CHAPTER 46 NICK SWEATY
NICK
SWEATY
Tallulah was deep in research, folders stretched on her lap. Humming under her breath, she highlighted another line with her pink marker. It’d been like that for the last forty-eight hours.
Sleeping? Barely.
Eating? Not unless I forced her to.
Now Tallulah had to leave the house because we were meeting up with her parents.
They’d flown into Toronto about thirty minutes ago.
After they picked up their rental car, all four of us were going to lunch.
Nervous didn’t cover it. I was tapping my thumbs against the steering wheel, trying to convince myself this was a good idea.
I thought Tallulah would’ve been anxious, but she was focused on the folders.
“What does the name Coach Bud Weckhorst mean to you as a hockey player?” Tallulah asked.
“Fucking psycho?” I tried. “Lunatic? Horror movie villain? Makes Tomasini look like a birthday clown?”
“All of these articles talk about Weckhorst’s ‘inability to maintain positive relationships with his peers—’”
“With anybody.” I snorted. “When Weckhorst died a bunch of hockey players printed out photos of him to piss on in their driveways. There were videos in so many group chats. It was the first time I’d ever seen people happy about a car accident.”
“He was Tomasini’s coach.”
“Yep, Tomasini’s second coach but the longest and definitely most impactful. Weckhorst’s been dead five years and Tomasini still worships him. You can’t talk shit about Weckhorst in front of Tomasini or he fucking loses it.”
“Did you ever…?”
I snorted. “Fuck no. I value my collarbone. And my leg bones.”
Tallulah’s phone beeped. Her parents messaged that they were driving to the restaurant, only a few minutes out. The uneasiness was eating away at me.
At the restaurant, I slipped out of the car and checked myself in my mirror, patting my hair, smoothing down my eyebrows.
“There’s no reason to be nervous,” she said softly.
“There’s no reason for you to be nervous. You haven’t met my mom and she loves you.” I licked my thumb, smoothing down my eyebrows again. The lone hairs were pissing me off. “I have plenty to be nervous about.”
“My parents loved—” Tallulah stopped herself, wincing. “Um, they have a good track record of being very nice to my boyfriends.”
“And I’m fantastic at breaking records.” I straightened my shirt, cursing myself for forgoing a suit jacket. “Do I have time to run home and change?”
“No, they’re here.”
I craned my neck, spotting Jacoby and Kendra shutting their car doors behind them, laughing together.
I should’ve worn the suit jacket.
I glanced down at Tallulah. “You told your parents we’re dating, right?”
“I—” She paused, thinking it over. “Oh…um…”
“Lulah!” her mom yelled, running over to engulf her daughter in a hug. “That braid-work is so pretty, I’ve never seen you do it like this before.”
“How’s my little bean?” Jacoby wrapped his arms around both of them, squeezing them tight. He paused, nose scrunched up. The sneeze rocketed out of him, and he lurched away to sneeze again into his elbow.
“Oh my god, Dad, I’m sorry.” Tallulah shed her purple jacket. “That’s the fur, she slept in my jacket. I have a—uh—cat.”
Her mom frowned. “You have a pet?”
“She has two,” I joked, holding out my hand. “Hey, I’m her boyfriend.”
Recognition flashed over their faces and they stared at me with rapidly diminishing smiles.
“Nick?” Kendra said. “The playboy?”
“Nick the Dick?” Jacoby asked, confused.
I pulled my hand back, forcing the pleasant expression to stay on my face no matter how much I felt like jumping ship.
“Mom, Dad,” Tallulah interjected, surprised. “This is Nick Kurosawa, he’s my boyfriend.”
Her parents might’ve remained silent, but Tallulah inherited their lack of subtlety. An entire conversation happened between the couple without either saying a word. The silent conversation continued into the restaurant. Mostly darting eyes and bewildered glances. Those were impossible to miss.
We sat at a pretty, engraved table outside. I caught sight of their phones at the edge of the table. I was pretty sure they were texting each other.
The waiter arrived with our drinks, ready to take our orders. While Tallulah whispered recommendations to her dad. I pointed at the menu. “She’ll have the house salad—”
“My daughter can order for herself,” Kendra said sharply.
I froze. So did everybody else at the table.
“No—no, Mom.” Tallulah’s face darkened with the blush. “They have a house salmon salad, we get that and split a burger every time we come here. Nick and I talked about it in the car—”
“Oh,” Kendra said, less like she was embarrassed, and more like she’d aimed a gun and was disappointed that it’d missed.
“I wouldn’t…” I cleared my throat. “I mean, I order for her sometimes, but that’s when I want her to try something. I wouldn’t…uh…force her to get a salad or…uh…”
We finished ordering and the table remained tense, like we were poised over war negotiations.
I didn’t know how to salvage this, and I didn’t know how to hide my hurt.
I’d never met someone’s parents before, and I really wanted to get to know them.
Which was looking more and more like an impossibility.
“You’re Fridge’s best friend,” Jacoby said, his tone cryptic.
“Uh, yes, sir.”
“You still are?” he said pointedly, a glance at his daughter. “Still?”
