Best Friends Forever, Chapter Eight



"Nadia, what happened to not letting him get to you?" Lexi spat, interrupting the silence of the room full of quiet diners. The few people that weren't already staring were now staring at Lexi with confused expressions.

With a strange smile, Nadia stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Lexi-"

"Don't talk to me like that!" Lexi's voice was shaking slightly as she stood there, and then she looked mortified.

Nadia's smile was gone, and as Eric came and stood by her side, Lexi sort of shook herself apart.

"I'm sorry," she started to speak, and turned to walk away, but Nadia stopped her.

She grabbed Lexi's arm and spun her around. "Look in a mirror, Lexi, tell me what you see."

Lexi took one look at herself and started to laugh nervously, wiping at her face, which didn't hold any tears but did hold a sort of ashamed sadness. "One desperate bitch."

The eavesdroppers laughed uneasily and then smiled gratefully as Nadia's alarm went off, signaling the end of her lunch period and the end of the loitering mass's free hour.

If anyone knew half the story Nadia had wove, they could plainly see that Lexi had inadvertently (or perhaps intentionally?) made Nadia try to avoid Eric in hopes that he would seek her out for comfort. When it backfired and Eric encountered Nadia again, she realised he'd never let her go in any case, so she took it out on Nadia, who let him come back into her life when the whole goal was to let him forget about her and not visit ever again...

Nadia assumed she'd never know the entire story, and was perfectly content with that; she was in love and she felt fine. No skin off her nose if Lexi put herself into the hellhole she was in.

Lexi clapped her hands as the newest group of kids came in. "You'll never guess who I talked to."

Nadia lifted her eyebrow. "Who?"

With a sneaky grin, Lexi replied, "Bobby Higgins! And do you know which art project he kept over all these years?"

Eric let out an unearthly screech and leaped towards Lexi, murder in his eyes as the third hour class, a group of shaky looking freshmen, all stared in horror. They'd seen this guy the day before, but today he was a little different.

"Lexi! I'm going to kill you!"

She laughed and ducked out the door, Nadia following with a quick, "Take attendance, won't you?"

There was a nervous grin on Eric's face as he turned and carefully picked up the attendance book, not quite sure how to proceed. He could be a nervous substitute or he could be the one who knows what they're doing. With a small smile he lifted up a hand and waved.

"Hey, I'm Eric."

"I've seen you on the telly." Stated a girl in the front row, and then a girl in the back gasped loudly. She had been absent the day before, because Nadia had taken her seat during the lecture; Eric could remember that much while he was reading in the back room.

The girl started to stand up and speak, but Eric winked and waved her down with a small grin. Jimena was there, and she remembered him.

When Nadia returned a full thirty minutes later, the masses were talking quietly as Eric stood in silent agony, Jimena talking to him with an earnest frown.

"You don't have a cousin here, do you?" She had first accused.

He shook his head. "Nope, all a ploy to visit-"

Jimena looked hurt, her pretty blue eyes downcast behind a shiny fringe of blonde hair. "That was hardly the way to go about things."

"Look, Jimena, I'm sorry, but I had no other idea how to find my way to this building-"

"If you were here to be a substitute I would have understood."

He smiled in an uncomfortable way. "I wasn't, if you'd just let me finish a sentence-"

"Well then what were you doing?"

Nadia walked in with Lexi behind her, tugging a large piece of art covered with a black cloth.

Eric had pure annoyance on his face and Nadia knew he had good reason, having heard that girl talk before, and his next remark was nothing short of what the girl deserved.

"I was here," his eyes fluttered in irritation as the girl opened her mouth to speak again, "to find my girlfriend. She was mad at me and I had no way of contacting here unless I just showed up."

Jimena's face was devastated. "You have a girlfriend? Is she in a class-?"

"No," his face was sharp as Nadia approached, "she teaches this class. I'm sitting in because she has to go get something that could possibly remove all hopes of my masculinity ever restoring to its proper levels. There's something about men being in love that will completely screw up their ability to listen to shirty young girls babble."

Nadia smiled weakly. "Poor baby,"

He turned and his face melted from anger into quiet happiness.

"Well," Jimena started, giving Nadia a dirty look, "I think you're all man. So if she can't-"

"Thanks for the offer," Eric interrupted, pure amusement on his face by now, "but I'm perfectly happy as it is."

Nadia snorted as Eric turned away with a sneer, ignoring Jimena's hurt look. "Boy, I can't believe how many women are just crazy about you, Eric."

He rolled his eyes. "It must be my sparkling charm, huh?" He asked sarcastically.

She smiled wickedly. "You can be charming when you want to be. Among other things." He clapped a hand over her mouth and blushed while the other kids giggled.

Lexi gestured towards the wall sculpture with the black cloth covering it. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Eric's sculpture."

As she yanked the cloth off, Eric's disposition threatened to leave him unconcsious, but Nadia clutched his arm as the project was revealed, and the whole group gasped in unison, including the teacher herself. They could all see Nadia's face in the middle, and her possessive grip on his arm was all Jimena could take. She stood and exited the room, puzzled at how a perfect stranger could break her heart.

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

"I can't-" Eric pouted his lip. "We're swamped this weekend; I'm probably going to have to stay here. I've come up for the past three weekends, shame to break a trend." He hinted.

She smiled. "I suppose I can come down. Would that make you happy?"

"Very very happy." He grinned. "Unless that means I'm gonna have to clean up around here. I am a guy in that respect."

She fretted over the phone. "If you clean up I'll have nothing to do!"

"We'll have plenty to do," he muttered and laughed as she giggled.

