After the disaster at Joseph’s, Nick checked with his parents about dropping by to bring Liv home, as well as to visit for a few (this last part being to drop his sister off sooner though). He wasn’t really in the mood for a visit, but it, coupled with the need to take Liv home, was as good an excuse as any to leave. With Danny opening her mouth specifically after his mentioning he wasn’t comfortable mentioning his dating to anyone yet, Joseph antagonizing his younger sister, and his sister’s revelations, he was far from being in a socializing mood.
He collected Chase, then made the drive to his parent’s place. He didn’t talk much, and when Liv asked, he just told her that he had a lot to process, though did ask her to please not mention his date with Cindy to their parents just yet. Mom and Dad were happy to see him as usual, and he put up as much normalcy as he could muster. Eventually, however, he just mentioned he’d had a long day, and had wanted to give them a gift. Handing over a check for $3500, he told them he’d made a few good investments, so wasn’t hurting and to please take it. After Liv had left the room, he’d hinted that Liv was old enough to stay on her own for a night or two, so they could have a getaway, and that he could always check up on her.
Climbing back into his truck, he just…drove. He hadn’t exactly been lying when he said he’d had a long day — two meetings with everyone else, a long meeting with Brandon, plus school and socializing at work. It was a lot more than what he’d been used to doing, and with this evening’s antics? Well, he just wanted to work out some frustration. Not many gyms were open, and he didn’t want to cause a scene due to his enhanced strength. He wasn’t sure that any of the firing ranges were open this late either. Instead, he headed out of town and into the desert, pulling off-road when the city was a not too distant view in his rearview mirror, and just sat in the truck. A mere moment later, he grabbed a bottle of water he had in the truck and headed out into the night air to sit in the bed of the truck and stare up at the night sky for a while.
When things were bad, something like this tended to help, at least a little. So he just sat for a while, looking at the larger picture and taking the occasional drink from his water bottle. Chase would occasionally whine and nudge his nose under Nick’s arm, and he would pet the dog. When his water was getting low, he climbed out of the bed of the truck and back in, turning the car toward the city, but more specifically, home.
He made every effort he could to avoid thinking about things until he got home and settled. The first thing he did was take Chase to take care of business before heading in, take off the dog’s vest, and feed him. Next, he looked over any homework he had before heading to his little office/recording studio set up, picked up his guitar, and just plucked out a tune while he unpacked his thoughts, in reverse problematic order.
The first was of the revelations his sister had made that night — most notably that she wasn’t a virgin. It wasn’t so much that that bothered him, as much as it was the fact that she’d slept with his ex. He got her reasoning…what bothered him most is that he felt like Ryan had betrayed and lied to him, not only by sleeping with his sister, but by not telling him he wasn’t strictly gay. After some mulling over, he decided he could forgive the latter. After all, he was still coming to terms himself with where his sexuality lay. But the other? He wasn’t sure he could forgive, and wasn’t sure how he’d react if he ever saw Ryan again. Maybe he should text Billy and tell him not to bother looking for Ryan anymore.
With a sigh he changed tunes, and turned his thinking to the things Brandon had said. Was Nick’s proposal risky? Yes — yes it was. But it seemed like death was the worst risk to him, and if that’s all it was, was that really so different from being sent to war in a foreign country? In his eyes, based on what he knew, it wasn’t. Even if another vampire wanted to take him as ghoul, and treated him worse, would that really be so different from being a prisoner of war, in that case? Again, he didn’t think so. He wasn’t going to rush into anything though. What he would do, however, was try to glean more from the information Brandon was gathering for him, then scout out the places himself, and see what he felt like he might be able to handle. Presently, that would be much, considering he was still injured from the other night, though he’d been healed up a reasonable amount.
Changing tunes yet again, he thought over his sister’s suggestion that he let her move in so that their parents could have their space. He didn’t think it was much of a joke either, honestly believing that, with everything going on it wasn’t a wise idea to allow it. Granted, if something were to happen to their parents, God forbid, he would look after her, no questions.
Finally, there was Cindy. He really wasn’t sure what to do about her. He liked her; she was his kind of girl so far. Yet he didn’t know if he should even attempt to start a relationship with everything that was going on right now, though it was mostly the vampire stuff that was making him hesitant, just because he was worried about complications. Even so, he wanted to spend more time with her. Even if only so he could correct his regret of not kissing her back, when he’d wanted to. Wanted more, technically. Well – that was one issue settled. He’d ask her out again tomorrow.
After some more idle playing, he set his guitar up before running a hand through his hair. Talking all of this out with someone would be great, but he had no idea who. Liv and Cindy were out just do to them being part of the current mental issues, not to mention they weren’t in the know of the other, and he couldn’t tell them. His buddy Rick was in that last boat too, and it was too late to talk to him anyway by this point. He supposed he could try talking to Billy at some point, he seemed pretty chill. Again though, it was late, so he figured for now he’d do a cooldown workout and shower before calling it a night. Hopefully, he’d sleep well.