VII #6
It was clear they served only as decoration, arranged tastefully so as not to draw too much attention.
Nick approached the bar and sat on one of the bar stools. Ana joined him.
"How do you like it?" she asked him.
Nick looked around the room and answered offhandedly: "Comfortable, relaxing."
Ana nodded and sat beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily. "I missed you today, at moments I was going out of my mind."
Nick gently stroked her head, for a moment playing with one of her red strands.
He loved feeling her smooth hair and the sensation it awoke in him as it passed through his fingers.
He twirled a curl around his finger and let it slide gently free.
He adjusted his shoulder so it would be more comfortable for her head and gently whispered to her:
"Going out of your mind, yes, but not losing it. I guarantee that in a month you'll remember this day only for the good."
Ana sighed. Nick, as usual, was right. That's why she loved him.
He knew she needed just a comforting word, just a gentle, no-strings touch.
A shoulder to lean on and gather strength to go on.
They'd been repeating the same game too long.
Too many times she'd crept into his bed just to share tenderness or feel someone beside her, the security he radiated, to recharge her batteries.
Nick was always ready to share himself with her.
For some reason he was always there and would never turn her away.
Like a kindred spirit — if only he were a woman.
Then Ana would never leave his side. But you can't have your cake and eat it too, so she contented herself with what was offered.
At that moment the rest of the company came into the room, and Dijana approached the bar.
"Do you take a third, or is this just for two?"
Ana smiled at her, took her by the hand, and sat her on her knees. She rested her head on her back as she embraced her.
"You did an excellent job with the renovation, thank you," she whispered, gently kissing her back.
Nick noticed a dangerous flicker in Dijana's eye that lasted only a moment.
It literally said: My territory, stay away.
It lasted only a moment before Dijana closed her eyes, enjoying the kisses and touches Ana gave her.
Nick turned his head and began studying the bottles behind the bar, marveling at Dijana's jealousy.
The girl was obviously possessive and considered Ana hers.
She didn't like any competition. Nick smiled.
As if he could compete in anything. Ana was gay and he harbored only brotherly feelings for her, and that was a fact.
He believed Dijana would accept him as such and calm down in his company.
She'd better accept it as soon as possible, because, as far as Nick knew Ana, she didn't like being considered property.
She respected an exclusive relationship in a partnership, but she didn't like being smothered.
Such toxic relationships she'd break off in an instant, without the slightest regret, and would always find comfort in his company.
Nick hoped Dijana would understand that and not philosophize too much over the relationship she had with Ana.
After all, she was still very young and Ana could be her teacher.
He blew away a bit of dust floating in the air and turned toward the chatty company, who were commenting on the decoration of the living room.
Nika was obviously overjoyed with her room, while Vlasta loudly commented that she had to start acquiring baby clothes and along the way panicked over the idea that she might have to sew it herself.
Tomi had settled on a beanbag in the corner and silently glanced around the room.
It was obvious he was, in a way, uncomfortable, but he bore it stoically.
The fact that he knew everyone in the room greatly helped him relax a little and suppress the panic that always grew in him when he was surrounded by people.
Erik quietly kept watch over Vlasta and seemed like a mountain within which they now lived.
Sturdy as rock and alert as stone. He rarely relaxed, especially now that Vlasta was in late pregnancy.
He always made sure everything was all right with her, and only then would he attend to his own needs.
He loved that woman with his whole soul, and she knew it.
Their love was so obvious that everyone respected it.
Nick had met that young couple a few months earlier at some party with dark tones.
He remembered he'd had to research well so as not to miss the party's theme, because before them he didn't know what goth metal or doom metal was.
He couldn't tell biker clothing from punker studs.
He spent quite a bit of time researching and in the end completely missed the theme of that birthday party.
Even today he remembers how Vlasta burst out laughing when she noticed his punker markings and decorations.
Nick had considered her a punker and, surprisingly, hadn't connected that her clothing was closely tied to motorcycles and biker meetups.
Vlasta laughed for a long time and then warmly hugged him with the words that no one except Erik had done something so endearing for her.
Only then did Nick realize he'd completely missed the theme of her birthday, but that no longer mattered.
Vlasta appreciated his effort and took the whole thing entirely positively, and from that day she considered Nick one of her close friends and not infrequently spent time with him.
After quite a while, and with the help of her company, Nick could finally connect the differences in the music, the small but crucial tones that separated a punker from a banger, a biker from a faker.
And their company accepted Nick as one of their own.
The metalheads were generally a rather closed group and didn't readily accept newcomers.
They considered it an intrusion into their territory and a meddling in their lives.
But Erik and Vlasta gradually introduced Nick into that company and, in the end, people accepted him as one of their own.
And he was surprised how warm and sociable those people actually were once the distrust vanished.
He had wonderful moments with those people, regardless of the fact that he didn't like listening to their kind of music.
The main thing is the companionship and the feeling of belonging.
Somehow he knew that in case of danger or some trouble he could always count on them.
That was confirmed to him when he lay wounded in the hospital after a robbery, and bikers in leather jackets burst into his room, nearly frightening to death a few nurses who scattered in panic.
He remembered how he'd laughed at the scene of the bearded hulks bringing him a plush pink teddy bear that from then on graced his armchair.
He remembered how Erik had secretly slipped a can of beer under his hospital pillow while Vlasta fixed his hospital gown like a little child.
He was grateful to them for that natural kindness and acceptance of theirs.
He tried to preserve that friendship. He'd always set aside a place at parties where they could feel content.
He'd always make an effort to get an extra keg of good beer for the "crowd from the corner," as he liked to call them.
And more than once he'd asked for their help when things got out of hand.
It had already become well known that this crew was the security at parties, and sometimes just one look from them was enough to quiet tensions and calm passions.
It was the same at this last party. The company had their own room and music, and in return they worked as marshals.
Nick was grateful for that cooperation; he couldn't imagine what would have happened if he hadn't had a good relationship with those bearded men.
The situation could have been much harder and more hopeless.
But here, now Vlasta was chatting pleasantly with Nika, while Erik seemed calm for the first time that day.
Nick had sunk so deep into thought that he almost missed the fact that the girls had settled on the bar beside him and were questioning Dijana.
"And what's behind the other doors?" Vlasta was asking.
"The remaining rooms are for Tomi." Dijana pointed toward the door behind the bar. "Nick's," she pointed to the right, "and our room." She turned to the left. "I tried to arrange them according to the instructions Ana gave me."
Ana nodded in confirmation with a big smile directed at Dijana. "And you did it very well," she praised her.
Vlasta was full of enthusiasm. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's see how you arranged it for our neighbors."
"Not now," Ana stopped her before she could get up from the bar stool. "It's time for dinner, and a woman in your condition mustn't skip meals, you're eating for two, my dear."
"That's right!" Nika agreed. "Everyone to the canteen for a well-deserved meal."
The company rose cheerfully from their chairs and headed toward the room's exit. Only one figure remained sitting on a beanbag in the corner, almost unnoticed. Nika stopped at the door, turned, and approached Tomi, who sat calmly.
"Coming?" she asked him shortly.
Tomi thought for a moment, then nodded. He got up from the beanbag and headed toward the room's exit.
He felt her hand slip under his and hook girlishly around his elbow.
Tomi didn't react; he was afraid any reaction might break the touch he shared with the girl, so he calmly, without a word, walked toward the staircase, from which the cheerful voices of the company heading off for a warm meal still carried.