Chapter Three – Friends?
Entering the apartment, I quickly made my way to my bedroom. Once I reached my destination, I immediately landed on my queen sized bed, my face hitting my pillows.
"That looks comfortable, baby girl." I groaned when I heard the voice.
I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Did you just call me baby girl?" I questioned him.
I snuck a peek at him from the corner of my eye; he was standing in the open doorway of my bedroom, his arms crossed and his shoulder leaning against the door frame.
He smirked. "Yeah, I thought I'd try it out. Like it?"
I stared at him. My face holding an unamused expression. "No."
His smirk only grew. "Well then that makes me like it even more. I think I'll stick with it then." He winked at me.
I groaned. "You make it your life goal to annoy me, don't you?"
"You know it, baby girl." He laughed loudly as he walked out of my room again.
Realizing that I hadn't been able to text Hadley yet about our Biology assignment we were assigned, I reached into my pocket for my phone.
I came up empty and my eyes automatically narrowed with one person's name running through my mind.
That little shit.
"NICKOLAS SEBASTION REYNOLDS." My voice boomed throughout the apartment and I wouldn't even be surprised if our neighbors three floors above us heard me.
I heard a laugh come from somewhere in the apartment so I jumped off of my bed.
Here we go again.
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"Your best friend is a jerk. You know that, right?"
Toby laughed at me. "Don't even, Teag. You know you love him."
I crinkled my nose in disgust. "I'd love to smack him with a stick. But that's as far as I'd go with the word love when it comes to me and him."
Imagining me hitting him with a stick made me smile. Looking at Toby, he had a look of horror written on his face.
"You were just thinking about hitting him with a stick, weren't you?" I nodded. "Teag, you're fricken weird."
"It happens." I winked at him jokingly.
"But Teag, seriously. We both know Nick is a great guy. So why are you so hard on him?" Toby questioned me earnestly.
"He may be a great guy but he drives me absolutely crazy. You don't have to deal with him all day long! I do!" I exclaimed in frustration.
It was true. I had to deal with Nickolas all day long, every single day. Because he was studying the same major as I was at the same college as I was, he was in all of the same classes that I'm also enrolled in. And when I come home, he's here too.
Nickolas rarely goes out and parties, unlike my brother does, so he's home more often also. Similar to Nickolas, I also don't go out and party. Actually, I rarely leave the apartment unless Hadley and Lucy had me go shopping with them.
I had a strange addiction to shopping. Even if I wasn't able to go to the mall to shop, I had a habit of ordering things online and having them shipped to the apartment.
Because our parents were practically loaded, they had told me that they didn't want me working while in school, as they would rather have me focus on my studies. They told me that as long as I kept my grades up, they would continue to add money to my bank account, which only fueled my large shopping and spending addiction. If you could see my closet, you would be pretty jealous. Living in an apartment had its drawbacks, like the lack of space for my clothing and shoes, but I've managed to make it work.
"I'm serious, Teagan. Give Nick a chance. He may be slightly annoying. But he's really not so bad." Toby told me, bringing me back to our current conversation.
I pursed my lips at him. "Why are you so hell-bent on me being friendly with Nickolas? As an overprotective older brother, shouldn't you be more focused on making sure we don't spend time together?"
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out." He winked at me before getting up. He kissed the top of my head before making his way to our apartment door. "I'm working late tonight. So I probably wont see you until the morning." He grabbed his keys from the bowl sitting on the little table by the door. "Goodnight, Teag. And tell Nick I said goodnight, too." And he left, closing and locking the door behind him.
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"Hey, where's Toby?" A voice startled me out of my daze. I've been lying on the couch ever since Toby left for work. For a while I had been on my phone on my Amazon app, but after a while of shopping around on there, I started to zone out. I think I may have fallen asleep for a small while, but I'm honestly not even sure.
I yawned, my mouth reaching up to cover my mouth. At the same time, I used my other hand to rub my eyes; thank God I washed my makeup off earlier today when I came home from my classes, or else I would look like a raccoon with my makeup smudged all over my eyes. "He had to go to work. He said he won't be home until reeeeally late so he told me to tell you goodnight."
"Well crap. I had to talk to him." He was silent for a moment, his forehead scrunching up as he thought. "But never mind. So whatcha been up to, baby girl?" He smiled at me before coming and sitting down on the couch, picking up my feet and then putting them in his lap, as I was laying across the entire length of the small brown couch.
I rolled my eyes at him and laughed. "Why did you decide to start calling me that? I bet if Toby heard it he would smack you."
He brought his head back and laughed too. "Nah, baby girl. Toby would think it's... cute." He winked at me.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What? No, he wouldn't. He would take that as flirting. And then he would kill you for flirting with his sister."
He stared at me and bit his lip. "Would you want him to kill me for flirting with you?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. It's not like you flirt with me."
"So if I flirted with you right now, what would you do?"
I shrugged again. "Give me your best, Nickolas."
His eyes twinkled with humor. "Did you sit in a pile of sugar? Because you have a pretty sweet ass."
I couldn't do it. I just couldn't contain my laughter.
In that moment, I think I let out the most unattractive laugh that I have ever heard come from a woman.
"Oh my- Nickolas – Oh my God. That was great. Oh my God. Where did you hear that one?" I couldn't stop laughing. I probably had tears running down my face and I felt like I was running out of oxygen.
He smiled. A real, genuine smile. "You look beautiful when you laugh."
Hearing those words, my laughter stopped. I cleared my throat. "Uh. Uhm, thanks." Without meaning to, my statement sounded more like a question than anything else.
"I think you're beautiful in general, actually."
I froze.
By now we were both sitting up on the couch next to each other.
He leaned toward me and I held my breath. What is he doing?
I closed my eyes, not sure what to expect.
I felt his lips touch my forehead. "Goodnight, baby girl," he whispered to me before standing up and going to his bedroom for the night.
Goodnight, Nickolas.
