Best Amigos Forever, Chapter Cinco (My Spanish is a little rusty...)



Eric looked at Nadia strangely as she sat on the couch inside, looking sheepishly at her feet.

"I feel just a little schizophrenic," she said quietly, almost shy.

Smiling appreciatively, Eric sat next to her. "You are, I'm afraid. You went from pissed off to self-mutilation to physical absurdity straight on into collapse and costume parties only to pass out from exhaustion and insist we go dancing. Nadia, you must be the craziest person I know next to myself."

She smiled broadly. "It felt good to go out again and forget about all the stupid, trivial things."

"It's always nice to see you," he said with a grin, then, more seriously, "and a pretty you at that."

Nadia hugged him tightly, hardly afraid of his reaction as she crushed him in the process. He didn't seem to be in any pain, so she didn't let off until he moved his arms to slip around her shoulders. It felt as though some forbidden crying spell was about to start up again, which frightened Nadia to some extent, so she had to latch onto something.

She began to speak in French. "Not crazy, not yet. Not quite yet, anyway. Family reunion, family killing spree, random speaking patterns. If only I could play guitar, that would probably solve a lot of my problems-"

"Naddy, what are you talking about? Or are you just rambling on for the sake of it?" Eric asked in his own French. She made a face at him before continuing, muttering quickly and efficiently as she stood and paced, falling off into an English voice again, laced with a heavy French accent, the way she had been to everyone on campus. "That artsy foreign chick" was her official title, just like Eric was "that cheeky kid that can't act serious." Together they earned the title, "Oh, they aren't dating? Huh." In public they received the well-deserved title of, "College aged kids trying to be different and not quite pulling it off." Nadia knew she was different, and had always tried to set herself apart from others, but college had probably been the worst shock. Everyone in England was shocked at her appearance, and she still got a few questions about her "fashion," which irked her just a bit in that people could never seem to look past it.

She sat down again and waited for him to ask her another stupid question, but he only stared at her, his face blank and ready. She could hear his thoughts whirring around, almost as a psychic does, and she knew that he was trying to figure her out again. Trying to figure out if she really wanted to leave him there while she lived far away, being happy alone. Another thing she could see on his face was a slight grimace at himself that he was being so selfish as to beg what powers that be she not get her dream-job for the sole reason she be closer for his watching, his care, his compassion. She wasn't fragile, but she was his to some extent, like a sister in some ways.

"Would you call me schizophrenic if I wanted to kiss you?" She asked suddenly, the words trickling out of her like a dam slowly eroding away.

Eric's face didn't change. "Yeah,"

"Would that be a bad thing?" She questioned, staring at him.

"No,"

"Would you mad at me?"

"Hell no,"

Once again it felt like two magnets had attached themselves inside the others mouth; they flew together and felt a raw power build up between them. It was another one of those times that Eric felt frantic, he felt like he couldn't get close enough to her, and yet she was pressed up against him in the closest way possible, her hands holding his shoulders tightly, his hands flying all over. They were glued together, inseparable to some degree, a cascade of pent-up feelings surging around them. Though neither of them said it, they both thought it; they both thought they were content. Nadia could have lived the rest of her life knowing she didn't get that job she'd gone an extra year at Cambridge for, and Eric could overlook the fact that Nadia had taken so long to finally allow him this pleasure. He leveled with her silently, pushing her shoulders back as she had done to him, pausing only to flick the lights off, knowing Nadia would start laughing instantly as the moon crept in through the window. She giggled, a stifled noise, and allowed herself to be spread out on the couch, Eric's own body over hers. Both sighed with content, a noise welcomed by the other instantly. Every sound one made, the other had to make one, which only continued the cycle until Nadia was whimpering in delight every few seconds, waiting to hear a similar noise from Eric.

The normal whispers were gone, replaced with happiness in being quiet, and when morning came, the two were silent, asleep. Eric stretched his shoulders as noon rolled around, but refused to move again until he saw Nadia move. She looked sort of unhappy, her face not peaceful but not in turmoil, in a state of in-between that puzzled him. Instead of her usual serene face, she looked mildly distressed, her hand under her own face. Eric lifted his hand and smiled to see her hand fall from it, knowing they must have been that way through the night. It was a Monday morning, which meant any second now someone would show up or call him, reprimanding him for being late. He almost thought he heard footsteps pounding up his cement walkway, guns clicking as they were locked and loaded, cocking the barrels as they stalked around his yard.

