Chapter Six

“November 21, 2000. The day we met,” Nick said as he walked into the room, taking the ring out of Elisabeth’s hand, “I was serious when I asked you.”

“I know you were,” Elisabeth said as she handed him the ring case and looked down at the ring in his hands, “What are you doing up?”

“Had to piss,” Nick said as Elisabeth smiled, “And I remembered the ring, so I guess I’ll take this back with me, unless you’ve -”

“Take it back with you,” Elisabeth said as Nick smiled at her, “Sweet Dreams.”

“You too,” Nick said, smiling as he turned around and started to walk down stairs. Elisabeth stood there smiling as she turned around and walked back over to her bed, lying down.

He was serious, and she knew he was serious that time. He would have never bought a ring like that, with that date on it if he weren’t serious. She layed there in bed, thinking about how it would be if they were to get engaged, get back together and be married.

Then she looked at her clock seeing that it was almost 3:30 in the morning. She didn’t really have time to think about it.

Elisabeth woke up that next morning to the sound of her alarm clock going off. She reached over, hitting hit and opened her eyes to see that it was 8:01 in the morning. She sat up in bed, pushing her hair out of her face and climbed out of bed.

She definitely wasn’t a morning person, and it got even worse when she had to travel, going into different time zones. When she was younger, her mom had to practically force her out of bed to go to school in the morning she was just that bad.

She walked down stairs slowly, holding onto the railing until she reached the bottom and looked over to see Nick, standing in her kitchen with his hair sticking every which way on top of his head, shirtless, in nothing but his boxer briefs.

And she took a deep breath.

“You’re up!” Nick said cheerfully as Elisabeth walked towards the kitchen and looked at him. Was he cooking? She sniffed, realizing he was and -

“Nick, what are you burning?” Elisabeth asked as Nick’s eyes widened and jumped over, trying to get the burnt toast out of the toaster. Elisabeth just laughed in response watching him because he looked like a complete idiot.

“Eh, well, at least I tried,” Nick said as he took a fork and threw the burnt toast in the trash, “I tried.”

“It’s okay. You know I’m not a breakfast person anyway,” Elisabeth said as she smiled, walking over to the refrigerator. Nick looked at her as she pulled her hair on top of her head, holding it as she leaned over, wearing nothing but her gray tank top and matching panties.

“Nice,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth looked back at him, seeing him checking her out, “What? I’ve seen you in less.”

“Oh yeah, a bra instead of a tank top,” Elisabeth said as she reached in, grabbing a little bottled orange juice and took the lid off. She threw the lid in the trashcan and walked past Nick as he looked at her again.

“You know, you are the only girl I’ve dated for six months and never slept with or saw naked,” Nick said as he pointed at her, “That’s got to say something right there.”

“You respect me,” Elisabeth said as she sat down at her dining room table, taking another sip of her orange juice, “You can’t lie and say you didn’t want to see what was under it all.”

“Hell no and I’m not gonna lie. I wanted to and I still do,” Nick said as he held his hands up in the air, “But I love you enough that I’ll wait for you.”

“Even if it’s when we’re fifty years old?”

“If my buddy is working then, yes,” Nick said as Elisabeth cracked up laughing at him. She looked over at him smiling, taking another sip of her orange juice and looked down at his boxer briefs.

“Looks like your ‘buddy’ likes what it sees,” Elisabeth said as Nick looked down at himself, seeing that he was just a little excited.

“Whatever. You’ve seen me naked,” Nick said as he leaned up against the counter, crossing his arms, “So how late do you plan on staying out tonight on your date?”

Elisabeth rolled her eyes at him. He knew it wasn’t a date. He was just saying that to get to her because he knew it would work. And damn it, it worked.

“Not a date. It’s dinner. I’ll eat dinner and leave,” Elisabeth said as she took the last sip of her orange juice, “What are you going to do?”

“Spy on you?”

“I figured as much.”

“No,” Nick said as he walked over to the dining table and sat down beside her, “I’ll stay here and make plans for tomorrow night, which is our date.”

Nick smiled over at her and Elisabeth couldn’t help but smile back until she finally looked down at her fingers playing with the paper around the plastic orange juice container.

“Did you like the ring last night?” Nick asked as Elisabeth looked up at him. Nick looked at her and she looked back down, at the orange juice container, playing with it until Nick reached over, taking it from her, “Did you?”

“I loved it,” Elisabeth said as Nick smiled, “It was perfect.”

“Good, I knew you’d love it,” Nick said as Elisabeth smiled a little and took a deep breath. She pressed her lips together, looking around not knowing what to say that wasn’t either out of line, uncalled for, or gave the wrong impressions.

