That night, as she lay in Nick’s arms, she had that dream again. That beach dream. It was exactly the same. Except for one thing. She saw his eyes. It was only for a brief moment, but she remembered well enough. That morning she went to the beach to sketch. She drew the eyes. When she finished, she took a long hard look at it. Those eyes looked so familiar. Like a shadow from her past. She hasn’t had that dream since her first night with Nick. Now that damn dream is back and with a new element. Annette couldn’t understand it. Letting out a sigh, Annette got up and walked back to the house. Nick was already up, waiting for her.
“Where were you?” He asked curiously.
“The beach. I was drawing.” Annette shrugged.
“You had that dream?” Nick looked at her knowingly.
“Yup.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“My dream? No. What do you want for breakfast?” She began walking around the kitchen.
“An omelet, please.” He said, still watching her.
“Coming right up.”
“Why don’t you want to talk about your dream?”
“You know about it already. You also know that when I have it, I go to the beach.”
“But you haven’t done that for weeks.”
“That’s because I haven’t had it for weeks.” She turned around and smiled.
“Oh. Right.” He looked down.
They sat down quietly and began to eat. All of a sudden, Nick leaned across the table and kissed her.
“What was that for?” She smiled wide.
“For being you.” He caressed her cheek.
“Thanks. Listen, I’m going to take a shower.”
“Would you like me to join you?”
“As much as I’d like to, if we get in now, we’ll never be able to get out and your friends are coming today. I’ll take a rain check though.” Annette kissed him and got up.
“If you say so.”
Annette left the room, leaving Nick to clear the table. He had never been so happy in his entire life. In the weeks he had spent, he had fallen in love. He looked forward to every minute spent with her. The only thing he was debating was when to tell her that he loved her. He knew he loved her since the first time he held her in his arms. But did she feel the same? He couldn’t tell. While debating the issue some more, the doorbell rang. He went over to see who it was and it was none other than the guys.
“Brian, guys, what are you doing here?” He looked at them nervously.
“I already told you we were coming. Can we come in?” Brian laughed.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.” He moved aside to let them enter.
“So, where’s your friend? We’re dying to meet the guy. You were always so excited when talking about him you forgot to mention his name.” Howie looked around.
“My friend? You’re dying to meet him? Well—uh…”
Just then, Annette called out.
“Nick?” Her voice floated down the stairs.
“Uh, yeah?” he looked up.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m using your last clean towel.”
“That’s ok.”
Then Annette came downstairs. She was wearing just the towel and her hair was dripping wet. She looked surprised to see them while the guys looked down right shocked.
“Nick, who is this?” AJ asked when he got his voice.
But he was at a loss for words. He never imagined them meeting like this.
“Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Annette.”
“This is your friend?” AJ asked, speaking for everyone, it seemed.
“Um—yeah. I was going to tell you but I never got the chance. I wanted it to be a surprise.” Nick ran his fingers through his hair.
“Well, it’s a surprise alright.” AJ shook his head.
There was a long, awkward silence. Annette, still sopping wet, spoke up.
“Why don’t I go back upstairs, get into something dry and make everyone something to eat?”
“Sounds great.” Nick smiled.
“Ok, I’ll be right back.”
She bounded upstairs, leaving Nick to the proverbial hounds.
“So—she seems nice.” Brian said.
“She is. She’s wonderful.” Nick looked in the direction where Annette left.
“When were you going to tell us about her?” Kevin got his voice back.
“I was thinking now would be a good time.” He nodded.
“Do you like her? How long have you known her?” Kevin started the interrogation.
“A little over two months. I love her.”
“You do? But you’ve only known her for a short time.” Brian looked at him.
“It doesn’t matter. I knew I loved her the moment I held her, kissed her, made love to her.” He drifted off dreamily.
“We don’t know what to say.” Howie said.
“That’s a first.” Nick laughed.
Just then, Annette came down. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Her hair was tied back.