Nadia woke with a start, rubbing her face with a little groan. She rolled straight off the couch, sitting up with a pitiful look on her face, rubbing both her back and her face. Eric clucked his tongue in a childish way, pulling her from the floor to his lap, fighting the urge to kiss her again as she struggled to wake up. Neither of them were morning people, but together they respected the need for sleep, and Eric remained silent for a while as Nadia blinked blearily around the room, her lips pouting as she tried to focus on something. Eric had always teased her about the blinking, the way her eyelashes seemed to start up a gust of wind as she fluttered them, whether it be in annoyance, flirtation, or a method of seeing better. She shifted now, so her chin was on his shoulder, sitting like a small child, her arms up around his shoulders, chin on his shoulder, trying to feel safe. It was true, she did feel safe when he embraced her, but now it felt different. She cursed herself for making it so apparent to herself that she liked him, not afraid of what people generally thought, but afraid that she wouldn't like what she would become if they dated, and not be able to act differently. She kissed the side of his head before standing up and walking to the kitchen sink, where upon she stuck her head under the faucet and turned on the cold water. She shrieked loudly, not hearing Terry and Mike burst into the house with their bullets flying.

"You're awake, even! Come on, then!" Terry cried, reaching over to tug Eric's arm. "Dressed even!" He remarked, pulling on his shirt.

Eric yanked his arm silently from Terry's grip before walking over to catch Nadia's attention. He stood behind her as she scrubbed her head with long, black fingernails, trying to wake herself up. She turned around, shaking her head briskly, startling Terry and Mike as she straightened up and revealed the new her to the world.

"You sticking around?" Eric asked immediately.

Nada glanced at the other two men before fixing Eric with a stare. "I think so."

"You know where the BBC building is if you need me," he said, much in the way they would in college before splitting for their various engagements.

As he pulled on his shoes and started out the door, Nadia pouted her lip. "Hey, wait-"

He stopped and turned around, bending quickly to peck her on the cheek with a wink before walking off his car, ignoring the hoots Mike was throwing into the air.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been two weeks since Nadia had even been in her own home, and she had only called Lexi yesterday, the poor woman convinced she had been kidnapped or something like it. Nadia hushed her fears and resumed living peacefully with Eric. They never seemed to bring up the day she would eventually have to leave, and every single day when he got home, or she returned from somewhere, it was like they had been separated for months. Today was no different as Eric stepped inside and kicked his bag over the couch where it smacked Nadia in the back, she overreacting and falling to the ground with a small screech.

He ran over, concern on his face only to be squashed when she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him over her, all bonds lost. She was convinced if she did go home she'd end up driving back to his place to sleep every night, even if she moved to be closer to Cambridge. Nothing seemed quite right anymore, and it was only fixed when he was holding her, kissing her, touching her. Two weeks of treating her like royalty yet still treating her like she was a friend. Maybe it was supposed to be like that, but she was still a little irked he would throw something over her head just to annoy her.

Now he held her, back against the wall, Nadia curled up on his lap. "You wanna go out somewhere tonight?"

She smiled. "Aww, I was going to make omelettes for dinner, seeing how that's the only bloody thing I make-"

"Hence my question, Darling."

"You're paying," she pointed a finger at him.

He smirked. "Eat and run, damn you."

Nadia flailed as Eric stood, carrying her over to the kitchen. "What are we doing?"

"Well, you're flailing around helplessly while I carry you into the kitchen." He replied, eyes sparkling.

Nadia shook her head. "No, I mean-are we dating? Or did I move in? Or what the hell is going on? What are we doing?"

Eric made a face. "You had to bring it up. Well, I'm going to argue that we are so unique we don't have a label, how's that?"

