2. Unexpected.

“Well,” I said, deciding to try to explain. “It just seems so… fresh. I don’t know how to explain it… I mean, there’s the smell of restaurants, and stuff like that, but I just… I like it,” I finished, realising I wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining what I meant. I turned to face Nick, and surprisingly he wasn’t laughing at me.

“You’re different, Nick,” I said suddenly.

“Really? What kind of different? Good, or bad?” He asked, and it reminded me of when Nick had said my hair looked ‘different’.

“I’m not sure. You’re just acting different.”

“Well, do you like it or not?”

“Do you even know what I’m talking about?”

“No, but I’m just asking.” I knew we weren’t getting anywhere, but decided to continue the conversation anyway.

“What would it matter if I liked it or not?”

“Because… I don’t know, I would do it more often. Or act like it more often – whichever.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Nick stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground.

“You just… you haven’t insulted me yet.”

“Well, do you like it or not?” Nick asked, still staring at the ground, scuffing it with his shoe.

“I… maybe.”

He looked up, a smile hovering on his lips. “Just maybe?” I nodded slyly. I knew he hated it when someone said ‘maybe’ to him, especially me. I smirked at him and he smiled back, which was not what I was expecting.

The whole night hadn’t been what I had expected.

At that point I had a vision. I know; it sounds weird. But I imagined Nick walking over to me, slowly (as they do in films) and taking my hands in his hands and kissing me. And I kissing him back.

That was when I started to laugh. Nick? Kissing me? And I, kissing him back? That was really funny. Hilarious, even. And the totally cheesy way he had kissed me was pretty funny too. Okay, so when I watched those films I kind of wished it would happen to me, but Nick didn’t strike me as that sort of person.

Nick stood there, looking extremely confused. Well, who could blame him?

“What’s so funny?”

“I…” I wondered if I should tell him.

“Go on, tell me. If it’s so funny maybe you should share it.” He sounded bitter. And angry.

“Nick, what’s wrong?”

“Look, it doesn’t matter, OK?” He asked, looking around, trying to avoid making eye contact. He sounded really irritated.

What had I done? I reached out and touched his arm. He flinched.

“I’m trying to tell you something, but obviously it isn’t important to you, since you started laughing.”

“I’m sorry, I was thinking,” I began, but he cut me off and I realised that wasn’t the best thing to say.

“So you weren’t paying any attention to me at all?”

“I… you’re right. I’m sorry. What were you going to say?”

“Doesn’t matter now. Look, I’ll see you on Monday.” Was that his ‘goodbye’?

“I had a great night,” I said, trying to get him to smile. What had he been saying that could have been so important?

“Bye, Naomi,” he said quietly, and walked off.

Great way to ruin a perfect night, Naomi, I told myself as I called a feeble “Bye, Nick” after his retreating figure. I had really messed up. Poor Nick. I had never seen him so upset…

At school on Monday I got in early, to see if I could find Nick and apologize once more for Saturday night. But when I found him he was kissing Meygan. A wave of disappointment came crashing down on me and I was sure I felt my heart ache. My heart started to hurt and I felt like I’d been hit by a ton of bricks.

All right, so I hadn’t been so nice to him on Saturday, and okay, he was single, he could kiss whoever he wanted, but I’d had a good time on Saturday and had just started feeling comfortable around him, and now he was kissing Meygan, like I didn’t matter, like Saturday hadn’t happened.

That was what I hated the most. It was like I didn’t matter.

I just stood there, staring at them. A few minutes later they pulled apart. Nick looked at me and I met his gaze. I forgot that Meygan was there and I stared at Nick. I hated him at that moment. Suddenly I looked away, at my friend. Or ex-friend. She was looking at me, and her face showed… sympathy?

I turned around and started walking away. I thought I heard someone call my name, but I ignored them. I needed to get away. I could feel myself tearing up and I sucked in a breath. I had to keep it together.

What was wrong with me? I had never felt this way before. Not about Nick. Not about any other boy either.

I ran into a classroom and closed the door. Part of me wanted Nick to come running after me, but part of me didn’t. I knew he wouldn’t come. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. I sat on a desk and bowed my head. I took a deep breath.

Show him you don’t care. Go back out there and show him you’re not bothered. Because he isn’t worth your tears.

Eventually I sat up straight and got off the desk. I walked to the door. Just as I was walking out, a teacher walked in.

“All right, Naomi?” he asked.

