Big Nick Energy (Bringing Home Trouble)

5. Blanca

5

Blanca

“Earth to Blanca. Hello?” At the sound of my name, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to look at my best friend.

Even though Libby and I had known one another since middle school and she was like a sister to me, whether she dated my brother or not, it was always shocking to see how beautiful she was. Her almost white-blonde hair, big eyes beneath her dark glasses, and dainty princess-like features made her seem almost ethereal.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” I asked, trying to remember where I started to zone out, but I couldn’t remember. “Something about a class?” I guessed because as beautiful as Libby was, she was twice as smart. She was always talking about her classes. That or my brother, which was a gross but necessary evil if I wanted her to be my sister for real at some point.

“Class?” Her lips twitched and her pale brows bunched, “What’s going on with you?” my best friend asked way too intuitively.

“What do you mean?” I tried to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t been able to sleep wondering if Big Nick Marsh had actually showed up and asked me out after my shift last night.

It wasn’t like I had been distracted as hell at work, so much that Candace thought I was exhausted and sent me home early.

It wasn’t like I had burned a batch of cinnamon rolls, something I had baked so many times, I could make them with my eyes closed, and why my sister, mom, and brother were out at the store picking up dessert while I washed dishes and Libby helped dry and put them away.

“What do I mean?” Her eyes bounced with amusement. “I mean… something’s up with you.”

“Me?” I squawked, feigning innocence. Nada de ti es inocente! Not one gram of me was pure, especially not my thoughts when it came to Nick and his BDE.

“You’re… squirrelly.” That made me laugh.

“Squirrelly? I’m not even sure that’s a word?—“

“You’re avoiding the subject,” she noted. Her green eyes locked on my face. I loved Libby, but since she started dating my brother, she was bossier. Something I had a feeling that had rubbed off from Crank. Her hip-bumped mine, and I winced.

“Ouch!” I pretended it hurt. “Watch your boney butt.”

“Shut up.” She laughed and hip-checked me again. “I’m not that boney. Not anymore.” She had definitely filled out since she had started to date Crank.

And I was glad about it.

She had always been so skinny. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but I was glad she had Crank watching out for her and making sure she ate right and was being well taken care of. She deserved that.

“You look incredible,” I complimented her with the truth.

“Thanks,” she mumbled before looking at me and reaching over to turn the water off. I glanced down and winced. Shit. I’d finished washing the dishes, and I honestly had no idea how long I’d been staring off into space, my mind filled with the sexiest man who ever lived.

“Sooo….” She wagged her brows before handing me a towel. I started to dry my hands. “Come on! I waited until it was just the two of us to ask. You know how hard that was!”

“How could you tell something… not that something is up, but I mean, what makes you think there is?”

“Umm, how about because I know you?” She started to count the fingers on her hand. “You’ve had a goofy smile, kinda like the one you had last summer. You poured gravy on your corn and played it off like you meant to do that. You kept zoning out. You keep checking your phone when you think no one is paying attention?—“

“Everyone checks their phone,” I argued.

“You’re right. Everyone but you. Babe, you hardly ever have your phone on you, much less charged, and since you came over, you’ve been checking it. Constantly. Like you’re waiting on a call or text. You’re seeing someone,” she guessed. I knew she would come to that conclusion.

“No,” I blurted, and technically, I wasn’t lying. “Not really,” I added because it was Libby, and I could never keep anything from her.

“Talking stage?” she asked, watching me closely. I opened and shut my mouth, then sighed. If I couldn’t tell my best friend, who could I tell?

“If I tell you, you have to promise this stays between us.”

“I promise,” she agreed too easily, hooking her pinky to mine, but I stared at her seriously.

“I’m serious, Lib.” My voice dropped. “This isn’t fair of me to ask, but you can’t tell Crank.”

“I don’t tell Hector everything,” she argued. I shot her a look that made her rethink what she’d just said, and a guilty expression washed over her face. “Okay, maybe I do. But you know I have your back. No matter what. What is it?” Her gaze searched my face, and then she stilled. “Please don’t tell me you’re talking to Noah again?”

“What? No!” I exclaimed. “I would never talk to him, ever.”

“Okay, if it’s not that jerk, oh god, is he a bad guy? A drug dealer?”

“A drug–– WHAT?! No! Not a drug dealer!” I exclaimed, wondering why she could think I would ever do something like that.