“Well,” Elisabeth said as she put her hands down on the table and stood up, “I think I’ll go shower and get ready for the day, so if you’d excuse me -”

“You’re excused,” Nick said as Elisabeth smiled and started to walk over to the staircase, feeling Nick’s eyes watching her. She smiled and moved her fingers back, putting them up under her panties and moved them over her butt cheeks more, which caused Nick to crack up laughing at her.

Nick walked upstairs slowly a little bit later, after taking a shower and getting dressed for the day. He looked down at what he was wearing, hoping that he looked good, and ran his fingers through his hair, making it spiky. That’s just how Elisabeth liked it. He smiled, reaching the top step to see Elisabeth standing over in front of the mirror above the sink, putting on a little bit of make up.

She never really wore much make up. She didn’t need it. She had such a clear complexion and tanned so easily that she never needed anything more than a little bit of eye make up and some lip-gloss. And just then when he thought that, she picked up her lip-gloss, applying some to her lips.

He leaned up against the door frame, crossing his arms and watched her as she backed up a little, and looked down at the jean skirt she had on and the little red buttoned up shirt with, what looked like to him, a little white tank top with an American Flag on it. She was so damn patriotic it was pathetic. Probably some weird Southern tradition he thought, until he realized he was from the South too and wasn’t that worried about it.

Nick moved back a little as Elisabeth turned around, walking over to her entertainment center in her room, turning her stereo up. Nick listened closer to hear some song by Toby Keith come on the radio and he smiled, watching her as she started to move to the music slowly.

Then he paused.

He had been watching her on CMT too much lately. He actually knew who Toby Keith was and recognized the song.

Elisabeth moved over to stand in front of her full body length mirror and began shaking her hips to the music and acting as if she was singing to it. She started shaking her hips more, becoming more seductive with her dancing that made Nick want to go over to her and kiss the utter hell out of her. He had only seen her move like that once. It didn’t help matters that she was completely drunk at the time either.

And just then, Elisabeth turned around, with her arms on top of her head, facing Nick with her eyes closed, dancing to the song. Then she opened her eyes to see Nick standing there smiling at her and she jumped.

“How long have you been standing there?” Elisabeth asked as she tucked her hair behind her ears and crossed her arms.

“Long enough,” Nick said as he walked into the room, dancing a little, “Wanna dance?”

“No,” Elisabeth said as she smiled a little and walked back over to the stereo, turning it down.

“Come on,” Nick said as he walked over, taking her hand and leading her into the middle of the room and began to sing “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.

“Nick,” Elisabeth said as she moved away from him and walked over to her dresser, where her jewelry box was. She reached inside of her jewelry box, pulling out her charm bracelet to put on and looked back at Nick as he walked up behind her, and looked over her shoulder.

“You’re so cute, you know that?” Elisabeth asked as she looked at his reflection in the mirror of the dresser.

“Well,” Nick said as he looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, “Usually I’m told that I’m like totally so hot or that I’m ’so sexy’ or that ‘oh my god I want to have your baby’. I don’t get cute very much.”

“You’re very cute,” Elisabeth said as she turned around, fastening her bracelet and looked at him, “So cute that I want to pinch your cheeks,” she said as she reached up, pinching his cheeks and kissed on his left cheek after she pinched it.

“Going to the mall?”

“Yep, just a few minutes.”

“Can I come?” Nick asked as Elisabeth looked back at him, “Please?”

“I tell you what. Let me go alone first, and have some time to myself like I normally have, and you can come and meet up with me before I go to work okay?” Elisabeth said as Nick smiled, nodding his head and agreeing with her.

“It’s a deal,” Nick said as she started to walk away and he stopped her, holding onto her arm, “But I want something first.”

“What?”

“A kiss,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. Nick smiled, shaking his head to her. Elisabeth blinked her eyes and took a deep breath, looking at him, “A real kiss,” he said as he put his fingertips on his lips, “right here.”

Elisabeth looked him in the eyes and leaned up, kissing him gently on the lips. They held both of their lips there for a few seconds until he moved them, kissing her tenderly and sucking on her bottom lip a little. The kiss ended and they both just stood there, holding their heads together until Elisabeth opened her eyes, looking into his.

“I’m going to the mall now,” Elisabeth whispered as she swallowed lightly and sighed, “I’ll see you later.”

And with that, she reached over for her bag, putting the strap over her body. She looked back at Nick and walked over to the stairs, going down them slowly, leaving Nick standing there in her bedroom. Nick smiled in return, putting his fingertips back on his lips and walked over the mirror, looking in it.