Chapter 3.45 It’s Nice We’re Not Naked Now

There was another body in the bed as Juniper woke up.

Based on the fact it was her room, she couldn’t just up and walk out and pretend it never happened. The only option she could think of at that time was to close her eyes, rest her head back down where it was, and pretend she never woke up until he wakes up and sneaks out. It wasn’t like she minded sharing her bed either, he was warm to cuddle up to, and it made her feel weirdly safe being this close to him.

It was weird because this shouldn’t be happening. Nick was her best friend, she shouldn’t be waking up mostly naked in bed with her best friend.

What they did felt like a hazy memory, one which she had conflicting emotions about. She had seen that they ended up happily together but part of her was worried still about if she forced it when he wasn’t ready, would it all just break? It was a risk she wanted to take, but one she wasn’t ready to take. She felt him stir awake and she quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. Maybe if he took the initiative and sneaked out then her queries would be answered.

As he woke up too, he recognised the room and could clearly remember what happened. She was sad, he comforted her, there was weird tension, they kissed, fucked and then fell asleep. It was probably something they should talk about. “June?” He asked, knowing she was awake. He wasn’t stupid, he could tell that she was faking. “June?” He tried again, yet she was being stubborn. “Juniper.” Using her full name, he didn’t wait as long before continuing. “I know you’re awake, stupid.”

Glancing up at him, she gave him an awkward smile. “Morning.”

“We need to talk.” He looked down at her for a split second before his attention focused on the ceiling. He wasn’t sure what exactly to make of what had happened. It was weird because they could have stopped at any time, re-evaluate the situation and decide it’s not the best thing to do, but they didn’t.

“Yeah, I guess we kinda do need to.” She agreed. “We should probably put actual clothes on as well, so we can actually, you know, look at each other without seeing… Things.” She mumbled, getting off of him.

“I can agree to that.” He mumbled, his gaze focused hard on the ceiling like it was the most important thing he has ever seen. Even though he was extremely tempted to glance down to his right, he didn’t because that wasn’t the right thing to do, and he knew she’d be extremely pissed off at him if he did.

In the time he was focusing hard on the ceiling, she had managed to locate some clothes to put on and tossed his clothes over to him too, to make this whole ordeal slightly less awkward.

There was a long, tense, awkward silence as neither of them knew what exactly to say.

“So…” Juniper started, never having been in this situation. “It’s nice that we’re both not completely naked now, I guess.” Smiling awkwardly, she regretted what she said as soon as she said it.

He gave her a look, and then sighed slightly. “Yeah, fantastic.” Taking a moment, he then pointed out. “I’m not really sure where this leaves us, or if it changes anything. Does is change anything?”

.

 “Do we want anything to change?” She asked quietly, sitting on the bed at the same time as he did.

“I don’t know.” He confessed, sighing heavily. “I don’t know.” Repeating, he mumbled. “It feels way too early to talk about this.”

“It does, but I don’t want us to be all awkward and junk for ages while we have breakfast and a coffee.” She pointed out. “I mean, I’m not great at making conversation when I’m uncomfortable as it is, let alone postponing it and more awkward sentences like the one I said earlier.”

“That’s a good point, I don’t want a variation of ‘it’s nice that we’re not naked now’.” Letting out a single laugh, he used humour to hide how awkward he felt. He stayed quiet for a while before asking. “What do you want? From this I mean?” He asked, glancing over at her.

She merely shrugged in response. “I dunno. I mean, we’re really good friends, like best friends. The closeness where if we were both eight, we would have friendship bracelets.” Juniper started, but soon stopped as she said this.

Nick took this opportunity to add humorously. “We can get each other bracelets if you want. If we keep this up, we can get each other special best friend bracelets.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she grumbled and smiled somewhat bitterly. “I feel like you’re not taking this seriously.”

“I am, I am. Sorry. Serious Nick from now on, okay?” He reassured her. “Anyway, you were saying about how we’re close?”

“Yeah, we are close, and I don’t want to throw that away and make things weird if the possibility of us doesn’t work out.” She made her concerns known, frowning as she did so.

“Well, have you seen anything about us? Whether we work out or not if we do try?” He asked, figuring that would be a clearer answer.

Hesitating slightly, she explained. “It’s not that clear cut. See, my visions don’t always come true. Everything is kind of like, well, you know when there are weird TV episodes where the main guy goes into the past and sits on a butterfly or something small and then the future is really messed up? It’s kinda like that. Everything I do or what others do alters the future. For example, before we broke up, I saw a vision about me and Daniel being together. Granted, it wasn’t very nice, but it was still something and it’s pretty clear that won’t happen. And I know you’re probably thinking that if I just tell you the good stuff I’ve seen then it’ll be fine but that’s not it. If I do that, then you’ll be with me because you think that’s how it’s supposed to be and not really because you want to.”

“Right, so we’re gonna have to talk about feelings and stuff, aren’t we?” He mumbled, not especially wanting to do that.