“Oh…well…” I trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. I’d gotten the notice from Denali that Fridge had put in for an emergency roommate change. It was signed and confirmed before I opened the text message. I sent another apology text to Fridge and it never delivered. I was blocked. “He…”
Tallulah bit her lip, turning to her parents. “Nick took me hiking.”
For a moment, the air wasn’t frigid anymore. Her parents were too busy being confused.
Her mom frowned. “Who went hiking?”
“You? No,” her dad said. “You?”
“Nick took me hiking to this waterfall, it—it was an amazing experience together.” Tallulah’s gaze returned to mine, her voice quiet. “It was one of the best days of my life.”
Despite everything, my lips curved into half of a smile. That was one of the best days of my life too.
“You went hiking?” her mom repeated. “Tallulah, you?”
“It was so much fun,” Tallulah confirmed. “And…when we go to Japan together…”
Her dad choked on his drink. “Huh?”
“Both of you wanted me to go on a trip,” Tallulah pointed out. “You know I’m going to Japan. We talked about this—”
“We thought you meant on an adventure by yourself,” Kendra said. “Not with a boy you—you—”
“Nick is such a kind man. I think we’re very good for each other.
” Tallulah glanced my way, apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nick, this was supposed to be a surprise, I’m spoiling it.
We’re going to visit some amazing mountains.
” She said the names of the mountains slowly, careful with the pronunciation.
“There’s three hikes there, two are easy, one’s a bit harder.
There’s supposed to be this incredible sunset view on the mountainside, and it’s—it’s—” The words were caught in her throat, smiling at me.
“It’s going to be incredible. I’m so excited to go with you. ”
Tallulah pierced me like an arrow.
My mom used to tell me that when you fall in love, it’s like someone plants a seed in your heart. At the table, I realized how right she was.
It’d been growing, budding inside of me. Tendrils and leaves in my rib cage. I could feel how big this love was, taking over.
I’d pined over Tallulah, I’d had a crush on her—this was different. Falling in love was changing me, changing my body, my brain. My dreams were shifting. I wanted things I didn’t understand. I wanted things that no one else could satisfy, no one but her.
The trip wasn’t just something fun to do before school started. It was Tallulah loving me. I was so touched. And loved. And I didn’t know how to take the goofy smile off of my face.
Suddenly, it didn’t matter how cold her parents were to me. Her parents liking me would’ve been nice, but if they didn’t, I’d prove myself to them, just like I was proving myself to Tallulah.
Jacoby cleared his throat. “What are we doing tomorrow?”
That was the obvious end of talking about the Japan trip. I shot Tallulah a smile anyway, I wanted her to know how much that meant to me. I’d make sure to tell her later.
“There’s this coffee shop Nick and I go to with the best pastries, you’ll love it,” Tallulah said, squeezing my hand.
“I have practice tomorrow,” I said as casually as I could. It was an offer of privacy for them, to get some alone time without me. “I’ll be out for the afternoon.”
Her mom’s shoulders visibly relaxed. She breathed out in relief. “Lulah?”
“I’d love to hang out in the afternoon,” Tallulah confirmed. “I do have a meeting at four, but it shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.”
“For the Olympics?” Kendra asked eagerly.
“Um, no, with The Toronto Chronicle.”
Her dad was pleased. “What are you doing at The Toronto Chronicle, Lulah?”
“I have to talk with the newsroom staff.” A pleased smile crossed Tallulah’s face, her shoulders shimmied with excitement. “I have an interview with this Olympics commissioner. He’s been involved in abusive situations. I’m going to confront him about it. The news staff is doing it with me, and—”
“You’re what?” her mom asked, stunned. “Wait, what?”
“You’re just a college student,” her dad said. “Lulah, what are you talking about?”
“Tallulah’s been collecting research on him,” I said. “She’s been doing these video meetings with the Chronicle staff—”
“Which Nick set up for me,” Tallulah interrupted.
“Wait a minute, you did the actual meetings—”
“I was too nervous to get past the receptionist, she thought I was a prank caller. Nick took over for me, and—”
“The point is, she’s putting a lot of work into this and it’s pretty fucking cool,” I finished, flinching at my choice of words. “Uh…pretty…good cool. Awesome. It’s awesome.”
“Tallulah, are you sure you’re the right person for this?” her mom said, stunned. “Can you do this? Is that really you? This isn’t you—” Her eyes flickered to me. “A lot of this isn’t you, Lulah. It isn’t who you are.”
“Do you know what one of my favorite things about Nick is?” Tallulah said quietly. “He believes in me. Even more than I believe in myself.”
The message was spoken at half the volume of the rest of the conversation, but it might as well have been fired with a cannon. Her parents fell into immediate silence.
I tried to imagine how they saw us. Tried to imagine how I’d feel if my daughter got together with some fuckboy she knew from school. I probably wouldn’t feel great about it either, especially with how protective they were of her.
It wouldn’t have meant anything coming from me, but I understood. Her health, her body, her heart, everything, I wanted to keep Tallulah safe too.
Under the table, I leaned over and wove my fingers through hers. Her hand was clammy. She tried to pull away, and I squeezed her hand, holding her tight. Tallulah hesitated for a moment, both of us stuck in this uncomfortable silence.
Finally she laid her hand over mine and squeezed me back.