Molly thanked him as she adjusted on the pillow. She wanted to joke with Nick about the fact that Prince Charming was named Nick too, but she didn't have the energy. Once she was given permission to take a catnap, she was out within seconds. She was anxious enough about Nick's pending arrival that her body shut itself down as a way of escaping the waiting period.
Molly woke up to the feeling of someone shaking her shoulder. Without knowing what she was doing, her face went into an annoyed scowl. She squinted and frowned at the person who was shaking her. She felt like she'd only been sleeping for less than a second.
Once she brought the figure into focus, she realized she was staring into gay Nick's smiling face. She blinked and tried to offer the hint of a smile through the groggy haze. Then suddenly she remembered. Nick. She'd been sleeping.
"What time is it?" she asked popping up on the couch.
"Ten till," Nick said. He laughed. "You were out like a light. Bentley and all them came in and turned on the lights and you didn't even budge. We thought you were dead."
Molly stretched, getting control of her faculties and was glad to find that the nap helped. She crossed over to the mirror by the door and looked in it, taking stock of the situation. She was glad she'd slept till the last second because it gave her less time to get nervous about everything.
Nick walked up behind her with his makeup kit. Molly turned to face him and he went to work with some powder. He knew she wanted to look natural, so he only did a few little things. Molly was pleasantly surprised as she looked at her reflection a few moments later.
"Thanks," she said. She made some last minute tweaks on her hair. Thankfully, it was cooperating, and she didn't have to do much to get it in order. Emma had already gone on the floor to start her color appointment. There was a group of four girls across the room, but none of them were paying attention to Nick and Molly.
"Does Prince Charming have a name?" he asked, packing up his makeup kit.
"Nick," she said. She let out a little laugh when his head snapped back to look at her.
"Seriously?" He was flabbergasted.
She smiled. "Yeah."
"That's so weird. I really don't meet that many Nicks. Is he hot?"
Molly looked at him with an expression so sincere it was funny. "So hot," she said. She had a hand to her chest and said it with such great conviction that Nick busted out laughing. Molly laughed too. The nap had done the trick. She felt bright eyed and bushy tailed, but that could have also been the anticipation of seeing the other Nick.
"Where'd you meet him?" gay Nick asked.
"He's friends with my friend's boyfriend."
"Hooked up by a friend," Nick said. "Classic. You better hope it works out, because that could get really awkward."
He knew from past conversations that Molly had ties to Jason Lane through Hannah. "It's not anyone famous is it?" he asked.
"Not really," Molly said. "I don't guess he's famous, really—his dad is really famous, but not him."
"Don't you dare tell me Nick Logan is coming to this school to pick you up, Molly Fletcher!" Nick's expression was serious as he waited for her denial of the statement.
She smiled at him. "How do you know Nick?"
He cracked up laughing. "I don't know him, Molly. I can't believe you do." He turned to look in the mirror and took out a powder brush, this time applying it to his own face.
Molly giggled watching him.
"Nick Logan? Are you kidding me? The only son of Leroy Logan."
Nick glanced at her, and when Molly shook her head telling him she wasn't kidding, he looked in the mirror again, straightening up his hair.
"Everybody in this town has heard of Nick Logan," he said, "My mom pointed him out on the cover of some magazine the other day and said she remembered the day he was born like it was some big news when it happened." He paused. "Nick Logan coming here," he said dazedly. "I figured you'd meet him sometime since you said your friend went out with that songwriter Jason, but I seriously never saw that coming when you opened the conversation referring to him as Prince Charming."
"I think he could pass as Prince Charming," she said, obviously not understanding what he meant. Nick laughed.
"Of course he could. I just can't believe he's your Prince Charming, and you were just saying it like it was no big deal."
"You're talking like I should feel lucky to have him," Molly said. She was partly joking, but also hoping Nick wasn't saying she wasn't good enough for him.
He laughed again. "Molly, you're obviously a hot babe and all, but it's not everyday Nick Logan rolls up here. Is he seriously coming here?"
Molly was taken aback by how stoked he was. His excitement was starting to make her nervous. She was staring at the ground when he gasped. It was loud enough to make her jump, and she quickly looked at him to see what scared him.
"He's here," he said, with his hand over his mouth. "That's gotta be him. No one else would drive something like that."
Molly looked out the window to see a black sports car. She knew Nick had a SUV, but had never seen the car pulling into the parking lot. It looked expensive, and she thought there was a good chance it was his. Her stomach was instantly full of butterflies as she regarded the mysterious black car. The windows were darkly tinted, and she couldn't make out who was sitting in the driver's seat.
Her phone dinged, signaling she had a text, and she pulled it out of her pocket.
Nick: "I think I'm at the right place. Do I need to come in?"
A broad smile crossed her face. She just couldn't control it.
"What?" gay Nick said. "Oh my God, is it him?"
She nodded and Nick squealed.
"Is he coming in here?"
"No, he told me he'd wait in the car," she said. It was a lie, but Molly didn't want him to have to come inside. She text him back.
Molly: "Who is this?" She couldn't help herself. She waited for a few seconds.
