I need you

 

Felicity was out of town when Liv came to visit. Still, it troubled Nic. Everything actually. Right from the start. After all, Nic wasn't exactly set up for company.

His place place was big enough for himself. In fact, he had a dressing room off the bathroom that was actually big enough for a guestroom, but he'd set up an air mattress for himself and let Liv be his guest. Funny, he's just imagined hanging out with Tristan and just sleeping in the same bed with him. Not that it was a romantic notion, just a reminder of days when he used to sleep over at someone's house before middle school.

He even laughed about it with Liv and she came back with a story when she was little.

"Oh, I used to share a room with him. I always had to sleep on the top bunk because it made him dizzy and he was afraid he'd fall off. I used to sleep with him anyway. His bed was bigger and he said the demons might get him. And then his friend Holden stayed over a lot." She sounded as if she didn't like it much. "That was back when we did everything with our shirts off, but I was like five then."

He took her out to a place for grilled pork belly. A traditional Korean place where you did your grilling at the table. She said she'd always wanted to try it. She talked about how she'd had some awful noodles back home, but she knew it wasn't the real thing. She could keep up with the spice and said she was starving.

"I was so afraid, I'd get sick on the plane and might pass out." She was jittery then. Too much caffeine, but it wasn't long until they'd had a full meal along with some soju. Of course, he thought that was probably a bad idea now, but she didn't say anything.

"Oh, I wouldn't hear of you not sleeping in your bed," she was so congenial. "I'll be fine on the air mattress."

"But..but it was such a long trip, you need your rest," he told her.

"I'm fine. It's fine," she smiled at him and for the first time, he felt as if he knew what he'd been missing. Of course, he wanted to faint at the fact that he'd actually been missing a person he'd only seen in pictures.

"You'll tell me how the air mattress is, won't you?" He asked while she was brushing her teeth and already in her pajamas. Of course, it felt weird talking to her. Didn't Felicity have those pajamas too?

Oh, it felt so twisted. What was he doing with Liv? Didn't he like Felicity? Well, he did, but then he wondered if it was for all the wrong reasons.

"Do..do you ever see-" It felt so empty to even attempt her name.

"Mona?" She looked at him blankly. Liv shook her head, no. "She's always hated me, anyway." She pressed her lips as if maybe Mona was her biggest enemy.

Nic nodded. He didn't ask any more questions. It was getting late and of course, he had a full day planned of all the sights and scenes to see in Seoul.