“Yep. Feelings and all that junk.” She agreed, sighing slightly as she did so. “Who’s going to start?”

“Well, ladies first.” He gave that excuse, smirking slightly as he did so.

Rolling her eyes, Juniper took it upon herself to go first. “Alright then.” Staying quiet for a while, she thought of how to phrase it. “I do like you, as in more than a friend like you, but I love having you as a friend, and I don’t know what I’d do without you, so I don’t want to mess that up.”

“So, do you want us to stay friends or…?” Nick asked, trailing off as he did so.

 

“I dunno, what do you want?” She asked in response, not so sure where to go. The only boyfriends she’s had started off romantically. She’s never really been friends with someone before dating them.

“I would like us to be more than friends but-” He started, but was soon interrupted.

“But what?”

“But the way you were acting yesterday about Sam, I just, I don’t know.” It was bothering him slightly, as he didn’t want them to try dating, only for her to still be in love with her ex-husband.

“You’re concerned I’m still in love with him?” She asked in response, and his silence spoke volumes. “There will always be a part of me that loves Sam, just like how I know there’ll always be a part of you that loves Elle, but I think that how I felt yesterday was a mix of me missing him, but mostly hating how everything felt so… Stagnant. Like, how I’ve been here for so long and I feel like the only good thing come from me moving here has been you.”

The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile as she said that. Changing the subject slightly, he asked out of interest. “Hey, remember when we first met?”

“Yeah, I remember. You were such a dick.” She commented honestly as she stood. “I hated you. Hated. I felt so pissed off that Roisin decided to be friends with Lainey.” She couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing that they only started talking and tolerating each other because of their daughters. Did that mean that their daughters technically set them up?

“I hated you too. I thought that you thought you were better than what you actually were.” Grinning as he said that, he then added as he stood also. “I dunno, I just think it’s funny how far we’ve come since then. We tolerated each other, then liked each other, hated each other for a bit, liked each other and now…”

“Now we’re stood here talking about whether or not we should be a couple.” She finished his sentence, smiling slightly. “Imagine if the versions of us when we first met saw us now.”

“They’d be so disappointed in us.” Laughing as he said this, he then went back to the topic at hand. “So, what are we going to do? Because I think I’d prefer us to be more than just friends.”

“I think I’d prefer that too.” She agreed, giving him a somewhat sheepish smile. “It’s going to be really weird being in a relationship with you. I mean, it’s you. Nick. Room mate Nick, Lainey’s dad Nick.” She mumbled.

“I know, dating psychic Juniper, Roisin’s mom, know-it-all Juniper who I have to call Jennifer in public.”

“Hey, I am not a know it all.” Sneering slightly, she rolled her eyes. “So, we’re really doing this, huh?”

“I guess we are, yeah.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. This conversation felt somewhat awkward but probably because things between them were changing.

“Should we like, kiss or something? I feel like that’s the thing to do.” She mumbled, but then added. “But now I feel like I’ve kinda ruined the moment by asking if we should do it.”

“I think we should still do it anyway despite you wrecking the moment.” He added the last bit teasingly. “So, should we just like, go for it?” He asked.

“I think so.” She replied, giving a somewhat sheepish smile.

The two of them spent a short time looking at each other, seemingly building up courage to do what they were about to do. Tentatively, moving closer, their lips locked in a soft kiss.

It wasn’t the first kiss they shared, nor would it be their last, but this one felt different.

It felt right, as if it was meant to be.

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AN: WOW! FINALLY!

Finally properly together oh my wow.

So, a timeline because I’m sad/interested on how long Nick and June have been like a thing

Juniper has her first vision of Nick on 29.10.15 (they’re in UK date format. Day.Month.Year)
So, we first met Nick properly 30.3.16
They made friends the next day xD
He moved in 27.05.16 (which is funny because that means they’ve been living together (or at least had first moved in) for over a year before finally acting on their feelings xD)
They went to a wedding together 17.6.16
He got in contact with Elle again 6.7.16 and moved out on 6.8.16
He moved back in on 2.9.16 and that’s when she properly started dating Daniel
She told him about her being psychic and about her killing Sam on 30.9.6
She told him the whole story about being Juniper and her killing Sam on 22.10.16 and he also mentioned about his past then too
(there was a cute Xmas special on 21.12.16 lmao)
He found out about Daniel and did not approve on 5.2.17
Juniper found out she was pregnant again on 19.2.17 and broke up with Daniel then
Juniper had Juniper Jr on 1.5.17 and was done with Daniel for good then too
They first properly kissed on 28.5.17
And they started dating today 😀 29.5.17

Wooow so much has happened

Just for the record, things are gonna move slightly faster (it’s about time we got a wriggle on, am I right?) from now on because I’ve got something awesome planned for chapter 50 😀

I’m excited and happy, is anyone else feeling this way? 😀