The Fake Girlfriend

Chapter 27

"She sounds like a brat," Ruby said.

I groaned, stretched out across the floor of our living room. "That's the thing, she's not," I muttered into the plush beige carpet.

"If Nick tells you he's over her and he's giving her the googly eyes all night, you need to say something Rayne," Ruby griped around a mouthful of ice cream.

I turned over on my back, spreading my arms out around me. "See, I want to but... Our relationship is finally getting somewhere, you know?"

Ruby sat up on the couch, her legs folded underneath her and her red haired bun bobbing back and forth as she tilted her head to the music playing from our radio. "RAYNE," she yelled. "your relationship is not going to get anywhere if your man's mind is somewhere else."

"The pillow," I muttered, pointing to the blue square on on the couch.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"The pillow!" I shook my finger at the pillow.

Ruby's mouth went to an "o" shape as she grabbed the pillow for me. "Let it out, dear," she cheered as she threw it at me.

I slammed my face into the fabric and screamed as loud as I could manage.

"WOOOO!" Ruby yelled.

Exhausted, I fell back on the floor. "Ruby, I just like him so much. He's... He's possibly one of the best people I've ever met and I can't just- I can't just lose him like that, you know?"

Ruby got up and handed me the gallon of ice cream and a spoon, wrapping her arm around my shoulder she said, "Here, eat this."

Hungrily, I shoveled spoonful after spoonful of ice cream into my mouth, so much that I couldn't even swallow it.

She laughed. "All you have to do is take him out for some ice cream and you'll win him back. No man can resist the chipmunk face." She squeezed my ice cream-ed full cheeks.

"Heez diabethic," I mumbled around the food.

She stared at me, trying not to laugh, but instead erupted into a fit of giggles and snorts. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing too. And there we were, both of us laughing, spitting ice cream everywhere and clutching onto each other in the middle of our living room floor.

"The good ones always are..." she breathed, panting from all of the laughing.

"Diabetic?" I asked, peering over at her.

"No, you dork!" she playfully shoved me. "I meant the good ones are always hard to get you know? You've got to fight for them."

And she was right.

***

"Let's have a date night tonight," Nick told me on the phone later that day. He had spent the morning in Jersey, talking to their producer and writing a couple of songs. I haven't seen him since last night when he dropped me off at my apartment after the fashion show.

I walked around my kitchen, pushing the dishwasher closed with my foot. "Like go out?" I asked, the idea immediately bored me. I didn't feel like going out tonight, there were always too many people staring and asking for autographs or pictures, it was tiring.

"No, we could have a movie night at my house or something. Order pizza if you want," he suggested, and maybe that was just what I needed, a night alone with him to think through all of our "Anna" problems. Maybe it was just all in my imagination, I had just been making something up that wasn't there.

"Okay, that sounds great," I told him, grabbing a dish towel and wiping my hands.

"I'm about to be home," he said, his voice muffled by the static of the phone speaker. "I'm in the taxi right now so can come over whenever you want."

I agreed and hung up the phone to put some better clothes on. I'd been in my pajamas all day with Ruby, but she'd just left to go to work, leaving me all alone to clean up dishes and empty ice cream containers.

I slipped on a loose cream long sleeved shirt and faded washed blue jean Capri's with my dark red converse. Grabbing my purse, I closed the door behind me and left the dim apartment.

Thirty minutes later I found myself in the elevator of Nick's apartment building, the front desk man had given me a key saying that Nick had told him to send me up when I arrived. Clutching it in my hand the doors dinged and I walked out onto the fifteenth floor.

Turning the lock to his door, I closed the door softly behind me and walked in. The place was clean as always, his keys and phone laid carelessly on his counter top. I set the spare key next to his things and took off my jacket from the chill winter air.

"Hey," Nick said, walking out of the hallway, a smile on his face. "I thought I'd heard you come in."

I smiled back, loving when he gave me his rare grins. I opened my arms to him, letting his muscles wrap around me, engulfing me into a bubble of Nick. His lips pressed against my temple and he kept them there, breathing me in.

"How was your day?" I murmured, refusing to unlock my arms from his waist.

His mouth moving against my forehead, he mumbled, "Long and exhausting. I'm glad you're here."

I stood up on my tiptoes to press my lips to the top of his cheek bone. "I'm glad I'm here too..." I whispered.

His hand wrapped in mine, I walked into the room to see that Nick had pushed the couch against the far wall, spreading fluffly blankets and pillows on the floor. It reminded me of middle school sleepovers: sleeping bags, and snacks crammed into a room of giddy girls.

"Nick, you didn't have too..." I said, turning to see his smirk.

He shrugged. "Well, I did."

I rolled my eyes, glancing at the mass of blankets. "I wish I'd dress comfier for this, I didn't know you'd planned a sleepover." I gave him a wink.

His eyes lit up. "I have some sweatpants if you need them. I actually have like fifty, you can borrow one if you'd like."

I agreed and followed him into his bedroom- which now made me realize I'd never been in before. His black silk king-sized bed sat in the middle of the room, ceiling to floor curtains flowing across the back wall. He had one mirror that stood in front of his closet door, which he walked into and quickly came back out, tossing me black sweats.

"You can change in here if you want, I'm going to get the movie started," he said and quickly walked out, closing the door behind him.

I don't know if this was one of those things in relationships where trust was shown, but I'm pretty sure it was. He'd left me alone in his room- with the door closed. I could snoop... I could totally dig through his drawers without him knowing. But I didn't and I realized why they called it trust, because he knew and I knew that I couldn't do it.

The pants were loose around my waist, riding down on my hip bones as I walked out of the bedroom to join Nick. He stood with the remote in his hand, staring at the TV, hearing my entrance he turned around a loose smile playing on his lips.

"You look good in my clothes," he smirked, his eyes gripping onto my legs.

I rolled my eyes, walking over to him and nudging him with my hip. "Wierdo," I joked, enjoying the beautiful smile the painted its way across his face.

We sat down together, sinking into the depth of the pillows and blankets as he pressed play the TV starting and the familiar title of Grease dancing across the screen.

"No way!" I screeched, my hands slapping my cheeks in amusement. "This is my favorite movie."

He laughed. "How did I know?"

I stopped, turning to stare at him. "How did you know?" My face serious.

He shrugged. "I honestly didn't, just thought I'd play along." His smile again, creaking onto his lips as we laughed together. The beautiful harmonization of happiness.

And in that moment I pushed away all thoughts of Anna- of jealousy and pride- and settled into the warmth of the crevice of Nick's arm.

*Don't forget to vote and comment please! Thanks for all the support so far, it's really awesome how fast this story has gotten readers. By the way... Big part that comes up after this so comment and I might post this weeked...?:D*