Maya was just shutting her locker when she jumped in surprise to see Nick standing behind the door. "What the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She smacks his arms, making him laugh. "It's not funny asshole," she hissed.

"Are you always this uptight?" He observes as he leans against the other lockers with his arms folded.

"Are you always this dumb?" She retorts. "What do you want now?" She asks with a sigh.

Nick gathers up the courage to speak. "I️ think we both said some things we didn't mean Friday," he brings up their explosive conversation from CJ's party. "So, I️ just want to apologize," he says. "Which, is not something I️ do by the way."

Maya eyes him suspiciously. "So why are apologizing then?" She wonders.

"Believe it or not, you make me wanna be a better person."

Maya looks up at him in surprise. "Oh..."

"Don't act all surprise," he rolled his eyes. "I️ told you already, I️ can be nice."

"Well in that case," she says, "I'm sorry too." Nick nods and was about to leave when she speaks up again, "But I️ was serious about...getting to know you."

Nick pauses and faces her, looking at her thoughtfully before nodding his head. "Meet me in the parking lot after school," he said before turning around and leaving. Maya looks down and smiles to herself before heading to class herself.

Later that afternoon, she met him by his car. "I'm surprised you actually stayed the whole day," she said, getting in. "Usually you skip out during lunch."

Nick looks up at her after he starts the car. "How would you know that? We don't have any classes together," Nick points out with a slight smirk on his face, making her eyes widen in realization. "You been watching me?" He grins amusingly.

"What? No!" She stutters. "No, I just noticed-"

"Ohh...you noticed-"

"Just drive Brewer!" She snaps, flustered. This makes him laugh as he peels out of the school parking lot. While driving he turns the radio on, landing on the rock station. An unfamiliar song blares through his speaker and he raises the volume to deafening volumes.

"Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Oh, won't you please take me home?" He lip syncs, much to her amusement. She smiles as she watches him bop his head to the beat. Soon she joins in and moves her heat to the beat as well. Rock music usually wasn't her choice of music. Her parents always warned and scared her away from it so she hadn't given it much of a listen. But now she could see the appeal.

They spent another couple of minutes listening to rock music before Nick parks in front of the local lake. Not many people were crowding it like they usually do on the weekends cause it was 2 PM on a Monday, so it gave them a sense of privacy. Nick turns the car off but leaves the radio on and gets out, reaching into his pocket for cigarettes and lighter. Maya gets out beside him as he takes a drag, watching him. He looks over at her and holds the cigarette out to her, and she takes it, taking a puff before coughing wildly.

"Not for you I️ see," he says while he finishes smoking it. "Doesn't matter, it's bad for your health anyways," he takes one last drag before flicking it to the ground and stepping on it.

"Then why do you do it?" Maya asks him.

He shrugs. "Cause I'm already fucked so it wouldn't make a difference whether I️ quit or not," he tells her as he sits on the hood of the car, looking out towards the lake.

Maya comes up and takes a seat next to him. "Do you really believe that?" She asks him.

Nick looks over at her and just shrugs. "Either way, I️ don't plan to live past twenty-five."

"That's....sad," she frowned, turning to face him. "What do you wanna be when you grow-up?" She asked him, making him looking at her like she asked a ridiculous question.

"What?" He scoffs.

"Humor me," she said, her face dead serious.

Nick rolled his eyes before answering. "Uh...." He wracked his brain for an answer. It's been a while since anyone's asked what he's wanted in life. "I️ mean when I️ was little I️ wanted to be astronaut," he teased, making her laugh.

"Be serious," she scolded playfully.

Nick smiles before answering. "I've always wanted to help people," he admits. "My mom's a nurse so...it was the only thing I️ knew as a kid."

"So you wanna be a nurse?" Maya giggles a bit.

Nick made a face. "No!" He exclaimed, making her laugh. "A paramedic at least," he adds.

Maya looked impressed. "Sounds so..."

"Lame?"

"I️ was gonna say noble," she rolls her eyes. "You should really go for it," she encouraged. She leaned in a bit closer, plucking the cigarette out of his mouth and throwing it on the ground. "But first, you actually have to be here to do all those things," she tells him. "So no more smoking. Promise?"

Nick couldn't believe it. "Yeah...promise," he says quietly, not trying to get choked up. "We should get going-"

"Wait Nick," Maya turned to stop him. He faced her, keys in hand, ready to go. "Why...why does your stepdad hurt you?" She hesitantly asks. She notices the hurt and anger in his eyes and knew immediately that she shouldn't have asked.

"I'm done answering questions today," his voice was ice-cold, devoid of all emotion it previously had. "Let's go," he ordered, getting in the car. Maya sighed defeatedly and gets in beside him as he turns on the car and the music to fill the silence. Maya felt extremely guilty that she asked such a personal question. She was such an idiot, violating his privacy-

"I'm not his son," Nick said, catching her off guard. She looked up at him while he kept his eyes on the road. "My mom and Harry have been together since high school but they're...dysfunctional. But whatever reason, she still stays with him anyway," he swallows. "But during one of their arguments, they took a break and she like, fucked some guy she had a one night stand with," he shrugged. "So that's how I️ was born."

"He knows I'm not his son, and it pisses him every time he sees me. I'm like a constant reminder that she cheated, even though he's cheated on her tons of times," he scoffs. "Plus he's an alcoholic," he adds. "It took years for Calvin to be born but when he was...it's like that's when things got even worse for me," his voice sounded sadder at this realization. "He treated Calvin better than he ever did me and made sure to tell me every chance he got that Calvin was better than I️ was and that I️ was a bastard that my mom never even wanted...."

Suddenly he pulled over to the side of the road, breathing heavily. Maya internally panicked as well, unsure what to do. "Nick? Nick are you okay?" She gasped as she watched him freak out of nowhere. She placed her hands on either side of his face and looked into his eyes before pressing her lips against his, kissing him.

He didn't react at first. She pulled away, and they found themselves both looking at each other in shock. "Why did you do that?" He asked.

"You...were freaking out," she pointed out softly. "I️ wanted to distract you and it was the only thing that came to mind-," Before she could apologize for crossing such a line, Nick pulled her back into him, kissing her once more. Her hand tangles into his hair as they deepen the kiss, getting lost in their actions when he pulls back and looks at her. "What's wrong now?" She wonders in concern.

"God...I️ think I'm in love with you."

_______________________________

Sorry for the wait y'all. I️ just started college, my best friend came to stay with me for two weeks and I️ went to a party this weekend, so I've been plenty busy.

But which are you more excited for? The present Day story or the 90's? Let me knowwww.