“What am I supposed to think?” she exclaimed. “You’re being secretive, and you don’t want anyone to know!” I winced.

“Fair. Fair.” I sighed. “i’m talking to his dad. I think. I mean….” My voice drifted off to nothing. Lib and I simply stood there, staring at one another. I could see Libby trying to make sense of what I was saying and it not doing anything to help.

“Whose dad?” she asked, and I licked my lips.

“Noah’s dad.”

“Whoa.” Her pale brows rose almost to her hairline. I started to explain things I had kept from her.

“So…” It was time to tell her the truth. “You know the dress I surprised you with? The yellow one you wanted but I snuck into your drawer, and you wore on your first date with Crank?”

“Yeah,” she sounded slowly.

“I didn’t get it on sale,” I blurted.

“Blanc––“

“I went to the mall to find it for you. I didn’t want to hide it in the back of your drawer, but…”

“But what?” She leaned in closer. “Was it stolen?” she asked quietly, and that made me giggle. My best friend’s imagination had definitely gotten crazier while she’d been at school.

“No!” I shoved her playfully, and she took my hand. We moved to the kitchen table and sat next to one another. “I love you, but I wouldn’t risk jail time to get you a dress. No matter how much you loved a dress.”

“That’s good to know,” she mumbled. “So?” she prompted for to get me on with my story time.

“So, I was there, and then he was there.”

“Mr. Marsh?” I nodded.

“Nick,” I corrected and didn’t miss the smile that graced her face. “Anyhow, we started to talk, and he offered to buy the dress, well, one for you and one for me, and so I let him.”

“And what did you have to do for them?”

“What?!” My eyes widened so much I was shocked they didn’t pop out of their sockets. “Libby!” I scolded. “When did you become so dirty-minded?”

“I don’t know! You’re telling me you’ve been talking to your ex-boyfriend’s dad for over a year?”

“No!” I shook my head. I am making a mess of explaining. “I hadn’t talked to him since that day. I mean, he’s always at the movies when I work. And I noticed he started to go to my gym a bit ago. And sometimes I see him out and about, like at the coffee shop with the really good banana bread?” She nodded. “But he hadn’t said a word, not a hi… until last night.”

“Last night!” Her brows bunched. If it didn’t feel like my heart was about to burst out of my chest, I would have giggled at how funny she looked. “Wait, so you spent Thanksgiving with him? You weren’t at work?”

“Lib, breathe!”

“Then tell the whole story!” she whisper-shouted.

“I worked yesterday. I closed, actually. When I was walking to my car, he was parked next to me.”

“Like out of nowhere?” she asked, obviously on the edge of seat listening to me. I nodded.

“He said he wanted to say hi.”

“Hi,” she repeated, and I nodded again. “I got in his truck, and we talked a little. He brought me this little mini apple pie––“

“That’s your favorite,” she noted because of course, she would know it was my favorite.

“And he remembered that from a conversation I had with Noah when he was around,” I shared.

“Wow,” she whispered.

“Right?”

“So, wait, what happened after?”

“He asked if I’d go out with him, and then I said yeah, but I couldn’t today because I was working and then coming here.”

“Okay,” she sounded slowly. “You could have cancelled,” she suggested because she knew. Libby Irwin knew everything about me. I had told her how hot I’d thought Noah’s dad was when I first met him. She was my person, the one who knew all my secrets.

“And you think my mom would have been okay with that?” I challenged. Libby knew I wasn’t wrong. My mom had already been bummed I’d miss Thanksgiving dinner because I was working, but she had understood and been flexible about having a second Thanksgiving today. “If I missed today, last minute, she would have lost her crap.”

“Maybe. Okay, so what did he say after that?”

“I told him I’m off tomorrow, and he said he’d be at my place at eight. In the morning.”

“You gave him your address?” she gasped.

“No. I didn’t.” My shoulders slumped forward. “I didn’t even get his number,” I groaned. “For all I know, he got nervous. I did, too, and… it’s… now it’s not going to happen.” I watched her for a moment while she processed everything I’d shared.

“I don’t know, Blanca. This is Noah’s dad we’re talking about here.”

“Yeah.”

“Mr. Tall, Handsome, and Built?” I giggled because that’s exactly how I had first described him when I told her about him.

“Yup.”

