Nick & Bailey

66. Nick

"Fuck, dude, who shit in your cereal?" Cam asks after Nick tosses a stack of trays onto their cart a tad more forcefully than necessary.

"Nothing," Nick snaps...besides the fact that he hasn't gotten laid in four days, he's already spilt a full cup of Coke and chili down the front of his apron, and he's stuck here for four more hours while Bailey is in his room.

"Fine," Cam replies. "I won't ask again."

Cam is unfazed by Nick's pissy mood. He's used to it. For the most part, Cam's a pretty positive dude, but they've both vented to each other all year about this bullshit job. He probably assumes that's all that's on Nick's mind.

Nick is wiping down the last table before the two of them will go to the back room to wash the trays when he hears Cam say "Whoa. Who is that?" and sees him gesturing toward the front door of the student center.

Nick looks up and sees Bailey enter the hall, looking around like she's lost. She's wearing his favorite jean shorts, a white shirt that shows the smooth skin on her stomach and his red flannel shirt wrapped around her waist. Fuck. She looks gorgeous. He stands there dumbly trying to piece together the fact that she's here right now.

"Dude, I think she's waving at me," Cam says, nudging him on the arm.

She is definitely waving at them. "She's not," Nick says, sliding his hairnet off. "She's waving at me."

Bailey starts walking toward them, looking practically giddy. As she gets closer, Nick takes off his latex gloves and tosses them and his hairnet into a nearby trash bin.

"Hi!" She looks between Nick and Cam, but Nick can't meet her eyes.

"Hey," Cam speaks up when it's obvious that Nick will not. "I'm Cam."

"I'm Bailey. It's nice to meet you." She reaches her hand out and Cam shakes it. "I think you got us some food the other night."

Cam chuckles. "Yep. I didn't realize that you were there though, I may have ditched work."

Bailey giggles and flips her hair onto her shoulder. She is used to guys hitting on her, but he wonders how she will respond to this. "Maybe next time." More awkward silence. "Um...Nick? Can I talk to you?"

"Sure...Cam, I'm taking a break," Nick says before turning around and walking away, not waiting for a response.

He knows Bailey is behind him by the shuffling of her feet, attempting to catch up to his fast pace. "Nick, slow down!"

He stops and turns to her.

"Can we talk somewhere private?"

He nods and walks toward the janitor's closet. It's not very picturesque, but at least it's clean. Nick was just tasked to disinfect it yesterday. He ushers her inside and shuts the door behind them, leaning his back against it. He unties his apron in the back, pulls it over his head and throws it onto one of the nearby shelves.

"What the fuck, Nick? What's wrong?" Bailey asks, crossing her arms.

He sighs. "What are you doing here?"

Her mouth drops open. "I...I was bored, and I wanted to come see you. Pete gave me directions on how to walk here...so I did. I didn't know it would be an issue. Are you going to get in trouble or something?"

"No. I just..." Shit, he doesn't know how to say this. He looks up and makes eye contact with her for the first time. "I don't want you to see me like this, okay?"

"Like what? Working?"

"No. Yes. I guess. I don't fucking know. I'm just...I'm wearing a fucking hairnet and an apron that has other people's leftovers all over it. I can't imagine this is attractive. It's degrading, and it's even worse that you're seeing me like this."