"All this feels strange and untrue/And I won't waste a minute without you/My bones ache, my skin feels cold/And I'm getting so tired and so old/I want so much to open your eyes/'Cause I need you to look into mine." Snow Patrol, "Open Your Eyes"

A month later Nick found himself at lunch with Samantha and her friends. It was a minimum day so they had no lunch during school, which meant that Samantha dragged him along with her. They were at a table in Mcineible and Nick was wondering why all fast food restaurants insisted on decorating only in red and white.

It looks like Marxist heaven in here, he thought.

He regretted that he had let Samantha convince him to come along. Actually, he was regretting all his decisions in his life up to that point. He didn't understand why he deserved this kind of punishment. He was ready to kill someone. Anyone. They were all fair game.

It wasn't even Samantha's friends - Meredith, Talia, Jessica, Rosie, and Maddie were all there - that were the problem. It was Samantha herself.

She was sitting across from him, wearing a purple oversized sweater, one that she had been waiting to wear until it was cold enough, talking about Luke. Actually, she was talking about Luke again. That's all she talked about now. It was all Luke, all the time. It was pissing Nick off.

At that particular moment, Samantha was talking about how Luke looked with his shirt off. Nick hoped she knew this because they had gone swimming, not for some other reason. Even if it was November. About halfway through her description of every single detail of Luke's chest, Nick went to get some more fries.

When he came back Samantha had moved on to other things, thankfully not other parts of Luke's body. She had moved onto talking about how they were going out that Friday night. Something about a dinner and a movie. Nick didn't really care anymore.

Finally, after describing everything they would do, and what she hoped they would do, she said,

"Okay, I have to pee. Anyone want to come with?" Maddie and Jessica followed her and Nick slumped down in his seat while Talia looked at him with amusement.

"What, you don't like hearing every single detail of Luke's body?" She asked. He glared at her and Rosie giggled. Rosie always seemed to giggle at everything, it didn't seem to fit her. She looked tougher than a person who giggled.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," Meredith said, constantly trying to keep the peace even though Samantha wasn't even there.

"It was that bad," Nick said, a little too harshly. Meredith gave him a sad look and went back to her food. He instantly felt bad, Meredith hadn't even said much.

"I'm sorry," He said, giving her a small smile. She didn't say anything in reply, just looked up at him for a second then looked back down.

"Ignore him, Meredith. He's just grumpy," Talia said, smacking him.

"Thanks for the support," He told her.

"Anytime," she said. Rosie giggled again.

"But come on," Nick said, "You can't enjoy the play by play of their relationship. They've only been together a month and I already know way too much about a guy. Dudes shouldn't know that much about other dudes."

"I love knowing all about Luke's body," Talia said, which made Rosie nod a little too ecstatically.

"You do," Nick said. Rosie nodded again.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because it's better than hearing about all the stupid things Luke does," Meredith said. They all turned to look at her.

"What?" Nick asked.

"Well, Luke's a player right? Even though he's going out with Samantha it doesn't mean he's completely changed," She said.

"And your point is..." Nick said.

"That it's ridiculous to think that he would immediately change as soon as they start going out. You may get the descriptions of his body but I get the rants about his stupidity."

"I can understand that but I still don't see your point," Nick said.

"My point is that listening to her talk about his body from time to time is better than having her call you every other night in tears."

"I guess that's true. Wait, she calls you in tears?"

"Yeah," She said.

"Why the hell is she calling you in tears instead of me?" Meredith shrugged and the group fell silent as Samantha returned with Jessica and Maddie.

"You guys ready to go?" Samantha asked.

"Yep," Talia said, pulling Nick up with her and throwing his jacket at him.

Nick was still wondering why Samantha was calling Meredith with her issues instead of him. He knew he wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd like about Luke but why call Meredith instead? Couldn't she at least call Lorie? Maybe it was happening so much that she couldn't bother Lorie? Fuck, he didn't mind being bothered

...

Friday night Nick tried to distract himself any way possible. Which meant playing Call of Duty with Tobias, his best friend other than Samantha.

Tobias was a tall gangly child with curly hair and a constant wide smile. Even though he was not particularly messy, Tobias always seemed a disheveled, something was always off. Maybe there was a stain on his shirt, his hair was messed up, or his shoes were untied. It was quite comical, actually, since it was always just one detail. Everything was always neat except for one tiny detail.

But at the moment Nick wasn't paying attention to the game, he was letting Tobias win. Instead he was laying back on the front of his couch from where he sat on the floor, thinking about how he should be distracting himself and how he couldn't.

When Tobias finished thoroughly kicking Nick's ass, he leaned back against the couch as well.

"Hey, do you know Samantha's friend Meredith?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah..." Nick said, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"Is she single?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because I know where this is going, and I don't want to talk about this with you."

"Where is this going?"

"You're going to ask about Meredith and then you're going to ask me to help you ask her out," Nick said. Tobias let out a little laugh that sounded almost like a squeak.

"I wasn't going to ask that."

"Liar."

"Promise!" He said.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not."

"Tobias I'm not stupid," Nick said.

"Fine, Meredith is pretty cool."

"And..."

"And I would like to get to know her," he said.

