Opposites Attract.

Chap 9.

Nick's parents and Simon sit down at his table, while Nick hastily grabs the alcohol from his cupboard, he's going to need it for this.
"I hope you don't drink all the time, Nicholas." His mum says, examining all the bottles in his cupboard, Nick rolls his eyes, slamming them shut.
"Of course not, mum." Nick says with a fake smile, setting the bottles down. Simon looks to him every so often, smirking at him, he likes Nick's parents, they seem to be nice enough.
He sits down, pouring himself a big enough glass to keep him going.
"So, I hear it's just you two and Nigel now, right?" Nick's dad asks, Simon's eyebrows furrow, probably confused as to why he called him Nigel, his parents always called people by their birth name, they didn't like nicknames, so you can only imagine how they reacted when Nick changed his second name to Rhodes.
"That's right, yeah." Nick responds, taking a sip of his drink, it's as if he can't go anywhere without being reminded about Andy.
"Who left? Is it Andy, and- Roger, I remember?"
Nick and Simon nod, both taking a sip of their drink.
"I remember them, oh and that handsome young boy Roger! He was such a sweet lad." His mum says, beaming.
Nick rubs his eyes, while Simon giggles away at her.
"Do you have to, mum?" He asks, before moving the drunk away from her, he doesn't want her to be drinking anymore.
"Oh, and Andy. He was quite different, a little weird wasn't he?"
"Mum!" Nick groans, he doesn't know how she remembers, but clearly Andy was someone hard to forget.
"He was the one who was always high, wasn't he? Or was he drunk?" His mum asks, causing Simon to laugh.
"Seriously mum?"
"Well I'm just saying that's not a good influence for you."
"I'm twenty four, mum." Nick snaps, while Simon holds a smug smile on his face.
"Well you weren't when I met him."
"So what do you do now? Now that they're gone?" His dad asks, changing the subject,
"We've got people to fill in for us, quite a few drummers all the time, one permanent guitarist." Simon says, as Nick doesn't respond.
"Oh! How's he?"
"A wanker." Nick mumbles.
"Language, Nicholas!" His mum exclaims, Simon covers his mouth, not wanting to laugh.
"Uh- he's fine, really." Simon says, giving a smile at the two. But he really wasn't, he just knows Simon and John think the same, they're just too afraid to say it.

It starts to get late, Nick's parents are long gone, Simon and Nick are a little tipsy, nothing too bad though.
"Nicholas!" Simon says with a laugh, he's been going on about it ever since they left.
"Yeah, yeah. They hardly ever call me Nick. They hate changing names, that's why they called John Nigel." Nick says, taking a deep inhale of his cigarette, before a drink of his beer.
"God, that's hilarious. I might have to call you that from now on." Simon laughs.
The two talk for what seems to be hours, Nick can tell Simon is sleepy, he keeps closing his eyes and opening them when Nick moves, he'll let him sleep here, like he said, he didn't plan on wanting to be alone.
"Nick?" Simon asks, his eyes closed, he's curled up in a ball, he looks adorable, Nick smiles at him.
"Mhm?" He mumbles, he's a bit distracted by looking through papers that have been in his drawer and hadn't seen the light of day in so long.
"About Andy, I think you should talk to him." He says, grabbing a pillow beside him to hug.
Nick perks his head up, looking to Simon's closed eyes.
"I don't know..." Nick says, trailing off, he's already tried, and look where it's gotten him.
"Why not?" Simon asks, a confused expression on his face.
"I think I'm the last person he wants to see, Charley."
"I doubt it. From the way you described him, he seems like he cares for you a lot."
Nick's heart warms by Simon's words, he wants to believe it, but it's hard now he knows he already tried and it failed.
"But, what if he turns me down?"
"Then try again, don't stop. He cares about you and he's trying to pretend he doesn't. He's in complete denial."
Nick nods, repeating Simon's words in his head.
Try again, don't stop.
He doesn't want to seem so desperate for him, even though he is, it's hard for him to push down his feelings, he fears if he does it for too long he'll crack.
"I mean, it's Andy. In his head whatever he thinks is right, is right. He's always been like that."
Nick can't lie, he has always been like that. He doesn't believe he can change that though, which is the scary part of all of this.
"Just tell him how your feeling, that you miss him a lot. I'm sure if he cared for you he would listen."
Nick looks down to the papers he is holding, pretending he doesn't care so much, although he does, he wants to try for Andy, maybe Andy just needs someone to try for him, to get him to snap out of whatever this is.
"Yeah, I suppose." Nick responds, quite delayed, his thoughts keep him distracted.
"Well, thanks, Simon." Nick whispers, until he gets no response, he looks to Simon, who is now fast asleep, curled up and comfortable. Nick wishes it was that easy for him to get to sleep, sadly his thoughts kept him wide awake at night. He smiles, before putting a blanket over him.
He sits himself back down, looking through old bits of paper, he's got so much mail and letters that he really doesn't need anymore, that's until one catches his eye.
He recognises that hand writing anywhere, the messy, joint up, but still beautiful handwriting.
He takes it out from the pile of rubbish, his heart starts to beat twice as fast, wondering what it could be.

