This story is based on true events in my wonderful life of d00m…so enjoy my pain. LOVIES!!

Oh…and the title comes from a Mudvayne album, so thankies Mudvayne!! And you know, I don’t own them and all that so mleh. :P

My cell phone rang on my pillow, waking me from sleep, and I reached over and picked it up.

“Hey, babe!” A harshly cheerful voice exclaimed way too loudly on the other end of the line. It was Sara calling to tell me that she wouldn’t be able to make it to Nicole’s New Year’s Eve party after all. It was only going to be me, Joe, and Nick. I fully woke up as that fact hit me, my nerves beginning to grow as I realized that I was going to be alone with him—and that I completely didn’t know how to rollerblade. I slammed my face into my pillow with that thought, cursing the fact that I had never put on a pair of rollerblades in my life, much less skated and not killed and/or embarrassed myself. After repeatedly hitting my head with a pillow, I finally got up and got into the shower to begin getting ready.

--

As one o’clock rolled around, I got myself ready to go to Planet Splash ‘n Play for the party. On the way there, I called Joe’s cell to check when Nick and he were going to get there. Really, though, I just wanted to make sure Nick was going to be there. If he wasn’t, I didn’t want to go. But, Nick was going, so I sighed and entered the building, only to be tackled by a Nicole on wheels (never a good combination). I smiled and wished her a happy birthday and happy New Year’s Eve and proceeded to meet Brittney, one of Nicole’s close friends. Brit and I paid for rollerblades and put them on. After I had successfully gotten mine on (I needed a lot of help), I took Nicole’s hand and stood up. When I didn’t automatically fall, I grinned and laughed, which caused me to tip forwards. I semi-hobbled, mostly hopped, towards the roller rink, where I was handed from girl to girl. After about 30 minutes, I had gotten the basics down and no longer needed to hold on to someone with a full-body hug to stay alive. Even Nicole had fallen more than me.

Nicole rolled up to me after an hour with a grim look on her face. “Where’s Joe?” she demanded, wondering why my boyfriend hadn’t arrived at the time he promised.

I shrugged and replied, “I don’t know if he’s even coming. Him and Nick are supposed to be here, but whatever, it’s not like Joe to keep his word.”

Nicole frowned and was about to call him when her mom announced that pizza had arrived. We both rolled back to the seats and took off our blades, sitting down for pizza. I didn’t eat the slice that was placed in front of me; instead, I joked around and drank mountain dew. As I was getting hyper from the caffeine and causing havoc in the group of girls, two boys entered Planet Splash ‘n Play. I glanced up and my eyes quickly moved past the one with brown hair and a jean jacket to the thin blonde boy who smiled at me when he saw me sitting there. I smiled back at him—my rare, truly happy smile—and quickly glanced away. Nicole was looking at me with a knowing smile, but said nothing. I regained my composure and continued being crazy with friends, but my attention was always following the blonde boy—my Nick who wasn’t mine.

Finally, the boys joined us at the tables after renting skates. Both of them had their attention on me, though probably only because I was acting crazy. Joe stole my pizza and when I got a little too hyper, he quieted me and told me to calm down. Nick, however, stepped in when he saw the look on my face.

“Joe, let her be. She’s fine.”

I smiled up at Nick and offered him some Mountain Dew. He quickly joined in with my hyperness and it ended up with me only paying attention to Nick.

After we finished eating, I followed Nick for a bit, watching him play an arcade game. Britt and I attempted to play “Tomb Raider,” but we ran out of coins, so we made our way back to the rink. After falling once more, both Nick and Joe joined us in the rink. I stopped myself on the wall and they both came over. Joe smiled and placed his hands on my hips, causing my smile to falter. Suddenly, he took off as fast as he could—pushing me in front of him. I yelled at him to stop, but he kept moving until my feet slipped out from under me and fell to the floor. My knees hit first and I cringed in pain. As movement finally stilled and the world stopped spinning, I saw a pair of rollerblades stop by my side and a hand touched my shoulder. His fingertips found my chin and tipped my head up so that my eyes met his concerned green ones.

“You okay?” he asked softly as he held out his hand to help me up. I reached up and tentatively let my fingers brush his hand, sending my stomach whirling with butterflies. The blonde boy’s hand firmly gripped mine and pulled me up to stand next to him. I leaned against him, smelling his heady scent—a mix of skin, sweat, and “right guard”—and he didn’t push me away. Our hands were still semi-laced when Joe came over and pushed Nick away with a warning glance. Joe pretended to care about me, acted like he wanted to take care of me, but I could right through it, so I looked right through Joe’s fake efforts, only keeping my eyes focused on Nick, the one I wanted to be next to me.

--

Brittney grabbed my hand and rolled me into the corner of the rink, begging to talk to me about Nick. She wanted to steal him from Sara, but she knew that I was supposed best friends with her. Brit asked for my permission and I smiled, telling her to go ahead. I told her exactly what to do to get Nick’s attention, and she ran off after Nick, grabbing his hand and stealing his attention while I sat watching.

I sighed and got off of the rink, taking of my skates and talking to Nicole. I was about to tell Nicole that I was going to go home when I saw Nick blading up to me full speed. He smiled and tackled the wide-eyed me, sending us spinning around while I giggled. Nick let go and took in my purely happy face, smiling only for him.

“Dude, come on! Get the blades back on and I’ll show you how to skate,” Nick said as he pulled me by the hand towards the rink. I blinked up at him before hurrying to get on my skates and falling (once again) in the process. We burst out laughing and Nick leaned down to help me up, but this time wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me steady.

He led me out to the rink and showed all the basics, all the while holding me close with a hand on each hip and his chest pressed against my back. I leaned back into him, laughing at something stupid we were talking about, and our eyes locked. The rest of the world seemed erased as I lost all thoughts in his pale sea-green eyes. I could see something hidden in his eyes and I wondered if he knew….

