Danielle slowly started to open her eyes as she yawned and stretched. "Who are you calling?" she asked.
Mick told her sister to be quiet so she could here. "Hello?" the person said on the other end.
"Hey Brian it's me, Mick." she said making sure he remembered.
"Yeah, I know who it is. What did you think I forgot or something?" he asked with a laugh.
"No." she said in embarrassement.
Brian laughed and said, "Sure. Anyway can you hangout today or what?"
"Yeah I can. Do you want us to bring our mitts so we can have a catch or something?"
He agreed and told her that he would pick them up at one o'clock pm.
It was around 12:50 when Brian pulled up in front of their grandparents house. He stepped out of the car to walk up to the driveway, but then Mick and Dani came out fo the house.
"Hey, I wanted to meet you grandparents." Brian said.
"Noone is home Bri. Sorry." said Mick.
"Where's Nick?" asked Dani trying not to sound obsessed.
"He went to the beach with Sarah." Brian said in disgust. "Why do you miss him?"
Danielle gave him a dirty look and turned away. "Hey quit pickin' on my sister!" she yelled as she punched him in the arm.
"Ow! That hurt. Hey Dani, I'm sorry." he yelled to her.
She smiled and they got in the car. Basketball was the first thing on the agenda. The three of them were shooting hoops until three o'clock. Then they had a catch for a while. When they left the park it was around four o'clock pm.
"Hey, you guys wanna come back to my apartment and chill?" Brian asked.
"Sure." Mick said as she snapped the ball in her glove.
In the car, Brian tried to start a conversation with Danielle. "So Dani, tell me about yourself." She looked at him funny. "Like what?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Dani looked down and said. "No, havent found one yet, but I'm lookin.", she added.
"So whats you type? Say, blonde hair, blue eyes with the name Nicky maybe?" he teased.
"Will you stop tormenting my sister B-Rok!" Mick said in an attempt to save her sister from embarrassemnt.
Danielle looked away trying not to show that yeah, Nick was hot and yes she wanted to go out with him.
"I kind of hoped that maybe they could ya know, hook up." he whispered to Mick so Dani couldn’t hear.
Finally, they arrived at the house and got out of the car. It was a cool afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. When they walked in they saw Nick on the couch with his arm around Sarah watching a movie.
"Eeum." Brian interrupted.
"Hey guys whats up?", replied Nick in embarrasment.
Sarah got up and told Nick that she had to go anyway. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and walked out the side door.
"Dani and Mick. What up?" he said trying to take the focus off of himself and Sarah.
Sarah was slightly shorter than him and slender with long legs and dark brown hair.
"Thanks for not even saying good-bye last night."Mick teased.
"I said good-bye to Dani." he said as he put his arms on her shoulder and laughed.
Danielle tried to hold back, but she smiled and blushed slightly at his touch. All she kept thinking was how cute he was and his laugh. She really had a thing for him.
"Yeah, the Giants man!", cried Michelle as she stared at the T.V. which was on ESPN.
Nick started shaking his head. "No way Tampa baby!", he said as he walked over to Mick and sat on the coach with her.
Dani couldn’t take how Nick was treating her. She figured it was because she was so young. Michelle didn’t like Brian in that way so she decided she would stop thinking about Nick. Christmas Eve was tomorrow and they were leaving to go back to Long Island after New Years so why get attached, she thought to herself. "Hey Mick!" Brian yelled to get her attention off the Giants news coverage which he knew was a difficult thing to do. "Hello. Michelle." he said again.
"Huh?" she replied with little interest.
"What are you doing for New Year's Eve?" he asked.
"Nothin' why?",she asked as she got up off the couch and walked toward him.
"Why don’t you and Dani come with us to a party at Kevin's friend's house?" he asked.
Mick and Dani looked at each other and agreed. Brian said that he would pick them up at nine o'clock pm and he'd have them back at one or two m. After that was settled, they watched a movie, then he drove them home, but this time Nick came for the ride. The sky had turned dark with the look of a storm coming in.
"Oh great is this gonna be like a twister or somethin'. I cant handle this!" Danielle said with panic.
"Yeah we get those all the time. Sometimes we get huge…did I say huge? I mean humongous floods and winds up to 99 MPH!" Nick said in a soft voice like he was telling a scarey story.
Danielle looked at him in deep fear as he continued on with his story.
"One time, this guy's house got thrown into the ocean. He died of course, but I'm sure you'll be okay." he said with a smile.
The horror in D's face made Nick burst out laughing. "I’m just playin' wit you D. Ha Ha."
Dani took a deep breath and raised her hand to her heart in deep relief as Nick put his hands on her head and rubbed it. "I'm sorry kid. I didn't mean it. I just thought it was so cute how you believed me.",he said still laughing a little.
With that said, Dani punched him hard on his arm.
"You jerk!" she yelled with a smile.
"Hey, that hurt girl. I was just playin' wit you." he added still laughing.
