Keys // Nicolas Brown

Act. 18 Love Stories Before Date Nights

"Can we go home?"

"No, and one more time I hear that from you, I will smack you so far across this room!" Daniel shook a finger at Doug and I only laughed.

"Easy on him," I cut in and Daniel crossed his arms at me.

"I do wonder something," Doug spoke up and I nodded.

"What's that?"

"You and Nicolas, how did you meet? Since you both clearly know each other before th-"

"He was assigned to kill me," I sipped my drink calmly, holding back my amusement as Doug choked. "But instead he fell in love with me and he spared my li-"

I felt Nicolas lightly tap my head as he raised a brow at the ending of the tale.

"Fine," I sighed. "He actually did hurt me really bad hence why I have that scar over my torso that curls over my back. But in the end, he didn't kill me because he saw I had keys around my neck and he'd never seen anyone with them before so he wanted to be friends. Then we fell in love af-"

"You didn't fall in love until you two had to part ways," Daniel scoffed and I frowned.

"Gee, golly! Sorry I was trying to add a bit more spice to my story," I chuckled and Daniel shook his head. "That's really all there is to it!" I clapped my hands and Doug stared at me, dumbfounded.

"You're kidding?"

"No, oh wait. And that red ribbon tied around his katana is the one that was tied in my hair when we met. When he tried to cut my neck, he ended up slicing the ribbon as well, but he took it with him when we parted ways as a memory of us and still ties it around his katana," I explained.

"You left me out of the story completely," Worick deadpanned and I gave a sheepish grin.

"The spotlight was on me and my Nic, not you and your side chicks," I laughed at him as he only rolled his eyes.

"I've got no side gal now, only Alex and I as we make the finest team!" He cheered, swinging his beer up for another sip while Alex only smiled.

'I love when you call me yours,' Nicolas smiled at me as he signed and I kissed his hand.

"I say we go on a group date!" Alex cheered, all eyes going over towards her.

I hummed. The idea wasn't that bad, but with us, there were endless possibilities of bad endings.

"I say that's a great idea!" Worick smiled and he pulled Alex close.

'No, I hate the ide-'

"Sure," I shrugged, not seeing Nicolas start signing as he stopped himself immediately.

'Great idea, sounds fun.'

I smiled, earning a kiss from Nicolas over my cheek.

"I say we go after the party. We put Doug to sleep and then head off," Worick suggested.

"What do you mean, 'we', there is none of that," Doug huffed.

"Yeah, there is now."

"You all don't suddenly own me just because you're mom's friends," he crossed his arms, getting a look from Worick.

"We all owned you the moment you stood beside Y/N," Worick shot back.

"I didn't agree to this!"

"Well, kiddo. A lot of us don't agree to what happens to us in life, we just have to cope and deal with it. Endurance is key," he tapped Doug's forehead with his finger.