An SK Kind of Wedding

Chapter 3

From that time on, we had become friends. Oh, he actually bought It, and to date, the girl hasn't finished the book because she said it was just too frightening for her. So, no third date.

We never planned our meetings. He'd just be somewhere I said I would be at the same time. And it wasn't creepy at all. I would also find myself somewhere he said he would be. Nothing deliberate on both our parts. We just happened to frequent the same places, and to be honest, I looked forward to "bumping into him."

We would message each other and call each other almost every day, but again it was nothing major. Mostly random thoughts, sharing, and musings. We just genuinely liked talking to each other. When we ran out of things to talk about, we would talk about books, mostly SK's.

After weeks of the random meetings, we agreed on our first real meet-up. No one said the word date. He came over to my apartment bringing take-out food, drinks, and most important, a hard drive with all the movies and TV series made inspired by SK's books.

We started at 7:00 pm, and by 7:00 am the next day, we were still at it. My eyes were raw from lack of sleep; and my living room was filled with discarded food packages, bottles of beer, and alco-pop. Nick's arms were around me, my head leaning on his chest, our bodies comfortably tucked in together on the couch. It just felt so safe.

"Breakfast?" he asked as the credits of The Shining rolled up the screen.

I tried to move, and my entire body complained. I could actually hear my bones crack.

Nick laughed. Then my stomach grumbled.

"I take that as a yes."

"Oh, dear lord, I can't believe we did that!"

"What?"

"Watch nonstop! Did we even have to watch both movie versions of Carrie?"

"Yes, we needed to! We needed to see both versions of the story where your name originated from!"

"You're such a nerd!" I said, swiping at his glasses, which dropped to the couch. It was true, I inherited my love for SK from my mom, and she did name me after that character. Talk about weird.

Nick smiled at me, his eyes without glasses, looking very tired.

Gosh, he is so cute.

"Can we turn our phones on now?" I asked. We agreed to no distractions during the marathon.

"Sure."

I turned on my phone and saw my notifications.

Twelve calls.

Twelve messages.

One of each, every hour, the messages escalating in anger and threats.

Kurt.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I started shaking. The tears ran down my cheeks.

I felt Nick's arms around me, and I crumpled into his embrace. We stayed that way until I got myself under control. But even then, I didn't let go. Because it felt good. It felt good to be in the arms of a man with whom I didn't feel frightened. It felt good to just enjoy the warmth and safety of Nick's arms. I felt his hands travel from my back to my neck, then he slowly raised my face, his hands cupping my jaw. Then, I was looking into his eyes.

He smiled the smile that I loved.

Damn it . . . I loved . . .

Before I finished the thought, Nick kissed me.