Shrugging amiably, Nadia slipped her shoes on and allowed Eric to carry her outside, dumping her into his car like a heavy load of groceries. She sat upside down in the seat and buckled up, giggling as Eric feigned putting his arms around her shoulders and instead finding a set of knees. Off they drove into the evening, laughing and talking quietly, finally stopping at a small restaurant. Eric checked the money in his pocket before letting his upside down friend out of the car, catching her before she could tumble into a puddle from the afternoon rain.

Once inside the couple seated themselves and started talking. Nadia, purely to spite Eric, begged the waiter to have an omelette made for her, but he told her breakfast ended at a specific time, and unless she was a very special person she had no business asking him. Eric had half a mind to tell the waiter he was on the television, but in so many words Nadia told him that it wasn't important, she was just teasing him.

Sometimes Eric thought that he took Nadia out because he wanted to be with her and keep some sort of interesting thing happening, sometimes he thought he was showing her off even though nobody ever looked at him with jealousy, but tonight he realized he was taking her out for the ride home. He might as well break out into goose bumps now to save himself the trouble.

They delayed as long as they could, wandering around the block, jumping in puddles, just about anything that was legal was used to delay until midnight rolled around and the roads became nearly empty on the way home. It was now that the final red light before the empty, streetlight-less streets started and stared back at Eric. His heart was already pounding.

Nadia smiled as she saw him anxiously start into the dark streets. He could never tell when she would start her little tease, and he could never tell which street she'd choose, the first time had been the first dark street, the first stop sign, and it had been such a welcome surprise he almost always felt that he had to stop longer than necessary at the first street. In the dark she hummed, face turned away from him. He sped down the next street, taking a left and stopping again. He mentally cursed himself for taking a slight shortcut. Calculating silently he decided Nadia had eight stop signs left in the complete darkness before they reached the neighborhoods where every porch had an automatic light on all night to keep their kids from being scared out of their minds.

Knowing how much time she had left, Nadia pulled her knees up to her chest, pretending she was going to sleep, ignoring Eric. Just as number six was rolling to a stop, Eric felt her slide onto his lap and he put the car in park, pushing her against the steering wheel as he kissed her urgently, pulling on her shirt, running his hands along her back slowly, feeling her wriggle lightly on his lap. He groaned, hardly caring what she heard and what she didn't. The horn honked once as he shoved her against it; they laughed for a moment before Nadia reached under the seat and slid the seat all the way back, reaching over to let it fall back as well. Eric held her close the entire time, feeling her hold him tightly, seeking comfort through it all. She had buried her hands in his hair and was giggling as he threw his head to the side and smiled. Her shorts left a lot of her legs to be explored, and suddenly there wasn't enough. They continued to touch, explore, kiss, and touch more as the night wore on, a full ten minutes before Nadia was convinced a bobby was going to knock on the window and insist, "You crazy kids get off the shoulder" for the second time.

"Nooo-"

"Drive, or I'm kicking you out," she whispered dangerously, squirming into her own seat. Eric sat himself up, shaking his head briskly. He slid up again, wiping his face off extravagantly before throwing the car into gear and peeling out of the abandoned four-way intersection and taking a left at the next street. His expectations had lowered themselves, and he counted himself lucky if he ever got her to do that for him, but as he rolled to a stop at the final street, he was shocked to feel her lean over and kiss him again. She slid onto his lap with a lot of help from him, and stayed there for a good fifteen minutes, letting him kiss her as she lay there, weak and helpless. In her position she was helpless, but even she knew she could drive him crazy from there. A car roared around them, parked in the middle of the road at a stop sign, but they ignored it. As another car peeled by, Nadia scrunched herself down, and Eric started off into the dark street beyond, breath hitching wildly. He glanced down to see Nadia splayed across his lap, her grin bright in the dark. He laughed and parked outside his house, hauling her shoulders up so he could get out of the car.

Once inside it was inevitable what happened. He followed her eagerly, putting his hands on her hips instantly.

"I picked that up today," she said calmly, pointing to a record on his phonograph. Eric kicked the stand it was on, the only way he knew how to turn it on since he had dropped it moving into the house. Slowly he heard a very shoddy recording of the song he'd heard in the club with Nadia start. She grooved for a moment before Eric turned, shook his head and pulled her into a tight hug, grunting as she danced anyway, seemingly not noticing how she was grinding right into him.