She smiled. "Maybe I should hold out on you this weekend; that's revenge for my inconvenience. I'll have to drive out Saturday night and drive back Sunday night-"

"Well, twenty-four hours is worth talking to you, I guess." He said in a defeated tone.

She snickered. "Just for that you better go buy some candles for my entrance. If I'm not 'in the mood...'"

He laughed. "I'll have to wow you, eh?"

"You don't have to do much."

He grinned weakly as Gray stepped into the room and sat, waiting for the others to come back from Eric's backyard. They paused as he clutched the phone, his back to them.

"Lucky me?"

They heard a muffled reply, and then surprisingly enough, his response: "Love you too, Naddy. See you tomorrow. Yeah, bye."

He turned around and blinked rapidly, face paling only slightly. Gray took a deep breath through his nose, fighting a smile.

"You said we'd know, and now we do."

He blushed wildly and looked at his feet; literally everyone's jaws dropped as they realised that this was no joke, he really had slept with her. Unfortunately he flashed them a broad grin and his blush was gone.

"I'll never tell!" He said in a singsong voice, and then cackled and ran from the room wildly.

Gray nodded decisively however. "No doubt in my mind. We'll be able to tell when Nadia shows up tomorrow, though. He's not going to be able to keep his hands off of her. We all know Eric; he's touchy."

Suddenly Mike laughed. "He's not going to smile at her in front of us if he is covering their relationship."

John waved his arms around hysterically. "Let's stop talking like gossiping old maids and get to work!"

Eric frowned as he reentered the room. "Oh, you're no fun anymore!"

Saturday came and went slowly, but by nine o' clock Eric was certain she'd be there, and he started to shoo the other guys away. They tried to delay as long as they could, and in the end their efforts proved fruitful.

"Hey all," Nadia said brightly, smiling as Eric leapt up and leaned over to give her a quick hug. She didn't looked perterbed by his lack of physical affection, but she had decided to let him keep his secrets if he wanted. That way she had a tool to use against him if he annoyed her. Mostly she used that because she couldn't say he was terrible in bed, because he was probably the single best thing that had ever happened to her. Sometimes there were men she was plainly and solely physically attracted to, but not like him. He was everything in every category. In the days of middle school there were five categories; kindness, uniquity, independence, looks, and talent. Normally Nadia would run through a mental check list to make sure she wasn't following hormonal impulses when she accepted dates and such. Following that list now she thought she recognized a perfect ten in all five categories, which made her smile.

"So, we going anywhere tonight?" She asked as she took her seat next to him.

Eric flashed the other guys a very dirty look. "I can't leave these guys here,"

"Fair enough," Nadia agreed, smiling gently at the others. She stood and walked to Eric's bedroom slowly, humming under her breath, and as soon as her feet disappeared from beyond the corner of the hall, he stood up and mumbled something about making sure she took her dress home with her. At first none of them noticed that this little assurance would only take a few seconds, and he'd been gone for a few minutes by now.

When he first walked into the room, he noticed that Nadia was putting her dress into the small shoulder bag she had brought, and that she pretty much knew he was standing behind her.

"Oh good, you remembered." He said monotonously, but didn't move to leave.

She turned, and his breath hitched for a moment. Flashing him a dainty smile, she reached over and hugged him again. For whatever reason, Eric felt it necessary to just hug her at that moment, and did so, smiling gently. It was a few minutes after the hug began that the guys appeared in the doorway, and Nadia shushed them, knowing exactly how Eric would react.

Finally Mike could wait no more. "Nadia, if Eric won't let you kiss HIM-" He trailed off as Eric spun around and flashed them all a dirty look.

"It's not that he won't, it's that there's no good reason." She retorted, smiling.

Gray smiled. "We'll know, Eric. There's no way we can't."

Fed up, Eric rolled his eyes and let his arms drop from Nadia's shoulders. "What is the big deal?"

John grinned. "We want to be able to say, 'We told you so.'"

"To what?" Nadia asked politely, blinking a few times as an innocent gesture.

Eric scowled at them heartily. "I don't want to hear it anymore, you guys."

Of course, they weren't about to give up that easily. Gray took it upon himself to inform Nadia. "We want to be able to tell Eric that we knew you two were going to make the other happy from the beginning, so how is it?"

Nadia snorted. "We've been happy from the beginning, and even if you meant we should be dating and we weren't, there are only a few times I can name when it was really a horrible experience knowing him. And I did it to myself on those occasions, so you've really got nothing to fuel this fire."

With that and Eric's smug look, the others retreated, grumbling to themselves. Before Eric retreated with them to finish up the small writing session, he gratefully kissed Nadia and gave her hand a quick squeeze and left, his face devoid of all guilt (of which they searched him for extensively).

Around ten thirty they felt they had made more progress than they had in months, and went their separate ways, leaving Eric and Nadia to themselves in the house, but not before Gray sneaked in a cryptic comment.

"You think we can't know, but we do. We just can't prove it. Now, we're a step above women in that we won't obsess over this, but don't think we won't think it's just as funny months from now, so come clean before one of us gets sick of playing nice and sees something they shouldn't, alright?" He smiled as Eric gave him another expressionless look.

He smiled suddenly. "Goodnight, Gray."

Shaking his head sadly, Graham waved to him and walked off into the dark, looking up at the crescent moon with a small sigh.

As he turned around, Eric smiled broadly at Nadia. "Finally they've gone; I can't believe how long we stayed up working on that stupid sketch! Bloody perfectionist John and Terry goin' at it all night-"

Nadia smiled meekly as he sat and put an arm up on the back of the couch, closing his eyes for a moment of peace. The moment ended abruptly as he turned to her and grinned.

"So, how's life with you?"