“Yup, fine, sir,” I said cheerily. As I turned the corner I saw his face, and laughed to myself. Mr Dane taught Physics and I had never been enthusiastic before. I’d done the work, and laughed half-heartedly at his not-really-that-funny jokes, but I’d never been really enthusiastic. So he was definitely surprised when I said that.

I turned another corner and spotted Nick up against the wall, kissing a girl. Meygan. Again. His hands were around her waist, and hers were tangled up in his hair. I walked right past. I thought they hadn’t noticed me but I was wrong. I felt a sharp tug on my hair as I walked past, and swung around quickly.

Nick was standing there, smirking. I glared at him and he just smiled a dazzling smile. I gave him my classic ‘I-hate-you/you-are-so-dead’look.

“I love you too,” he said, winking, and started to walk away, but not before kissing my cheek. Whoa.

That was… different. And startling. And unexpected.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach but I did my best to ignore it.

I stood there, frozen. And then I came to my senses.

“Nick!” I shouted down the corridor. He stopped. And turned around slowly.

“Yes?”

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

He raised an eyebrow, and I saw a smirk starting to form on his lips.

I started to walk towards him.

“You’ve played with my feelings, messed me around, messed Meygan around, and asked me out on a date only to leave me standing just because I zoned out for a few seconds… need me to go on?”

“Oh, please do,” Nick drawled. Damn. I didn’t have anything else to say.

“Well… ever since year seven you have made my life a living hell!” Apparently I did. “Wanna know why? Not because of the teasing – I don’t mind that. No, because all this time you’ve ignored me! You’ve seen me as a girl who you can laugh with and talk with. But that’s it! You’ve kissed other girls and talked to me about it! Do you know how much that hurts? No, you don’t! Nobody does. You’ve kissed Meygan. She’s my friend! How do you think I felt?” My voice came out strangled and I took a deep breath. I couldn’t lose it. “You don’t care! All you care about is a good reputation and your looks and what people think. You’ve never thought about me! All you’ve done is tease me and mock me and that’s okay sometimes… I’ve had a crush on you since primary school! But like I said, you don’t care. You never think about me.” I took a deep breath. “You always act like I don’t matter. You always dismiss my comebacks, what I say, like I’m not there. But its all right Nick, I understand. I don’t mean anything to you. I’m just there whenever you need a laugh. Right?”

I was pretty proud of that speech. I saw a crowd gathered around us, but I ignored it. Nick came closer to me.

“But that’s where you’re wrong, Naomi,” he said softly. “I have thought about you. Hell, I never stop thinking about you! I can’t get you out of my head. You’re constantly there, constantly reminding me that you’re not mine. You’re not my girl. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time. I’ve had feelings for you for a long time. But you never cared. Stop making out like you’re the victim in this. Because I am. You’ve ignored me. All the teasing… that’s me trying to tell myself I can’t have you. Whenever I act like you don’t matter, that’s because I’m telling myself I can’t have you. I try and dismiss the feelings I have. I don’t mean to dismiss you. When I asked you out and you said yes, I was so happy. And on Saturday, I had a great time.”

He stopped for a few seconds. I held my breath.

“I was about to tell you. And then you started laughing. I mean, what the hell? I knew right then that you didn’t want me. You didn’t care.”

“No,” I began, but Nick put a finger on my lips.

“For once, let me speak, please.”

I blushed and Nick smiled at me. It was a small smile, but a smile all the same.

“I love you, and I just wanted you to feel the same way. So just tell me now I have a chance with you.” He stared at me and I looked back. I didn’t know what to say. I knew Nick expected an answer, but I couldn’t speak. I wanted to say, to shout: “Yes! Yes! Nick, I love you.” But I couldn’t. Nick took a deep breath.

He mistook my silence as a ‘no’.

“Wait,” I called as he turned and started to walk away. “No!” I grabbed his arm and made him face me. “You’re not walking away this time.” He stared at me, confused.

I took a deep breath and then leant towards him. I was about to kiss him but he got there first. He put his hand on my face and covered my lips with his. His arms wrapped around me and I slowly placed an arm around his neck, the other on his face.

“No kissing,” I heard a man – Mr Dane, I think - say, but then he trailed off as some people said, loudly and angrily:

“Shh!” I felt Nick smile and I pulled away and smiled full on. Nick was grinning too. He leant in and kissed me softly. I kissed him back but this time the school bell interrupted us, making us pull away abruptly.

“Oh well,” Nick said. “There’s always a downside to kissing in school.”

The next Saturday we sat in The Amazon, sipping a Heaven chocolate drink. Nick and I are officially a couple.

“You’ve really liked me since primary school?” He asked.

I blushed. “Well… yeah.”