He never really thought about it, but somehow before they fell asleep every night, they stopped kissing and just fell into a deep sleep. He could never really see at the time how they could be tired, but exhaustion caught up with Nadia first and even though she was on top of him, she kissed his cheek and slipped to his side where Eric yawned and kissed her cheek in return. Sleep came and left them both together, shaking its head with a small smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eric sat up, a pillow falling from his head. Turning to his side he cursed; Nadia was gone. He jumped up and changed while he had the privacy and walked out into the hallway, squinting suspiciously. She was on the phone with Lexi again, and Lexi said that Cambridge had called and said they made their decision and had sent a letter to all the applicants.

"So, it'll be at the house in three days? Alright, I'll come pick it up on Thursday. Yeah, I can stick around for a while; whose shoulder would I rather cry on? Eric made a rule I can't ruin another one of his shirts..." She smiled and laughed before her smile fell. "I don't know; we're free of labels. Yes, Lexi. No, Lexi. Shut up, Lexi. Goodbye," she rolled her eyes and hung up.

The radio was on, and the song playing caused Nadia to laugh out loud with glee. She jumped up and did a small dance as the lyrics started up, Jon's voice echoing into the house.

"She was a girl and I was a guy, but now that it's over, could I have been so wrong?" She laughed again, pointing hysterically at the set. The chorus was some equivalent of how it had begun very innocently, and now they were enemies more at odds than Lucifer and God. Nadia howled with delight, dancing alone in the kitchen, not seeing Eric. He actually used her first name in the song, but then corrected himself, calling her the Devil. Nadia said, in so many words, "Got that right."

It was then that there was a knock on the door and John Cleese walked in, a scowl on his face. Eric's face lit up as he walked towards him.

"Glad to see you look happier than normal, Cleesey. I thought for sure you'd have a smile on your face today, but boy am I glad to see you scowling like that-" He cocked his head as John gave a bemused smile to Nadia, who was sitting with a cup of tea over the paper.

"Sure have made yourself comfortable, Naddy, how long you been here?"

She shrugged. "A few days, give or take a month."

John snorted, looking at Eric, who was politely trying to avoid cussing him out the door. "Fun,"

"A lot of fun,"

John smiled, looking at Nadia again. "Is this the reason you've been leaving on time every night and not going straight to the bar?"

Eric nodded, eyebrows raised. "I have to let her out, she gets cranky and claws the couch apart if I don't."

"I probably should have told you, I ate the goldfish." She muttered, getting up to rinse her teacup out. Why was it he was embarrassed of her in front of his friends? Not that she was complaining...yet.

Eric hurled the rolled up newspaper at her. "Bad!"

Nadia hurled it back twice as hard, laughing as crumpled to the floor with a well-deserved, "Oof!"

"Be gone, foul man, I wish to see you no more until tonight." She waved as he exited. Once he was gone, however, she sighed dreamily, wondering just what she'd do today. She got into his cupboards and looked in a few cookbooks lying around, only stopping once to wonder why he had six cookbooks. All of them had his mother's name in them, and since she was a walking, talking recipe maker, Nadia guessed she no longer needed them. Those and the glass figurines, apparently.

She was going through a few things, wondering if it was possible for her to try something along the lines of the stuffed pastas. She loved the stuffed raviolis, and with the right choices she could make a fairly decent meal. She scribbled down the things Eric didn't have handy, and rifled through his sock drawer until she found a few twenty pound notes. Pocketing these she stalked off to the store on foot, whistling Jon's latest hit under her breath with a grin.