She shrugged and shifted into the crook of his arm with a gentle sigh. "Jimena's all over my ass all the time, correcting me when I slip up, turns in fiery visions of Hell with a few beautiful Goddesses drowning in lava, you know, things like that. Ten minutes with the girl and you've tainted her." She mumbled as he lowered his chin to her head and took a deep breath. She'd recently had a haircut, he wasn't sure how he knew. The past few weeks her hair had been hanging over her eyes like a sort of mask, and now it was even with her eyelashes, easily shaken out of the way, but for the most part left down with the back styled. As for him, he hadn't seen the inside of a barber shop in several months; Mike's wife sometimes showed up with some shears and would trim his hair after she'd cornered her husband. It drove her nuts to have him with long hair, let alone with it all frayed and in his eyes, so she literally attacked him with the scissors until he relented, afraid he'd get a few scars. Eric wasn't bothered much by the whole hair concept, most of the guys were rather lax about the neurotic care of their heads already, but Helen was another story. She picked up where they left off, and they all had fairly good jobs done every few months.

In his momentary distraction, Nadia had shifted her arm in front of her and was playing with the tassle on her capri pants, twisting the curly strings into her fingers and smiling as the tendrils wound around. The tendrils themselves reminded her of the vines growing on the side of the building after Ariel's project had run amok and the grape vines latched into the rose board on the studio, producing small, underwatered grapes during the wrong season. Some of the students were brave enough to try them, and were promptly in the bathroom washing their mouths out with disgust on their faces. After the amusement of this analogy passed, Nadia found herself thinking of her mother and sister, both of whom had dark black hair like her own, only they kept theirs long and curly. Carmen actually had layers and such, an expensive fashion she had almost invented herself, but her mother was the best when it came to hair. She had always encouraged her children to be as different as they wanted, and Nadia had taken the full advantage of living with a mother who worked in a hair salon. They had enough money for the three kids and two parents, her father a very well-off surgeon and her mother the most famous of all small-business salons in Paris. Her father, an Englishman by heritage, was born and raised in France, but his last name had firmly attached itself to Nadia and her family. Smart just wasn't an original French name like her mother's maiden name, Abell. Of course, her relatives in Russia were as original as they got, the Zhukovs. Her train of thought flowed evenly from her mother dropping in on her in her tiny house with Eric her third year in college, kissing them both on the heads like two of her own, and leaving with a tear and a young, fresh smile, to her cousin Pavel in Russia.

Pavel was about twenty now, younger than Nadia, but closer to her than any of her other cousins. She came from a relatively small family, both parents had three siblings each, and they each had two kids. In fact, more than two was a huge amount to Nadia's relatives, crazy even. But then again, Nadia's mother wasn't the most sane person in the world.

If she had asked Eric to remember the very first time he'd met Nadia's mother ("Missy Smart-ay to you, chauvinist pig," was her favourite term...) it would have been foggy. There had been no formal introduction like dating couples would have, it was more of a few mentions in letters, and then when she had helped her daughter move into the house with Eric, she had enlisted him to help her drag Nadia's easle set up the stairs and had then found out that the sweet boy with the friendly grin and weak French skills was Nadia's FRIEND, well, there had been some rapid arguing between the two that could only be volleyed between two natives. The bombshell had hit home and sisters and brothers alike had rushed out with her father to interrogate poor Eric, who had simply greeted them, informed her an angry mob had showed up to berate her for moving in alone with him and calmly walked off to sleep it off. After carefully assuring her family she had known him two years and was completely safe with him, her father had given a stern talking to Eric of which Eric still did not mention and left them to their studies.

Eric studied Nadia's face carefully. She was staring out the window into the shadows of the yard with a small smile on her face, now and again dissolving into a cloudy look that resembled nostalgia and other things.

Of course, her mother had taken a very keen liking to Eric; he was polite for the most part, and was an overall kind man, so she was always asking Nadia why they weren't dating just like all of Nadia's friends. Between the fatherly death threats and the motherly encouragement, Eric remained neutral and calm, which never ceased to amaze Nadia. She glanced up to see him staring at her carefully.

"How're things down here?" She asked him, cocking her carefully to the side.

He smiled slowly. "Pretty good, I guess. Things are still moving slowly but they're moving nonetheless."

Nadia nodded carefully. "Good," she paused and then snapped her fingers, "some kids were so sure that I was just putting up a front they had this girl that pierced most of the girls' ears in the class come up to examine my piercings to make sure they were real, and she said they were, but they weren't convinced because she was passing the class...so I had her pierce my navel." She grinned uncertainly as she pulled up the front of her blouse to reveal a small barbel shaped piercing, the bigger of the two star shapes sitting in her navel, the smaller sitting just above.

With careful examination, Eric whistled. "Neat, and is that one of those 'easily filled with a fake stud' piercings?"

Nadia waved it off. "Just like all odd places, it'll close up if you don't leave anything in it for a few years. When I'm fifty I'll stop with the nose and the belly button, they'll close up and I'll be a normal, senile old woman."

He smiled and shook his head. "Well, while you're young I guess it passes off as sexy."

She nodded. "That's the whole reason,"

It never felt awkward or even unnecessary when the conversation lapsed, but the silence was always filled with little touches and movements on both parts, such as now when Eric took her hand and pulled her class ring off, smiling mockingly at the enormous, gaudy jewel.

As if the gem reminded her of something, Nadia slapped her head. "I forgot! Tomorrow, I have to leave early for this 'family reunion' at my sister's. My mum's in town and she'll kill me if I don't show up-" She paused suddenly, her face horrified. "And I can't show up without a boyfriend, shit!"

Eric smiled. "I'm surprised she hasn't auctioned you off yet, Nadia."

