Brooke Whittaker had all but forgotten Nicholas Williams after the "Great Christmas Disaster of 2010." But, when her father announces a business arrangement that will not only move Brooke and her family to New York City, but also forces Nicholas bac...
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"How was lacrosse?" Brooke asked, as Nicholas came through the door of his house and dropped all of his equipment in the middle of the hallway.
"Hard, annoying, and I'm pissed off and sore," Nicholas said, flopping down next to her on the couch in his living room.
"Wanna talk about it?" She asked, and Nicholas felt her warms hands make their way onto his shoulders and starting to squeeze. A chill went down his spine at her touch.
"No," Nicholas said, closing his eyes as Brooke continued to massage the tension out from his shoulder blades. It wasn't often she would offer up a massage—or any sappy form of affection—so he would take what he could get. "We're not even in season yet and coach is working us to an early death."
Nicholas continued to rant for a while while Brooke silently dug her fingers into his shoulders. Even though he had just told her he didn't want to talk, she just let him get it all out without saying a word. He loved that she knew him that well.
"We should do something to take your mind off of it," Brooke said, leaning around him to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Like what?" Nicholas asked, turning on his phone to look at the time—someone in this relationship had to keep track of the time. . "It's already 4 and we have to be at your house at 7."
Nicholas didn't know why he bothered to say this out loud, she wasn't going to be on time anyways.
"Then that's three whole hours we have before we go to dinner," Brooke commented. The happy grin on her face made it impossible for him to not smile too, despite his reservations for the upcoming dinner.
Dinner with the entire Whittaker family. Nicholas hadn't been nearly this nervous when they'd all had dinner before he and Brooke were dating. In the Whittaker family, getting the approval from Mr. Whittaker was easy, it was Brooke's three brothers that you had to get passed.
Andrew, Lucas, and Jason were all the "cool older kids" that Nicholas had looked up to throughout his childhood. Nicholas had known the three of them liked him enough before this whole thing started, but with the current feud between those three and Ben, Nicholas wasn't sure where that put him.
"We could go ice skating in Central Park?" Brooke offered, freeing Nicholas from his thoughts.
"No. We only really have two hours because you are slow and late," Nicholas corrected her. "And everyone and their grandmother is going skating in Central Park around the holidays, no."
"I love that you know me so well," she responded, kissing the side of his jaw.
She had been throwing that word around lately, love. Was she trying to give him a hint? Did she want him to tell her he was in love with her? He didn't even know if he was yet. Wasn't two months a little soon?
"Why don't we just go get some hot chocolate, walk around the park, and decide from there?" Brooke suggested.
Nicholas knew the only reason she wanted to walk around Central Park was so that she could convince him to go ice skating once they were there and he had no excuse to get out of it.
