Nick & Bailey

3. Nick

Sitting next to Bailey at the dinner table hours later, Nick has to stop himself from touching her. Meanwhile, she seems to be doing everything in her power to avoid touching him—even with her eyes.

He is still in shock over what transpired in that closet. At first, he was just trying to mess with her. He had no idea what had come over him, but he hadn't been able to stop himself. The experience was something that had only existed in his dreams. He never believed that she would actually allow him to touch her.

Although he was constantly trying to forget, he had been in love with her since he was twelve.

Nick had spent basically all of that summer at the Rogers' house. His mom had had two babies ten months apart from each other with her new husband. Although he tried to help, he always just seemed to do everything wrong and piss his stepdad off. So he began riding his bike to his friend, Ian's, house everyday from the moment he rolled out of bed until after supper.

Ian and he had met the first week of that summer after Nick had moved to the area and joined the summer baseball league. The first day of practice, they realized they only lived two streets away from each other. The rest, as they say, is history.

Bailey, Ian and he usually alternated between riding bikes to the community pool for the day and spending the day vegging out playing video games. Bailey wasn't like other girls he had known. She wasn't afraid to get dirty or act stupid with their guy friends—plus she cursed like a sailor. Hanging out with her was just like hanging with out with Ian.

A few days before seventh grade began, Bailey stated she was going to the pool to meet some of her friends. Ian and Nick had nothing else to do, so they tagged along. That was the day Bailey and Ian became two very different people in Nick's eyes.

Once they showed the attendant their season passes, the boys headed to their locker room while Bailey entered the opposite one to meet her friends. Nick and Ian quickly walked toward their usual spot to drop off their belongings while tugging their t-shirts off.

Nick didn't hesitate to take a running start and cannon ball immediately into the deep end, Ian closely behind. Once they resurfaced, Nick scanned the perimeter for Bailey, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your sister?" He asked Ian while swimming toward the edge of the pool.

Ian rolled his eyes. "She will take forever getting ready today. She's meeting her stuck up friends."

Nick hadn't ever been around Bailey's school friends with the exception of their cousin, Mandy, who came over at least once a week.

Until this summer, he had lived in a different school district. After his mom had Nick's brothers, his stepdad had decided that it was time to move toward the better schools—of course, he hadn't bothered when it was only Nick he had to worry about.

"And besides," Ian continued, "She won't hang out with us today anyway."

"Whatever," Nick said laughing. He didn't believe him. Why wouldn't she hang out with them? The three had been inseparable.

When Bailey finally emerged from the locker room surrounded by a group of 3-4 other girls, Nick had to look twice. She was wearing a bikini he'd never seen before—in fact, he'd never seen her in any bikini before. Normally, she wore one piece, sporty-looking swimsuits which Nick honestly hadn't given much thought to.

The way she was carrying herself, though, made it obvious that she could pull off both. She seemed so much in her element with her friends, Nick felt a stab of jealousy.

She and her group walked slowly across the concrete until they found some empty lawn chairs to sunbathe on. She didn't even look in his direction.

"Told ya." Ian pulled himself out of the pool in order to turn around and jump back in.

This was what they did—sometimes for hours. They would try to one-up each other with who could jump in the coolest. Bailey usually won because of her gymnastics training. She tried to teach Nick one day a simple front tuck flip into the water, but he could never pull it off and usually ended up with a belly flop.

If Bailey was suddenly too good for them, then Ian and Nick would just continue the game without her. Though Nick couldn't stop himself from looking in her direction after every jump to see if she'd been watching—she hadn't.

After he resurfaced after the fifth or sixth jump, he saw Bailey walking in their direction. She stopped next to where Ian and he were wading and sat down, placing her feet in the water.

"Ian!" She had to yell because the pool was now crowded with kids screaming and splashing.

Nick followed Ian to the side of the pool, resting his arms next to her legs opposite Ian. Again, she didn't look in his direction.

"I'm going home," she said. It was a family rule to always let the other one know their whereabouts. "It's hot. Oh and Ginny's coming with me. She rode her bike here too."

"You know it may not be so hot if you actually got in the pool," Ian said sarcastically. Bailey rolled her eyes before standing up.

"That was a nice flip, Nick," she said, flashing him a small smile and walking away. Nick surprised himself to find that he was too nervous to reply. He had spent Ian and her's entire conversation staring at her mouth, wondering what it would be like to kiss her.

Nick had never actually kissed anyone before—had never wanted to—but Bailey was stirring things up in his chest that he hadn't known were there. And she had been watching him in the pool.

"Let's go too. This sucks," he lied.

Ian dropped his mouth. "Are you kidding? We just got here!"

Nick was already heading to the door.