The phone only rang twice before she heard him pick it up, saying ‘hello’ in an anxious voice. “Hey…”
“India!”
She couldn’t stop the smile that immediately crossed her face, being able to hear in his voice that he’d missed her, too. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“I’m glad you’re back.. how was it?” Nick asked.
“The trip was good… Chas and I had a lot of fun, but the team lost, which sucked.” she said.
“I’m sorry… it’s cool they got as far as they did, though.”
“Yeah, it was… but they were so disappointed to lose.” she sighed. “They were excited I went to see the game… I was basically the only faculty member there, aside from the coaches.”
“I know they appreciate that… but I missed having you here…” Nick said, quietly. “Would you, uh, want to come over?”
She could tell he was al little hesitant to ask, probably afraid of what it was saying about him that he wanted to see her so soon. “I want to see you, too… but I have to unpack… why don’t you come over here?”
“Okay… that’s cool. When?” he asked, that anxious tone in his voice again.
“Whenever… now is fine.” she told him.
“I’ll be over in a few.”
“Alright… see you in a bit. “she said, and hung up, still smiling. She knew she was getting to him… just as much as he was getting to her. She walked back into the living room where she’d dropped her stuff- one small suitcase of things she’d actually taken for the two nights they’d stayed in a hotel, and four bags of stuff she’d bought while they were gone. She decided to leave them until Nick came over, she could unpack them while they talked, and went to change out of the clothes she’d been driving in all morning.
~~
Nick stopped at a florists shop on the way to India’s house- browsing around for something a little different, rather than just roses. He eventually decided on a bouquet of wildly colored flowers that he couldn’t identify, but thought they looked like something India would enjoy.
~~
India pulled the personalized football jersey over her head, tugging it down over her shorts. She loved that she could have a Buccaneers jersey with her own name and lucky number on it- and wore it around the house most of the time when she was just lounging.
She went to put on perfume, but got another idea. She went into the kitchen and opened the cabinet where she kept her stash of alcohol and pulled out the bottle of tequila. She poured a little bit into a small cup, then stuck her finger into the cup, and dabbed tequila below her ears, along her collarbone, and a few other places on her neck that she knew Nick would kiss at some point during the evening.
Just as she put the bottle away, she heard him pulling up in the driveway, the SUV’s stereo practically making her windows rattle. She walked to the door and opened it, just as he was walking up the driveway. She saw the smile light up his face when he noticed she was waiting for him, and had to smile, too.
Nick couldn’t help the broad grin that spread across his face when he saw her. It’d been… what? 60 something hours since he’d really talked to her… longer than that since he’d actually seen her… and he missed her. He stepped in the doorway, handing her the bouquet with a heart-stopping smile, then wrapped his arms around her to pull her close to him and kiss her.
India let herself totally relax into him, her body pressed against his as they kissed. She could hardly believe the giddiness she felt- it was so silly and so fun. She let her hands slip down his back, sliding them into his back pockets, gently squeezing him and pulling him tighter against her.
Nick unconsciously moaned, and broke the kiss, trailing his lips over her cheek, to her ear, to nibble first on her earlobe and kiss just below her ear- a spot he'd only recently discovered that practically made her weak in the knees. He kissed her neck several times and licked his lips a little confused by an unexpected taste. He slowly trailed his tongue from just below her ear down to her collarbone, then looked at her, amused. "You taste like tequila!"
India giggled, "Indeed I do. Fun, huh?"
"Very fun." he said, then slipped his arms around her waist, dipping her down to kiss her again.
A few moments later, when India was beginning to feel the kind of temptation that was ridiculously hard to say 'no' to starting to prod her to let him get her jersey off, she made herself pull away from him, but not without giving him one more quick kiss.
Realizing that was all he was going to get for now, Nick walked over to the couch near all the bags, and sat down. "What's all this?"
"That's the limit on my credit card." she told him, laughing. "We went a little crazy. We haven't been shopping together in eons.. so we felt we should buy as much as possible to make up for all that lost time."
Nick peered into one of the bags, and seeing that it was full of bras and other fun things, looked back up at her, before he asked her to model them for him. "So I see."
India picked up the bag he'd been looking into, and began sorting it's contents, making individual piles of bras, thongs, and tiny lacy bikinis on the couch cushion next to wear Nick was sitting. While she did still need to cut the tags off before she washed them, her main purpose in pulling them out for display was just to see whether or not Nick would comment on them.
After a particularly bright red bra caught his eye, Nick cleared his throat and asked, "Are you trying to kill me?"
"No… I haven't seen you naked yet." India replied, without looking at him.
"We can take care of that." Nick said, rearranging himself on the couch so that he was right where she was working and she had to look at him.
India leaned down to kiss him on the forehead, "I missed you this weekend… you and all your 'let's get it on' hints."