“And way older than you?”

“Lib—"

“Old-enough-to-be-your-dad older than you?”

“Libby!” I exclaimed, looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was around.

“Am I lying?”

“He’s...” I was at a loss for words. But where everyone thought I was the one who stood up for Libby and watched her back, they didn’t know she did the same for me.

“Sometimes when you were with Noah,” she started to say slowly, “I wondered if you did it because you were bored. Then I’d see his dad around campus or at a game, and I noticed how you watched him. How other guys in our class never called your attention like Mr. Marsh did.”

“Nick,” I corrected.

“It’s okay if you like someone older or you’re into things that maybe… aren’t the norm. Maybe even something I don’t understand because we all have our…”

“Kink?” I guessed. She giggled, and her cheeks turned a bright pink.

“I was going to say thing, but kink works.” I was about to ask if she had something like that, but by the red tinge at the tips of her ears, I already knew the answer. But since she would have that kink with my brother, I thought it best not to ask. Never ask a question if you’re not prepared for the answer.

“What’s age if not a number?” She shrugged, and I leaned into her.

“Am I being stupid?

“For what? For liking someone?”

“No. Yes. I mean, would there be any kind of future with this? Or would this be like some kind of fling? Situationship? Do you think my mom would ever approve of me dating someone her age?”

“Okay, now you need to breathe,” she instructed gently as she stroked my hair. “Your mom might not like the idea of you dating someone older, but at the end fo the day, all she wants is for you and Gris and Hector to be happy.”

“I still can’t believe you call him Hector. Only Mom used to call him that,” I mumbled, and her small body shook with quiet laughter.

“As for if it’s a fling or not… I think that’s a question you gotta ask him. Communication is important.” I knew she was right. I just hated not knowing if it was simply a moment and he hadn’t squared away details because he would flake out or…

“What if he already knows where you live?” she asked, almost like she was reading my mind. I pressed my lips together. I had wondered that, too. I had seen him at the little bookstore by my place and not to mention the coffee shop I liked to go that was walking distance from school and my apartment.

“I don’t know.”

“And you can’t exactly call Noah to see if he can give you his dad’s number,” she said, and when my head rose and our eyes connected, we started to laugh.

“Oh my god!” I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. “Imagine?” I asked, and we started to laugh all over again. When we caught our breath, I looked at her, and my smile dropped for a moment. “Am I really going to do this?”

“I mean, okay, so say he shows up at your place tomorrow. Will you go with him?”

“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about the answer. The small word easily slipped past my lips.

“Okay. There you go. Safety wise, just text me where you are, and when you go places, share your location.”

“Lib—” I didn’t get to finish saying her name because she put a hand up between us.

“It’s one thing being stupid in love, another is plain being stupid and reckless. I won’t bug you. But if you need anything, or you change your mind because he’s giving you some kind of weird vibes, text me, and I’ll at least know how to find you.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “You guys aren’t heading back to campus yet?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“Not until Sunday night,” she shared.

“I should be hanging out with you,” I muttered. She hardly got a chance to come home, and much less my brother, especially during football season.

“Na.” She winked at me. “You should be out there having an adventure. You work too much.”

“Hello pot, my name is kettle,” I teased, and she laughed, shaking my hand.

“Hello kettle.” She grinned.

“Smartass.”

“Better than being a dumbass,” she sassed back, and something inside of me eased up a bit.

Ten minutes later, my mom and siblings showed up with dessert and we ate around the table, laughing and joking around. Talking to Libby helped, but I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to all thoughts Nick and what he might have planned. Or if he had anything planned, because logistically, I wasn’t sure he would show up.

Does he know where I live? And if he does, how?

After dessert, I hugged and kissed everyone goodbye before heading to my apartment. Most of my roommates had gone home for the long holiday weekend. Only Polly had stayed behind, but because she was working insane extra shifts because, as she liked to say, it was easy extra money with holiday pay and double time, the apartment was quieter than usual.

And it didn’t help that Nick or Daddy Nick, like I liked to call him in my head, flooded my brain. Exhausted from tossing and turning, I took out my vibrator. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get myself off. It was like my body knew something might possibly actually happen with him in a couple of hours, and it didn’t want to let me have anything less but the man running rampant inside my head.

It was about three in the morning when I finally fell asleep, only to see him in my dreams again.