Risking it All

8

When 5:00 came around, I took a shower and got dressed. I was shaking. But when I put on my favorite black pants and sparkly blue shirt, I heard a knocking at the door. And then, my dad calling me. "Mackenzie," he yelled. "Come down here." I froze. I seriously couldn't move. It's just Nick, I told myself. I took a deep breath and walked down the hallway to the kitchen.
Standing in front of the doorway was Nick, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. Well, at least he was dressed casually. His guitar was slung over his shoulder. Mom walked up to him and said, "It's nice to meet you, Nick." She smiled at him and shook his hand. She was really nice about it though, so was Dad. They were smiling at Nick and were treating him very nicely. As he set his guitar down by the fridge, Mom said, "You guys go relax. Dinner will be in about twenty minutes." I walked over to the fridge. "Would you like a drink?" I asked. Nick smiled and said, "Yes thank you." I pulled a bottle of Diet Coke out of the fridge and poured it into two tall glasses. I also grabbed a lime and lemon and slices both into four wedges. I motioned Nick to follow me outside.
The warm, June air felt relaxing as Nick and I walked onto the patio. We sat down on the porch swing. "So," I said as I put the glasses on the patio table. "Do you take lemon or lime in your soda?"
"Oh lime of course," Nick replied as he reached for one and plopped it in his drink. I made a face. "Ew," I said. "How can you like limes?" He laughed. "I hate lemons," he said. "They're so sour. Limes aren't any better, but at least they have more flavor in my option." As Nick started talking about his opinion about which citrus fruit he liked better, I started laughing. Nick stopped talking and asked me, "Why are you laughing?" Giggling, I said, "Because we're having a conversation about limes." As we sat there, debating if lemons or limes are better, I found myself staring into his eyes again. We didn't talk for what seemed like infinity, but it was almost a minute. His eyes just hypnotized me and seemed to fall back into time before I heard Mom calling us for dinner. Nick sat up and held his hand out to mine. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Are you coming?" he asked. Without thinking, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me off the swing and escorted me back to the house.
When we got back into the kitchen, my parents were already sitting down. I was still holding Nick's hand, not in that way, but it was enough for Mom to raise her eyebrows and slightly smile at me. I could tell she was trying not to make it seem to obvious. As we walked to the table, Nick pulled my chair out for me and I sat down. He then grabbed his own chair and we began eating. Chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans were piled up neatly on my plate. I pushed my food around for a little until Dad started the conversation. "So Nick," he said. "How long have you've been playing guitar?" Nick took a swig of his Coke before answering. "I started with acoustic for six years and have been playing electric for three." Dad seemed impressed. "Wow," he said. "You know I was in a band in high school and-"
"Oh my God, Dad," I said, shaking my head. Mom started laughing. Nick just smiled and asked Dad questions about his high school band experience. Then that brought up the story about how they were booed off stage during junior prom. Everyone started laughing by then. "Well," Nick said. "From what I've seen, your daughter also has a talent for music." Blushing, I just took a bite of my bread. Nick continued to explain to my dad about my performance last night. The more he talked, the more heat rushed up to my face. The rest of dinner consisted of everyone talking about my singing career. I've never noticed how polite Nick can be. It's like there's two sides of him. There's the good guy side of Nick, who seems to kiss up to adults and show how polite he is. Kind of like when he plays acoustic guitar. Then there's the wild, crazy side, when he's playing electric guitar and jamming out. And I don't know which side I like better.
When dinner was done, Nick picked up his guitar and he and I went into my room. I was surprised Mom didn't have a panic attack. In my room, Nick sets his guitar by my bed and walks over to all my CDs. "What type of music do you like?" he asks. He flips through different genres of music, whether it being Lorde, Taylor Swift, Hunter Hayes, Green Day or Pink Floyd. "Well, I don't just like one type," I said. He laughed. "Apparently," he said. I looked over at his guitar. "What kind of music do you play?" I asked. He shrugged. "Anything, really," he replied. He walked over to his guitar and picked it up. "Sing me a song," he said.
"What?" I asked. "Sing me a song," he repeated. I looked around the room, trying to find something simple I could say. Over by my CD case, I noticed Nick took out Lorde's "Pure Heroine." The first song was "Royals," so I decided on it. I had no idea why Nick made me do this, but I did it anyway.
I've never seen a diamond in the flesh. I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies. I'm not proud of my address.
I stopped singing and noticed I was doing it instrumental. "Hold on," I told him. I ran out of my room and into the spare room, or my studio. When I was 15, I asked for a recording set for my birthday. I grabbed the set of sheet music on the stand and ran back to my room. "What's this?" Nick asked when I handed him the sheet music. "It's the song I was singing," I replied. I watched as he read the sheet over and asked, "Do you think you could play it?" Nick nodded. "Yeah," he said. "It might sound a little different though." I nodded. "That's find," I said.
Nick picked up his guitar and started strumming and I started singing along. And every song is like, gold teeth, Grey Goose, tripping in the bathroom. Blood stains, ball gowns, trashing the hotel room. We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams...
Nick started singing with me as we continued. And honestly, we sounded really good. When we were done with the song, Mom walked in. She held a tray of strawberries and whipped cream. She put it down and started clapping. "That was awesome," she said. Nick and I smiled at each other. "You should perform at the coffee shop tomorrow." I gave Nick a look. I've performed in front of people before, but I think it would be awkward for Nick and I to preform together. After all, we've only sang this once. We can't be that good.
Nick looked up at me. "I'll do it if you will," he said. I thought about it. Nick was smiling at me, as if to say, why not? I smiled back. "Let's do it," I said. We sang the song a few more times before Nick left. I walked him to his car. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner Mackenzie," he said when we got outside. "No problem," I told him. We just sat there before he said, "Well, text me tomorrow and I'll pick you up so we can go to the coffee shop, okay?" I nodded and he said, "Goodnight, Mackenzie Marsh." I had to smile at that. "Goodnight, Nicholas Straight."