She gave him a sly look. "I'm sure she'd be ecstatic if you showed up, Eric. Of course, Daddy might not be as pleased."

The expressionless look on his face dissolved into contemplative thought process before that ever-easy and ever-ready fallback took over his mind. "I'll go if you want me to,"

"Not busy?" She teased, pulling on the front of his shirt as if asking him if he wanted to go somewhere instead.

He glanced up at her, an easy-going and bemused smile on his face. "Nope,"

With a grateful smile, Nadia pulled him into a quick hug. "Remind me that I owe you a favor, 'kay?"

The sweet and kind smile disappeared instantly; he stood and lifted her into his arms. "I'll take that favor now, if you don't mind."

The door closed behind them and Nadia felt her heart pound hysterically against her chest. He was taking it as a favor? She laughed mentally and felt her shirt being pulled over her head, her senses spiraling into disarray as her entire body began to react to the small touches of everything. The air prickled on her skin with negative electrical energy, a sort of heavy feeling of thunder storms, but before she could consider why the entire place felt heavy and dark she melted into a kiss that made her want Eric badly. Women thought too much anyway, right?

As Eric pulled on her capris he felt her hands link around his neck and pull him down tighter. For a fact he knew she liked it when he was close to her, and for a fact he knew she was going to enjoy this just as much as he was. It was yet another case when neither of them were stupid, but perfectly fine with being ignorant. As soon as she was fully disrobed, he let his eyes travel over her body, a curious lump forming in his throat. He kissed her again and began to pull his own shirt off, allowing Nadia the job of working his belt off. Why they even dressed at all was a wonder to him, and he was starting to snicker when she pressed her body to his and hitched a breath; suddenly he couldn't get anything off fast enough, everything was too slow. Seizing her glasses, he tossed them unceremoniously to the ground on the far side of the bed and slipped his arms around her shoulders, about to sprawl her out on the bed-which had been the norm for the past few weeks of bliss, but she resisted the movement and prevented him from vocalizing anything at that point by kissing him with a dominant passion. He reeled, and in the moment of weakness started to fall backward, which was taken advantage of instantly. As soon as she was atop him, she grinned at him mischievously before he threw his head back and took in a deep breath of surprise. Whatever it was that was changed by her being on top was doing something so strange to him, and he didn't want to stop it. She was doing all the work this time, and he was lying there with all sorts of sensations running through his body, a kiss sneaking in now and again.

He wanted to talk, but found that the usually temporary inability to speak English (or any other comprehensible language, really) had remained with the change and he could only groan now and again in approval or shock as the night went on. He started to say something finally, but found that even if he wanted to know what he had said there was no way he could know, and yet Nadia kissed him as if she understood him completely. He whimpered with contained passion and tried to take some form of control but she was there, stopping him. How desperate he felt now, and so helpless; was it like that for her? Before he could have another rational thought enter his mind she started to whimper as well and he knew it was almost over. He took her into a tight hug and whispered unintelligable things for a spell before she shuddered and he threw his head back again, a sharp gasp ringing into the room.

She stayed put for the most part, her legs curling up in front of her as she shifted ever so slightly, and he held her tightly in return. Now the lump in his throat was gone and he cleared his throat, feeling mostly awake as it was. He kissed her cheek and tried to lift an arm to run it through her hair to brush it from her forehead, but she moved over his arm and slid her arm around his neck again.

"If you really think about it," her voice was husky, as usual, "you are my boyfriend, no?" French accent, as usual.

He smiled. "Sure, Nadia. I'm not sure what else you'd call us, for sure anyway."

"Lovers,"

"True, but we're more than that, or so I'd like to think." He muttered carefully.

The vulnerability Nadia usually felt when she told him things that she felt about him, or about anyone else that she had felt strongly about, was completely gone. "I love you,"

"I love you, too," he said immediately, no hesitation, and this pleased Nadia to no ends.

She groaned with a bit of realisation. "We going to be filthy tomorrow." Improper grammar walked hand in hand with her accent, and she was tired.

"Shower's big enough for two," he teased.

Sleepy and safe, Nadia replied, "Make a reservation, hm?"

"Smoking or non?" He asked, holding her tight.

She mumbled nonsense words under her breath before Eric tipped her to the mattress and wrapped her up in a blanket, his heart painfully contained as he wanted to shout as loudly as possible. It was a curious feeling he'd learned to cope with, but still...it was so tempting to walk outside half-dressed and just scream to the heavens above that nothing should ever change ever again. The sun never had to rise, the moon never had to sink behind a cloudy retreat ever again, and he never had to be without her again. It was the emotional side of him taking advantage of him, and it was a bit annoying for the most part, but Nadia ate it up just like all women, and he didn't really mind if it made her happy. Quoting Mike, "It's really scary what girls can make you do. Before you know it you're wearing some sort of suit thing and she's crying her eyes out, and all you can think is 'TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT' and for some reason that makes us perverted..."

It struck him then that he was going more than slightly out of order with the entire relationship. They'd started off with the right foot, friends. Then dating, but they skipped the entire engagement and marriage process to get right to the sex. He shook off the feeling with mild regret before kissing her lips, surprised that she was already asleep, and then slipped off into a deep sleep of his own.

When Nadia awoke, she was mildly startled to note she was alone. For a few seconds she sat in awe, and then Eric floated into the room wearing just a pair of boxers, and he yawned heartily before shaking her shoulder.

"Shower's free for you, if you want to go first-"

She sat up and yawned. "What the hell happened to smoking or non?" She whined and giggled as he smiled uncertainly.

"If you're serious I am most definitely not going to call that off," he said earnestly, almost begging for her to interrupt.

