He knew she had to be exhausted if she was calling him Nicky. “You know what? I think it’s time for us to go home. You’re practically falling asleep on your feet there.”
“But…”
“But nothing.” He looked at his watch to see that it was one o’clock. Definitely time for them to leave.
“But Nicky, I’m the maid of honor!” she whined. “I can’t go home until Sarah does!”
“You’re not doing any good to Sarah when you’re this tired,” he said. “And who says you have to stay?”
“I…fine, let’s go,” she muttered, too exhausted to argue.
They found Sarah and her husband, Barry, and said goodbye. “Get her to bed,” Sarah said to Nick.
“Congratulations, Sarah. We’ll see you later.”
“Bye!”
Fifteen minutes later, they were in Nick’s driveway, and he pretty much carried Aimee into the house. “Come on, you need to get to bed,” he stated, helping her up the stairs.
“Yeah, I guess I should,” she yawned.
He successfully got her into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of pajamas from her drawer. Then he went to his room to get out of his uncomfortable dress clothes. He stripped down to his boxers and went back to her room. When he got there, she was already asleep on the bed. “Ugh, I can’t let her sleep in the dress.”
Unsure of what to do, he tried to wake her up, but she was out cold. He rolled her onto her stomach and unzipped her dress, then carefully took it off, followed by her slip and her pantyhose. She had already taken her shoes off. What was he gonna do about her bra? It didn’t look the least bit comfortable, and she had told him once that she hated sleeping in bras. He unhooked it and slipped the straps down her shoulders. Though he tried not to look, he couldn’t help but notice that she was, well, perfect. Her chest wasn’t big, but it was shaped well, and Nick didn’t really care about size. Tearing his eyes away from her, he turned around and grabbed the pajamas.
Of all the times to wake up, her eyes fluttered open then. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked.
“I – I was – I was just trying to get you into your pajamas,” he stammered. “This isn’t as bad as it looks, Aims. You passed out. I just didn’t want you to sleep in that dress.”
She groaned. “Can you turn around for a second? I can get it from here.”
He quickly turned his back to her. “I’m really sorry.”
“That’s all right. Thanks for having the guts to do that. I would have been pretty upset if I woke up in the morning and had my dress on.” She quickly put on her pajamas.
“I’m gonna go to bed, too.” He started to leave the room, but she stopped him.
“Do you think I’m ever gonna get married, Nick?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, turning around and sitting down next to her.
“Barry and Sarah are so happy together. Am I ever gonna find someone that cares that much about me?”
“You have. I care about you that much.”
“Yeah, but you aren’t in love with me. You love me as a friend.”
“I know, but some people don’t even find that.”
“Seriously, how many people actually fall in love with someone? I mean, a lot of people are convinced they’re in love with someone, like I was with Steve, but most people don’t actually fall in love. And what are the chances that that person will be in love with you, too? The chances are like, one in a billion trillion zillion.”
“Well, if anyone deserves that happiness, it’s you.” He looked into her eyes. They mirrored his pain, his sorrow, his loneliness, and all he wanted was to take that away from her. At that moment, a spark ignited within him, and everything was clear. The reason he didn’t like her to date anyone was because he was in love with her.
“No one’s ever going to fall in love with me,” she said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek.
He pressed his lips to her cheek to stop it. “That’s not true. I already have.”
Then he worked up his courage and kissed her. She pulled him on top of her and ran her tongue along his lips, willing them to open. Their tongues wrestled for a few moments before she separated her lips from his.
She ran her hand over his bare chest, playing with the blond hairs she found there. “Come on, Nick, we’re best friends,” she said. “We can do more than this. Let’s just have a night of fun, no strings attached.”
Obediently, he moved his lips down to her neck, but then hesitated. What was he doing? As much as he wanted to, there was no way he could make love to Aimee, especially when she was in this state of mind. Not only was she tired and depressed, but she had had a couple drinks, too. Hadn’t she straightened out her life after having Caitlin and decided no more one-night-stands? Refusing to take advantage of her like that, he met her eyes and mustered all the control he had within him. “I can’t do this to you, Aims. I’m sorry.” With that, he got up and left the room.