Running In Circles || Nicholas Ruffilo

seventeen

Nicholas 

My voice luckily recovered after a week. 

Other than a couple of cuts from the glass, that was the only injury I walked away with. After getting questioned by the police about everything, I discovered that I had broken five of his ribs and his nose. I let him take me down for the sake of evidence, and it worked. He is now locked away for 20 years. 

I'd do it all again and again. 

Our shop needs another week to both decompress and be repaired, since it was deemed a crime scene for a few days following the attack and there were protocols they had to follow. Davis is using the opportunity to have things repainted and redecorated while the case was being replaced.  

Everyone has gone above and beyond for me while I've been healing, especially Cassidy. Luckily, and unluckily, the cameras did not catch the attack, so that means that Cassidy and I's relationship is still a secret. If Davis came to decompress with me and watch anime, Cassidy would come stay the night after. Vincent understood space, but he was texting me all the time. 

I told Davis that I wanted a night alone and gathered myself to go to Walmart. I wanted to do a date night in with Cassidy as a thank you. I wanted it to be creative and lighthearted and had a really good idea for it. 

-

(A/N: this next part is inspired by Fruit Roll Ups by Waterparks hehe)

I spent my afternoon putting up the color changing strip LED lights in my living room. I have always wanted to do this, but I finally have time to do it. I'm playing with the different colors when Cassidy knocks on the door, which I eagerly answer. She hugs me but I can feel her looking at the room over my shoulder.

I cleared my throat, my vocal cords not 100% back to its full capabilities. "I've been a little busy today," I joke through my voice cracks. 

Her eyes flash with sadness as she hears my voice but swap back to wonder as she investigates the room again. "You could say that," she jokes as she kisses me on the cheek. "Show me everything."

"So I've been planning this for while," I explain, my voice hardly above a whisper so that it won't crack. "It bothered me on our date to speculate about the reasons that you might not have your family around, so I wanted to create a night where we can be kids for a night." 

Her eyes well with tears and then she looks around again, fully understanding. "Nicholas, that's so thoughtful," she gushes. 

I hug her again, just wanting to comfort her, before leading her to my bedroom. "I have a change of clothes for some of the things that we're going to be doing," I explain, handing her a plain white t shirt and white sweatpants, which I am also wearing. She nods and changes it into it without any question. I pop out to the living room and turn the strip lights onto the blacklight setting and chuckle at how we glow in here in our clothes. I plop down on the couch and gesture for her to join me and pop open the cooler I stocked of Capri Sun and Bug Juice for us to pick from. She giggles and picks out a Pacific Cooler Capri Sun and I do the same. 

"I love these lights in here," she gushes. 

"I really do too," I admit. "I've been putting off doing this for too long." I found some of the Fruit Roll Ups that have the tattoos on them and I was so excited. I unwrapped one and tore off one of the sections with the tattoo on it. "Have you ever done one of these?"