slow burn; sapnap

thirty four

"this is the best song i've ever heard." gia said from the backseat.

"i can't believe you didn't know this was taylor swift. if you like this i've got more where that came from," hadden turned around to say. "thank you for this. i had such a good time."

"of course. thank you for giving us some of your time." nick's step mom said as she pulled into the driveway.

it was only the second day in houston but gia begged her mom and hadden to have a girls night. the three girls all went out for a nice dinner and getting their nails done. hadden was overjoyed with her time because it felt like she was getting the little sister she never got to have. she was always envious of those around her who had siblings and always wondered what it would be like to have one. and nick's step mom was so loving and caring. she seemed so genuinely interested in getting to know what made hadden herself. she wanted to know her intricacies of her upbringing and her career, not just her in relation to nick.

"looks like the boys are still out." his step mom remarked as she noticed nick's missing car.

"does that mean more girl time?" gia said excitedly, bouncing in her seat.

"it means hadden has time to look at a few real estate options in peace like she told us earlier without nick being here to bother." she replied in a joking manner but it tugged on hadden's heart to know she was paying attention to her rantings or needing to figure out her housing.

"come on, gia. why don't we go turn on moana since you wanted to sing it all night." hadden went and picked up gia whose initial shyness had quickly rubbed off and insisted on always being held by hadden or holding her hand.

once inside hadden helped gia turn on the movie in her room and went and hugged nick's stepmom and thanked her for the evening before deciding to take a quick shower before nick and his dad got home.

hadden recapped her day as she let the hot water run over her body.

she woke up next to nick which is how she wanted to begin all of her days. he woke up a few minutes later and insisted they spent some time just laying in the bed before getting up. she laid on his chest and he held her tight. they exchanged casualties of asking how the other slept and asking if they had any dreams.

it didn't take long for gia to knock and let them know that breakfast was ready. they joined the rest of the family downstairs and discussed plans for the day. that is when nick revealed he was going to show hadden around the town he grew up in.

they spent the day driving past his old school, the skate park he frequented, and even ate lunch at his old favorite after school spot.

"i sometimes would leave school early so i could come skype dream here because they have wifi."

"is this where you bring all of the girls?"

"obviously."

once they arrived back at the house is when gia revealed her grand scheme of a girls night. as they were leaving the house nick's dad revealed that he was going to take him out to dinner.

as hadden turned off the water she could hear shuffling through the door, assuming that nick had just gotten back. she quickly dried off and put on one of nick's shirts that he had given her and some shorts that were hidden by the length of the shirt.

"augy!" nick squeaked with a hiccup as she exited the bathroom.

he was sat on his bed and held his arms out for her to come to him. once she was close enough he pulled her in to sit on her lap and held her tight.

"did you drink?" hadden asked gently as she pushed his hair out of his face.

"how else do i get through dinner with my dad?" he answered seemingly mindlessly, twirling the ends of hadden's hair.

"what do you mean? i thought you both get along fine." hadden adjusted herself to be sitting on the bed next to him but nick quickly grabbed both of her hands because he felt as though he needed to hold her in some aspect to be sane.

"we do. he just hates my career choices and doesn't get it. so if he wants to actually talk about it then i can't be sober," he threw himself back to lay on his bed. "i'm sorry."

"don't apologize. here, stay here. i'll be right back." hadden quickly left the room and nick by himself.

he sat up and looked around. he laughed to himself noticing hadden's clothes still neatly in her suitcase and his own thrown around where he couldn't find an outfit this morning. he just didn't know why it was funny.

"here, will you drink this before laying down?"

hadden returned with two glasses of water, one of now and one for in the morning, as well as a few aspirin in case he woke up feeling the effects of his prior choices.

"y-you're so good to me." he hiccuped before downing the water and laying down.

"i know." she said softly as she took the glass and laid down next to him.

"and your hair smells so good after you shower."

"mhm."

nick continued speaking every thought that cane to mind as he began drifting into sleep.

"and you're so sweet."

"yeah, honey."

"and i love you."

hadden's eyes instantly opened because she wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"what?"

"and you're so pretty. the prettiest girl i've ever seen."

she quickly began trying to dismiss his drunken thoughts as over exaggerations. but the sound of him saying i love you replayed in her mind more than she'd like to admit.

"goodnight nicky."

"goodnight baby."