“And you…” I trailed off.

“Constantly thought about you?” Nick finished for me, and I nodded. “Yup.”

“I’ve never had this attention from a boy before.”

Nick shrugged. “I told them all you were mine.”

I choked on my drink. “You what?” I spluttered. “And yet you go around kissing any girl you like?”

“Hey, it’s not any girl, it’s Meygan!”

“What about you and Meygan?” I struggled to say. I was still coughing.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing? She’s my friend, Nick.” I started to get slightly annoyed.

“I know. She’s mine too. And she helped me.”

“What?”

“She helped me make you jealous. I asked her to kiss me.”

“Well it worked,” I muttered. I looked down.

“Kiddo, what’s wrong?” he asked, using my old nickname, and sounding like my dad. I held back a smile.

“Well, loser,” I replied, stressing the word ‘loser,’ “you practically broke my heart when I saw you kissing her after our date.”

“You broke mine on Saturday night! Twice!”

“Yeah, well, what?”

“Well you asked if I wouldn’t talk about it calling it a ‘date’.”

“Oh. I was just uncomfortable – I’d never been on a proper date before and-”

Nick cut me off, kissing me softly.

“It’s okay. And the second time was when you started laughing at me. Care to explain why you suddenly erupted in giggles?”

“I… it’s nothing.”

“No, it must have been something,” he said.

“Well… it might…you won’t like what I have to say.”

“Just say it.”

“I had a vision of you kissing me and…”

“Oh.” Nick looked at the table.

“I was laughing because I was sure it would never happen,” I said quietly. He looked up, and he half smiled.

“You really like your chocolate, don’t you?”

“I…” Next minute the Heaven chocolate drink was on my head.

Strangely enough, it didn’t feel so heavenly right then…

I sat on Nick’s sofa, my head rested on his chest and his arm around my waist.

“Nick… why did you choose me?” I know I shouldn’t have said it, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Because you’re amazing,” Nick said patiently. He had been through this a couple of times with me, and he knew he would need to reassure me in the future as well. What? Is it my fault I couldn’t believe Nick Clarke liked me? The girl he greeted with a ‘hey, kiddo’ every morning liked the girl who replied with a ‘hey, loser’?

“Naomi, the reason I fell in love with you is because you disagree with everything I say. I love that about you.” Wait, did I say that out loud? Whoa, what did he just say?

“You fell in love with me?” I squeaked. Yes, I squeaked. Lovely.

“Yup. I fell in love with you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I love your smile, your eyes, your lips, your face… I love everything about you.” He kissed my nose and I smiled.

“I love you too,” I said quietly. Nick smiled and pulled me onto his lap. He started kissing me passionately, and I kissed him back. I put a hand on the back of his head and messed up his hair.

Two minutes later I felt his hand on my head and I knew he had done the same thing. Oh well. What could I do?

We pulled away and Nick said, a little out of breath: “You do realise that I’m not gonna stop insulting you?”

“What?”

“You heard me. You’re fun to wind up.”

“Thanks,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Welcome,” Nick replied cheerily.

I laughed and put my head on his shoulder once again. Nick kissed my forehead and rested his head on mine.

At school the next day I got in early to find Nick. It was a habit now; I got to school early so I could meet Nick and talk to him and sometimes we kissed before the school bell rang. I found Nick talking to his mates, and I smiled. He held up his hand as if saying “one minute” and I nodded. Two minutes later he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hey, loser.”

He smiled and leant into kiss me.

“Hey, Naomi,” Meygan greeted me. We instantly pulled away. Meygan was standing there, with another girl, who was smiling at us both. “You guys make a great couple!”

“Yeah,” her friend agreed. “Your names start with the same letter and everything!”

Nick made a funny sound and I elbowed him.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her. She grinned and gave Nick a small smile before walking away with Meygan.

I turned to face Nick. He had a funny expression on his face.

“You look like an idiot,” I told him. “No, wait. An idiot that desperately needs the loo.”

“Why, thank you, Naomi!” Nick said sarcastically.

“Shut up. And leave that girl alone! All she said was that our names start with the same letter. She thought that was cute!”

“Yeah, but if everybody dated someone just cause their initials where the same, then that would totally defeat the object of true love!”

“You believe in true love?” I asked shyly.

“Of course I do! You’re standing right next to me, aren’t you?”

I leant in to kiss him but Mr Dane had tointerrupt, didn’t he?

“No kissing in school!”

We pulled away slowly.

“There’s always a downside to kissing in school,” we said together.

“Someone always interrupts you.”