Well the awkwardness that I felt every time Brian and I were in the same room together, continued for awhile. Here we are a month later and I still feel uncomfortable around him. I wish I didn't though because I thought we were going to become great friends. The wish came true last night. I finally got over my odd feeling. My bed is placed next to the wall between his room and my room. When I turned off my radio and laid down, I could hear him playing guitar and singing a beautiful song. After a minute, I couldn't stand it any longer, I wanted to see him play. So I got out of bed and went to his door. I was wearing a gray tank top and black boy cut underwear (it doubles as spandex shorts,) but I figured, hey! I've already practically flashed him. That little incident with the see-through white tank top must have prepared him. In fact, he probably thinks I'm skanky. But once he gets to know me, he'll see that I'm not. I mean, sure I've had myself a good time, but that's what college is for. My sophomore year (keep in mind that I was a year ahead,) I went too far with someone I thought I loved. After that, I had a few skanky nights, but nothing that ever meant anything. I guess you could say that I'm growing because I'm learning that it doesn't matter what people think about you. But, it does matter what your friends think about you. Kota was so understanding about my meaningless sexual encounters, and she's the only person whose opinion I value right now. Hopefully, I'll develop better guy-friend relationships over the next six months. If not, I'm giving up on men forever. So continuing, I, without a moment's hesitation, quietly opened the door so as not to disturb Brian in the middle of his song. I was unprepared for the sight I was beheld. There was Brian sitting on the edge of his bed, still singing and playing the guitar, with only a pair of blue cotton boxers on. He kept his eyes closed through the whole entire song and I could see the emotion on his face with every word. When he finished the song, he opened his eyes and was surprised to see me there.
"Skylar, hi." It was kind of comical because we were both minimally dressed, yet we were totally fine with this state of undress (probably because it was so late and we were delirious.)
"I'm sorry that I didn't knock, I didn't want to disturb you but I could hear you through the wall and had to come watch, too." I said.
"No problem. I'm sorry if I prevented you from falling asleep. I mean, I really didn't think about my actions beforehand." he said in an apologetic tone.
"Listen to you! It's not a big deal. I'm not like some teacher who's going to scold you. Your music was just so beautiful that I wanted more," I said, laughing.
"Really? You liked that song?" he questioned.
"Liked it? I loved it! Is this from one of your albums or something? I mean, Whew!, you totally blew me away. I'm amazed at how you just... you just... God, you sound wonderful." I exclaimed. Brian blushed and noticing this, smiled which revealed his gorgeous dimples.
"I wrote that song. I never actually intended for anyone to hear it. It was just my way of getting through some problems: set 'em to music!"
"Well, I'm sorry that I invaded your privacy, it was" I started to apologize.
"Oh, no. Really, this was good. Compliments are nice." he laughed. With that, we struck up a real conversation and talked about just about everything under the moon. It was the weirdest thing talking to a guy about personal stuff, but it was so relieving to hear Brian's points of view. We had lots of similar stories to tell, except mine were just stories and his had been made into beautiful songs. We laughed, we cried, we fell asleep talking. It was odd because it reminded me of the old days when Kota and I would spend the night at eachother's house. Brian was leaning up against his bed and I was laying on the floor with one of his pillows. We were now buddies, and I really like that. Then it dawned on me, I totally forgot about the kissing incident and now I didn't care about it.
Dakota:
"Hey Nerd!" AJ called, flopping down on the couch next to me and then trying to grab the remote from me.
"I don't think so, buddy," I said, messing up his hair. "Oh look, it's transsexuals telling their neighbors that they're having an affair with their dog," I laughed, pointing to the tv where some trashy daytime talk show was on.
"Oh this is my favorite one! The dogs get really mad," AJ joked and I started laughing hysterically for some reason. I guess I just find AJ really funny and he's totally a great guy. We've become great friends and he's my protector. While I was laughing so hard, AJ grabbed the remote from me.
"I do not think so!" I yelled and then jumped on him trying to get the remote back. We wrestled for a bit, each trying to keep the remote control, and we ended up on the ground. Both laughing our asses off.
"You're pretty strong, kiddo," he replied and gave me a light punch on the shoulder.
"Kiddo? AJ, you're two years older then me. It's not that big of a difference." I straightened myself up and then got off the ground. I looked over at the tv which oddly landed on the Spanish channel. Oh boy. Bad high school memory flashback.
"Yes, but two years are two years. And I'm older so I can boss you around. You must listen to every word I say," AJ said, trying to sound all superior. It didn't work though because I just laughed in his face.
"You're funny, Bone." I grabbed his sunglasses off his face and then put them on. "Look at me. I'm AJ. I'm the bad boy," I said, strutting around the room.
"Oh, that's real cute," he replied sarcastically. He came up behind me, lifted me up by the waist and we fell back onto the couch, where I was now sitting on his lap. "I'm not going to let you go until you give me back my sunglasses."
"AJ! Let me go!" I shrieked, trying to get away, but he was much stronger then me. During my struggle, I heard someone walk into the room and then they cleared their throat. I looked up to see Nick, standing there, looking upset. AJ quickly let me go and I skipped over to Nick. "Hi, Nick," I smiled giving him a kiss on the cheek, but he didn't return the smile. He just stared viciously at AJ and hastily snatched the sunglasses off my face, throwing them onto the couch.