"And..."

"And I want to ask you about her love life."

"And..."

"I would like your help in my asking her out."

"And..."

"That's all."

"Okay," Nick said.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Will you help me?" He asked.

"No."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I know nothing about Meredith's personal life," Nick said, laughing and grabbing his controller. Tobias snatched it from him.

"Hey!" Nick said, trying to grab it back. Tobias held it above his head as he glared at Nick.

"You don't get it back until you help me."

"Fine," Nick sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"Is she single?"

"Yes."

"Is she talking to anyone?" He asked.

"Not that I know of. But then again, I barely know her so..."

"Oh come on, you have to know something about her personal life."

"I'm telling you what I know," Nick said, "Can't you get to know her herself? Just talk to her."

"I do! I see her everyday on my way to third period and I say hi and she says hi back. That's talking."

"That doesn't even count."

"It does count," Tobias said.

"No, it doesn't."

"Why not?"

"Because if you actually talked to her, you'd know if she was talking to someone or not," Nick said.

"Well I'm sorry that I can't just walk up to her and just start talking."

"Why the hell not?"

"What do you mean, why the hell not?" Tobias said.

"You're my best friend other than Samantha, you're also friends with Samantha, Meredith is friends with Samantha, why can't you talk to her?"

"Because it's awkward!"

"Screw awkward! Talk to her! I can even get her number for you," Nick said.

"No, don't do that. Please don't do that," Tobias got up and started pacing, his face as white as a sheet.

"Come on Tobias, why are you asking for my help when you don't even want her number?"

"Because I'm stupid and I don't know why I asked. Ignore me," Tobias said as he collapsed on the couch.

"Come on, you can totally get at that."

"Don't say that ever again."

"What? That you can get at that?" Nick asked.

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll think of something else to say then."

"Good idea," Tobias said.

"You know what? I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"You should just try to be friends with her first. If you're too awkward to try to hit on her, then be friends with her," Nick said.

"What, so I can end up like you?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want Meredith and I to end up like you and Samantha," Tobias said, sitting up on the couch.

"What about me and Samantha?"

"You're totally friendzoned and I don't want to end up like you."

"What's so bad about being like me?" Nick asked.

"You're like Jim from The Office, pathetic."

"Hey! Jim from The Office is not pathetic. He is a hopeless romantic, there is a difference."

"Are you seriously defending a fictional character," Tobias asked.

"I will defend James Duncan Halpert 'til the death."

"Gee, I wonder why Samantha doesn't want to be with you since you're so totally awesome."

"Says the guy who can't even speak to the girl he likes," Nick asked.

"Shut up."

"Besides, Jim and Pam get together eventually."

"Yeah, after like three years and you and Samantha don't have that kind of time. Plus, Jim and Pam work together every day no matter what. Luke is already keeping Samantha from you," Tobias said.

"So what, Pam was engaged when Jim loved her."

"Yeah but Jim actually told Pam how he felt. That's how she became not engaged anymore."

"So what."

"So what? You refuse to tell Samantha how you feel! How do you expect her to choose you over Luke?"

"Go to hell," Nick said.

"You know I'm right."

"No you're not, it took like two years for Jim to tell Pam how he felt. I have time to wait for this whole Luke thing to blow over."

"Fine. How long have you loved Samantha?" He asked.

"I don't know."

"You do. How long?"

"A while," Nick said.

"Exactly. I know it's only November but you don't have enough time to wait. You have to tell her."

"Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Fine. Don't need to get pissy about it," he said.

"I'm not being pissy about it."

"You totally are."

"No, I'm not. Just drop it," Nick said.

"Okay, okay, I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

Another hour passed as they played in silence. Nick was finally able to play and zone out. It looked like they would be able to move past their little argument and just move on. Then Tobias, in his infinite teenaged boy wisdom, decided to say,

"Look, dude, it's not my place to tell you what to do about Samantha. If you want to just hang out while she keeps you on her hook that's your business."

This statement was probably meant to be some kind of apology but in Nick's mind, Tobias might as well said "haha, Samantha doesn't love you and she's probably fucking Luke and you're lame." Nick's logic in this situation was definitely not sound but no one could really expect him to act any differently due to his current emotional state. What Nick said was:

"You have no right to act better than me! You know what? You will never date Meredith, she's too good for you. You're going to die alone."

Now Nick didn't exactly make sense when he said this, it wasn't the best comeback in the world, but it did it's job. Tobias looked at him for a long time, obviously hurt by his words, before turning off the game console and leaving the room.

Nick stayed where he was, listening to Tobias put his shoes on, which he had left by the front door, then the opening and shutting of the door. He was so quiet he could hear Tobias's car drive away.

He thought about what was happening at that moment. He was alone, again, and he had just driven one of his best friends away. His other best friend was on a date, definitely not thinking about what he was doing at that moment. He was sure she never thought of him anymore.

"Fuck," he whispered.

A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter! It's longer than the second one and it's the length a lot of the chapters will be. Also, this is dedicated to Floating-pickle for all her help on getting this story ready. She actually came up with the title so that shows how awesome she is :)

The photo on the right is who I have cast as Luke, Luke Benward :)