Abby's alarm clock went off at 6:30 in the morning causing her to jump from her bed. She quickly woke up and hurried into the shower. Around seven, there was a knock at her door. Knowing who it was, she ran to the door but quickly calmed herself down. She would be spending the whole day being alone with him, and only him despite the fact that Nick would be there too. She swung open the door to see Brian standing in a pair of khakis and a white sweater. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he smiled at Abby. “Morning.”
“Early morning.”
“Yeah. So, you ready?”
“I think so. Just let me grab my bag and a jacket then we can leave.”
Once in the car, Brian turned the heater up a little to rid the car of the cool, crisp morning air it had acquired the short time he was out of it. Abby reclined the back of her seat some, still fighting off the sleepy feeling.
“You can listen to whatever you want,” Brian said glancing at her for a second.
She surfed through the radio stations, most of them playing the morning radio shows, until she found something she liked. “Why, may I ask, are we doing this so early?”
Brian smirked, “Someone’s not a morning person.”
“It’s not that, I just don’t get it. It’s early and it’s cold and we’re gonna freeze.”
“We won’t freeze. It’ll warm up some.”
“Yeah some, but not a lot. Plus, it’s always colder out on the water.”
“Do you not want to do this? I’ll turn around and take you back home if that’s the case.”
Abby crossed her arms over her chest, feeling kind of bad about complaining. But she really wasn’t complaining… just asking a logical question. “No, I want to go. You still haven’t answered my question.”
“It’s just nicer if you go early. Plus, I have a feeling that Nick won’t be awake when we get there,” Brian said with a devilish grin. Poor Nick.
About thirty minutes later, they rode down the long winding driveway to Nick’s house. Abby looked up in awe as they approached it. The house was huge and very beautiful, sitting right next to the ocean.
“Nick lives here by himself?”
“Yep. He loves his house, but I don’t think he likes living here alone all of the time. That’s why he’s always at my house. I don’t mind him coming over… I don’t think I would want to live out here in this big house all by myself.”
“Why did he move out here?” Abby asked, getting her things out of the backseat.
“Nick’s a very independent person, and living out here just proves that. He saw this house, fell in love with it, and bought it. He’s practically living on the ocean and he wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow. Just wait until you see the view from inside.”
Brian unlocked the front door and the house was still dark. His suspicions were correct. Nick hadn’t been up at all yet. They sat their things down, and he led Abby upstairs. She took in her surroundings on the way. The inside of the house was plain, but magnificent. Brian stopped outside of a door near the end of a long hallway. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a feather.
Abby gave Brian a weird look. “Why do you have a feather in your pocket?”
“Nick’s gotta wake up somehow.”
“You are so wrong,” Abby said with a grin.
“Ah, but that’s not my whole plan. You have to help me with this one.”
Brian filled Abby in on the plan before they quietly went into Nick’s bedroom. Nick was lying on the right side of the bed, and Abby gently laid down on the left side, getting under the covers. She did her best to not move while Brian crept over to Nick’s side and started tickling his face with the feather. Nick rolled over and absentmindedly put an arm around Abby. She shot Brian a panicked look, but he was too busy trying not to laugh say anything. He tickled Nick’s ear with the feather one more time and stood back as Nick began to wake up.
When his eyes opened he blinked a few times before they grew huge. “Whoa shit!” Nick screamed and moved away from Abby. “How did you… where… when…”
“Good morning to you too, sunshine.”
“Where in the hell did you come from? Oh, please tell me I was just dreaming…” That was the last straw. Brian couldn’t control his laughter anymore. Nick jumped up, startled by Brian’s outburst and Abby got out of the bed. He turned to Brian. “You! That was mean dude, really mean.”
Brian wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. “Oh, man that was priceless.”
“I’m sorry, Nick. Brian made me do it,” Abby said trying not to laugh for Nick’s sake.
“You aren’t nice either!”
“So tell me, just what were you dreaming about buddy?” Brian asked calming down a little.
“Oh my God… nothing man. It was nothing.” Nick went into the bathroom, totally humiliated. Brian and Abby went back downstairs, giving Nick some time to himself to recover.