She put her chin in her hand. "Lemme see how big the shower is first-"

"There's no way you can take up too much of it, trust me," he interrupted, eyes dancing hopefully.

Nadia lifted her arms up decisively. "Carry me, then, I'm too tired."

He obeyed silently and carried her, wrapped in a sheet that had come loose, to the bathroom before he started the hot water and pulled a hatch to start the shower head. With a startled glance he watched Nadia drop the sheet to the floor and slip into the shower, her back to him as she eased under the steaming stream of water and hissed. After a few moments of staring at her curves from behind, he felt whatever restraining power in him let go of itself and he stripped and stepped in behind her.

She moved from in front of the shower head and kept her back to him as he moved under it and hissed as the hot water tickled his skin and made it turn red with the heat. From the back she was just as beautiful as from the front, and it only got worse when she turned around. He stared for a while, unable to tear his eyes from the beads of water collecting on her shoulders and her body, the careful look in her eye contained perfectly. She stepped towards him in the tiny shower and wrapped her arms around him, smiling as he hugged her back and marveled at the feeling of the water running between them. It was a few moments before she realised that she didn't have to show until roughly noon and it was only nine o' clock. Whatever the hell her rush was earlier was all gone, and she began to tease again. He felt so good close to her, she never wanted to go away again, but it was always a moment of weakness when he blessed her with his own beauty, one she couldn't really identify, or name for that matter, but it always made her a little crazy.

They kissed, eyes locked at first, and then closed as they leaned together and a hot jet of water shot down their faces. With the added warmth of the water and the confines of the shower, it seemed that the heat and the shrinking room effect was starting all over again, and Eric felt his heart start beating harder. Adrenaline pounded through his veins, and he wanted nothing more than to have her again, to tell her all the things she wanted to hear. A fierce emotion was manifesting itself in him and he hardly cared at this point.

The glass door of the shower was fully steamed, hazy objects of color just beyond Nadia's vision, and with the added effect of her glasses being absent, she was fully unaware of anything beyond the boundary of Eric. She let him kiss her, let him push her against the freezing cold tile that was the wall, but jerked the hot water towards them so she was at least warm on one side before she got fed up and ruined his fun. Pretty soon the last of their tease ended and Eric could resist no longer; he pressed her against the wall of the shower again and groaned as her light weight fell into his hands, her legs wrapping around his hips automatically. They hardly moved there, and made very little noise, but it was the most erotic experience of their lives. The water, the place, the emotion in it all was a woman's fantasy, leaving Nadia reeling in a passion and love she hadn't known possible. Of course, every time she was with a man she tried to put him in a way so that her mind really believed he was "the one," and "the one" would never hurt her. She tried so hard sometimes that she forgot that they had problems and difficulties, which made problems for her. With Eric she knew his flaws and still clung to him, her mouth on his, her body around his, and she didn't once have to tell herself that she was letting him do this-after all she wanted it just as badly as him, so she thought. She hadn't spent any amount of time in a man's mind and didn't know the boundaries they faced and the horrors that came with testosterone, but she was a pretty tough chick, if she could say so without being laughed at (she was five three, afterall).

As she cried out his name and felt her head slump to his shoulder her released her legs and kissed her. He said he loved her a few times and kissed her again-probably the most post-sex attention Nadia had endured. Normally she was out like a light after an escapade so strenuous, but her integrity had to have suffered after she had quit the kickboxing team. It didn't have any credits and she didn't want to spend six years in college, so she had dropped it and as a result didn't quite have the stamina she used to.

"Hey, we need to be clean," she muttered, laughing as Eric snorted. There it was, the calm, friendly side of this relationship. She cherished it and hoped it wouldn't be stifled by the sex and the lust. One of these damn weekends had to fall on her "time of the month" or a bad day or something-then again, if she had been having a terribly bad day she'd probably make him dote on her hand and foot and then take him for all he was worth, knowing he was enjoying it.

"Turn around," he commanded, and she sleepily turned around, groaning as his hands worked knots out of her back with expert precision. A rather masculine smelling soap smell drifted into the air, but Nadia didn't mind. Living with her he'd probably ended up leaving their shared shower smelling of lilac or worse, rose a few times. There was the fiasco in which Lexi dropped a bottle of Nadia's most expensive French perfume onto a stack of Eric's theatrics clothes, and suddenly there was this inside joke that he was sleeping with a beautiful and mysterious French woman, and it was soon going around the theater. She snorted aloud as she remembered this, and snorted harder when she realised that now that rumor was true. According to him, anyway. She turned around with the gentle prodding of his hands on her shoulders, and she took some deep breaths as he ran his hands over her entire body, spreading an even coat of white foam on her, his eyes dancing over her sensuously. She felt her fingers knit into his wet hair, and when he lowered down to lather her legs, she trapped him in a kiss for a moment. When it was all done it was his turn, and she shot him a wicked look before returning the favor to him. He gasped a few times as she quickly ran her fingers over him, and she laughed as he stumbled away from her for a moment. When all the soap had disappeared down the drain, they became somewhat business like, washed their own hair ("Pff, you're no fun anymore!") and exited the shower, grappling for a moment for the dryer of the two towels.

Because both of them had short hair, their hair dried quickly, and Nadia "borrowed" some of his hair gel to get her hair into a respectable style before taking some make up from her bag and applying some where her freakishly in tune mother would have put it, including dark black eyeliner, dark eye shadows, a dark blush, a dark gloss for her already dark lips, and then she added black mascara. With the eyebrow pencil she had never used, she accented her "beauty mark," as her mother had labeled it. It was a birthmark of sorts, only she had about fifty of them strategically placed about her entire body, one in between the toes of her left foot, one in her ear, and all over her torso. Eric had told her the other week that he was surprised how many he couldn't see before, and she had told him to count them next time, she'd gladly allow him to "search and destroy." About her make up, though, she had one very small, hardly noticable beauty mark just above her lip to the right side of her face when another person looked at her. It was Marilyn Monroe in nature, but she had to apply make up on it for anyone to notice, and she did so now, knowing if she didn't herself her mother would attack her when she arrived.

