Always & Forever (Nick & Bailey #2)

2. Bailey

My throat is dry as I suck in breath. I feel sweat running down my back and listen to Nick's racing heart. "You sure know how to make a guy feel welcome."

I look up at him. "Well I have to study tonight, so I thought we should get this taken of first."

He smiles down at me. "I feel honored that I made your 'to-do' list...literally."

I laugh at his stupid joke. "For real though, I haven't even opened up my Psychology book all week. Tonight is going to be a cram session. You'll probably be bored out of your mind."

"I'll help you study." He brushes a strand of hair away from my face. "I guess that's what Abby meant when she said you'd be 'preoccupied' tonight?"

"Yeah..." I answer, confused. "What did you think?"

"Nothing, I guess. It just seemed like she had a tone when she said it. That's all."

I roll my eyes. "You overthink everything."

I throw on some clothes, and within ten minutes, am surrounded by notebooks and study guides. I start sorting my papers and look through my first highlighted note. "Past traumatic events can lead one to adopt misbeliefs. One misbelief can be how one believes others view him or her. When these false beliefs are negative, they become insecurities."

I look up at Nick who is still lying in my bed naked, scrolling through his phone. I've never read anything that describes him so perfectly. He refuses to believe that what I feel for him is genuine, but he's only ever experienced disappointment or rejection in his past—first his dad, then his mom, then his step-dad. It makes me even more determined to show him that I'm never going anywhere.

"Why are you staring at me?" Nick asks, not looking up from his phone.

I smirk, turning back towards my papers. "No reason. I just love you, and I'm excited to get to spend the next month with you."

He looks up at me, smiling back. "Me too. Now you need to study. Let me get dressed. I wouldn't want to distract you."

I laugh. "How very considerate."

He throws on some clothes that he left here after Spring Break and sits next to me on the floor. Before he can say anything, his phone starts ringing. He looks down at it. "It's Ian."

I know what that means. I mimic zipping my lips closed, and Nick answers the call. "Hey, man." There's a few pauses and a few non-committal responses before Nick hangs up. What a typical guy conversation...

"What was that about?" I try to seem uninterested, not looking up from my book. I'm not even sure if I should be asking. I know Ian's my brother, but he's also Nick's best friend. Where is the line between the three of us? This may be more complicated than I realized.

"Nothing. He just wanted to tell me when he's coming home and that's there's going to be party after this year's prom for everyone in our class. I...uh...forgot that you guys have to go to the dance."

"Yeah. I assumed you didn't want to go, so Ian and I are just going with each other." I can visibly see him relax and chuckle, shaking my head. "But we are going to the party. Veronica sent out invites on Instagram weeks ago."

"And why would we go to that?"

"Because I refuse to hide in a hole all summer. I want to see my friends. I haven't seen some of them since last summer!"

"God forbid," Nick says sarcastically.

"You know what? You're right. You stay home. I'll go by myself." I bluff.