Enigma

Babe

"So, do we carry him upstairs too?" Nick said with a laugh.

Nico looked at Fabrizio, who had fallen asleep, his head on the armrest of the couch. "I think he'll be fine here." said Nico with a smile, before letting out a yawn. "I'm gonna head off to bed. You wanna sleep down here, or...?"

Nick jumped up and shook his head after looking over at the only other couch available, which was a two-seater. His 6'4" self would definitely not be comfortable curled up on that. "I'll come up with you."

"Alright." said Nico, getting up and stretching Fab's legs out so he'd be more comfortable. "G'night, Fab." She ruffled his hair, then motioned for Nick to follow her upstairs.

"Ssh..." Nico tiptoed inside her room, Nick following behind her.

"He's hammered, babe," Nick laughed. "I could scream bloody murder and he wouldn't wake up."

Nico couldn't help but to smile at the fact that he called her babe. She shook her head, kicking off her shoes and walking around to the other side of the bed, where she crawled in and got quite close to Julian so Nick would have room. Julian groaned a little and rolled over so he was facing Nico. She and Nick froze to watch him. He was unsurprisingly still asleep, so the two shared a quiet laugh as Nick climbed in.

Nico's breath hitched a little when she felt Nick's warmness beside her. She felt a little strange about sleeping next to someone she was a little intimidated by. It's not that she didn't trust Nick, or was scared of him or anything (she knew if he was a friend of Fab's, he could be trusted)...she thought he was quite cool and probably didn't enjoy being stuck in a bed with a drunk guy and some chick he didn't really know. She also thought he was kinda cute, which made her a little nervous. He had an adorable boyish babyface, like Julian's, but with quite a strong jawline to compensate. He had long shaggy hair and eyes were big and a piercing bright blue color...like the ocean, Nico thought.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nick's hushed voice snapped her out of her daze.

She didn't even realise she was staring. "Y-you have, uhh...you have something in your hair." She reached her hand up and pretended to pick something out of his hair. "All gone." she said with a smile, then immediately rolled back over to face Julian, cringing at her awkwardness. "Goodnight."

"You okay?" Nick asked, making Nico internally groan. She just wanted to go to sleep and forget about the past minute.

"Yeah." she faked a yawn. "I'm tired."

"I'm sorry...is this weird? I can go sleep on the couch. I totally understand."

Nico rolled her eyes with a soft laugh as she rolled back over to face Nick. "It's fine. I trust you, Nick. Any friend of Fab's is a friend of mine."

"Thanks. I have a girlfriend anyways, so I won't be trying anything."

Nico froze, then began to internally laugh at the word 'girlfriend'. What was she thinking?! Of course he has a girlfriend. He's hot! She pushed the thoughts of thinking he was cute to the back of her mind and closed her eyes. Besides...she wasn't interested in a boyfriend anyways. "Goodnight."

It wasn't long before Nico awoke to some movement beside her. She checked her left side to see Nick was fast asleep. Then she checked her right side to see Julian vigorously tossing and turning. She quickly recalled similar antics from the previous night and earlier. He was having another nightmare. The moonlight shone down on his face, illuminating his troubled facial expression. Nico decided to wake him up again this time. He looked like he could use a glass of water or two...or three.

She gently shook him as he whimpered softly in his sleep. "Julian?" she whispered, leaning in closer. "Are you okay?"

Julian whimpered a few more times before his eyes finally shot open and he sat up, breathing heavily in a cold sweat.

"Sshh..." Nico patted his back softly. "You're okay."

Julian turned to face her and frowned. He looked embarrassed.

"Thirsty?" she asked.

Julian nodded.

"C'mon." she helped him off the bed and followed behind him out the door. He bumped into the doorframe on the way out. "Still wasted?" Nico chuckled.

"Mhm..." Julian groaned, nodding his head.

Nico then carefully helped him down the stairs, watching his every step. She sighed relievedly once they made it into the kitchen and she sat him down on the floor against the cabinets.

She fetched him a glass of water and sat down in front of him, crosslegged. "Here."

"Why...why are you being so nice to me?" Julian said rather slowly, signalling he really was still quite drunk.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Nico said with a smile, pulling her knees to her chest as she watched him gulp down the water. "You're a cool guy."

"I'm a mess."

"Aren't we all?" She patted his shoulder. "Even though I've seen you shitfaced twice within seventy-two hours of meeting you, I still think you're pretty cool."

Julian looked up into her eyes, subtly biting down on his bottom lip. "Can I...can I kiss you?"

"What?" Nico scoffed. "Dude, no."

Julian buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly. "I hate myself."

"Shush, Julian!" she hissed. "You might wake Fab."

"Sorry." he whispered in response, resting his head in his hands.

"It's okay. Wanna go back to sleep?"

"Not yet." he shook his head and looked back down. "You can go. I'll stay here for a while."

"I'm not leaving you alone on the kitchen floor."