At the store she caught a few curious looks, and even as she stood in the check-out line, she could feel eyes roving all over her body, especially her face. She stood in her basketball shorts, tank top, and a black dress shirt unbuttoned over that. She had buttoned the sleeves up so they were out of her way, and if she could say so safely, she didn't look half-bad, but the sneakers didn't help. Once again she had unintentionally wandered into the big bad world wearing all black. Her black and white high-tops matched her black shorts, black tank top, black dress shirt, which only accented her black framed glasses and her jet black hair, which had been frayed out like a small explosion had taken place on the back of her head, the rest of it just sort of mussed up. She grinned exuberantly at the cashier, handing her both the twenty pound notes and receiving a few coins in change. Nadia thanked the woman with a strange look before gathering her bags and walking back home, catching even more strange looks as she wandered, a housewife of sorts. Once inside she unpacked all the groceries, feeling guilty about stealing some of Eric's money. She gathered up a few charcoal pencils from Eric's tiny stash and took a notebook of plain paper with her to the street. She walked thirteen blocks to a small park, where she set up a small stand and sat, smiling.

Eric walked inside, freezing as he smelled something in his house. He lifted his eyebrows and jetted into the kitchen where Nadia was draining pasta with another pot on the stove, the lid clanking as it's contents boiled. She put the drained pasta in the empty pot, and checking a cookbook, turned the burner off for the boiling pot, pulling some bread from the oven. She counted the steps in the book and whooped, clapping happily. The next thing she had to do was set it all up on the table, and then she was done. Having already set the table (however crudely) she started by turning around to survey what space she had left, blushing to see Eric standing there, jaw open. He gestured at the table, at the stove, and then at her with disbelief on his face.

She barely had time to nod before he crushed her to the nearest set of cabinets, kissing her hard. Nadia laughed and shoved him away, insisting she had to serve up before things got cold.

"You don't even know if it'll taste good, Eric! Sit down," she pointed.

Eric obeyed, sitting down quietly and waiting eagerly for her to take her seat next to him. She slapped a plate in front of him, setting one down for herself, handing him a bottle of beer, an unopened one already at her place. He shook his head with a huge grin before leaning over and hugging her again, jaw working soundlessly. The small ringlets of pasta had been stuffed with cheese and mushroom, the marinara sauce also meatless. Nadia was a sort of die-hard vegetarian, but what she managed to make was always good (omelettes, yay!). Eric always complained that picky eaters had to be good cooks, but Nadia argued back that picky eaters can't be cooks because they couldn't stick to a recipe.

Cautiously Nadia tried a bite of her own concoction, lifting her eyebrows with surprise. She clapped again and looked at Eric again, wondering what he was thinking. It was only women's intuition, she told herself defensively, to wonder what a man was thinking.

"Did you get the money out of my drawer?" He asked suddenly. Nadia nodded, and looked away, knowing he was going to get up and check. There was a gentle clink of silverware as he stood and checked his drawer confused as he noticed that not a single bill was out of place. When he returned, he was frowning and Nadia was smiling just barely.

"I felt bad about taking the money without asking, so I sat myself out in Pinegrove park for seven hours doing caricatures of people for one pound until I had enough money." She pulled a few twenties from her own pocket. "And then I kept going. Until I ran out of charcoal and-"

Eric crouched next to her, cutting her off with a startling kiss. Why was it everything she did today was so cute to him?

"Hey, at least tell me if what I made agrees with you." She whined, kissing him.

He snickered, kissing her once more. "I can taste it on you, don't worry. That's what microwaves are for, aren't they? Reheating things?"

Nadia lifted her eyebrows. "Oh no you don't; eat first. I have a feeling you don't eat all day anyway, you weirdo."

"Says the girl who weighs about twenty pounds herself." Eric replied, rolling his eyes as he sat down and ate, giving her a few compliments as she whined at him that she had finally broken a hundred pounds over the last year or so. She wasn't very tall, so her weight wasn't supposed to be a whole lot more than she was, but she was still about thirty pounds short of healthy, which puzzled her doctors. She ate like a pig, but was probably the single most healthy person in England. She watched what she ate, drank, and seemed to calculate just how much exercise she needed to do to burn off what she ate. Five foot three, a hundred ten pounds. She planned to stay there for as long as she stayed five three, which was going to be the rest of her life.

As soon as dishes were washed and leftovers put away, Eric insisted he thank her. Nadia gestured towards her ear, and still she wanted him to kiss her. It was still only ten o' clock when they sat down together in front of the television set, satiated and sort of energized. Thinking hard, Eric began to plot how to turn the night into something romantic, knowing if he played his cards right she might not leave him. Now that there was a limit on how many hours, seconds, nanoseconds she would be there, he felt rushed and Nadia felt like she was slipping away.

