If We Ever Get an Hour Together (A Van McCann fanfiction)

All Kinds of Reasons

Lucia:

I pushed Nick back against the couch, feeling his hands press against my back. The TV was blaring, and I knew Isabel was going to walk in at any second from work, but I was oblivious to the world at the moment. 

I pressed my mouth against Nick's. Once. Twice. He pushed me onto him even closer as the shrill ring of my phone sounded in the living room. "Don't." He said. I finally groaned and stood up away from him, walking towards the phone and picking up. "Gabi?"

"You're not gonna believe it."

I bit my nail, looking at Nick paused on the couch. His hair was doing this cute swept back thing I liked. "Is everything ok?"

Gabi laughed. "No yeah, everything's fine Lucia. Guess who's coming to stay in Los Angeles?"

I rubbed my chin. "I don't know...aunt Teresa?"

"Honestly, are you serious? It's Van. He's coming to stay for a couple of months." I rubbed my tongue against my gums, looking at Nick. "And why should I care?" I finally spoke.

A heavy silence. "Well, you two are friends and all. He's never spoken badly of you. You seemed to get along pretty well. Is there something I'm missing?"

"Yeah. Well, sure.  I'm sure you're extremely happy about it." I spoke slowly. 

"I can't say I'm not. This is really making me think honestly. If he loves this city and being here so much then maybe...anyways that's what I wanted to tell you. And he's coming next week with his friend, I think they're going to crash together for the time they're here. But yeah, maybe we could grab dinner? And you should bring Nick!"

My stomach twisted, but I smiled at Nick. He raised his eyebrows while I spoke. "Yeah, sure I'll tell him. Alright bye."

I cuddled in next to Nick while he turned the television down. "And what was that about?"

"Gabi. Her- Our friend is coming back into town."

"Do I know him?" Nick looked at me. I pushed a piece of his hair back, swallowing. 

"Yeah, when we first met? You probably don't remember him, but"-

Nick rubbed his chin. "Oh right, that guy." 

A moment of silence. "Yeah. He's coming to stay in LA for a bit I guess. No idea why, but Gabi wants to do this dinner thing, and obviously, we don't have to go, but"-

"No, that's cool with me," Nick said simply, leaning against the couch. "I don't mind going at all if you want."

"Ok, sure, cool." I smiled but bit the inside of my cheek. What if Van didn't want to see me? What would he say about Nick? Would Nick sense any awkwardness? Again, this would be if Van didn't tell Gabi not to invite me because I was a bitch of epic proportions. But he probably didn't think that?

Maybe?

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I knew this was a mistake the minute I stood outside Gabi's apartment door grasping onto Nick's hand with a box of cookies in the other. Nick was the one who knocked, and Gabi answered thank god. I'm not sure what my stomach would have done if I'd seen Van right off the bat. Probably drop the cookies at least.

Gabi opened the door wide to let us through. And there Van sat with a bottle of beer in one hand and a neutral expression once he saw me walking in. I loosened my grip on  Next to him, his friend leaped off the couch and made his way over to introduce himself. "I'm Larry. Class to meet you Lucia. Van's spoken so well of you."