe calls back from the kitchen, and I walk through the little hallway into the small room. “Do we have any Tylenol?” I ask hoarsely, tilting my head and pressing my hand on it.

“What’s wrong? Headache??” Joe puts whatever he’s stirring with down and hurries to my side. He presses his hand on my head, though I try to push him away.

“Joe, I just need-”

“Your head feels hot. Are you sure you’re alright?” Joe looks at me with a concerned expression. I nod, annoyed, and ask for the third time if he just has any goddamn Tylenol.

“I’ll get you some,” he starts walking over to the little hallway, and into the bathroom.

“I can get it myself, you know.” I mutter, ticked off by how much he’s treating me like a baby.

“Nick,” Joe turns to me. “I know the past week has been really rough. It hurts for me too, but it’s been killing me to see you crying all the time.”

“I’m not-”

“It’s okay, to miss her, Nickie… just don’t dwell on it.” he cuts me off, giving me a sympathetic look. “Make her proud of you.” he opens a drawer and hands me a bottle of Tylenol as he looks at me. I just nod, feeling threatening tears prick the back of my eyes. He gives me a little peck on the cheek. I try to resist.

“Joe, please, not now.” I murmur as he wraps his one arm around my shoulder, pressing his lips against my cheek, and that little peck turns into a wet kiss. I try to push away and he lets me go, looking at me sadly.

“You don’t want me.. to kiss you?” he asks with a confused expression.

“Not… not right now. I have too much to think about,” I bite my lip, pouring two tablets into my hand. Joe gives me a sullen look as I hand the bottle back to him.

“Oh… Okay…” he says quietly, taking the bottle back lazily and placing it on the counter.

I kick a book to the side as I stumble back to my room, still tired and tripping over all the crap Joe has on his floors. I drag my hands through my hair, pulling slightly on my curls and flop backwards onto the bed. I still can’t believe Mom is really gone. Joe reminds me so much of her - he takes care of me like she did, he even has her eyes. I really miss Frankie, too. But he’s across the country with Dad, and Kevin - Lord knows where he is.

“Nick?” Joe knocks on my door after, I don’t know how long I’ve been crying. I grunt in response and he opens the door, holding a plate of lasagna. I don’t turn to look at him, but I can smell is famous six-cheese lasagna. With his so called “secret special cheese” he liked to add. He sits down on the edge of the bed, holding the plate. He sets it on the nightstand and rubs my back a little. “Nicky?”

I respond with a nod, still not turning around.

“Nick, look at me.” Joe says firmly, and I sigh and roll over onto my back, looking up at him, giving him a what-do-you-want? look. “I made you food. You hardly ate anything at all yesterday.” he hands me the plate and I nod, setting it on the bed on the other side of me. “Sit up, and eat it. You’re going to get sick.” he says. Maybe that’s what I want. But I push myself up and sit up on the bed, stabbing the lasagna lazily with the fork. Joe sighs.

He pulls me closer to him, hugging me gently. I tilt my head and rest it on his shoulder, squeezing my eyes shut. He just rubs my back for a minute before I look back up, kissing him lightly on the cheek - only to make him happy. He half smiles and returns the kiss, on my lips, this time.

I kiss back without thinking and in just a few seconds, he’s got me lying down again, and we’re both kissing each other passionately and forcefully. I pull away first, looking at him with a crooked smile. He’s breathing heavily, grinning widely at me. I sigh and sit up, staring out the window. My head hurts so bad I can’t even think about anything.

“Nick, please, eat something,” Joe sits up and hands me the plate. I roll my eyes, stabbing the food with the fork and ripping off a piece, forcing it down. Then another, until the whole thing is gone. I eat it so fast I have no time to taste it, and I push the plate back at Joe. The last thing I want now is food - or Joe’s presence.

“Joe, please, I need space right now. I think I’m going to go back to sleep.” I say tiredly, hugging my knees and hiding my face in my arms. Joe sighs.

“Alright,” he mutters, picking up the plate and sliding off the bed.

When he’s gone I look back up at the door, suddenly wishing he’d come back in and kiss me again. I stare out the window as it starts to drizzle, and almost in an instant it’s pouring. I lie back down and let the nose soothe me to sleep.

Joe's P.O.V

I just leave Nick for the rest of the night, just laying down on the couch listening to the rain. The rain starts to get harder, more of like the night that mom went out, I try not to think about it but it's hard. Deciding that it was too depressing to be alone in the quiet living room, in the dark; going to sleep seems to be the better idea.

I'm not even lying in bed for a minute when I fell asleep. My dreams are all of the night mom died. I keep waking up, thinking of happier things but the weather outside keeps the thoughts close to me. By 2:36 AM, I'm just sitting in bed thinking about everything and anything. How dad and Frankie are, what happened to Kevin but mostly, Nick. Not only if he's going to be okay, but if he's always going to push me away from him.

Drowned in all my thoughts I don't even notice Nick open my door. I look at the clock, it's only 3:52AM, I've been thinking about him for over an hour, but why is he now walking into my room? I let him continue walking in, thinking I'm sleeping. He slowly walks to the side of my king size bed and climbs on to the opposite side of me. Even with my eyes close I know he's looking at me, I can feel his stare.

"Joe..." He whispers but it comes out as almost nothing.

"Joe..." He repeats and places his hand on my shoulder, sending a tingling sensation down my arm.

"Nick?" I reply, pretending to wake up. I guess my thoughts of him pushing me away all the time were now confirmed. He might come around evetually. I can tell why he really came into my room, the storm had worsened since he went to sleep when it was a light calming rain. He's thinking about mom, that's all he has done in the past week.

I can see in his eyes that he is thinking about what to say to me. He looks scared and confused but still won't tell me anything.

"Can... can..." He was stuttering, sounding almost afraid to ask what he the question. "Can... can I stay in here?"

Not knowing if I should let him stay, I turn on the light, hoping I could maybe talk to him about everything that was going through his mind, and keeping him away from me.

"Only, only if you tell me what has been going on with you. You can't keep all your feelings in about mom." I dpn't want him to keep everything in, he'll end up cracking eventually but that's one thing I wouldn't be able to handle. Only after agreeing to tell me the next morning, the question pops in to mind of why was he really here, in my room and in my bed. Deciding to leave that for the morning too, I just let it all be and return to a more peaceful sleep with Nick by my side.