Nick: "Very funny. You coming out or do I have to come in after you?"
Molly: "I'm coming out."
Nick: "You're my girl. You know that, right?"
Molly's body was suddenly awakened in a way that no catnap could ever account for. She grinned from ear to ear as she text him back.
Molly: "Yep."
She included an emoji of a red heart. Then she quickly typed out and sent another one.
Molly: "Sit tight. I'll be out there in two minutes."
She put her phone back in her pocket.
"Oh shit, oh shit, Molly, he's getting out of the car," Nick said. He was looking out the window while slapping Molly's arm repeatedly.
She looked up, hoping he wouldn't come in—she was just way too nervous to make introductions.
"I guess I need to go," she said. She watched as he shut the door and came around the front of the car. Molly and gay Nick both stared, transfixed as Nick Logan leaned on the front fender and crossed his legs casually. He could have easily passed for a male model standing out there, and Molly laughed at herself, wondering how she ended up with him.
"Is that guy waiting out there for you?" Nick asked. His jaw went slack.
Molly snickered. "Hard to believe, huh?"
Nick looked at her. "Not that you're not a catch or anything, because you totally are chica, but that out there is a serious piece of meat," Nick said.
"I know," Molly said. She was just as impressed as he was as they gazed at him through the window.
Nick Logan's face shifted toward them, and both she and gay Nick ducked to dodge him.
"I better go," she said. She stood and started walking toward the door.
"You're coat," Nick yelled after her. "Don't forget your coat."
Molly looked down. She had almost walked out wearing her not-so-flattering black student uniform. She took it off and stashed it in her locker hastily before grabbing her bag and jacket. Then she turned for the door.
Chapter 24
Molly walked as confidently as she could down the sid
ewalk that led to Nick's parking spot. He was leaning on the car with his arms crossed checking her out through a pair of expensive sunglasses.
He was wearing faded jeans and a T-shirt with a navy NorthFace jacket. There might as well have been a soundtrack playing in the background, because the sight of him leaning against the car and smiling like that was the stuff of movies. He was stunning to look at, and as she got closer she struggled not to feel inferior.
She faked it.
She gave him a huge smile. "You look like a picture," she said.
"You can take one if you want," he said. He put a fist under his chin to strike a pose. He was just being crazy, but Molly couldn't resist. She pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of him. She took a glance at how it came out before stashing it back in the pocket of her jeans.
"We didn't think about my car being here," she said.
"I did."
"What should we do with it?"
"Leave it."
"Leave it?"
"It'll be fine."
"And I'm supposed to just take off with you in this?" she asked with a put-off expression. "I only ride in nice cars."
He smiled and reached out for her. By that point, she was standing close enough to grab. He took her by the arm and pulled her closer, and she came willingly. She heard a sound she didn't recognize at first, but then figured out it was knocking on the window. She looked back to see Nick standing there with at least five other people. He was waving and giving thumbs up. A couple of them were clapping. Molly's eyes widened and she stuck her tongue out at all of them, but then she gave them a silly smile as she turned back to Nick.
"They're a bunch of dorks," she said.
Nick glanced over at the crew gathered at the window. "I would try to kick that guy's ass for blowing kisses over here, but I think he might actually be blowing them at me," Nick said.
Molly laughed. "Oh, he's totally blowing them at you," she said. She hadn't even glanced back, but she knew he was talking about the other Nick. "His name's Nick too."
Nick smiled and gave a wave in gay Nick's direction. Gay Nick swooned dramatically and the girls in the window all laughed. They began to disperse, leaving Nick and Molly alone—or as alone as they could get in front of a building full of curious people.
Nick had pulled her closer, but with all the distractions in the window and everything, she'd taken a step back, leaving a little gap between them. Molly looked up at him. Her face was both scarred and delicate, and the combination fascinated him. The sight of her stirred some sort of inexplicable urge that he had never experienced. Maybe he tried to deny it before, but as he stood there looking at her, he realized that giving in to it felt so much better.
"Did you take care of everything last night?" he asked.
She wanted to do something more than just answer with a yes, so she popped up on her toes and put a gentle surprise kiss on his jaw. "Yes," she said right before her mouth touched him. The gesture made him reach out to grab her. His hand came around her waist, causing waves of that familiar electricity to course through her. She found herself pinned against his chest and the solidness of it came as a surprise even though she'd felt it before. She was on the verge of swooning, but remembered Nick doing that through the window and sort of giggled at the thought.
"You're my girl, okay?"
She looked at him with a quizzical furrow of her eyebrows.
"Did you break up with that dude?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Okay, I just want to make sure you know that I'm not down for you seeing other people right now."
She laughed. "Oh, but sometime you will be?"
He smiled and rubbed his jaw. "Shit, Molly no, probably not, but it's hard enough for me to admit that I'm feeling this shit short term, much less long term."
Molly smiled and reached up to run her fingers through the hair above his ears. "I don't really need any terms," she said, "short or long."
One corner of his mouth lifted. "Just so you know, I don't plan on spending much time apart from you during the next few days and probably the foreseeable future," he said.
