Chapter 95
1841words
Most other people would have blushed. Nicholas didn't. He rose to the challenge.
'Then let's start over." His eyes danced as his mind began spinning a million miles a minute. 'Let me give you a day in my world. We can start with crepes at Le Lapin Blanc, then head over for a private viewing at Christie's. After that, if you're not opposed to a little light travel, there's supposed to be this incredible nightclub opening in Saint-Tropez—"
'Nicholas," I held up a hand to stop him, 'I don't want a day in your world."
He pulled up suddenly short, looking as though he didn't quite understand.
'You don't...that's okay!" He was quick to recover himself. 'We can stay Stateside, no reason to go jetting all over the world. I heard that Cartier is actually unveiling a new—"
'Do you think we could just stay in?"
Okay—now he definitely didn't understand. All the words were familiar, and yet, when strung in that particular order, they didn't compute.
'Stay in?"
He glanced down without thinking about it at my breasts, and I realized that in Nicholas's world, ‘stay in,' could mean only one thing. I was quick to dissuade that notion.
'Normal people don't go jetting around the globe at the drop of a hat," I said with the hint of a smile. 'When normal people want Chinese food, they order in. They don't go to China."
His eyes tightened almost imperceptibly, and I could tell he was having similar problems with the word normal. Surely he'd heard it somewhere before. What exactly did it mean?
A little smile crept up the side of my face, and I looked at him fondly.
'I've spent the last two years living in your world. Two years doing anything and everything you wanted to do. How about, for one day only...we live in mine?"
Nicholas spoke slowly, trying out the words for the first time.
'Have a normal day."
I grinned.
'That's right."
He grinned tentatively back, then added on a modifier.
'A normal Avy day."
I nodded, and watched the decision-making process take hold.
At first, he didn't know quite what to make of it. But after a moment's consideration, the thought appealed to him greatly. His eyes lit up, and he took a giant step forward.
'Where do we begin?"
I couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. It was catching. And adorable as hell. He was like a little kid with a new toy, aching to try it out. Dimples and all.
'Well," I began slowly, 'a good friend of mine recently exiled all my things to an unknown storage locker, so I might start with a little online shopping to replenish." I took one look at his incredulous expression, and rolled my eyes. 'It's not an urban legend, Nicholas. People actually do buy things off the internet. Not everything has to be purchased in a private viewing."
He shook his head at the floor, eyes wide with wonder.
'I have to text all my friends..."
'Very funny," I snorted. Then I gestured to the couch. 'So is that okay? Is it alright if I set up down here, or—"
This time, it was his turn to laugh.
'Avy, you don't need to ask permission. This is your house now too." He spread his arms wide, gesturing all around. 'What's mine is yours. No exceptions."
Again—profoundly touched.
I hid it well, watching with a touch of amusement as he started rambling on about all the ‘normal' things the two of us could do. Most of them were clearly stolen from a domestic TV show, and throughout the entire process, he seemed to have completely forgotten he was naked.
It wasn't until he started seriously considering the prospect of getting a dog, that I cleared my throat softly to get his attention.
'Nicholas...normal people don't go skinny-dipping in the middle of the living room floor."
He paused mid-rant, then glanced down without a hint of shame.
'Right that...that makes some degree of sense." With a grin that could scarcely contain his excitement, he scooped up a towel, fastened it around his waist, and sprinted up the stairs, taking them four at a time. 'Let me just get dressed, I'll be down in a minute!"
'You do that," I answered, doing my very best to keep from laughing.
A second later a door slammed shut, but his voice still echoed down the winding stairs.
'Don't start without me!"
--
After over two years of gallivanting all over the globe with Nicholas, cleaning up his various messes, I had thought there was very little left that could surprise me. Very little ground we had left to cover, or things we had yet to try. I was wrong.
Nicholas and I had yet to have a normal day.
'This is blowing my fucking mind right now." He leaned past me to get a better look at the screen, inadvertently covering my face with a fan of his hair. 'You just type in anything you want, and they'll find you a seller? Anything you can think of?"
Although it clearly went against his every restless instinct, he had taken to our newfound stagnancy like a fish to water—deliberately hollowing out a little crater for himself in the couch cushions, just so it looked like he had been there longer than he had. Online shopping, in particular, was a source of great entertainment and fun. Perhaps, because it was the only bit of common ground he was likely to find—Nicholas loved to spend money.