"Nick? What's wrong?" AJ questioned, realizing the tension that suddenly appeared in the room.
"Baby, Sky needs to see you in the other room," Nick said quickly, like he couldn't get me out of the room fast enough. I gave AJ a questioning look and then turned back to Nick.
"What's going on?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist, but he pushed me away.
"Dakota, please go," Nick snapped.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later," I replied, unsure of what just happened and walked out of the room. Still curious of what was going on, I hid behind the door and listened to everything that they said.
Nick:
I just stared at AJ, not able to actually form any words that would make sense. I was so angry and he seemed to not know why.
"Nicky? What's wrong?" AJ asked, calmly.
"You don't know what's off limits, do you? She's my girlfriend AJ!" I finally yelled, not being able to keep quiet any longer.
"Whoa, what? Kota's my friend....."
"Yeah, you did seem pretty damn friendly with her. AJ, I know how you are.....always looking for the next girl to take to bed. Kota, doesn't realize this though, she's naive. But I know how you are. I've seen you with the multiple girls that go in and out of your room. Just leave Dakota alone," I spit and started walking closer and closer to him.
"You've got to calm down, Nick. This is insane! She's my friend. I think of her as a little sister, nothing more. Why are you getting so worked up about this?" He must not understand. He's always looking for a pretty face and he's been upset that I got Dakota ever since we got here.
"How can you lie to me when I know the truth?"
"What the hell do you want me to say? That she's so damn hot and I want her body? Cause that's not...."
"You asshole!" I leaped towards him and punched him as hard as I could, that's when I heard Dakota scream.
Dakota:
What on earth is going on between them? Why is Nick getting so jealous? AJ and I are friends, nothing more. I just couldn't believe it, I saw Nick punched AJ which caused me to scream a little. They started an all out brawl in the living room and not knowing what else to do, I ran into the kitchen where Sky, Kevin, and Brian were talking.
"Kevin, Brian.... Nick and AJ are fighting! I need your help to pull them apart," I said kinda spazing. We all ran back to where the guys were fighting. Kevin picked Nick up and threw him on the couch while Brian tried to hold AJ back.
"What happened?" Sky whispered to me.
"Nick was accusing AJ of secretly liking me. Something like that...." Sky's eyes popped out and me. I just shrugged, not quite sure of the situation either.
"What's this about guys?" Kevin asked.
"AJ's going after Kota," Nick stated, holding his lips which was bleeding a little. Obviously AJ punched him. I ran into the kitchen, got some baggies and ice, and then ran back to the living. I tossed AJ an ice pack and then sat next to Nick. I cleaned his lip up and then held the ice while I rubbed my hand against his cheek.
"Why do you think AJ's going after Ki?" Kevin asked again.
"Because....well.....they're together a lot and they're constantly joking around. Then today I walked in on them. AJ was holding Kota and I don't know..... It just doesn't look too much like friendship."
"Sweetie, we're just friends. Nothing more. What you saw earlier, well we were fighting over the remote. You're the only one for me," I smiled and kissed him on the forehead.
"I trust you, baby. It's just...." he stopped and gave AJ a dirty look. I could tell that there was still tension, but I ignored it.
"Come on, let's go up stairs." I helped, Nick off the couch and lead him up to his room. When Nick passed AJ, he grunted a bit and then wrapped his arms around me. Why do guys have to be so stupid sometimes? I opened the door to his room and then sat on his bed. He shut the door and jumped a little seeing the expression on my face. I was mad. "That was totally uncalled for! AJ's your friend, just like he's my friend. I've never seen you that insanely jealous before and honestly I don't like it. If you're going to punch every guy I'm friends with, this just isn't going to work," I yelled and then started pacing the room. My anger was rising so much that I almost stormed out of the room, but I was stopped. Nick came behind me. He spun me around to where I was facing him and he wrapped his arms around me.
"I don't know what got into me. You're special Dakota and I don't want anyone to take you away from me. Right now you're the most important person in my life and I just didn't want to see you hurt. AJ's my friend and I've seen him flirt with a lot of girls. I didn't want you to be one of his girls that he uses and then dumps," he stuttered a little while he said this because he was obviously nervous.
"Nick, listen to me. AJ and I.....We are just friends. He's the big brother I've never had. Period, end of story. You....well you...." I stopped talking because for once I was at loss for words. Nick was something I couldn't explain. It's just...He's mine. I know you can't own a person and that's not what I mean. He's just mine in the sense that I can trust him not to pass bad judgements on me and not to hurt me. I'm trusting him with a lot now and the weird thing is, I'm not scared about it. The silence must have been getting to Nick because he just lifted my fact to look him in the eyes. He stared contently and then smiled.
"I love you." Whoa...WHAT?! I'm just waiting for someone to jump on and say 'You're on Candid Camera', but no one did. He can't be for real. We've only been dating for like a month or so.
"Wow," I blurted out still in shock. Nick was still smiling though and he held me a little tighter.
"You don't have to say it back now. I know you probably don't feel the same way. It's just....I had to tell you. You're the one for me," Nick said sincerely and then leaned down to kiss me. Love.....this brings this whole thing to a different level. A level I'm not sure I'm ready for.