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By: Jess
You have got to be kidding me. I turned on my heel. “Lana, wait!” I was going to kill Hannah. “Look- I know I’m not your favorite person.” But first I was going to kill a certain Backstreet Boy… “Get out of my way Nick.” “You have every right to be upset, but hear me out for just a second.” “Upset?” One of my hands found its way onto my hip, while the other found its way on a certain supposed teenage heartthrob’s chest - finger pointed accusingly. He had some nerve. “You think this is me being upset?” I shrilled out. Nick wrapped a hand around my finger. “Just give me one second,” he tried again. “Please?” he quickly added as soon as it was obvious I was about to tell him where he could shove his one-second. My jaw clenched. “Okay,” I relented, for the sake of my sanity, releasing my fingers from his grasp. “One second.” Nick sighed heavily. “I know you’re probably wondering what’s going on.” Wrong. I knew what was going on. It was called a set-up. Upon arriving at Hannah’s, I had quickly found that neither AJ nor her sisters were on the premises. But coincidentally who should? Nick. Convenient wasn’t it? He was here. And I’d be damned if I was going to be. Call me crazy- but even though I may have been willing to talk to AJ, I was far from being able to even consider speaking to Nick just yet. He was still on my shit list. Deservedly so… My eyes narrowed. “One second up,” I readily informed him. “Lana, come on!” I eyed him coolly, undeterred by his pleading tone. “I’m trying to apologize here!” I gawked. Nick was currently pressing his back against the front door, making himself a human barricade. “This is what you consider an apology?” I retorted in disbelief. “Nick, you had my best friend lie to me so I’d come over here. And now you are blocking an exit. Maybe it’s just me- but- this is a sorry ass excuse for an apology!” “I didn’t have Hannah lie for me!” “Then where’s AJ?” I challenged. When Nick didn’t respond right away, I nodded. “There you go,” I assessed. “Move.” “He was here. That’s not a lie,” Nick hastily defended, still blocking my path, when I tried to make another go for the door. “You’re still blocking the exit, Nick,” I commented dryly. “Lana I know you’re pissed, okay. I get that.” I shook my head. “Somehow, I seriously doubt that.” “I know what I did was stupid—” “Congratulations Nick, acknowledgement is the first step,” I cut him off. “So now that we’ve both come to terms with the fact that you’re a Grade-A asshole, can you please -- for the millionth time already -- move out of my way?” Nick continued to block my exit. I gritted my teeth. My patience was worn. “Nick.” “Lana…just—” He took a breath. “It’s not like I didn’t notice you, okay?” he interjected quickly. “’Cause I did.” Catching me completely me off guard, I stared at him, a little thrown at the comment. “I noticed,” Nick continued softly, our eyes locking briefly before his gaze wavered onto the floor. “I just didn’t—” He took another deep breath and his eyes lifted back up to meet mine. “I do care about you.” Right. “So much so, you pawned me off to AJ?” I charged. Nick straightened up at the accusation. “I didn’t pawn you off to AJ!” “You purposely set me up with him because of his reputation Nick!” “Well, you weren’t supposed to like him Lana! You were supposed to like me!” “But that’s the whole point, Nick! You knew that I did!” “But I wasn’t sure!” My mouth parted in absolute shock. “What?” I watched as Nick let out a slow breath. Several terse moments passed before he could meet my line of vision. His voice quieter, he repeated his earlier admission, “I wasn’t sure.” I blinked. I blinked again. I blinked, and blinked, and blinked, and blinked some more as my brain attempted to process some logic into this. “But you told me it was obvious,” I recounted. He shook his head. “I bluffed.” “But AJ! And you said that—” “I didn’t really know until you admitted it the other night,” Nick interrupted. “What!” I really could not think of any other kind of response that could describe the million and one thoughts that were filtering my mind right now. I really couldn’t. “That’s why I— It’s just that you’re Brent’s sister and-” Nick rubbed his neck haphazardly. “Shit — this isn’t coming out right.” His hand stilled, and then dropped to his side. “I’ve known you practically my whole life Lana. Brent is my best friend. You are his sister. You are my best friend’s sister.” He gazed at me imploringly. “I can’t fuck up with you.” My hands fisted. What a load of hypocritical bullshit… I raised an accusatory eyebrow. “But you can fuck up with Stephanie, right?” Nick ran his fingers through his hair briskly, looking beyond flustered. “Lana, she’s different.” “How is she different?” I pressed. “It isn’t serious.” “So what?” Nick wavered, idly wetting his mouth with his tongue, before biting down on the corner of his lip. “So you could be.” My eyes instantly widened. My stomach twisted. And I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t skip a beat at the implication. Shit. Since when did I get trapped in an episode of a bad sitcom, or worse, a made-for-television movie? Shit. Trying to pick my stomach back up from the floor where it had dropped, I found my voice, “Is this another one of your fucked up ways of apologizing?” Nick leaned his head against the door. “No.” Swallowing back the squeak of a reply I knew was about to escape my lips at this here turn of events I just nodded silently. Oh. My. God. 24.
Demand Answers
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