The next day was a free-day, an editing day. Eric awoke late again, relieved to remember he didn't have to be anywhere. Nadia wasn't at his side once again, only irritating him slightly. Nearly a month of living there and suddenly she couldn't sleep past nine o' clock? He trotted carefully, making little noise as he walked into the living area, Nadia lying on her stomach, the only table there moved. She was scribbling on a paper, the scratching noises revealing what she was drawing. She blew on the paper gently, using her fingers to smear the charcoal. Irritated with the horrible way it was shaping, she rubbed her face on her hands, knowing she would look like a living hell when she stood up. A thought struck her, and the expressionless woman she had sketched and later filled was suddenly crying, her tears dripping down her shaded face, her eyebrows in a pleasant arc that indicated she was trying to fight more tears. By adding a rose to her hand, the whole thing took on a fantasy-like aura, and she added stars, two moons, one much larger than another, and quickly sketched an unearthly backdrop, adding a halo of sorts around the woman's head, a star shape on her forehead. Once the long-haired space-alien was complete, she tore it from the book and wiped her face again, blowing the last of the dust from it.

She turned and jumped. "Ah! Eric! Stop sneaking up on me!"

"I can't help it, you put your back to the only entrance I have, and generally you're absorbed in what you're doing. If I called out before I entered a room you'd still jump!" He replied, smiling. He smiled wider as she stood up and gave him a clear view of her face, streaked with dusty fingerprints, and even her forehead had suffered. She knew he was looking at it, and turned away to wash her face, leaving her sketch on the floor. He picked it up and stared at the fantasy world, completely absorbed in it.

They spent the entire day together, a first for them since they had been forced to move apart after Eric graduated. It seemed that instead of friends that get on each other's nerves if they spend too much time together, Nadia and Eric simply resituated their bonds. The only difference was now Eric would be unable to help himself from touching her, kissing her, hugging her. Not that Nadia minded, but it was an immense change. Leftovers for dinner, day came to a close. Eric felt they had to make some serious progress or they'd be starting over every time he saw her from that day forward. Lucky for him, Nadia gave him the perfect chance.

"Another free-day, huh? What am I supposed to do with you?" Nadia pretended to pet Eric's head. "You wanna go to the park and chase some squirrels, Rex? Huh? Sound good to you?"

Eric panted, shaking his head.

Nadia laughed and kissed his cheek, squeaking as he pulled her onto his lap as he sat on the couch. "Let's go out somewhere."

She snorted. "Give me all you got, charm the pants off me."

"Let's pretend you didn't just say that," he wagged his eyebrows as he tugged her shorts comically. She squealed again and jumped up, laughing.

"Socks, then."

"You don't wear socks hardly ever, Naddy..." He retorted, eyes sparkling.

She rolled her eyes. "Glasses, Christ!"

Eric nodded. "Glasses it is."

The rest of the afternoon was probably the best Nadia had experienced in a long time. She was taken to the beach where they were supposed to walk along the edge to the small set of villas where Jake and Marcia lived, but the water had called to Nadia, and she jumped in the tiny lake, screaming with delight as the cold water sunk into her clothes. Her all-black attire had started soaking up the heat, causing her to go a little crazy. When they showed up at Jake and Marcia's Nadia was forced to stay outside on the porch, waiting for Eric and Jake to reappear out the other side to unlock the fence. They let her through, and yet she had no regrets about not being able to take the five-minutes tour inside the house. Marcia was a picture-perfect wife, not a pound gained from her three pregnancies, and yet she had a small bulge in her stomach. She blushed wildly when Nadia gave her a quick hug, popping her eyebrows as the woman whispered the word of kid number four into her ear, explaining that if she played HER cards right, she could tell Jake later that night.

"We'll make sure we're out of here so we don't spoil your plans." Nadia assured her, winking her own green eyes with a grin as water ran into her face again.