“Who want chocolate-chip pancakes?” she smiled and looked around. The guys all wanted. “Ok, then. Coming right up.”
“Wait, when did we get chocolate chips?” Nick looked at her perplexed.
“I always have some just in case.” She shrugged.
“Ok…why?”
“I don’t know, just seemed like the thing to do.”
“Why wasn’t I informed?” Nick got all adult-like.
“Because if I told you, you’d eat them and there wouldn’t be any left.” She pinched his cheek playfully.
“Very funny.” He said sarcastically.
He pulled her to him and planted a small kiss on her lips. The other guys were still looking a little shocked and nauseas at this public display of affection. The couple tried hard to keep from laughing and Annette began to work on the pancakes. After they ate, Kevin told Nick that he needed to speak to him outside. When they went outside, AJ and Howie followed leaving Annette alone with Brian. While they were talking to Nick, Brian inquired to Annette about their relationship.
“So—how’d you guys meet?”
“I met him at the beach.” She smiled, thinking about it.
“When was that?”
“About two months ago.” She laughed a little at Brian’s curiosity.
“What have you guys done since then?” Brian looked at her.
“Excuse me?” Annette didn’t quite understand the question.
Nervously, he replied, “I mean, like, when you guys go out.”
“Oh, well, we go to the movies, talk, I draw…”
“You draw?” Brian looked at her interested.
“Yeah.” She knew she shouldn’t have said that.
“Mind if I have a look at your sketches?”
“Um—I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She shook her head.
“Don’t worry, I’m probably a worse artist than you are.”
Nervously, she shook her head as a sign to let the subject go. Too bad Brian didn’t take that sign.
“Why not?” Brian began to whine.
“I don’t feel comfortable showing my work.”
“Oh, c’mon. Please?” He batted his eyes.
“No.”
“Pretty please?”
“Nooo.” She started to get annoyed.
“Pretty please with sugar on top?” Brian persisted.
“NO!” She yelled.
“Pretty please with sugar and gummy drops on top?” He now put on his infant voice.
“Fine, if I show you my sketchbook, will you leave me alone?” She gave in.
“Yes, yes I promise.” He nodded vigorously.
Laughing, she slowly took out her sketchbook and opened it to the drawing of Nick at the beach.
“Wow, this is really good. Why were you so tense about showing this to me?”
He got his answer when he turned to one of Nick in the nude.
“Oh now I see.” He said gently.
Brian’s eyes practically bulged out of his sockets when he saw the sketches. Annette turned ten shades of red as she grabbed the sketchbook and ran. She didn’t want him to see that one, just the one of Nick at the beach. Brian ran after her. He wanted to apologize for making such a big deal out of it. It was just the shock of see a picture of Nick naked. He caught up with her and stopped her from running.
“Listen, I’m sorry.” Brian said when he caught his breath.
“No, I should be sorry. You weren’t meant to see that sketch.” Annette said.
“No, I should be sorry. I shouldn’t have turned the page.”
“No, I should be sorry. I shouldn’t have shown you the book at all.”
“Why don’t we just say we’re both sorry.” Brian said, tired of fighting.
“Ok.” Annette shrugged.
They laughed at that. They were both relieved that the other was ok. Just one thing plagued both of their minds. Annette was the first to speak up.
“Um—Brian? You won’t tell Nick that you saw this, will you?”
“Only if you don’t.” Brian said.
“Deal.” Annette agreed.
“Deal.”
They went back inside to find Nick listening to the guys tell about their vacations. He looked at Ann and Brian walking in.
“What were you two doing?” He tore his attention away from Kevin to look at Annette.
“Oh, Brian was just interrogating me about us.” Annette replied.
“That’s nice—I think.”
“Hey Nick, you have one great girl.” Brian smiled.
“I know.” Nick beamed.
Nick put his arm around Annette who put her head on his shoulder. The guys all went “Aww” at the sight. After that, they sat down and talked about what happened the last couple of months. It was the start of a great week.
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