"I missed hinting…" he said, grabbing her and pulling her over on top of him, amidst all the underwear. "But I really missed you."
"Yeah, right… you were hanging with your boys and probably didn't even think about me at all." she said, moving to straddle his hips and then lay down on his chest.
"Not hardly… they kept getting on my case because I was zoning all the time… thinking about you." he admitted.
India smiled, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Chas grilled me endlessly about you."
"Maybe a little…" he paused for a second, as if considering how he should say something. "Can I… is it okay if… I call you my girlfriend?"
India looked at him a little curiously, wondering why that might not be okay. "I guess you can…"
"I didn't know what to say to the guys when they were on me about having a girlfriend… since we've never talked about it… if we're exclusive or whatever…" Nick said, searching India's eyes for hints as to what she might be feeling.
"Do you want to be?" she asked.
"Yes."
"So do I… so I guess that answers your question… yes, you can call me your girlfriend." she told him, leaning down to kiss him.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Nick said, between the light, teasing kissing India was giving him.
~~~~
A few hours later, they were still on the couch, but India's newly acquired purchases had all been sorted and taken to the laundry room to deal with later. She knew it was getting late, and she needed to get to bed. She'd barely slept all weekend- having stayed up both nights talking and giggling with Chasity- so she wanted to get some sleep before having to teach tomorrow.
Nick noticed her eyes straying to the clock, and realized he should probably leave so she could get to bed. "I guess I need to go…" he commented, really not wanting to leave.
India didn't say anything right away… she didn't want him to leave… "Would you stay here tonight?"
Nick couldn't hide the surprise he felt when he heard what she asked him.
India had to giggle, "I mean to SLEEP over… that's it…" She snuggled closer against him, "I just don't want to let you go yet."
"I don't want to either." he whispered, kissing her temple. Of course he wanted to stay… the question was going to be could he get himself to behave. But for the chance to be able to hold her all night…he'd do just about anything. "I promise I'll be good."
India got up off the couch, and held her hand out to him, to help him up. She lead him back into her bedroom, turning on the light, and telling him to make himself comfortable while she went to brush her teeth.
Nick pulled his shirt off, then debated if he should keep his jeans on or not. He didn't want to… they'd be uncomfortable to sleep in.. but if he took them off.. he wasn't going to be able to hide anything…
India came back out of the bathroom, to see Nick apparently deep in thought over something. She slipped out of her shorts and pulled her bra off through the sleeve of her jersey… then noticed that Nick had abandoned his thoughts in favor of watching her. She shook her head at him and threw back the covers on the bed, then went to turn off the light, and switched on a smaller lamp on her nightstand. She slid into bed, and looked over at Nick. "Are you going to stand there all night?"
"Uh, no…" He could barely remember what he'd been thinking about… he'd just watched her take off some of her clothes! And that bra-trick.. how did girls do that?? He quickly decided to abandon his jeans and just hope that he could remain as calm as possible.
India watched him intently as he unbuckled his belt, undid the button and zipper and pushed the jeans down, then kicked them off. Her eyes trailed up once he had them off, and she licked her lips at the sight of his bare chest. He was getting more tempting all the time. She lay back on her pillow and patted the space next to her, beckoning Nick to join her.
He didn't hesitate at all, he immediately went the bed and slid in beside her, situating himself on his side to be able to look at her and kiss her.
India checked to make sure her alarm was set and them reached to turn off the lamp. She reached for him in the darkness, her hand trailing over his arm and chest as she made her way over to cuddle with him. She felt him move to lie on his back and open his arms to her and she lay next to him, slipping her arm across his chest and putting her head on his shoulder. She relaxed completely, quickly, feeling safe and totally comfortable and he held her, listening to his heart beat and the soft sounds of his breathing.
Nick fell asleep happy, loving the feel of her wrapped around him and unable to deny how well they fit together.
~~~
Nick jumped, startled by the sound of the alarm going off at 5:30. He opened his eyes and watched in amazement as India popped right up, turned off the alarm and slid right out of bed, wide awake and ready to face the world. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes, "That's insane."
India was shocked he was awake, she'd expected him to still be sleep through her getting up and getting ready. "What's insane?" she asked, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and leaning over to kiss him.
"The way you just jump up like that." he mumbled sleepily. He looked over at the clock, "Don't you normally get up earlier than this on Mondays?"
India nodded, "Yeah, if I was going to go to the beach… but I had you here and I'd have much rather lay there with you for a little while, even if it was while I was asleep… seeing you in the morning will be an even better start to my week than what I usually do."
Nick smiled as she got off the bed again, letting her words echo in his head. He scooted down the bed a little, trying to watch her as she disappeared into the bathroom, hoping he'd get a glimpse of her taking her jersey off as she got ready to shower.