Too Close, Too Fast

A Creative Solution

Vanessa

This night is a disaster; I can feel that something’s going wrong with my plan. Nick is still too hung up on Kirstie, even though she doesn’t seem that interested in him. I mean, I caught her staring at us at the fashion show. Yeah, I can’t really blame her that she was surprised – I definitely didn’t want to come and I shouldn’t have. It was a nice feeling seeing her get jealous, but I screwed it up. I left her and Nick alone, although only for a couple minutes. I only scratched my hand a little over a stupid cracked glass and suddenly everyone was over me and helping me, as if I was on my deathbed. Only Nick didn’t care much… jerk!

I am positive he spoke with Kirstie. I rushed back and only saw Kirstie leaving with her fiancé. At least I did this right – I brought him to New York and now he’s holding her away from Nick. Good. But how do I ensure Nick that stops caring about her and falls in love with me? I’ve even tried to flirt with other men to make Nick angry and jealous, but it didn’t work. He barely noticed me and didn’t pay much attention to what I was doing, or who I was talking to. At least he left with me, right after that crappy show (it was boring as hell, the models were too skinny and the outfits? much ado about nothing, if you ask me) and he didn’t want to wait for Kirstie, or stay for the after party – trust me, I am glad. Only there was one problem I realized only when we were waiting for a cab again. Nick left the car in front of my building, so that meant that if we were gonna spend the night together, it would be in my apartment… And I haven’t taken him there yet. I don’t know why, I guess I was a little paranoid and thought he could somehow understand who I am...

Normally, it would be highly unlikely, but tonight it could get awkward really fast. Truth is, I was angry before the fashion show and I may have lost a control over myself a little bit. I didn’t trash the place or anything like that. But I kinda made a little woo do doll of Kirstie and stabbed it a few times with a really sharp needle and then I tore it into little pieces. Then I had to get prepared for the evening, so I forgot to throw everything out. I don’t really believe in this woo do stuff, because I feel like it’s better to do your dirty work all by yourself and don’t rely on destiny, spirits, evil forces or whatever. I only needed to calm down and this was a great way to let off some steam. But I can’t allow Nick to see that mess. You see my problem here?

So, I started hinting that I was really tired. I thought he would understand and would just go straight home or something, not accompanying me. But Nick isn’t that great with clues and it even seemed he cared about spending the night at my place. Ok, I couldn’t say no him… But that means I need to be really careful and a little bit creative. Think fast, Vanessa, you can do it!

***

Nick

I am an i***t – really! I made a fool of myself when I told Kirstie all that crap about my feelings. I don’t know what I was thinking. And you know what? The rest of the night was even worse. I somehow started to realize I was acting like a real jerk to Natalia. At first I thought I could just ghost her now (like I usually do with girls), because I really only needed her to get in to the show tonight. But I kinda felt a twinge of conscience and I had a very crappy idea to just have a honest talk with her. I wanted to explain that I don’t have feelings for her and that’s why we should stop dating.  And I knew I should do it in her apartment, because that way I could run away, if things get out of control,

Yeah, of course I was expecting her to get furious, crazy and freaky. But since we haven’t known each other THAT long, I thought it would be like: Craziness – level six, maybe she would try to hit me with something and then she would calm down. But I really never expected what happened in reality. That was weeeeeiiirdddd!

Let’s start at the ride ‘home’. Usually Natalia was very happy about being with me, so I assumed it will be okay, if I just tell the driver her address and we will both go to her place. But she told me she was tired. Later she even asked, if I couldn’t go home for the night and then return for the car the next day. I almost agreed to it, when I realized she never actually let me go into her apartment and it just struck me as odd or weird. I insisted and after a while she caved, even thought she kept telling me she was tired. ‘So, at least she won’t be able to argue with me that much…’ I thought naively.

Then when we were in front of her building, she asked if I could hang in the hall for a few minutes. “You know, when Cinderella’s preparing to the ball, she always makes a mess in the process,” she explained, so I thought she was gonna clean up in her flat a little. I figured out she was probably just messy and was embarassed about it, but I really don’t care about these things – not usually and definitely not this time. But I didn’t want her more upset than necessary, so I just nodded and waited for a while, as she had wanted.

When she opened the door and let me in, there was another surprise, I wasn’t expecting at all. She jumped at me and started kissing me and undressing me, leading our steps to the bedroom quickly. ‘Well, she doesn’t seem that tired now… Maybe, I could wait with that break-up one more day then…’

So, I kinda let things unravel on their own for a while, but then when I was lying on the bed and Natalia tried to get into my pants, my mind did a horrible trick on me and just reminded me of Kirstie’s face. And then I remembered  our night together and I just knew, that even if this s*x with Natalia happens, it still will be just rebound and nothing more. Plus, I started having serious regrets about taking advantage of Natalia. I pulled her away and told her: “Not in the mood, sorry.” But Natalia didn’t seem to stop even then. Ok, normally I would find it amusing and I would just think that I am just THAT irresistible in tux. But now, her perseverance just seemed like she was desperately trying to get my attention. Maybe she didn’t want me to get a good look at her apartment? But why? Is she hiding something from me? My police radar just went on again and I started to be curious about her motives.

“Hey, Nat… what’s the rush here?” I asked and tried to hint with body movements I really didn’t want to have s*x (although it was bullshit and my body wanted it, which she already knew very well…) She sighed and hugged me with a strange force – it felt more like straightjacket than a loving embrace. “I just want to be really close to you tonight. I’ve been feeling really weirdly lately and you were so distant…” she said and for a minute there, I believed her. Women are good at this stuff, so she probably sensed I wasn’t that into her. Ok, that’s probably the universe trying to help me. Is this a good time to breakup then?

I turned to her (which was pretty hard, considering she was still holding me) and looked into her eyes. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I was distant and I actually feel crappy about all this. First of all, I am really sorry that I dragged you to the fashion show. I know you didn’t want to go there and I should have respected that. And you know, not insist, like I had. I wanted to go to see somebody special for me there…” Natalia had a weird look on her face, as she interrupted me and whispered: “Kirstie, I know…”

She suddenly got all red and seemed almost scared, when she realized she said it out loud. I don’t know how I looked, but I was pretty consternated for a second. “Y-you know?! How?” I asked in disbelief. I wasn’t that obvious, or was I? “You’ve noticed something between us tonight?” I added, while Natalia was still silent. She quickly nodded with her head. “Yes, yes, I saw you guys looking at each other all evening. It was so obvious and lame…” she explained to me and it seemed really plausible, but my gut was still yelling at me that it’s not actually truth… Weird.

Anyway, I was almost sure she was hiding something, but my urge to be honest with her and leave, was stronger than finding out her secrets. So, I started talking again and I apologized for my behavior and tried to explain to her our different views of our ‘relationship’.

“I probably should have told you this sooner – I am starting to think you’ve fallen for me, but for me it’s different. I don’t…” I started and you can guess what would follow, right? Something like: …’have feelings for you. So we should probably stop seeing each other before someone will get hurt…’. But Natalia had probably other expectations, because she shushed me and kissed me really quickly. “Please, you don’t have to say it. You’ve lead a difficult life, so it’s not easy for you to express your feelings. But I understand that and I will be patient, trust me. But there is one thing you should know… I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to say this but I can’t wait. And I think it will help you to realize everything about us….”

‘Oh my God, that can’t be good,’ was the last thought that came into my mind before I heard the one sentence every guy fears and especially me… “I’m pregnant, sweetie!” Natalia said and smiled happily, patiently waiting for the right answer from her ‘baby daddy’. ‘F***, I’m really screwed now!