Eric stared blankly at her as she sat in front of the bathroom mirror, wrapped only in a towel as she applied her face. "How many people are we talking here?"

She shrugged. "About twenty, maybe thirty."

"How dressy?" He asked further.

She pointed to her bag. "Check what I brought, see if it gives you any ideas."

Obeying silently, he walked to her bag and pulled out her crooked hemmed skirt and elaborately strapped black tank top. The whole thing was practically designed to show off her body, and showing would be her latest piercing, the yellow gold stars in her navel and just above it. She rubbed her stomach with a grimace as she bent to get a brush that had clattered to the floor, and when she stood, bit her lip for a moment.

Eric sighed. "I have to admit, Nadia, as stupid as I first thought that was," he gestured to her stomach, "it is kinda sexy."

She dropped the towel and stood before him innocently, grinning as he fell back onto the bed and clutched the towel around himself, eyes jumping to her breasts and then her stomach quickly. She bent and jerked the towel around her before continuing on her way to her bag on the far side of the bed. She first pulled on her glasses and then started pulling on her clothes. When she'd finally pulled her skirt and top into place, she slipped her feet into her flat-soled black sandals and stood before the mirror in the bathroom again. She twirled a bit, making sure everything was in order, gasping as Eric walked in and stood before her, a sort of suit thing on. She looked him over as he twirled like her and flipped his hair girlishly at her.

"Taboo or fab?" He asked with a nasal pitch.

Nadia made a face. "Girl, you look so good! I'd be surprised if you don't get married toNIGHT!" She kidded right back. He laughed and lifted a tie up as if saying that he'd need a bit of time to get that accomplished. Nadia took it from him and made him crouch down a bit so she could see over his shoulder.

She giggled. "I've always wanted to do this for a guy besides my brother."

"I make dreams come true, baby."

She kissed the side of his head and finished adjusting the knot so it was loose but not too casual before adjusting his collar and walking from the steamy bathroom to the cool bedroom. Eric followed suit and pulled his shoes on, waiting for the okay to start hitting business-mode again.

When they sat together on the couch it was silent, and Nadia felt her energy level rising again, the initial collapse of her body after Eric brought to her yet another amazing climax had faded and now she felt herself regaining her composure. Slowly he reached out and ran a hand through her hair, successfully ruining her carefully styled hair. She shrieked evilly at him and reached up with both hands and ruffled his hair. They bared their teeth to the other, but within seconds they were sprawled together on the fabric of the couch, lips locked and hands buried in the other's ruined hair. With a pang of anger Nadia realised she'd be redoing her lipstick and Eric'd probably look like he'd just spent ten minutes eating a cherry popsicle, but it didn't quite stop her. The doorbell did. They sat up together, and Eric carefully smoothed his hair before he wiped his mouth, cursing as some dark red wiped off onto his hand. He scrubbed furiously at his face before he yanked open the door.

"She gone yet?" Gray's voice intervened instantaneously.

Eric shook his head slowly. "Nope, and she's recruited me for some family stuff. What were we going to do?"

"Terry and Howard wanted us to film today, but Mike and John already claimed absences. You make it an even half of us not there, so I'll just go home now-oh, hello Nadia."

She scowled at Eric before snatching a comb from his pocket and walking into the bathroom to adjust her hair. Mumbling a few mean things in French, she snapped the door shut.

"I messed up her hair," Eric explained, "and she returned the favor and attacked me with a tube of lipstick."

Gray nodded with a small, hidden smile. "Sure she did, mate."

"Why would you believe me? You're only going to see the side of the story you want to." He shrugged, indifferent. Gray mentally cursed Eric's ability to stay laid back about everything as Nadia reappeared, her face perfect and her hair now delicately styled. She wrapped him upside the head and then glanced at her watch.

"Takes fifteen to get to Carmen's from here, and she'll kill me if I'm not there to translate Mum's French to English for her family." She said quickly.

Eric glanced carefully at his watch and then took his keys from the table inside before locking the door. Nadia clutched her bag carefully, as if running through a mental checklist as she did so. When she had decided she had gathered all her things she nodded and looped her arm in Eric's before skipping elaborately. Gray muttered a goodbye with a small, doubtful look before the nicely dressed couple jumped into he small car Eric owned and peeled away into the distance.

"A few rules," Nadia said in a dignified way, "first of all, English is the least known language in my family, so try to speak slowly if you can't make sense to them, or tell them you speak English. It'll only piss them off if you keep talking or saying you don't understand. Second of all, let's keep the groping to a low on both our parts while we're there. My dad's a little fanatic about his daughters and their men, so you might want to steer clear of him if you absolutely must touch me. I'll have to tell my mother about us at some point, and she'll most likely make a huge deal about it, so tell me now if that bothers you and I'll 'forget' that we're dating or whatever the hell we call it." She grimaced and grabbed her stomach again. "My mum hates being tricked, so don't be surprised if I do tell her we're dating and she demands you say or do something intimate in front of a group of people. You know my mum, she's a little loony."

Eric looked over at her. "I love you, you do know that, right? You don't think I'm just saying it, do you?"

She looked him in the eye. "I don't believe you're lying to me, I do believe you love me."

He nodded. "So, there's no problem."

"You're the only one with a problem," she pointed out with a small smile.