'For fuck's sake," I spat out a mouthful of his hair, 'this cannot possibly be the first time you've done this. How have you never heard of Amazon?"
'I was always under the impression it was a river. Come on," he reached pleadingly for the keyboard, 'give it to me. Let me help."
'You're not helping," I clarified, shutting down the notion. 'If anything, you're making this take ten times longer than it's supposed to."
He ignored me, eyes lit up with a manic glow from the screen.
'Go back to ‘patio and garden.' I think we should buy a rake."
'We are not buying a—" I slapped his hand as he reached for the mouse, 'don't touch that! We are not buying a rake. You don't even have a lawn."
'Someday I might have one." His eyes glassed over as he imagined a million possibilities he'd never considered. 'In fact—I bet that's something we could order from here too!"
I gave him a long look, before securing the laptop squarely on my own legs.
'This was a huge mistake."
'No, it wasn't!" he said excitedly. 'Avy, you were totally right. This is great! And very normal," he added seriously, upon seeing the look on my face.
I let out a snort of laughter, and continued browsing for clothes.
Nicholas hadn't told me where the storage space was—according to him, it was somewhere on the Eastern seaboard, but that was the only thing he could remember. Instead, he had insisted upon building up my wardrobe from scratch—his treat.
Under normal circumstances, I would have refused. But no matter how hard we were pretending, these were hardly normal circumstances. And since it was his fault that I didn't have any clothes in the first place, well...his treat.
'I still can't believe you've never done this," I muttered, adding a full length trench coat to my bag. At first, I'd tried to be thrifty. He'd deleted the entire bag and forced me to start over. 'I think I could literally do it in my sleep."
He bristled defensively.
'I could do it if I want." The cool confidence was gone, replaced again with that same little kid. The one who was eyeing the laptop with a strangely covetous expression. 'I'm sure I could do it a hell of a lot faster than you.
'Oh yeah?" I turned to him expectantly. 'What's your email password?"
He hesitated, probably wishing he hadn't made it the name of whatever girlfriend he'd had at the time. There was no way to track it now.
'It's...uh, it's..."
'What's your cell phone provider? The name of those Belgian chocolates you like so much? What's the PIN to your ATM card? I noticed the other night, that the teller just checked your ID and handed you money."
Outgunned at every turn, he decided to ignore the problem entirely—turning up his head with a sneer. 'Avy, haven't you ever read Thoreau? That stuff isn't what's important. It's people. It's the connections we—"
'Really?" I cut him off with a sarcastic grin. 'You're going to try to get out of this by faking an existential awakening? Will I find you reading down by the pond?"
'Point is," he countered defiantly, 'all you need to buy those things is money. I have money. Case closed."
'I have your bank passwords."
The two of us shared a long look. Then he lowered his eyes with a shudder.
'That's a chilling thought..."
I laughed and got back to my shopping, as he folded his hands petulantly in his lap, and tried ever-so-casually to insert what he thought to be vital input.
'You should get it in the blue..." he muttered, casting a sideways glance at the screen.
The mouse hovered uncertainly over two different designer slips. I had been going for the black. He was obviously leaning the other way. After another moment's pause, I went with my original instinct. He leaned back his head with a long-suffering sigh.
'Really?" I exclaimed, turning to face him. 'Who's going to be the one wearing the slip, Nicholas? Who should be the one to pick it?"
He sat up—thrilled to finally be included, and just as indignant as me.
'Who do you buy a slip to impress, Avy? Who's the one who takes it off?"
Who the fuck decided it was a good idea to give this man skills in debate? As if he needed another weapon in his arsenal.
'...my boyfriend."
'Exactly," Nicholas declared triumphantly. 'And as your boyfriend, I'm saying that you should definitely go with the blue!"
He reached again for the mouse, but I twisted it away.
'Well given that you're my fake boyfriend, I'm not entirely sure your opinion matters."
'Oh really?" His face lit up with a grin, as he shifted closer to me on the cushion. I bit my lip, but the giggles still leaked through. 'Is that the way you want to play it? Give it here!"
'No!" I squealed, doing my very best to keep the computer out of reach.
It was no use.
In an act of desperation, I made a wild leap to freedom—only to get instantly captured by his arms. Then he lunged. Then came the tickling.
'Nicholas—don't! You'll break it!"
