Darlings(BxB)

Chapter 3 (Happy Birthday Darling)

There is a fine invisible line between fantasies and reality. For Nick, the line seemed to have faded away. He constantly had to remind himself that he is not dreaming. How did he manage to make Lor let him go, alone, to Europe?

He was packing his bags while his sister was booking a flight. Lorelai had found this amazing website that booked everything for the person. It was a 7-day package in Venice that they had picked out. They were bickering about what to pack and what all Nick could do in Venice.

Downstairs, the senior Darlings had tired themselves with another fight and gone to bed. They had no idea what was happening in Nick's room. Or that their son would not be in New York tomorrow morning. Their schedules were so tiring that they would not be up at midnight to wish Nick.

Amazing outfits, chargers, shoes, a passport, a travel guide, a map to Venice, Paris, and Barcelona, and some lost cash that they would be exchanging at the airport. He managed to pack everything he needed in a giant bag. Now was the time for an itinerary. He carefully consumed all the lucrative images that Google had to offer about things to do in Venice. His hotel was marvelous.

Lor wanted to make sure that Nick's travel was as comfortable as possible. She had booked the nicest room in that hotel. She was lucky because only one room was free since this was peak travel season. People were pouring in to see the picturesque city of Venice.

"Ok, I think I am finally done with the packing," Nick exclaimed looking at his giant bag. He had put his essentials in another smaller, backpack he had. The Darlings traveled frequently. It was one of the few advantages of being comfortably rich. Nick had seen the packing being done hundreds of times and he was certain he had packed all the essentials.

"Hmmph, let's go over the checklist once more," Lorelai said. She had a digital checklist prepared for them. Nick's flight left at 3 in the morning, it was the only time when a flight was available at such short notice.

"Lor we have gone over it three times. You will drop me at the airport, and stay till my flight leaves, the flight will get there in around eight and a half hours, I will call you as soon as I land, get a cab, text you when I get to my hotel and in my room, and then take a nap and then go out, did I cover everything?" He asked smugly.

"I mean you forgot the part where you are not allowed to be a smart ass and listen to everything I say," Lor answered him back. It was obvious that she wasn't completely ready to let her brother go to Venice by himself on his birthday. There were a few things that could still go wrong after the meticulous and detailed plan they had mapped.

"I promise to be on my best behavior. I will listen to you completely," Nick promised. It was around eleven in the night. The Pizza that they had ordered was here an hour ago and was waiting to be eaten. Nick picked it up. And they ate the pizza in the complete opposite of silence. They were discussing so much. What to eat? Where to go? What to wear on which day? Just every possible situation was being discussed.

"Well, you never know what if you fell in love with some Italian guy?" Lor said, teasing him. but Nick had no intentions of finding anyone. He was going there to escape not to get into something new. Only fools fall in love on a vacation. And then they ruin it because that vacation gets tainted by that love.

"I am so not interested, I just wanna lie on beaches, eat tasty food, visit beautiful places, and relax," Nick answered flatly.

"Ooh Nicky, I think you are so gonna fall in love. You only find love when you are not looking for it. It is one of the curses of love. Look at me, did I know that I was going to fall in love on the first day of my job, that too with a lawyer at our rival firm? And look at me and Chris now," Lor said, a glimpse of wiseass in her voice.