Brian giving occasional lookes to the back saw the flirting taking place an looked over at Michelle with a sideways smile. She saw this and smiled back. Nick might not have had interest in Dani as a girlfriend, but they were still good friends anyhow.
When they pulled up in front of the house all the lights were out except for a single street light in the middle of the block.
"Hey Dani, why don’t you go show Nick the garage." she Michelle.
Danielle gave her a puzzled look. "What?"
Michelle rolled her eyes and said, "You know…the garage." she said again.
"Oh yeah, the garage." she replied getting the hint that he sister wanted to be alone with Brian for a while. She then jumped out of the car and turned back and saw Nick still sitting their with a huge smile on his face laughing. Dani quickly grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him out of the car. "Come on Nick!" she yelled.
"Wow, aggressive woman! Hello, I'm coming. Bye guys."Nick teased.
"Get outta here Frack!" Brian yelled with embarrasement.
As soon as Nick shut the door Brian turned to Mick and asked, "So what's up?"
She looked at him in embarrassement. "Look Bri, I wanted to talk to you alone because of ya know. I just wanted to talk about stuff." she said with a tense look on her face.
"You mean you and me?" he asked as he ran his hand through his hair.
"No..well..nothing like that. I just…well…"
"Well all I know is that I'm gonna miss you Mick and I want to keep in touch." he added.
"She smiled in relief like he had taken a huge weight off her shoulders.
"That's what I wanted to know. I mean I probably wont hangout with you for a long time, but I would take the time to write a few letters and call if you would." she said.
He smiled at her and agreed that he would definitely try. "I know how much you hate mushy stuff,but…"
She turned away as if to get out of the car, but he grabbed her wrist. "Okay, we are not doin' this again.",he laughed. "All I wanted to say was that you're a really cool friend and I'm glad we got to hang and play some b-bll together.",he said with a half smile.
Outside it was getting a little more chilly and the wind was howling as Dani and Nick sat in her grandfather's car in the garage.
"Don’t touch that Nick!" she cried.
"Why not?",he pleaded as he reached for the horn again.
"So I guess you guys are going back to Europe after New Years?",she said sadly.
"Yeah, we leave the day after New Year's." he replied. Dani couldn’t take it anymore. His gorgeous blue eyes staring right through. Most of all his hair. All of those lovely gold locks blowing in the wind and to top it off his laugh. She loved everything about him and she had to know. She had to find out. "So I guess your girlfriend will be bummed about you leaving huh?",she asked.
Nick, surprised, replied, "Well actually…she's not my girlfriend. Well technically, we're friends." he laughed.
Dani was a little confused. "You've gotta be kidding. You were all over her Nick!" she said.
"I knew her since like forever that’s all." he said sadly.
Dani was someone Nick could really talk to about things. It was surprising given the fact that she was still in middle school and three years younger than him, soon to be four years next month.
"Anyway, I don’t have time and she knows that, but I am lookin'." he said giving her one of his crooked smiles making her heart melt.
Out of pure reaction, she quickly leaned over towards him wanting to kiss him. In reaction to her, Nick placed his arms on both of her shoulders and pushed her away. "Dani! What are you doing?!",he asked in shock. "Look, I don’t know if I gave you the wrong idea, but I cant..I mean..I don’t..",he said in hesitation.
Danielle looked down in shame. "Why not?"
"Well you're just a kid." Nick stopped realizing what he had just said. He knew he had just put his foot in his mouth and he reached for her to stop her from getting out of the car. "Wait Dani, I 'm sorry I didn’t mean it…I…"
She quickly got out of the car and threw open the garage door in anger. Mick and Brian saw this as it began to rain. They quickly ran out of the car to see what happened. Nick came running after her yelling, "Dani…Dani..come back I…"he cried putting his hands over his face in disgust of himself.
"What did you do to her Nick?!" Mick yelled clueless as to what had just occurred between the two of them. Nick looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Well see she tried to kiss me and I…I sort of …stopped her …and..well…"
"Tell me you didn’t Nick? How could you be so unfeeling?!",she cried as she walked towards the door. "I'll talk to you later Bri."
"Sorry Mick.",Brian said as to apologize for his buddy. He then turned back to his friend and he told him what happened as they walked back to his car."Bri, I just don’t have those kind of feelings for her. Ya know?",Nick said sadly.
Brian put his arm around Nick. "I know its not your fault."
"I just hope we can still be friends.",Nick said as he sat down in the front seat. "I mean shes's only thirteen Brian."
"Well Michelle is four years younger than me, but…" he stopped himself. "Its not like that, but I'm trying to show you that it doesn’t matter when you get older." he explained. He was glad Nick didn’t noticee that statement about Michelle. He didn’t like her in that way. She was just a cool girl he thought to himself. Nothing had come of it and nothing would, he convinced himself as he turned the keys in the ignition.
Chapter Ten
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