Like Father, Like Son ✔

Chapter 4 - Meeting Luke

CHAPTER 4

CAT

"You play any instruments?" Nick asked after spending most of the evening together just talking. 

"The guitar, a bit," Cat shrugged dismissively. "What about you? Do you play anything other than the guitar?" she added, preferring to talk about him rather than herself. 

"Yeah... I learned the piano when I was really young, played the drums for a while when I was in a band in high school. Don't laugh, but I absolutely love the accordion."

"I'm not laughing, that's so cute," Cat smiled.

"Oh I do what I can," Nick chuckled.

"Get a room," Leon coughed, causing Cat to blush a furious shade of tomato red once more.

Music, Cat was quick to realize, was the perfect topic of discussion to make her feel at ease with Nick and to lose herself in their conversation – and in him. He obviously loved it as much as she did, and the way he spoke about it left Cat hanging onto every word. He had such a nice smile on his face whenever he got passionate about something, and it made her wonder what was underneath those sunglasses.

Were his eyes just as expressive as the rest of his face?

Not only did Nick speak though, she managed to hold her own as well. For the first time, she managed to speak more than two sentences in front of the man without feeling like a complete loser.

Cat, Nick and Leon listened to a few more performers before Leon had to leave, at which point it was really just the two of them for the first time. They ended up going for a walk near the end of open mic night and didn't start making their way back until well after midnight.

"Are you serious? It's that late already?!" Cat gasped, checking her phone and noticing the three missed texts. She put her phone on silent earlier so as to not disrupt the people on stage and forgot to turn it back on. "Oh my God," she hissed.

"You have a curfew?" Nick smirked.

"No, my kid, I had to pick him up two hours ago," Cat said urgently.

"Oh, crap," Nick murmured. "He wouldn't just get chucked out on the streets..." he added, looking a little worried.

"No, he's with Hannah and Josh, but still," Cat said quickly. "Listen, Nick, I had a really good time and—" she went on, but Nick cut her off before she had a chance to finish.

"It's okay, I get it, mommy duty calls," he said soberly.

She laughed nervously. Despite his easygoingness now, she was wondering if this would be too much for him. Would he want to put effort into dating somebody that couldn't give him attention 100% of the time? Would he want someone that had to rush off early because she had to pick up her son at daycare or at the babysitter's or at a playdate? Would he want a two and a half year-old running around the apartment while they were hanging out together?

Would he want that added baggage? Was she worth it?

"I can walk you back to the store," Nick said without skipping a beat. "And I'll give you my number too, in case, you know, you wanted to possibly go out again... say... on Friday?" he added with a raised brow peaking from underneath the glasses he still wore despite the ink black sky above.

"Yeah, okay, that'd be nice," Cat smiled.