It had been one hell of a weekend for Nick. That was saying something considering the blowup and revelations from his sister the weekend before. Between that and the past few days, the upcoming desert camping trip was something he was sorely looking forward to. He wasn’t sure about inviting everyone, but had done so anyway, with no idea how his old group of buddies — Rick, Matt and Jacob — would get along with Billy, Danny, or Joseph. Thinking about the last two still made him a little grumpy, but he was putting up with it for the sake of work, at least for now. Hopefully, things would smooth out sooner rather than later.
Complicating matters, he felt pulled in too many directions, though talking to Billy earlier that evening had helped somewhat. He hadn’t lied about any of it either — there was Liv, Shauna (which could affect Liv), Cindy, lingering feelings for his exes, work, school, Brandon’s wants and Danny’s mom…it was a lot. Of course, there was the upcoming meeting with Ryan that Billy was going to arrange, and he had no idea how that would go down, or if it even would. Different dangers at different levels was a thought that passed through his mind.
The easiest thing to do, he surmised, would be to drop out of school. Music wasn’t something he needed a degree for — just some talent. Besides, he was already stage one certified for music tech, and any sort of career in the field, well, there would be time to work on that. For now, he had his job at the Montecito that was paying well, and he was going to be getting some kind of salary or another from Brandon for the work he was doing for him. Beyond that, he had a few small investments and his benefits, so it wasn’t like he was hurting for a way to support himself at all. Sitting down, he took a look over his course load before making a final decision to drop his classes. It would free up his time for other things anyway, especially now that his schedule as security personnel wasn’t going to be so lenient. One problem down, a handful more to go.
Chase whined at him then, and he looked down, apologizing to the dog for forgetting it was walk time. He took Chase out to do his business and run around a little, before taking him back inside to give him his dinner, then picked through what he had in the fridge for himself, but wasn’t terribly hungry. What to do about the other things on his plate was primary on his mind as he moved from the kitchen to the living room.
With Liv, he knew he couldn’t control her, or Shauna. He could just try to be as supportive as possible, and hope they’d be alright. Knowing this didn’t stop him from worrying, but he was going to try and not worry too much about things out of his control. He knew they were going to a party that weekend, but he couldn’t remember what night, and he was headed camping. He wanted to be available in case he was needed, but Billy said the guy hosting it wasn’t a bad sort. Still, it was the other people he should worry about. Mulling it over, he figured he’d just let Liv know he was camping this weekend but would still be reachable if needed.
Cindy he didn’t know what to do about either. He liked her well enough, but he was still pretty hung up on Alyssa. Come to think of it, when was the last time he had heard from her? With a frown he got up, heading to his computer. He just needed to know, needed to check on her and make sure she was alright. Sitting down, he pulled up his email and set to writing her. Nothing special or grand — just enough to let her know how he was doing, that he’d gotten a job at one of the casinos, and then ask how she was, let her know he missed her, and to touch base when she could. Cindy could, maybe, continue, though he wouldn’t feel right about progressing without being up front. He’d mentioned before he still wasn’t quite over his ex, he thought, so maybe a reminder before too much else happened would be best.
Ryan would have to wait and see if it happened, let alone when; Brandon’s thing was going to take time, but he should try to get more info in the meantime. He felt like it was important to have an ear to the vampire community somehow, and right now the LARP seemed like the best bet. With the LARP coming to mind, he dug through his things until he found the Edgelord guy’s business card, and emailed him to talk shop, under the same pretense of just generally enjoying folklore and myth, and ask for those books to check out. Continuing to go to the LARP he didn’t hold issue with — it was more of a problem if Joseph was going to pull the same stunt or not, and he severely hoped not, or Joseph was likely to be left on his own next time.
As for Danny’s mom…hell, he had no idea. Magic? Way too out of his league. He batted at something flying around his face. There was that too…this fucking…fairy vision, or whatever it was. Feeling more stressed then he had initially, he moved from his desk off to the other end of the room, picking up his guitar and playing a stray tune he’d partially written, though he lacked lyrics for it. Closing his eyes, if only partially, helped center him, calm him enough so that he could sleep later.
When he reopened his eyes, he saw some scattered fairy things watching and sighing happily. He’d take it as approval for the performance, and said a thanks before calling it a night. A few light stretches before changing, he climbed in and began to relax. Chase nosed his way into the room and took up residence on the floor next to the bed and went to sleep. Meanwhile, Nick dreamed.