They spoke for about an hour and a half before Nadia insisted she had to get going, and she forced Eric to admit it as well, seeing how she had to leave in the morning and it was already four thirty. The walk back to the car was slow enough, a good twenty minute walk of silence with hands clasped. For whatever reason, Nadia had reached out and touched his hand to show him the flock of birds that were diving into the water for fish, and he had grabbed her fingers, looking at the birds and then her with a small smile. She hadn't argued with the feeling since then. A few people had passed them on the way into the water, both with kids and without, smiling gently as they walked together, a very unlikely looking couple. And yet Nadia still didn't look at him and register "BOYFRIEND" or even "GUYFRIEND." He was "ERIC" in all capital letters, maybe an imaginary star next to his name. It was fine with her, she didn't mind at all, but she could almost tell that Eric looked at her and registered, "NADIA, OH MY GOD."

When they stepped inside the house after a wonderful afternoon out, Eric sat down and sighed loftily. He looked at Nadia with a heavy pout. "Do you really need to go back tomorrow?"

She nodded, an incredulous look on her face. "Yeah, my letter came today and I need to know what it says."

Eric pouted further. "You could let Lexi open it and call you-"

"No, Eric, I've been here almost a month, I'm not going to live here and leech off you anymore! Sheesh! You'd think I'd be kicked out but I have to run!" She smiled at him.

There was a good ten minute pause in conversation before Eric said, "So, what did Jon lie to you about that annoyed you so much?"

She shrugged, sitting down. "First it was that he liked me, second was that he said he'd take care of me, third was the stupid art project he said he made. Lexi says that Jake dropped it off for an anonymous friend, he never would say who."

Eric's heart pounded hysterically. "And," his voice cracked, "what did this project look like?"

Nadia smiled in a dreamy way. "It was a collage of Polaroid photographs. Everyone was in black and white, and they all looked sad, but then there was a color photo of myself in the middle, laughing. Jon used my art-intuition to pretend that he had done that and lost his nerve to tell me, the bastard."

"That bastard," Eric muttered, not quite on the same page as Nadia.

"I know! I-" She started to insult him more, but Eric had continued, standing up quickly to pace.

"He said he was going to drop it off at the dump for the burning, he PROMISED he wasn't going to give it to the art teacher, damnit!" He reached up and tugged his hair. "Damn Jake!"

Nadia stood up and grabbed Eric's shoulders, eyeing his flaming cheeks. "YOU made the collage, Eric? YOU made that?"

He averted his eyes quickly. "Uh, no, I didn't mean it-"

"Stupid!" She laughed and shook him. "Embarrassed about it! Stupid! I liked that, Eric, why are you so embarrassed?"

He shrugged quickly and walked away from her to his bedroom, making to close the door, but she had snaked in just as he thought he was in the clear.

She flopped onto the bed, opting to ignore the fact he was so nervous again. He sat down on the corner, groaning as Nadia sat up and scooted over to him.

"I loved it, Eric. I make no joke now." She kissed his cheek, pleased to feel him turn over and shove her to the mattress. She was smiling at him, and he was smiling weakly at her...

"I leave tomorrow, what do you want to do?" She asked him, kissing his cheek again.

He turned a very different shade of red. "That's not important, it's your last day, you pick what we do for the next twelve hours."

"Why the blush?"

"No reason,"

"Riiiight,"

He shut her up with a quick kiss, sighing with content as she pulled him closer to her.

She held his head to her shoulder with a small sigh. "I repeat, what do you want to do?"

Eric sat up, kissed her, and sighed nervously. "I love you, Nadia."

Nadia's mouth flapped for a moment at the earnest way he'd said it before he continued.

"And if you really want to know what I want to do," he gulped, glancing away, "I want to make love to you."

She gulped and made a choking noise as Eric hovered over her, face red and yet very anxious. She finally found her voice. "I love you too, Eric-"

He kissed her gently, not a hint of pressure in it, but she still felt herself let go of all inhibitions and flail back into the sheets.