He rolled his eyes. "I'll have to face the guys some time soon, but I'd prefer you not be there when I do, because manly teasing can be a touch brutal, especially when you avoid the topic with them for a while."

"What are you going to say?" She asked.

Eric shrugged. "Probably just, 'Coming clean, you guys, I've been dating Nadia for the past few months. Now, get all the tomato throwing and booing in now because I'm late for our rendezvous in Cambridge already.'"

She swatted him with a free hand. "That'll teach 'em, eh?"

"Come off it, Nadia! What am I supposed to say?" He asked, wrinkling his nose. "'Sorry I haven't been completely honest you guys...but I've been dating Nadia the past few months, I'm madly in love with her, we've been having the best sex of our lives every single time we meet and I can't keep my hands off her. I had to tell you now before you walk in on us-'"

"Not quite," she interruped with a small, knowing grin.

He nodded as they pulled to a stop along with about seven other cars outside Carmen's house. "Well then, I'm stickin' to my plan unless you come up with something better."

He moved to get out of the car, but Nadia grabbed his arm. "Before we go out to face the masses." It was a sentence to him, and he leaned over to kiss her gently on the lips, pulling back with a puzzled look as she added, "I love you." He repeated it to her and kissed her again before they clamored out and for some reason, linked hands and refused to be picked apart until Nadia caught sight of her mother.

"Bonjour Maman!" She cried and swept her mother into a hug. The fifty-some year old woman rapidly spat out some words in French, tugged her daughter's hair, ear, nose, and then poked her in the stomach with an approving noise. Eric shook his head in amazement as the woman said, in choppy English, "Very good, Nadia, I like eet."

That's about when she caught sight of Eric and squealed with happiness. She kissed both of his cheeks a few times before standing on tip toe to hug him around the neck. He squirmed but hugged the woman and flashed Nadia a worried look before he nodded with a shrug, and she nodded back.

"Mum, I see you remember Eric. I guess I have some good news for you then." She smiled at her mother, who tilted her head as if it helped her understand better.

Then, in slow, even French, Nadia said, "Eric and I are dating."

"YES!" The older woman shrieked in English, and pumped her fist into the air before seizing Eric again and hugging him with a fervent comment of, "You two should have started this ages ago!" He barely caught her native French tongue, but he understood most of it.

For a moment he thought he wasn't ever going to have custody of his neck again, but she released and gave him a sly look. "You two date how long? More than week?"

He nodded. "Uh, since she got her job, a little before."

Once again the woman clapped. "Good! This good!"

She turned and yanked on an older man's arm and pointed hysterically at Eric, speaking with so much slang and accent he hardly caught more than, "Eric," Nadia," "more," and for some reason he heard the word "beautiful."

Once the stream of words stopped flowing from her mouth, the man, Nadia's father, folded his arms. "Bonjour," he said curtly, and Eric replied the same, tossing a nervous glance to Nadia, who had linked arms with a tall, skinny, blonde-haired boy with blue eyes.

While her father picked Eric apart, Nadia clutched hysterically to Pavel's arm. They spoke for a while before Nadia realised she'd left Eric alone with her parents and fled to his side in time to catch another horrifying speech he was giving the poor man.

"You make good girl of my daughter, you understand? If she ever get hurt like before with you, I'll take it personally. Not to mention your real intentions, boy, what are they? Do you plan with my daughter, for family? You-?" He was about to press further when Nadia burst in between them.

"Aw, Papa! Leave him alone! You never bothered with the others, and they were worse." She grumbled, reaching up to touch Eric's face. He smiled weakly at her, face pale.

Her father scowled slightly and wandered off, letting Eric take a deep breath.

He cursed. "That man is fucking crazy; he's begging for an excuse to beat me or something, honestly..."

Nadia made a face. "You were the very first guy I ever settled down with, and he still thinks all men are perverted when it comes to his daughters. See?" She pointed to her sister's husband, who was clutching a child in his arms with a frightened look while her father stared him down with an icy glare, lips barely moving as he assured himself that the man was good enough for his darling Carmen, his baby girl.

With a laugh, Eric retorted, "I have a feeling we're not allowed to do much here, with him here."

Nadia scrunched her nose and turned towards him, draping her arms around his shoulders. Hardly able to help it, Eric's face split into a wide grin; he held her shoulders as well and they stared at each other carefully.

Carmen appeared out of nowhere. "Oh! Nadia!" She laughed. "Mama told me you were dating him, I didn't believe though-"

Grimacing slightly, Nadia turned and gave Carmen a harsh look. The woman stopped speaking and slinked away, no hurt look, just amusement. As soon as the moment was theirs again, they returned to their silent embrace, and Nadia thought it best she kept her eyes shut in case she looked up and saw however many people staring.

"SPEEEEECH!" Wailed Carmen, and Nadia broke from Eric's side, taking his hand and leading him to the open area where her mother and her sister, Olivia, were standing side by side, waiting for her to appear. Carmen stood next to Nadia nearer to her mother and smiled broadly at the two dozen people staring carefully at them.

Nadia's mother began to speak first, her voice loud and strong for the majority while Nadia translated into English for Carmen's all English family, her aunt translating into Russian for her family and the others.

Eric listened closely to Nadia as she spoke, her face bright and shiny.

"Hello and welcome to all of you! We're so very happy to say that all of us have finally made it, and it makes me happy to see we haven't completely lost touch. With both sides of our family here it makes it a little hectic, but the way we function best tends to be in chaos, no?

