“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” -Victor Hugo

The next night Nick found himself with nothing to do. For once he wished he had some homework to do. He had homework every other night, why didn’t he when he needed something, anything, to do? But there he was, sitting in his room, driving himself crazy.

He was still pissed about the night before. Well, pissed was the wrong word. He was… upset. Yes, upset was the right word for that he felt.

Samantha, someone who was known for constantly updating him throughout her day, had not texted him. Complete radio silence. He was actually hoping she was grounded or something. That her report card had come and her parents had banished her to her room, taking her phone. Or that she was somehow still pissed at him about him not being as enthusiastic as she’d had liked last night. He’d even be okay with that.

But he knew what the most likely reason was: she was texting someone else. Luke, almost definitely. It could be Meredith or Lorie but even if it was one of them, they were probably talking about Luke.

Fucking Luke. Fucking Luke had ruined Star Wars for him. Now he would be stuck watching the prequels instead of the originals. Except for the fact that Natalie Portman was in them he hated the very thought of them.

And he couldn’t even watch the third one because the twins were born in the third movie. The first two were just horrible. The Phantom Menace was just a menace. He wished he had a clone to watch The Clone Wars for him.

So there he sat, wishing he at least had someone to get drunk with. Not that Nick regularly got drunk, he enjoyed having not thrown up in years, but tonight seemed like a good night to try it.

Maybe he’d call Tobias. Tobias, his best friend other than Samantha, would know where to get some booze. Tobias would understand. He was the only one other than himself who knew how Nick felt about Samantha. Other than Nick’s mom, but Nick didn’t like to broadcast that information.

But then Nick remembered that Tobias was at his grandmother’s, where he went every Sunday night for dinner. He always forgot because Tobias never mentioned it, he was like Nick in his need to not broadcast some information. So Nick was SOL.

He fell back on his bed in defeat. It was on these kinds of nights that he wished he had a movie screen on his ceiling because he couldn’t get up. But because he was a stupid pathetic person he had never figured out a way to fix this and right now he was paying for it.

So he did the ultimate lame thing: he called his ex-girlfriend, Talia. Sure they were still friends but it was so lame.

She picked up after four rings.

“Hello?” He instantly felt bad. Talia had her study voice on and he knew she had to feel really bad for him for her to pick up. Or she just hadn’t looked at the caller ID and had been waiting for a call from someone special. So basically, not him.

“Hi, Talia, it’s Nick.”

“I know,” she said.

“I’m sorry I’m calling, I know that you’re probably studying.”

“Then why did you call.” He realized he had no answer for that.

“I’m, I’m, not really sure,” he said.

“Does it have something to do with the fact that Samantha keeps texting me about Luke Richards?” Even though he knew that neither he or Tobias has told Talia about how he felt about Samantha, he still got a little scared that somehow she did know.

“Uh.”

“Oh relax Kincaid, I understand if you’re a little jealous that you’re best friend is paying attention to someone else,” she said. Nick let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I think I am a little jealous.”

“Well it’s completely normal.” He could hear her set her pen down and close her textbook, “But you just have to let her have another guy in her life.”

“Even if he’s an asshole?” he said.

“Every girl needs to fall for an asshole sometime.”

“She’s going to get hurt.”

“Everyone’s got to get hurt sometime, better it sooner than later,” Talia said.

“How can you say that?”

“Say what?”

“That everyone has to get hurt sometime. What kind of reason is that! Samantha doesn’t deserve to get hurt!” he said.

“Hey, calm yourself okay? Chill your beans.”

“Don’t you tell me to calm my beans, Natalia Elizabeth Serena Lopez!”

“Whoa there, Nicholas Matthew Kincaid, just take a breath,” she said.

“Make me.”

“I’d prefer not to, it seems like too big of a opportunity for sexual tension.”

“Oh shut up,” he said.

“Hey, you called me.”

“Not for you to tell me that I should let my best friend in the world get hurt by an asshole manwhore who doesn’t really care about her just because everyone’s got to get hurt sometime!”

“Hey, listen to me,” she said, her voice suddenly getting very cold.

“I’m listening.”

“That is my opinion and you can shut up with all your complaints. You called me and I

gave you my opinion because I think you should hear it so leave me alone!” Then she hung up. He pulled his phone from his ear and looked at it for a second before putting it down.

Nick found himself in the same situation he had been so desperate to avoid. So he sat up and looked around his room, wondering if he was bored enough to start cleaning it. But he couldn’t will himself to get up. It was a problem.

So instead he turned over and stared at his wall this time instead of his ceiling. At least there was something to look at. What was there to look at? Records. Hundreds and hundreds of them. His own personal collection, his prized possessions.

He had inherited them from his uncle, who had been a surrogate father to him when he was younger, who had died when he was thirteen. His uncle had been the one who had introduced him to how much better music sounded on vinyl so after his uncle died, Nick devoted himself to the collection. It had almost doubled since he had inherited it.

Nick forced himself to get up and start picking up some of the clothes that almost completely covered his floor. He wasn’t really cleaning, he was just moving the clothes from his floor to his closet, but at least he was doing something.

When he had cleared a circle in the center of his room he plopped himself down and studied the records, trying to decide what to play. He settled on The White Stripes’ album “White Blood Cells.” It was his and Samantha’s favorite album of theirs. One of their favorite albums ever, actually.

He crawled his way over to his desk and pulled down his record player. It was also inherited from his uncle. He checked the cord and put the record in, checking the back of the cover to make sure he had the right song. Soon it was floating through the air.

“We’re Going To Be Friends” was the perfect song for Nick and Samantha. Not that Nick thought that at first. Samantha was the one who decided it was perfect. She said it was like the first time they met in the first grade.

The song talks about two little kids who are going back to school after the summer, a boy and a girl. They’re walking to school together in their new clothes and shoes and they make many pit stops in the park to inspect bugs and flowers.

They get their uniforms all dirty and rush to get to school on time. The teacher thinks that the boy sounds funny but they like how well the girl sings. The two kids sit next to each other in every class and walk home together.

That night the little boy thinks about what the next day is going to be like, how he hopes he and the little girl will walk to school together again. And that he can tell that they are going to be friends.

Aside from obvious differences, such as Samantha was the one who sounded funny when they were younger and that neither of them can sing, it was very similar to their relationship.

Nick fell asleep thinking about Samantha, sprawled out on his bedroom floor, the record still playing.

A/N: This is dedicated to _neferobri for my new cover. It's so great! And I know this is a MUCH shorter chapter than the first one but even though I try to make each chapters the same length I can only make each one so long, you know? Like it all depends on what each chapter is about and stuff. But I do believe that the next chapter will be longer, at least a little bit.

The photo on the right is who I have cast as Nick, Colin Ford :)