Nat
and Jack. Jack suggested Mulligan’s—the miniature golf
course in town—but I couldn’t stand to go somewhere Ky
had taken me on a date the day of the Spring Fling dance.
“Veto,” I said at his suggestion.
“Veto?” Jack raised his eyebrows at me. “Why?”
Nat smacked Jack on the arm. “That’s where we went
for Spring Fling,” she whispered.
“So?” Jack was still confused.
“ Hel-lo , Captain Clueless. I was there with that one guy
that used to be our friend. I don’t want to go back there,” I
didn’t like to say his name in front of Nick. He always got
annoyed and growled. Nick’s chest rumbled. “Oh great,
now you did it.”
“What did I do now?” Jack asked.
“Nick, you’re rumbling,” I pointed out. “I didn’t even
say his name.”
“Sorry. I just thought about when I walked out of the
dance that night,” Nick said.
“What happened anyway?” Jack asked. “I just
remember Sof being super weird and pissed off on the way
home that night.”
“Well, our old friend kissed me, it was lame—like
really awful—and Nick walked out and saw us. I heard him
growl. Ky said he was gonna beat him up or something
stupid and macho like that. After Nick threatened him, he
took off running, and a minute later I heard him howl in the
distance. It was the saddest thing I had ever heard. It was
like I could hear the pain in it,” I answered. “That’s when I
made my decision to choose Nick.” Nick squeezed my
hand hard.
“Back then? Before Mexico?” Jack asked.
“Duh, why do you think he came to Mexico?” Nat said.
“It’s not like he just so happened to be there and they
hooked up. Of course they were already together.”
“Oh, I get it now. That’s why you were being all weird
in Mexico the whole time.”
“Sometimes I wonder about you Jack,” I said. “Are you
sure you wanna marry this guy?” I turned to Nat.
Nat rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you’re a little slow,
Jack.” He just shrugged his shoulders at us.
“Anyway, that’s why I veto Mulligan’s. What about a
movie? Or dinner?” I suggested.
“Let’s do both,” Nat agreed.
We decided on fast food, but our movie didn’t start for
a while, so we hung out in the restaurant talking. We let the
guys choose the movie for once and ended up seeing some
kind of zombie apocalypse film.
“That was actually pretty good,” I said as we walked
out of the theater.
“Are you serious? That was disgusting. I almost lost my
dinner,” Nat disagreed.
“I’ve never been more proud than I am right now,”
Nick said, pulling me against him and kissing me hard.
“Never?” I asked with my left eyebrow raised.
“Okay, maybe not never. But you get the point. Girls in
general don’t like blood and guts,” Nick said.
“Well, she’s not most girls,” Nat said. “Has she told you
about her obsession with MMA fighting yet?”
“What? My Sofia? The romantic comedy queen?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know about it yet,” Jack said.
“Apparently they don’t do much talking,” Nat teased.
“Shut up. We do too. I just haven’t gotten around to it.
It’s in between seasons of Ultimate Fighter right now,” I
said.
“I am so turned on right now,” Nick grinned as he
opened the car door for me. Jack had left his car at our
place and we all piled into Nick’s car.
“And she gets all into it, too. Like she screams at the
TV and stuff. And if there’s no blood or they just lay on the
mat wrestling, she gets bored,” Nat continued.
“I’m definitely seeing you in a new light tonight,” Nick
smiled.
“And she has a secret crush on Georges St. Pierre,” Nat
added.
“Really? You had to throw that in?” I complained.
“You do, huh?” Nick looked over at me.
“Maybe a teeny one, but he’s not even close to being as
sexy as you,” I said. He laughed. “I’m serious. You are king
of sexy.”
“Oh barf,” Nat said from the backseat. “Still in the car
here.” Jack
K. S. Haigwood, Ella Medler