The Fake Girlfriend

Chapter 25, I think

I showed up to lunch with Nick with a smile on my face. In all honesty I think the interview went really well, the jubilant stretch across my lips proved as much. When I saw him sitting at at the black chic booth my footsteps became faster until I reached him and he stood to wrap me in a warm embrace.

"How did it go?" he asked next to my ear, before releasing me to watch my reaction.

"I think it went really well..." I said as I slid into the table across from him. "but I don't want to jinks myself."

Nick sat across from me, red cardigan and thin white shirt, just enough exposure to see the carved muscles of his chest underneath, his hair slightly flicking up above his forehead.

He leaned back and popped his eyebrow. "You'll get it, don't worry."

I gave him a small smile and decided to drop the subject.

Ordering our food and sipping delicately on lemoned water, Nick suddenly spoke.

"My brothers are going to be at the fashion show tonight."

I lifted my eyebrows up, surprised by this sudden outburst. "Yeah?" I chuckled a bit, thinking back to the time I had first met them at the Jimmy Kimmel interview in L.A.

Nick lowered his eyes to the steamed rice in front of him. "I just thought I'd tell you in case you didn't want to come or something."

I sat back a little in my seat. "I told you I wanted to come... do you not want me to come?" Suddenly, I had the thought of Nick being embarrassed by me. Was he? Was he ashamed of a girl still sharing an apartment with her college roommate?

"NO. No, no, no, that's not it at all," he quickly confirmed, a blush creeping onto his face and I suddenly thought of how cute his cheeks were when red. He reached over and grabbed my hand. "I just wanted to make sure you wanted to come, I didn't want to force you into any thing."

I turned my hand over under his, intertwining our fingers. I watched his dark eyes stare at the parts of us that connected two different people across a thin table. His eyebrows drawn down, deep thought crossing his features.

Even though we were knotted together in that moment, we were in two completely different worlds. And I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

***

Nick sat in my desk chair as I stood in my adjorning bathroom, finishing the last touches on my hair. I had picked out a metallic gold dress for tonight, short and a deep neck that was tied in the waist by a small black belt, the shimmering material changing a bit with each sway of the fabric. I had tamed my curls a bit and worked them up with a little of volume, they fell down my back as I sprayed just a little bit more hairspray into my hair to hold them up.

Nick sat silently on his phone, humming music I couldn't hear and playing a soundless piano on his thigh. I walked out of the bathroom, my black strappy heels too loud on the hardwood and searched for my phone amongst my room.

I felt Nick's eyes on me the whole time.

Turning, I was met with his straight gaze, his dark eyes drinking me up- every bit of me. The twinkle of the dress, the long length of my legs and my made up face for the evening. His eyes scanned me and I felt suddenly too exsposed, too naked, too unproffessional for a guy like him. But the way he looked at me- the way he studied me with his eyes- made me realize that even if he had been distant, it was okay. It would be perfectly fine because of the way he was looking at me now.

Like I was the only girl in the world.

He stood up and I was too speechless to ask what he was doing, too out of breath by this look in his eyes. Here I was underneath his gaze and I was stone, I was cement, I was glued to the ground and Nick was this waterfall of power, this rough breeze.