Ready To Go (17 page)

“Might come in handy later,” she remarked. She glanced at Daniel again. He wondered what she was thinking. He knew what he was thinking—he wanted to get her in that bedroom. Not to lure her to the bed necessarily, but to have time with her without kids around.

He opened the door to the room, and pulled on her hand gently to get her inside. She stepped close to him, and he leaned down slightly to kiss her forehead. “So do you really want to sleep now?”

She gave him a sly smile. “I’d like to go to bed, but not sleep.”

“We gotta be quiet, though,” he said. “You can be a little loud sometimes.”

“And you’re weird and totally silent the whole time,” she retorted. “I can be quiet when I need to. And you’re totally welcome to kiss me to shut me up.”

“I think I’m going to just kiss you anyway,” he replied. He did then, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her towards the bed. He laid down, his legs dangling off the edge of the bed, and Nicole knelt over him.

“We better hope the bed isn’t squeaky,” she murmured. “I am
not
going on the floor.”

“What if we put down blankets?” he suggested. “I mean, you’ve slept on the floor before.”

“No, that was you,” she said. “Remember? I was going to and then we ended up together.” She lightly kissed him, and then smiled.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Feels like we’ve been on this trip for longer than we have. I figured you had to have slept on the floor at one point.” He slid his hand along her side, finally resting it on her rear. “But are we going to talk or?” He let his words trail off.

Nicole kissed Daniel, pressing her body against his lustfully. His hands pulled up the back of her shirt, then rubbed her back, inching up towards the clasp of her bra. One hook, two hooks, and damn. The third was stuck.

She abruptly pulled away. “This isn’t working.”

“Yeah, could you just get that last hook?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not what I meant. I don’t know if I want to do this with you anymore. No, that’s not what I mean either.”

“What
do
you mean?” he asked. He felt bad for her, but his blood wasn’t exactly going to his head at the moment, so it wasn’t easy to think. “Do you not want to have this almost sex tonight? Just go to sleep?”

“I don’t want to be friends.” She sat back and hung her head in her hands. “God, I can’t say it right! I don’t want to be
just
friends. I can’t handle never talking to you again once this is over. I know I’m the one who set up this idea, but I really want you around now.”

“So, what exactly do you want?” he asked. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away.

“I want to be your girlfriend,” she said. “I don’t need you to stay in California with me, but I need to be able to talk to you, tell you how I’m doing there, and I definitely need more kisses.”

He leaned towards her and gently kissed her. As their lips were touching, he considered her idea. He ended the kiss, but kept his head resting against hers, his lips brushing hers, and he said, “No.”

She quickly stood up from the bed, getting away from him. “No? What was that kiss for, then?”

“Because I like things like they are,” he said. “I can’t do long distance, but this, us right now, I can do this. I thought you were okay with it too.”

“I’m not,” she said. “I can’t be so close to you, feeling like we’re a couple, and then it suddenly ends and we never talk. You can do that?”

He gave a slight grin. “I never said we’d stop talking. Of course I want to stay friends after this. You’re great. You’re the only person my age who won’t talk about medicine or science. I need that.”

Nicole sat on the bed again. “Promise that we’ll still talk?”

He kissed her. “Is that good enough, or do I need to say it?”

“You need to say it.” She smiled at him. “I know it, but I want to hear it.”

“I promise. We’ll be friends,” he said. He kissed her again, and she slid closer to him, this time pressing herself against him. He had never thought that he’d completely lose her after this. This whole trip had been so crazy, he’d forgotten about the fact they would inevitably part. And even though he’d told Nicole they’d stay in touch like she should have known that, he had to admit it comforted him to say it aloud.

Nicole lay down, and he followed, facing her. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his shoulder. She didn’t kiss him, she just stayed close to him for a moment. “This is nice,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” he said. “But I kind of really want to do you.”

She rolled her eyes, and lightly smacked him on the back of his head. “Not happening. You know that.”

“Go down on me?” he suggested with a grin. The serious mood was broken, and he really was eager to get off.

“Return the favor, and I’ll try not to vomit on you,” she bargained. She reached to her back and finally unhooked that last hook. He eagerly stripped her of her shirt and that damn bra, while she tugged on his own shirt. That came off too.

His hands brushed against her skin. She gasped and bit her lip to keep herself silent. She reached for him, and he kept as quiet as always. The two pressed together, both trying not to think about the eventual end of this.

Another thought occurred to Daniel, and he suddenly said, “Is it weird that we’re doing this on someone else’s bed?”

“Shut up, don’t think about it,” she mumbled. “And don’t stop this now, I was so close.”

He returned to his actions. She tried to stay silent, but wasn’t very good at it.

Some time later, neither knew exactly how long, the two had made their way beneath the covers. Daniel twisted Nicole’s hair between his fingers. “You’re so pretty.”

“So are you,” she replied sleepily. She cracked open one eye. “I mean, handsome. Hot. Whatever. Choose a word, you look good.”

He laughed, just a low chuckle. “I’m okay with being pretty.”

“I think I wanna sleep now,” she said, her words already slurring as she was drifting into sleep.

“Okay,” he murmured. He kissed her cheek as she shut her eyes.

Part of him wished that he’d said okay to changing what they had. He wished he could handle a long distance relationship. He knew if she was only just an hour away, in the next state, he’d be okay with it. But California to Pennsylvania? It just wasn’t possible. They would see each other maybe once a year. It wasn’t enough.