"The years have passed us by, have they not? The last we were all together Carmen was graduating from high school, Nadia was graduating from college, and Nate was getting married. I thought at that time it was the most exciting moment in my life; my son married, my daughters starting new stages in life! Now that we're all here, we wish to catch everyone up at once instead of having to interrogate everyone individually. How does that sound?" There was a roar of approval, and Nadia sighed unhappily. How long they would speak she didn't know, and she cast an apologetic look to Eric, off to the side of the parted group of younger kids. He gave her a small, unsure smile before she was forced to translate her aunt's Russian into English.

She hardly listened to the words coming from her mouth, and when her sister prattled on about the English part of the family, she zoned out further. It wasn't until her mother started speaking she actually started to pay attention and listen.

"And so now that I have two beautiful grandchildren from my daughter Carmen," she paused as Carmen hefted the older of her two children, a small boy in a set of denim overalls, dark hair like his mother's, "or should I say one and a half?" She patted Carmen's slightly swelled stomach. There was a bit of laughter, and even Eric smiled a bit, but she continued. "Now that I have a grandchild, I've gone and gotten myself addicted to them! So like me! This is life, I suppose...but now I must nag Nathan to bring me more joy, and pray that Carmen doesn't tire of the joy of rearing children. It makes one feel young to hold a small child in their arms again. Of course, I can't bother Nadia about it; she isn't married quite yet." Nadia gulped as she said these lines, and there was more laughter.

"She brings her boyfriend with her, or should I say college friend? I'm sure at one time or another you've heard me mention her friend from Cambridge." She stopped as Nadia shot a glare at her, smiling at her daughter. "And even now she isn't very pleased to hear that there's another member in the club that wanted her and Eric to date. So to catch up now is almost a joke, because I wouldn't be surprised if you all hear of a wedding soon."

Nadia choked out these words reluctantly and blinked rapidly as Eric was thrown into her vision, her sister having pulled him towards her.

Her mother continued relentlessly. "Let me say to you, Nadia," it was English, and the others seemed to sense it was a personal moment, "that anyone that has seen you two together now must think the same."

Shrugging uncertainly, Nadia looped her arm around Eric's waist and smiled as Eric did the same, not quite sure. She looked at him gratefully and then pulled her arm from him, the little floor show ending all at once. Music started playing somewhere, and Nadia stalked off into her sister's house to find something to pulverize.

"Nadia!" Eric cried, trying to catch her arm before she disappeared; all attention was suddenly on them. Everyone within viewing range had their eyes fixed on the couple as they exchanged words and looks there on the grass.

She whirled and looked at him. "What? I'm just going inside for a moment-"

"Don't let them get to you, alright? I know you don't like the fluffy stuff; it's their problem if they want to believe it. Just don't go in there and dwell on anything unpleasant." He said softly, trying to keep his eyes locked on hers.

She blinked a few times. "Come with me," she said suddenly, and he followed her inside, hardly expecting her to lead him to the guest room, where she sat on the nearest of the two four-poster beds and put her head in her hands. He wanted to know what was wrong but was finding it impossible to approach the problem at that point, having followed her without a word.

After a few moments she looked up with a sudden look of thought. "Do we care?"

Magically, it seemed, Eric knew what she was thinking about. "No," he replied firmly. It was true, he didn't care what the others out there thought. He wasn't going to let them dance around them with silly looks, and he wasn't going to dress up for them to make it seem better than it was. He was perfectly fine in just knowing he had her.

Nadia smiled wickedly. "Would you agree to a little revenge, then?"

"Like what?"

"No physical affection in front of my family; it'll drive them nuts. My mother's into that touchy-feely thing, so it'll probably make her crazy to know we're together and not taking advantage of it." She smiled as he began to grin in a sly way. With a fervent nod, Eric agreed and then took her arm.

"So, can I take advantage of the solitude now?" He asked, wondering if she would understand at first.

She grinned at him and leaned forward to kiss him, heart fluttering weakly as his hand floated to her side and held her waist loosely. They kissed and she grinned uncontrollably.

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

"That was," Eric loosened his tie, "my personal hell. You?"

Nadia laughed. "I told you my mother doesn't like it. Not hell, not yet."

He groaned. Why the hell would her mother take it upon herself to leave him with no option other than to have her sit on his lap? And why was it such the big deal she would actually tease and point while they sat in the corner, talking?

It was still embarrassing to think about it, but Eric shook it off comfortably and started the long drive to Cambridge. At first Nadia kicked and scratched at him, saying she'd brought money specifically for the underground, but he insisted and was currently was about a sixteenth of the way through with the trip. Darkness fell over the next hour or so, and when the street lamps came on in the dark streets, he began to feel his senses awaken. She didn't make a move though, and kept her hands folded neatly on her lap. Curse words filled Eric's mind as he pulled to a stop outside her tiny house and let her out of the car. A few kids were walking around the blocks together, and they stopped just outside the nearest houselight, words between them deathly quiet.

Nadia stretched her arms a bit and straightened with a grin. "Thanks for the ride, I think."

"You think?" Eric placed his hands on his hips indignantly. "Last time I go an hour and a half out of my way for you!"

"Hey, I told you I had another mode of transit, but you insisted. And now you look tired, poor baby." She played with his hair a bit as he stood before her, tall and commanding.

At the word tired, his shoulders straightened and he looked nothing close to the word. "Not tired,"

The kids beyond the light crept out from behind it and walked calmly past, shooting a few glances at the couple, who didn't recognize Jimena among the group. As soon as they had passed, Nadia tilted her head towards the building and gave him a questioning look.

He nodded eagerly, but she held out a hand to stop him. "Won't you be late tomorrow?"

"Naddy, this is worth a screaming session from the guys, trust me." He reached over and slid her tank top strap off her shoulder and back on slowly.

Nadia sighed dreamily before she lead him to the door and then inside. "I'm going to buy some board games; it's something to do when we're not busy..."