Nick & Bailey

48. Nick

The day after Thanksgiving is taken over by an unexpected thunderstorm that rips through the west coast. Ian and Nick spend the day indoors, mostly playing Brody's Xbox.

Ian talks about his classes and some of the girls he's hooked up with. "Although I'm sure it's nothing compared to you, Mr. DatingApp."

Nick laughs but doesn't have a come back. After last night, he's not sure how he feels about his steady influx of girls anymore. He's seeing it all through fresh eyes now.

The day turns into evening, and Nick decides to start packing his stuff. He leaves tomorrow to return to the Midwest. While he's throwing his dirty clothes into his duffel bag, Ian checks his email.

"Holy fuck! She really did it," Ian exclaims behind Nick's back.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Ian's mouth is hanging open. "Bailey! She really fucking jumped out of a plane! She sent me pictures." He motions Nick over to look at them.

Nick has no choice. It would be suspicious for him not to want to see this. Ian starts clicking through pictures slowly. The first few are of Bailey in the air, hair flying in the wind, the biggest smile he's ever seen on her face. He can't see her eyes due to the thick goggles, but he can see them in his mind.

The last couple are of Bailey on the ground, obviously post-jump, with a gargantuan dude. He has his arm wrapped around her in one picture, and he's kissing her cheek in another one. She looks so happy.

"Is that her boyfriend?" Nick asks before he can stop himself.

Ian nods but looks confused for a second. "I keep forgetting you don't have Instagram, so you've never seen him. I swear she posts a picture of him every other fucking day. It's annoying."

Nick is speechless. He stares silently at the computer, processing Ian's words. She not only has a boyfriend, but she has one who obviously makes her happy and she wants to show off to the world. He even convinced her to jump out of a fucking plane. A year ago, she was afraid of heights. Nick has to get out of here. He grabs his phone.

"I know that look," Ian says. "You need to get one more in before your flight tomorrow?"

Nick's eyes stay on his phone and he gives a forced chuckle. "Yeah. Is that okay?"

"Whatever, man."

Nick gets a match after a half hour. She says she can meet right now but has no place near here.

"Ian?" Nick looks up and sees that Ian's wearing headphones. "Ian?!?"

He hears Nick finally and slides the headphones to his neck.

"Can I use your room?"

Ian's mouth drops open. "Are you kidding me?" Nick nods. "Ugh. Fine. Whatever. I'll go to someone else's room while you get your jollies on."

"Thanks, man."

Ian leaves and after fifteen very nauseating minutes, Nick hears a knock on the door. When he opens it, he finds a girl shining, literally, from head to toe.

When she sees him noticing, she apologizes. "Sorry. I'm on my way to a club—it's disco night." Like that explains it.

She steps into the room and keeps talking. "I always need to get off before I take E or else I end screwing everyone in sight."

Nick quickly says, "I don't care" before walking her toward the bed. In his desperation, he doesn't notice that the bed is Ian's.

After she leaves, Nick texts Ian letting him know he's going to take a shower and go to bed. Ian comes back to the room just as Nick is pulling the covers over himself and closing his eyes. He needs to fall asleep while he still has his post-coital high.

Just as he's drifting off, he hears Ian behind him. "What the fuck? There's fucking glitter everywhere!"

After a day of traveling, Nick is exhausted by the time he gets back to the dorm, but he's not necessarily exhausted physically. He had all day alone with his thoughts, and that took all the strength from him.

Candace is sitting up in Pete's bed when he opens the door. "Nick! You're back. How was your trip?"

"Fine," he says. His hands are full, so he kicks the door closed.

"How was your friend? Ian, right?"

"Good."

She is suddenly right next to him, making him jump. "Fuck! You're like a fucking ninja or something."

Her arms are crossed in front of her. "Tell me what happened."

Nick looks toward the door. If he sprinted, could he escape? "Where's Pete?"

"He's taking a shower. And DON'T change the subject. Something obviously happened for you to be acting like this. I've gotten to know you very well."

Nick sighs and sits on his bed. He knows there's no point in arguing with her. She takes a seat on his desk chair.

"So much happened."

"Start from the beginning."

He tells her about Bailey having a boyfriend, and needing to numb the pain from that, and then about the pictures he saw of the two of them, looking so in love. He finishes with the story of Lynn.

"I don't understand," Candace asks. "You literally hook up with people all the time. What was different? Do you think you like this girl?"

"Definitely not," Nick answers honestly. When he thinks about her, the emotion he feels is guilt. He knows he doesn't have feelings for her. "Look, I know it doesn't make sense, but with her, it felt different. I was actually present with this girl, and she wasn't Bailey.

"It's fucked up, but I'd kind of been fooling myself before, thinking that as long as the girls were nobodies to me, it didn't count. I would always just try to focus on how I felt after, but during it, my mind went blank. Always. Now I feel like I cheated or something, which doesn't make any sense.

"But I think I'm done. No more girls. I tried one more time after that, and it just felt...wrong, for the first time in a long time."

Pete comes into the room at that point. Candace looks at him but then turns back to Nick. She's giving him a sympathetic smile, like he's a kid who fell off his bike. "Nick, I think no more girls is a good thing."

Pete hadn't heard any of Nick's story but chimes in, "For sure, dude. It was starting to get out of control."

"We'll help you, okay?" Candace says hopefully. "You don't need sex to get over Bailey. I'm glad you're finally seeing that. You need to deal with it, head on."

"I know you're right."