Nicky hadn't left the comfort of his bed the entire morning.

He didn't feel well enough to roll himself out of bed the Sunday morning after his not-so-successful confession, so he sat in his Superman boxers rolled up in six blankets that kept his arms stuck at his sides like a straight jacket. Noah was down stairs with his parents and the others, so he was left alone in their room with all the blinds closed and only the light coming from the laptop on his belly to brighten up the place.

He tore his eyes away from where they'd sat stationary on the same part of the screen for what felt like days and looked at the clock.

1:47 PM

It wasn't as late as he hoped it was. If he was being honest, he wished that day would pass by in a blur so he could throw himself back into his schoolwork on Monday and forget about Jonah.

Jonah.

Nicky felt like throwing up again. He had looked up his symptoms earlier, hoping it was a just a cold. Turns out, having the feeling of a pit in your stomach and the inability to breathe pointed to two things: pregnancy and guilt. He was almost positive it wasn't the former.

He groaned and finally untangled himself from his blanket burrito, letting the cold nip at his skin as he lay sprawled out on the bed.

He felt awful. He knew he messed up. Nicky was never one to admit he was in the wrong, but this time he knew it, and he wished he didn't.

Why was he so afraid of something going good in his life for once? For once he had someone to like, and that person liked him back, and it was all good.

He groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, shoving his face into his pillow. He wanted to drown out every noise, every thought, every indication of Jonah, and forget so things could go back to the way they were before he met him: comfortably mediocre.

His door slowly creaked open, but he ignored it, knowing it was just one of his siblings coming to annoy him. "Jesus, Dots. Put some pants on," Nahla cringed.

"Shut up," he retorted weakly, his voice muffled by the pillow his head was buried in. "Who cares?"

"I do. Superman, Nicky? Real classy."

Nicky's head shot up at the familiarly snide voice and when he saw who was standing in the doorway with crossed arms and a popped hip, he cursed and sat up, throwing a blanket over his waist. "Priya? What the hell are you doing here?!"

Priya cocked an eyebrow. "You really think I wouldn't get the details of your little confession out of Jonah?"

From behind her, Nahla gasped. "Jonah Moshe? I called it!" She tossed the end of her baby blue hijab over her shoulder with a smirk and then ran downstairs, shouting, "Naveen! I totally called it!"

Priya shut the door behind her and walked over to his bed, looking like she was overflowing with animosity as she told him, "you majorly fucked up."

He didn't say anything, choosing to look at his feet instead. He felt like throwing up again.

"You told me you wouldn't do anything shitty to him. You promised me that if I stopped pushing you two apart, you'd treat him right. But what did you do? You went and messed with his feelings, knowing full well he never gets a break from that kind of stuff during the day," she snapped, jabbing an accusing finger into his chest.

"Pri, I-"

"Don't you 'Pri' me, little man. I have just become your worst fucking nightmare, alright? I'm gonna make you regret the day your mom pushed you out of her-"

Nicky stood up and put his hand over her mouth. "Stop. Please," he pleaded, surprising even himself when he heard the little waver in his quiet voice.

Almost immediately, Priya's fiery glare turned soft as she watched Nicky try his best to keep a frown off his face. He failed, and plopped back down on his bed, wiping hastily under his eyes.

"Ew," he mumbled as he swiped at another tear that hit his cheek. Nicky never cried. He didn't have time. "This is so ugly."

"Are you okay?" Priya asked softly, sitting down next to him.

He nodded for a second, but stopped when another few tears rolled down his cheeks before he could blink them away. "I hurt him so bad," he finally choked out. He'd been trying all day to not imagine it, but now he couldn't get the face Jonah made when he took his confession back out of his head. He looked so unbelievably lost and confused, like how he looked when Drew came into the store or when Nicky had to get him out of the locker room he was stuck in. It was the same expression he had when someone hurt him, and the fact that it was used with Nicky made him cry even harder.

"I like him so much, Priya, and I hurt him," he said again. He hated that he was admitting all this out loud to her, completely defenseless as he sat next to her on his bed, still in his superman boxers that he was just now realizing should never have seen the light of day. "I was scared and I thought it was for the best but it wasn't and I hurt Jonah."

Priya wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer and, in a moment completely unlike him, he rested his head on her shoulder, drawn to the warmth her dark skin emitted. "I know. You suck for that, but you can make it better," she told him.

"No I can't," he sniffled. "He's never gonna forget it."

She shrugged and brushed a few coils of hair out of his watery eyes. "Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can't make it up to him. Replace that fuck up with something good, y'know?"

Nicky didn't think he could do something good, or at least, not good enough, to win Jonah back, but he could try. He couldn't give up now, unless he wanted to live with a broken heart for who knows how long. He could bear with the fear of the end of a relationship for a while if it meant he got to fix his with Jonah.

He decided he'd much rather cry over the end of a relationship than one that had never happened. It hurt way more to know he ruined something that could've been great, even if there was a chance it would crash and burn. He'd play those odds any day for Jonah.

So, he nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

"He has a game right now, right? I think you should go apologize," Priya suggested. "Do something cheesy, too. He's such a slut for cheese."

Nicky didn't know what that meant, but that didn't stop him from giving his eyes one last rub and standing up, finally breaking free from the lure of his safe, cozy bed. "I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get him back."

Priya didn't clap or squeal or do anything classically Priya. Instead, she cupped his cheeks and smiled softly. "You got this, kid. Don't give up."

Nicky smiled weakly. "Wasn't planning on it."

"Good," she said, taking her hand away and going to the door, but before she could walk out of the room, Nicky grabbed her wrist.

"Hey, Pri?"

"What's up?"

"Um... thanks. Not just for this but for everything you've done for me and Jonah," he said sort of sheepishly. "I'm lucky you're my friend."

She grinned and walked out, but not before jokingly saying, "I think I like this Nicky better than the asshole I first met."

He flipped her off as she closed door behind her, but it was more an unconscious force of habit as his mind drifted to other places.

How the hell was he going to get Jonah back?

———————

I posted this earlier than I was planning to because y'all were PISSED at the last chapter so here you go it's not over Nicky is gonna grow a pair and do something!!

Ok so I said this on my account but I wanna say it here: my Wattpad is MESSED UP so like I'm not surprised that for a lot of people the story says complete, but I want you to know it isn't! We still got a bit more to go!

(and spoiler/ hint hint: I don't like to write sad endings)

So thank you all for the support and reading and voting and commenting ahhhh I love to see it it makes me so happy :)

~Teddy