𝘾𝙄𝙉𝙉𝘼𝙈𝙊𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙄𝘾𝙆𝙎 , dreamwastaken

xvii.

THE REST OF THE night was uneventful, jade falling asleep before clay could say goodnight. he kissed her on the top of the head when he finally noticed she was asleep, and cuddled up with her.

he had been thinking about everything that had happened, making him sigh.

nick had dropped the bomb on him that george had gained feelings for jade. that of course had pissed him off, making him leave the group to calm down. nick came in and talked him through it, telling him that he knocked some sense into george. this made clay feel slightly better, but the fact that his best friend could have even thought about doing that to him made his heart hurt.

he wasn't sure how he would go about facing george the next morning. nick had told clay not to say anything to him until he had told jade, so there wouldn't be any conflict.

//

nick decided to plan out a day with jade so they both could have some time without the others. they were going out to lunch at this little place in town and looking around all the boutiques. he knew that jades favorite thing to do was find little knick knacks that reminded her of certain events in her life.

they sat down at lunch, and talked a little bit about the environment and what their plans were later in the week after they separated. they ordered their drinks, and that's when nick thought it would be a good idea to tell her what had been going on.

"so," nick said suddenly, taking a sip of his dr. pepper. "yesterday."

jade nodded, her face flushing white with nerves. "what about it?"

"so i'm not sure if you heard me and george arguing the other day or not, but he was expressing the fact that he-" he stopped speaking for a moment, taking a short breath. "had slight feelings for you."

jade stared at the table in front of her, thinking. "seriously?"

"yeah. it wasn't anything crazy, i think he just got a little overwhelmed with everything. he also didn't know you and dream were like, a full thing," nick told her. in the moment jade wasn't speaking, their food arrived. she nodded at the server, nick thanking him.

"we aren't a full thing," jade stated, looking up and into his eyes. nick returned her blank expression before rolling his eyes.

"you say that like he doesn't adore you,"

jade thought for a minute, finally taking a bite of the sandwich in front of her. "i guess so. it's just- you know. not actually a thing,"

"and that's fine. just know how he feels okay?" he said genuinely. jade nodded, smiling at him.

nick was the person she knew she could trust with everything in her. clay of course was one as well, but with nick she knew she could be exactly herself with no judgment. more than once in their short friendship she had gone to him with little things that annoyed her or made her upset and he always made the time to talk her through it. he always knew the right thing to say in the time of crisis, whether it be funny or serious.

"you ready?" he asked her, putting his phone in his hoodie pocket. jade nodded, and the two walked out together. nick lead her to the small boutique down the strip, and immediately she spotted a small ceramic giraffe that she grabbed with excitement.

"this is the one," she said excitedly, showing nick.

"okay, god you're fast," he replied, laughing and putting it on the counter. jade grabbed her card, but nick pushed it away. "i got it, you bought me lunch,"

//

when they got home, they walked into george spread out on the couch watching dirty dancing. "hey," he said to the two, and jade hesitantly waved back before walking quickly into clays room. he was sitting at his desk playing minecraft, but he paused the game as soon as jade walked in.

"hi," he said, and she walked over to the side of the bed where the desk was and sat down. "what's in the bag?" she pulled out the small object that was wrapped in tan paper, and showed it to him.

"it's a giraffe!" she said, and he gently took it out of her hands. "it kinda reminded me of you,"

clay laughed, handing it back. "is my neck really that long?"

"no, you're just tall," she replied. she stood up and placed it on his desk. "it's yours now,"

clay stood up in front of her, wrapping his arms around her. when they released, they stood there for a moment staring at each other. jade cocked her head after a moment, clay taking a deep breath.

"i love you,"