bestfriend to boyfriend? //Nick Austin

96

"Nick" I whispered, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up"
He didn't move, he just groaned.
"Nick!" I whisper-yelled. "Wake your ass up!"
"What?" He groaned again, rolling over.
I widened my eyes at him, saying "what the fuck did we just do" without even speaking.
Once he realized, he jumped up. "Shit"
"I guessed we just skimmed over the last three weeks" I shrugged.
"Is it bad that I don't regret it?" He shrugged back.
"I don't either" I rolled my eyes. "We always find a way to make things 10x more complicated than they need to be, don't we?"
"That's why we work so well, baby" He winked.
"Ugh" I whined, leaning back on my pillow.
"I have an idea, hear me out" Nick proposed. "Come back home."
"Trust me, I want to. But there's always so much drama involved and I don't know why."
"I do."
I furrowed my eyebrows at him confused.
"We live in a mansion with twenty of our closest friends. Our teenage, single, party-loving friends. We're married. We're constantly surrounded by all of those things when in reality, we'd rather spend our nights in."
"So what are you saying?" I asked.
"I'm saying we should get our own place."
I thought for a minute. I glanced at Nick for a moment, noticing all his features that were my favorite. His pretty blue eyes, his messy hair that somehow sat perfectly on his head- not a hair out of place, and that smile. Damn, that smile. I knew this was what I wanted, why am I second-guessing it?
"Zoe?" He asked.
"I-"
"Zoey please don't find a reason to say no. There's always going to be a reason to say no to something but please give me your all here, that's the only way this is going to work."
"Nice speech there but I was going to say I agree with you" I chuckled.
He leaped on the bed and hugged me tight. "I love you" He smiled down on me.
The resident butterflies in my stomach fluttered once again.
"I love you too"

"So, you guys think this is what's best?" Ryland asked.
"We do" Nick replied.
Ryland glanced over at me for reassurance and I nodded.
"Then I'm happy for you guys." He softly smiled. "Only if you promise to have an extra room for me"
"That's a given" I laughed.
We told everyone else, and they seemed to take it pretty well, and agreed that it was about time.
I had planned on apologizing to Olivia, but apparently she had already moved back home- not before trying to come on to Ryland, Thomas, and Alex too. So maybe she didn't really deserve that apology.
We agreed that obviously we'd still live in the Hype House until we found the right house, and who knows how long that will actually take.
I was sitting outside around the fire pit by myself while Nick and all the boys went out for a boy's night dinner at Boa.
I was sitting there looking up at the stars when someone sat in the chair next to me.
"Hey Ry" I smiled.
"Hey" He sighed, looking up at the stars too.
"What's up? You seem off"
"Nothing to be honest" He shrugged.
"You know if you don't tell me, I'm not going to give up until you actually do. So spill it Storms" I demanded.
"You're not going to like this, Zoey"
"I can't handle another cheating scandal so please god tell me that's not it" I rolled my eyes.
"Um, no... I- I just don't want you to move" He face dropped.
"Wait, why not? It's not like I'll be far away you can always visit. You know you're always welcome wherever we are-"
"Zoey I don't want you to leave because I'm in love with you."