For whatever reason, she felt like she was making a good choice this time, even if she wasn't married and hadn't really thought about it. She really did love him, it was never a question in her mind, but she was questioning whether or not she wanted to let him take the final step, possibly ruining whatever friendship she had left. Very slowly, Eric moved her so she was propped up just barely by the pillows on his bed, fingers shaking as he helped her from the dress shirt, helped her from the tight-fitting tank top, and held her hips as she slid from the shorts, smiling with laughter in their eyes as the raw uncertainty in their bodies mingled. He pulled her from her underclothes, eyes jumping over her eagerly, making him go wild with lust. He had never thought of her body in this way before, and now that he was, he felt a disturbing change overtake him. He was fully clothed and she was fully disrobed. With another nervous smile, Eric began to run his hands over her body, feeling her skin slip through his fingers smoothly, pausing now and again to kiss a part of her he had yet to explore. Nadia refrained from making any noise at first, wondering if he would continue with no prodding, and he did.

"I do love you, Eric, I want you to know that." She said, grabbing his shoulders.

His face remained serious. "Love you too, Naddy."

She pulled on his shirt, waiting eagerly as he pulled it off over his head, her hands already assisting him with his belt. Once that was undone, Nadia slipped under the sheets, waiting for Eric to slide under after her. There was a welcome warmth at her side which quickly floated over top of her, a small gasp coming from both of them as their bodies touched. Eric, ever-conscious of how Nadia was reacting to things, began to "warm her up," so to speak. God, what it was like to hear her making noises at him, arms holding his neck close to her as his hands and mouth did all the work on her neck and other parts. She hadn't ever had a guy quite like him, and yet she felt like she had known it would be like this for a very long time, which prompted her to think to herself that she had actually thought about this moment before now. She could feel heat rising up all around her, and the room was getting smaller as Eric kissed her over and over again, a sweat starting to shine out on Nadia's forehead as she was repeatedly thrown into a world unfamiliar to her. She began to murmur in French, the only thing she could think of doing at that point, and she could hear Eric laughing at her quietly, holding her tighter as she muttered under her breath.

After what seemed like forever, Eric stopped whatever it was he was doing, anxiety stopping him as the moment came. He felt a good shiver about to race through him, but instead he broke into goose bumps as Nadia's legs parted and his hips slipped in between them. She put her head back, eyes shut behind the skewed frames, biting her lip excitedly. Hardly able to wait, Eric muttered something he couldn't even make out among the groan coming out of him before slipping inside her with an almighty gasp. Nadia cried out, grabbing his shoulders again, feeling like if she didn't grab onto something she would fly off into the air with nothing holding her down. He had pulled away, shoulders miles away, face sweet in its surprised _expression, stopping only to kiss her now and again, all movement below the waist pausing as well. He moved slowly, savoring every second she was there, savoring every taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound he received from her or gave her. As the pleasure mounted, Nadia's head began to turn back and forth, little sighs emitting now and again, causing Eric to groan in response, wanting to hear her again.

He slowed down more, prompting Nadia to speak. "Eric-"

"Hush, Love, it's alright." He whispered, huskiness there that Nadia flailed in, letting her shoulders drop to the cool, damp sheets.

As he slowed more and more, Nadia began to take deeper and deeper breaths. Every muscle in her body was tightening slowly, making her toes curl, her throat seizing up, making her sound weak as she let out a few more small sighs and groans, her mouth covered by Eric's. As he lowered his chest down to lay across her, the angle seemed to enhance everything all over, Nadia crying out all over again. By now they were both moving so slow that no song in history could accompany them, and yet Eric slowed more, begging Nadia to stop moving against him; he knew what he was doing to her.

Exterior and interior muscles were screaming out in a sort of pleasant agony as they continued to contract until Eric once more insisted he loved her and the emotional side of all sex seized Nadia. She felt like a hand had grabbed her and suddenly she was shouting all over again and Eric was breathing hard, shuddering just as she was. She was groaning softly, her body clenching and unclenching, letting all her tense muscles loosen slowly as she sunk into a dreamy cloud. As the moment finally passed her, leaving her gasping for breath, on the brink of tears, she felt Eric's head rest on her shoulder. She reached up blindly and ran a hand over his back, feeling his skin gently. Goosebumps broke out over his skin in response, and the cycle began all over again all through the night.