Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 14 Picking sides

All night I had thought about how to go from here. Clearly Nick wanted more than just to go back to being friends and simply couldn't fully let himself know that he liked me in a...hopefully romantic and not just sexual way. I had to provoke him, just like yesterday when he thought I was off with some guy, doing things he would rather do with me. After a lot of thinking of how to confront him with his own feelings and desires some more, I knew just how to approach all of this. 

"Well uhm...I-I'm off now...to meet Gabriella or..whatever her name is. I will be back tonight" Nick said, almost trying to calm me down, but I was calm. I didn't really care that he used that poor girl to get back behind his safely build wall of denial, but I knew how I had to react. I smiled to myself, since I was facing Nick with my back, before turning around and looking at him with my intense glare. Nick gulped, just staring back at me and not really knowing what to do at this point. 

I got up and took a step towards Nick, holding eye contact. Nick gulped, his hands going to the edge of the desk behind him and his breath hitched in his throat the closer I got. Now I was only inches away from Nick and the anxiety in his eyes turned into lust and need. I leaned closer und Nick already closed his eyes, waiting for me to kiss him already, but I just bit down a laugh. Oh this was going great already. I reached behind him and took my car keys, dangling them in front of his face. When he finally opened his eyes, confused since nothing had touched his body yet and he saw the car keys, he frowned. 

"You can take my car since yours is in the shop" I said lowly, looking intently at my best friend. Nicks mouth gaped open, as he wanted to retort something, but was lost of words. "I- Oh...I didn't think that was...what you wanted to do" he stuttered with a blush tainting his cheeks, but also looking a bit disappointed. 

"Why? Did you think something else was going to happen?" I teased and Nick swallowed, looking really flustered. "N-No" he said, trying to hold it together. I narrowed my eyes on him, before slowly leaning a little closer again. Nicks breath hitched in his throat when my lips nearly brushed his. 

"Good" I said, pushing myself away from him "Because I still stand by what I said yesterday. Nothing will happen unless it actually means something. But that shouldn't be a problem anymore, right? Since you have Gemma now? Have fun on your date, text me if you get lucky and won't come home tonight" I casually replied, as if nothing ever happened between us and Nick looked like he had completely lost the ability to talk. His gaze shifted to the key in his hand and back at me, trying to find something to reply to that or at least organize his thoughts a bit. Oh my god, he was so confused right now. 

"Thanks...uh...I-I will...Ok, see ya" he replied and I actually almost started laughing by how confused he looked. He looked like he was solving a math equation in his head, while trying to have a conversation with me. But honestly, he brought this on himself. If he couldn't break down his own barriers, let Jaxson bulldoze them down. Nick nodded once more, looking at me as if he was still waiting for that kiss, but finally, he just walked to the door and left. 

Phase one: complete. 

Gosch I sound like I'm planning to robb the queen of England or something like that. Nope, just trying to get my best friend to confess his feelings to me. After Nick left, I basically just spend the afternoon and evening actually studying for once. To my surprise, my mind wasn't filled with thoughts about Nick, it was actually pretty easy to concentrate for once and I managed to get some work done. I didn't have to think about how to confront Nick, because I knew what my next phase should be, but I didn't really have a plan yet on how to achieve it. So at some point, I ordered myself something to eat while hovering over my books, studying and not thinking about Nick for once. 

Just in that moment, I got a text from one of Howards friends. That guy has been trying to get with me for a long time. Always inviting me to stuff where we wouldn't be alone, but he could also flirt with me, like parties or stuff like that. I never went. Until he just invited me to a party nearby. It was probably going to be lame, since mostly human biology majors were going to be there and I did not normally hang out with those future doctors or whatever, but now, this was the perfect opportunity to continue my plan faster than I thought.