Hi, Nicky. I see you've changed your phone number again, you prick. I was phoning you for ages! You love to make a right idiot out of me don't you? Well, I'm coming home tomorrow, so you don't have to keep missing me, I know, I'm irresistible. My parents were driving me mad, although not being able to see you only made it worse, so I'm glad to be coming home now. Come to my house at two, no later no earlier, okay? I'd like to catch up with you, a nice conversation, then... Maybe my room and a little less conversation, yeah? Get your phone fixed, idiot. I'll be waiting for you.
Love, Andy.
Nick presses the letter into his chest, his heart begins to hurt, it almost feels like it's breaking. A tear falls onto his hand, he covers his mouth and cries silently, making no sound. He holds the letter close to him, he's more than grateful he kept it now. He remembers telling himself he was going to keep it simply because he found it adorable how Andy wrote to him because he couldn't reach him through the phone.
He recalls the next day when Andy came home, he jumped into his arms, kissing his lips and his neck as a welcome home.
"Andy!" Nick says, falling into his arms, he lays kisses upon his cheek, even one to his little nose, causing Andy to scrunch his face up, Andy thought of him like a little puppy right now.
"Hey, you." Andy says, before he takes Nick's face, tilting his head and pressing his lips into Nick's. He can taste Nick's lipstick in his mouth, the flavour is pleasant some how.
"God you really missed me didn't you?" Andy whispers in his ear, teasing him perfectly.
"What, you didn't?" Nick replies, still holding him close.
Andy rolls his eyes, before placing a kiss to his forehead.
"What did you tell the rest of them?" Andy says in a whisper, as if the rest can hear him.
"I said I was going to see my cousin. They don't know your back now."
"Lying for me now, huh?" Andy says, raising a brow.
"Did you want to be alone?"
"Of course not."
"So shut your mouth, kiss me."
Andy doesn't hesitate to do so, before they make it to his bedroom.
Nick curls up into a ball, he wonders if he had've told him that he loved him then would he have said it back, Nick had seen a side to him he never thought was there, he had opened him up as a person, there is no way they were just having sex for pleasure and nothing else, if that was the case, why did Andy choose him? He kissed him that night, not the other way around, if he was looking for pleasure, he could've gotten anyone, but he chose him.
He supposes Andy was never good at expressing his feelings, he always kept them locked away, he hated showing how happy something made him, he would try keep his happiness limited, Nick would never understand why, he done so much to try make him happier, and when it worked Andy would get embarrassed.
He just wants to go back to when Andy cared for him, or even pretended to, if it was all a lie, then Andy was a damn good actor, he had Nick completely fooled.
Simon is right, he should talk to him again, it has been too long, and last time he didn't say enough, he needs to confess to Andy he still isn't over him, he's been trying to hold it off to see if it'll go away itself, but he has found out that's not how it works, when you're in love, you're in love, you can't stop it.
He thought no matter what he will never care for Andy, he was just someone to help pass the time, and he hates himself so much for letting it get like this.
He stays curled up in a ball, tears fall onto his pillow, as he thinks of how he fell in love with him, first it was his personality, his soul, the way that after a while he cared for him and treated him. He fell in love with his voice over the phone, he fell in love with his hair and eyes, he fell in love with how he made him laugh, how addicting his humour was, his cute little nose, his lips that made a heart shape when closed, the nicknames he gave him, the way he was respectful to him more than anyone, just everything.
And as he sits here, curled up and sobbing, he realises he is his luckiest find, and his biggest mistake. His best friend, his love, his enemy.