Nick’s eyes glanced over my face, locking on my lips for a moment before moving back up. I bit my bottom lip and stared up at him, willing him to pull me closer. His hands shifted, fully encircling my waist with his palms resting on my stomach, idly tracing patterns on cloth-covered skin.

“What the hell?!” Joe demanded as his voice broke through our reality and sent us spinning away from each other (and unfortunately, me spinning towards a wall . ). He glanced from me to Nick before repeating the question.

“He was teaching me how to rollerblade,” I responded softly, glancing downwards to the floor.

“Shut the fuck up!” Joe yelled at me, and I flinched away, automatically obeying. He glared at Nick and I thought that he was about to punch him when Nicole rolled up, running into the wall to stop.

“What’s up, Joe-Joe?” she asked happily, trying to break some of the tension. He looked at her and sighed.

“Nothing…” Joe said through gritted teeth. Nicole sent me a glance and with one look back, she knew what to say.

“Hey. Don’t get pissed at Cait or Nick, k? I asked Nick to show Caitlin how to skate—or at least keep her from killing herself, so this is my doing. Don’t worry, it’s not like they are having bunny sex in a corner,” Nicole smiled up at Joe and he smiled back, resigning to believe what Nicole said.

Without warning, Brittney ran into Nicole with a loud giggle, and grabbed both Nicole and Nick’s hand, leaving me alone with Joe. I looked after them, and as Nick glanced around, I turned away.

“Come on,” Joe said and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me with him. My balance automatically thrown off, I squealed and flailed about trying to regain it.

“Joe, get off!” I yelled, loud enough for Nick to hear. He turned around and pried Brittney off of him, coming back towards me.

“Dude, you’re getting her off balance. Stop and let her go,” Nick said to Joe as he held out a hand for me to grab before I fell again. I grabbed a hold of Nick as Joe let go to skate with Nicole, leaving Nick with a muttered “fuck you.”

“Thanks…” I smiled shyly up at Nick. “Oh, shit!” I realized that I was still holding his hand and said, “Heh…umm, yeah, I’m sorry that I’m basically killing your hand trying to stay alive and off of the floor.” I blushed, smiling like an elementary school girl with a crush all over again.

“Hey…” Nick said softly, “Hey, look at me…” His free hand cupped my face and made me look at him. I glanced up shyly at his smiling face, “It’s okay, Caitlin. I don’t care. Plus, you do need something to hold on to so that you don’t run into any more walls.”

I laughed and looked away, but I didn’t let go of his hand.

“Come on,” he tugged on my hand and led me slowly around the rink. When I didn’t fall, he let go of my hand and placed himself behind me with his hands resting lightly on my hips. He was semi-dancing to the 3 Doors Down song in the background, and I leaned my head back onto his shoulder, smiling up at him.

“I have only two words to say to your dancing…” I closed my eyes and coughed dramatically before saying, “TWITCH TWITCH!”

Nick smiled and spun me around. “Come and dance with me.” He didn’t wait for me to agree; he just took my hands in his and twirled me around. I giggled and fell into him. The song faded and the lights dimmed a bit as the night became later, giving way to a sparkling twilight in the rink. A slower song began to float into our reality and I looked up at Nick, my dark and mismatched eyes meeting his. He smiled down at me and pulled me closer, his hands resting on my lower back where my shirt lifter up just enough to leave a strip of skin above my jeans exposed. His fingers brushed over my naked skin and I sighed when the shivers and the butterflies came. I rested my head on his shoulder, hiding my blushing face against the sweet-smelling skin of his neck. His fingers tracing patterns on my back sent me spinning into our own reality. I wasn’t aware of Joe staring, of Nicole smiling; I could only see Nick, I could only hear his heart racing under hot skin, I could only feel his skin on mine. I sighed against Nick’s neck and his breath caught, his grip on me tightening before pushing me slightly away so that he could see me. I stared, wide-eyed and innocent, up at him…waiting—begging—for him to say the words unspoken that were hanging between us. He met my gaze with his soft green eyes and I melted for him. His eyes glanced down to my lips and back up before moving closer to me, leaning towards me so hesitantly. I leaned forwards, wanting to feel his lips on mine so badly after so many days of dreaming about him. Our lips were almost touching, our breath dancing together…and then we both took the last breath before going under.

Our lips brushed and the world stopped. We were spinning in beautiful chaos. We disconnected and I slowly opened my eyes. Nick was looking down at me, wanting more, and I answered him with the fire in my eyes. We crashed together, lips meeting, tongues exploring each other. My nerves exploded as I felt just Nick and me together. My hand cupped his face, my thumb circling on skin slowly, and his arms wrapped around me once more. He pulled me close and our chests collided, knocking the breath out of both of us. My mind had shut off and I was only aware of us. For the first time, I felt complete. I felt at peace and loved. He was loving me…

Nick broke away and glanced at me before reaching up to cup my face in his hands. I licked my lips and looked up to his flushed face, before taking the plunge and saying the words unspoken.

“Nick—”

“Wait, Caitlin, please,” Nick begged and I stopped, yielding to his words, “Caitlin…Caitlin, I love you,” he shakily said, but with eyes firmly on me.

I was quiet for a moment before capturing his lips with mine one last time. I broke free and whispered the words that words that would change our life forever: “Nick, I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I’m in love with you…”

Thank you to Nicole (my first wife and one of my best friends!!) for reading this…and for partaking in the action of these events. And to Nick for also reading this…and then huggle attacking me for writing it. wince I still have those bruises, too, dammit!! The table is not the best thing to huggle attack me in to.