"Those terms work for me."
He leaned in to whisper. "I think I should probably kiss you right now. The peanut gallery would appreciate it."
"Are they still looking over here?" Molly asked without looking back.
Nick glanced over her shoulder. He was wearing sunglasses and while Molly could see his eyes as they shifted, the onlookers couldn't. "Definitely," he said. "Ten of them at least. They're trying to act like they're doing other things, but they're doing a terrible job." Nick let out a little laugh at the level of curiosity and wondered what Molly had possibly told them about him.
"What?" she asked at his laugh.
"Nothing," he said, looking down at her. He put a hand on the back of her head and positioned her so their mouths could meet. They stayed that way for a few seconds as he put a few tender kisses on her mouth before breaking the contact. Molly hated for the kiss to end, but figured it was best not to get all hot and bothered in the beauty school parking lot.
Honestly, she didn't care a bit about the audience or where her car would end up being parked. All she could see, feel, or take in was the man holding her. They'd only been at the hood of his car for a minute, but Molly was more than ready to take off with him.
"You hungry?" he asked. Molly remembered the protein bar she had hours earlier. She touched a hand to her belly.
"I'm starving actually," she said.
Nick wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked her to the passenger's side of the car where he opened the door for her like a real gentleman.
It's a sad fact about how far we've gotten away from chivalry today, that Molly felt sort of uncomfortable letting him go before her to open her door, but she did. Her brother opened doors for her sometimes, but never a car door. She looked up at the beauty school windows almost apologetically when he did it, like she should feel sorry for having someone be so nice to her. No one was even watching them anymore, and Molly reminded herself to enjoy the fact that a fine young gentleman knew how to open doors for her.
"Where are we going?" she asked as he sat in the driver's side and closed the door. It was chilly outside, and Nick started the car so the heater could get going.
"You tell me," Nick said. "I'll eat anything."
"I could destroy some nachos if you know a good place to get those," Molly said.
Nick brought her to lunch at a little authentic Mexican place he found by accident one time. They ate and talked and laughed, and never for a moment did Nick have second thoughts about what he was doing. He wanted her so bad he could taste it.
Nick insisted that Molly needed a change of clothes and a toothbrush since she'd be staying the night with him. He brought her by her apartment to get a few things. She knew her brother was home because his truck was in the parking lot. The door to his room was closed and she assumed he was sleeping or at least didn't want to be disturbed, which was sort of a relief.
Molly got a bag from her dresser and filled it with a few things. She did the best she could considering Nick was waiting for her and she was trying to hurry.
"Where you goin'? Ben asked, looking down at her bag. They came out of their rooms at the same time, and stood in the hallway staring at each other.
He had no idea that Nick was in the living room. Molly didn't know what to say, so she just started walking toward the living room like she hadn't even heard his question.
"Ben this is Nick. Nick, this is my brother Ben," she said as she came into the room where Nick was waiting.
Ben came around the corner with a curious expression, and Nick stood up to shake his hand. They shared a few seconds of that serious male eye contact—the kind where you could tell they were feeling each other out.
"I heard you're just getting back," Nick said. "Where were you?"
"I was stationed in Germany, but I deployed to Iraq mostly," Ben said.
"What branc
h?"
"Army."
They looked at each other appraisingly for a few more seconds.
"I like the tat," Nick said. He gestured at Ben's arm. Her brother was shirtless and the massive piece of tribal was the most obvious neutral topic of conversation.
"Thanks," Ben said. "It's not quite as big as Molly's."
Ben was giving Molly a hard time because the two-hour session Hannah had gotten her for her birthday turned into a piece that took more like eight hours in three different sessions. It was all healed up now, but it was still fresh enough to surprise Molly when she looked in the mirror. It was a beautiful series of vintage looking flowers that ran along one side of her ribcage. Hannah drew it for her in a style that looked like a woodcut, and the tattooer tweaked the design to fit the angles of her body.
Molly absolutely adored it and for the most part had gotten used to it being there, but it was the first that Nick was hearing about it, and his head snapped up to look at Molly when her brother mentioned it.
"What tattoo?" Nick asked. He'd seen every inch of her body and knew there was no tattoo.
"I got it recently," she said, hoping not to let on what kind of relationship they had in front of her brother.
Obviously it was too late and Ben's curiosity was peaked. "Where you going?" he asked again. His expression was impassive and Molly got a little antsy.
"Nowhere," she said. "I mean Nick and I just ate lunch and we're probably just gonna hang out for a little bit at his apartment."
"How long have you known Nick?" he asked.
Maybe it was the overnight bag on her shoulder, but Ben was sensing that there was something more to their relationship than just hanging out in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday.
His glare shifted and he looked Nick in the eye for a good, long second. "You'll regret it if you hurt my sister." He smiled, but it was more of a warning. "I'm not kidding, dude. She's my little sister and if I find out you've hurt her in anyway I'm gonna show you a few techniques I learned from a guy in my unit. I'm not kidding either, man. Don't test me. You have no idea what sort of training I've—"
A Few Little Scars Page 17