But if they stayed friends, that was enough. He could hope for hooking up the rare times they met in person. They could talk. He could still make sure that she was doing okay. And it was fine to care about her that much because they were friends. It wasn’t weird to want to keep a friend from living on the street, was it? And it didn’t make it weirder if he was sleeping with this friend?

He rested his head on the pillow, still watching the sleeping girl. She really was great. It would be okay to imagine the relationship they couldn’t have. He could think about what it would be like if they returned to Pennsylvania together, and they lived together, and actually had sex, and how nice it would be to be together with no end date. His daydreams turned to actual dreams, and he was asleep.

In the middle of the night, one of the girls started crying. The sound woke Daniel, but he turned over in the bed, and figured Aaron would handle it. Let the guy take care of his own kids for once. But the girl kept crying and soon Nicole was climbing out of bed and putting her clothes on again.

“What are you doing?” Daniel murmured. When did she even wake up?

“Kids are crying,” she replied, as if he hadn’t heard. “I guess taking care of them at three in the morning is part of our job. Don’t know why their dad can’t do it now, he
can’t
still be working.”

“Want help?” he asked.

“Go back to sleep.” She left the room. Daniel could hear her voice, muffled and soft, telling the girls a story. It was something about a princess, but he couldn’t make out much more than that. He soon drifted to dreamless sleep again and never noticed Nicole nestling herself beside him.

The next morning, the two were awoken by a knock on the door. The little girls were leaving and wanted to say goodbye to their babysitters. Aaron wanted that goodbye to happen before his ex-wife showed up.

Nicole was still dressed from when she’d gotten up in the middle of the night, so she was the one to collect the money from Aaron. Daniel stayed behind and packed up her suitcase for her.

“We got a hundred and ten,” she said when she re-entered the guest room. “And he said something about how he’s really a good father, just having a hard time. I think he really needed us.”

Daniel just nodded. “Are we leaving now?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied. “We got paid, but the guy really wants us to go now. So we need to say goodbye to the girls and then get out before his ex is here.”

He nodded, and zipped up the suitcase. “Let’s go. I want my car back.”

They headed downstairs and waved goodbye to the two little girls eating breakfast. They excitedly waved back, but then decided their food was much more interesting.

Nicole and Daniel actually ran away from the house, as they could see a car coming down the street and didn’t want to get involved between Aaron and his ex-wife. Nicole carried her suitcase in her arms so she could keep running. As soon as they had left the neighborhood and reentered the town, which wasn’t too far away, she set that suitcase down and slowed to a walk. Daniel also slowed his pace.

“Where are we?” he asked. “Is this the town?”

“Yeah, that’s where we had breakfast yesterday,” she replied, pointing to a nearby restaurant. “And the other side of town has the mechanic. Still a pretty far walk.”

“Then let’s stop for breakfast first,” he said. “Since I kind of threw out my sandwich yesterday. I’d still like to try one. And we can afford it now.”

She nodded. “Not a five star meal, but yeah, we can afford a couple of breakfast sandwiches. Let’s go. And then get your car back and get
out
of here!”

He grinned, and replied, “I like that idea.”

The sandwiches they got at the restaurant were identical to what they’d had the day before. Not surprising. It was a fast food place, they probably had them frozen in the back and just had to microwave them.

“This isn’t bad,” Daniel said when they sat down and began eating. “I’ll probably never have one of these again, but it’s definitely edible.”

Nicole smiled. “Edible. Good word to describe it.”

“So, do you have the money?” he asked with his mouth full.

She pulled the wad of bills out of her pocket. “One hundred ten. Worth it, right?”

“Definitely,” he replied. He took the money and spread it across the table, counting each bill. “Wait, this is only ninety.”

“Some of them are sticky,” she said, reaching to one of the bills and sliding it to show there were two there. “The guy counted it in front of me. It’s definitely good.”

“All right,” he said. “Kind of weird that he carries so much in cash.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got two hundred in cash in my suitcase right now.” She paused and glanced around the restaurant. “And now I’m thinking I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”

“Relax,” he said. “No one’s going to steal your money. And if they try, I know where to stab people to kill them instantly.”

“Oh, so med school is actually useful?” she teased.

He smirked at her. “You don’t think doctors are useful? But that was actually from an old movie.”

“Well, yeah,” she said. “But it doesn’t really take that much school to be a doctor, does it?”

“It kind of does,” he replied, laughing. “I need to know literally everything about the human body. I need to know every common disease there is so I can diagnose them all. If anything, the four years of getting my bachelor’s before med school were useless.”

“Okay,” she said. “I guess that makes sense. You actually enjoy memorizing all that stuff?”

He shrugged. “It’s just what I do. I’m going to be a doctor, I need to learn a lot. That’s all there is to it.”

“So, you don’t like it,” she guessed.

“Of course not. It’s a lot of work and a lot of facts I’ll probably never need to use, plus there’s no guarantee I’d actually get a job as a doctor just because I graduate. It’s hardly worth it, but my parents are paying. Or, were.” He crumpled up the wrapper for his sandwich. “Anyway, I’m done. You want to go get the car now?”

She nodded. She stood and took the trash to the garbage can, and then headed out the door. Daniel followed with her suitcase.

“So after we get the car, do you think we can make it to LA today?” Nicole asked as they walked.

“Yeah, easily,” he replied. “Maybe eight or nine hours of driving, but I think we’ll definitely make it there tonight. You’ll be sleeping in your new home.”

“You know I’m probably only staying there until I find my own place,” she said. “It’s not a home.”

“I know,” he said. “Oh, I should probably call Ethan, let him know we’re almost there.”

“You have the number of a long lost friend that you had to find on Facebook?” she asked incredulously.