The house was quiet after Billy had gone to bed, having chosen to sleep in his man cave rather than in the bedroom that had yet to be repaired from earlier that day. Nick let Chase out one final time before heading upstairs to try for sleep himself. It had been an interesting enough day, with just enough things to keep his curiosity piqued, that he couldn’t manage to fall asleep right away. Interestingly, the gun leveled at his head earlier in the evening wasn’t really among those thoughts.
Mostly, he thought about the whole odd ordeal with Jett regarding Marcus. Was any of it even true? What exactly had Marcus said to him? What, if anything, was Vince going to do?
He rolled over in bed, punching the pillow a little in an attempt to get comfortable as he thought. His mind would try to run through what-if style scenarios if he were able to talk to Marcus, but he’d often find the thoughts interrupted by the memory of a pair of pretty green eyes. After failing to get his mind back on track, he rolled over onto his back and stared through the darkness up at the ceiling. Chase whined a little, sensing his restlessness, and moved, nudging his nose up under a free hand to make sure Nick was alright. The gesture was met with pets, and Chase thumped his tail a couple of times before settling up more pronounced against Nick.
Min was intriguing, that was for sure.
When he opened the door, it hadn’t escaped his notice that she was pretty, with an interesting sense of style that sort of made her stand out. He’d initially dismissed her, thinking she were with Jason – a thought that was enforced by her worry over helping him and the others with Kauffman. He still hadn’t quite figured out why he was so concerned with apologizing to her and having her accept it – he just felt that it was something that needed to happen, so they could be friends.
He looked over toward his nightstand for a moment, then fumbled for his phone, wondering if she’d responded to his earlier text. He squinted after turning it on, the brightness stinging his eyes in the midst of the dark. No response yet. He found himself being a little sad, and after a moment of thinking, freed his other hand from Chase so he could text. He was about to text Min again – thought with what, he wasn’t sure yet – but he paused. It was late, and he didn’t want to wake her. Instead, he switched to the partner group text he shared with Ryan and Alyssa to text them, not expecting to hear from them until morning.
Hey guys – sorry if this wakes you or disturbs you at work or whatever. I should be mentioning this in person, but I wanted to mention it now while it’s on my mind. I’ve found someone that intrigues me, and I’ve asked her out. We’re still good, but I wanted to be up front with you guys. That whole open communication about our relationship thing. Love you both, and talk to you soon.
He’d just pressed send, when he got a notification. It was Min. Smiling, he pulled up her message to read it. Two more came in quick succession after he was done reading, and he read over all three as a whole before working on a response.
“oh! you’re fine, I’m not sleeping. sort of struggling tbh. hope you’re doing better than me and able to close your eyes after everything that happened tonight.”
” don’t worry tho. totally fine here. I might try to play hooky tomorrow, so I would love to come shopping with you and maybe get some lunch. you’re choice tho, I’m afraid I don’t wander too far from campus.”
“I’m glad you’re okay… I have a feeling you’re a tough person, but… I can’t imagine I would stay very calm with a gun pointed at me.”
He just couldn’t help but smile. Maybe that was the real reason he was so intrigued – not her looks or her worry, but the fact she worried about him before even knowing him, that she’d been willing to try and help him, even after he’d inadvertently scared her so much earlier in the day.
Struggling to sleep myself. A lot happened today, but I think I’m getting used to this pattern. If you can make up the classwork, just skip – it’s not like uni is high school, the professors don’t typically care. Let me know when you’d like to be picked up, and where.
He thought about addressing the last part, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he wrote back.
Try to get some sleep now, if you can. I will too – I have a feeling I’m going to need it to keep up with your shopping 😉 – sweet dreams.
Smiling a little more, and his mind feeling a little more settled, he set the phone back down and worked on finding a comfortable position, so he could get that sleep.