Sample Sunday - Milly Rock
THIS SAMPLE CONTAINS SPOILERS!
I bit my lip, trying to keep from smiling as I walked into the kitchen, but it broke free anyway, so I let it happen. By the time I put a glass up to the dispenser on the fridge to get some water, I was full-on beaming, and couldn’t seem to be still, bouncing on the balls of my feet in time to music in my head. I took a sip, using my free hand to milly rock, just a little, as I turned back to my counter.
When I looked up, Nick was at the entrance to the kitchen, arms crossed over his bare chest as he leaned against the wall, looking thoroughly amused by my antics. “Are you always this happy in the mornings?”
“What?” I asked, grinning. “You’ve never hit a little “happy to be alive” milly rock first thing in the morning?”
He chuckled, then moved from the wall to walk an unhurried path into the kitchen. “I can’t say I have, but I’m glad to have experienced yours.”
When he pulled me into his arms, the fact that I wasn’t being poked in the stomach was the first thing to come to my attention. “Oh, it went down!”
“Huh?” Nick asked, frowning, and I quickly shook my head.
“Nothing. What time do you want to start shooting today?”
I’d taken the day away from the office, planning for us to do the shooting for Nick’s film, which he insisted wouldn’t take more than the day. I already had outfits planned for each “scene”, and I was ready to go.
“This afternoon. You’ve got good lighting from your windows, so we’ll use that, and then I’ll adjust in post.” He released his hold on me to go to where his jacket was hanging by the front door, and pulled a mini-pill dispenser from the pocket. “For now though, I need to eat something so I can take these, go back to my hotel and get cleaned up, then pack up everything to bring here.”
I leaned onto the counter. “You mean, where you should’ve brought it all in the first place?”
“Noah…”
“Nick…”
He laughed. “Come on. Your ass knows exactly why I didn’t.”
“Because we’re both, to different degrees, trying to pretend like this isn’t some next level, “this is probably my soul mate” kind of thing? Both trying to play it cool, and treat it the same way we treated those practice relationships?”
“Practice relationships?” he asked, eyebrow raised.
I sucked my teeth. “You know exactly what I mean, Nick. Every intimate connection – and not just the romantic ones - come with lessons. For you to learn what you like and don’t like, will or won’t accept, can and can’t do, for you to hurt, and heal. Practice. But I think this – we – are maybe… what the other person has been practicing toward. Maybe. That probably sounds completely crazy, doesn’t it?”
“Nah,” he chuckled, leaning onto the counter across from me. “I don’t think it sounds crazy, but I think you may be overestimating the amount of practice I’ve had. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I have this thing where, when faced with a decision… I choose whatever makes the better story. Like, if my life was a film, what would I rather see?”
I frowned. “Uhh… that sounds a little… irresponsible.”
Nick straightened up to laugh. “Wait, let me explain better – I don’t necessarily mean, what’s more high action, or what would cause more drama, but literally, what would I rather see? I’d rather watch myself get on that plane to surprise you at your office. I’d rather watch myself show up at your event to try to convince you I wasn’t some flaky fuckboy than sit back and let you disappear from the story forever. I’d… rather take the risk of getting hurt, than wonder for the rest of my life… was Noah the one, and I pushed her away out of fear? That would have been a depressing ass movie.”