Note: Better late than never. Sorry if this one took a lot longer than I promised. I had a lot of things to do these past few weeks so I didn't have time to sit down and type.
*************** Ordinary love-4 ***************
"What?!" Drew looked at Nick like he was insane.
"You seem to have made a big impression on my mother," Nick smiled at his employee. "I guess that's what happens when you help out her youngest daughter."
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Drew said, as he blushed a little.
"We know you were the anonymous blood donor that saved Rose's life some months back during her operation," Nick said to him softly. "We owe you her life." Drew became beet-red at this point.
"You guys don't owe me anything," Drew shook his head at him. "I was saved by an anonymous blood donor when I was a kid too and I was just returning the favor. My blood type is rare so I know how hard it is to get a donor."
"I was really surprised why you were on my mom's good side all of a sudden and I......" Nick was saying when he noticed that Drew's facial expression changed. "Is anything wrong?"
"I didn't do that to get on your mother's good side," Drew said to him defensively.
"I know," Nick said quickly to put Drew at ease. "I didn't mean it that way."
"I'm sorry," Drew said as he tried to calm himself down. "It's just that I've been here in the city for the last three years and I haven't made a really good friend yet. I've been to absorbed in my work to care about anything else."
"That's why what you did was extra special," Nick said slowly. "You did it without expecting anything back. If the head of the hospital weren't a friend of my mom, we wouldn't even know you're the donor. It's very rare to see anyone be nice just because he is nice."
"I'm not as nice as I seem to be Nick," Drew gave his boss a forced smile. "Everyone has a dark side. Ummm, I'd better get back to my desk."
"You wanna ride with me to my mom's place?" Nick offered him.
"Thanks but I'd better go back to my place first and check how my friend is doing," Drew said slowly.
"I've heard this friend of yours was an ex-lover?" Nick said slowly as he looked at Drew with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah," Drew said rather uncomfortably. He looked at Nick and saw that he wanted to say something else. He waited for a few seconds but nothing came so he left Nick's office.
Drew was holding the wine he brought for the dinner thing at Helen's as he waited for elevator to stop on the 27th floor. It was a good thing that Nick told him what to expect so he was able to buy something.
The elevator stopped and he slowly walked to Helen's door and knocked softly. A few seconds later, Nick opened him to his surprise. The surprising thing was that nick was smiling at him. With his icy relationship with his mother, he expected his boss to sulk during dinner.
"Come in!" Nick motioned Drew to come in and Drew stepped inside the condo. He saw a good-looking thirty something guy and a beautiful woman that he as Nick's sister sitting on the sofa, talking animatedly with Helen and Rose.
"Drew!" Rose immediately stood up and ran to him and gave him a hug.
"I'll take this," Nick said to drew as he grabbed the wine Drew was carrying. Nick looked at the wine and saw that it was rather expensive. He went to the kitchen and put the wine on the counter before he headed back to the living room. Drew was already sitting down besides his brother-in-law. He went to sit down in a chair opposite his mother.
"Nick said that he already told you that we're making you Audrey's godfather, right?" Sarah smiled at Drew sweetly. "That's the least I can do to thank you for saving my sister's life."
"Her name's Audrey?" Drew asked him as he looked at the baby, which was being held by Mark Holden, Sarah's husband.
"We named her after my grandmother," Mark said to Drew. They chatted for a bit before dinner started. Drew noticed that Nick hardly talked to his mother at all. He seems to be really fond of his sisters and just talked with them.
"Helen," Drew said as they were heading back to the living room after the dinner. "I have a few things I wanna go over you about the company. I think that.........." Drew and Helen then started to talk about the company as the others continued their chat.
"Damn," Drew said under his breath as a clock chimed and he saw that it was already 10 PM. He stood up and looked at everyone. "I'd better go now. My roommate might send a search party after me or something. I told him I'd be back by 11."
"I'd give you a lift," Nick offered Drew. "I have to go home sometime anyway. And I still have to fill you up with the details about our trip."
"What trip?" Sarah asked them as they all walked to the front door.
"Some business trip up in Boston," Nick said to her immediately. Drew looked at Nick quizzically and he got the impression that he didn't have the choice to turn down his offer to take him home. They said goodbye and then went to the elevator and rode down to the basement.
"That has got to be the most boring lunch I ever had," Drew groaned out as he lay down on his bed. He and Nick were in his hotel room Friday afternoon. They had just had lunch with a prospective client. "I'm getting to old for this."
"You know what you need?" Nick said with a laugh as he took off his coat and lay it down on a chair and walked to the window and pushed the curtains aside. "You need to relax sometimes. Go to a gym or something."
"This coming from a guy who have a sofa bed in his office so he could sleep over in the office if need be," Drew said to his boss a little sarcastically. He sat up and crossed his legs and stared at Nick curiously.
"What?" Nick finally noticed Drew looking at him.
"I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I asked around and people said that you never took anyone to a business trip before," Drew said warily. "Not even your posse."
"I have a posse?" Nick couldn't help but grin at Drew in amusement.
"Lisa and Joey," Drew nodded his head. Then he looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer to his question. Nick sighed out deeply as he walked to a chair and sat down.
"I've been watching you work and I noticed that you're a very hard worker," Nick said slowly. "You're very talented and really fit in the advertising business. Dare I say that you're even more talented than me or Lisa or Joey? The fact is that you could head your own company and you'll be more successful than me."
"The funny thing is that I don't really want to be that successful," Drew gave him a bitter smile. "There's really only one thing I wish more than anything in this world."
"And that is?" Drew asked him quizzically. The phone rung just then so their conversation was interrupted. Drew got it and it was an old friend from back in high school who heard he was coming back. They made plans to get together during the weekend.
"I really shouldn't have come," Nick said to Drew as they reached the outskirts of Dayton later that night.
"My mom wanted to meet my boss and she'd kill me if I didn't bring you along," Drew said with a laugh. "She's originally from the south so she has this annoying habit to be very hospitable and nice."
"You probably look a lot like her, huh?" Nick said to Drew in an almost teasing voice. Drew was driving so he looked at Nick for a second in surprise. They had gotten close these past few days. They even spent the nights watching TV in his room. They certainly are in the stage where they could joke with each other. But this was the first time he heard Nick teasing him about something. It was like they were very good friends already.
They reached Drew's parents' house half and hour later. Drew parked his car in the street. As they where coming up the front door, a 6 six year old child came running out of the house.
"Uncle Drew!" The boy said excitedly as he ran to Drew. Nick watched as Drew and his nephew hugged each other. Drew lifted the boy up in the air.
"Great to see you again Sam," Drew said happily as he saw his mom, his dad and his brother come out to the patio. He and Nick then walked up to the house. Everyone was giving the two a warm smile.
"Hi Mom, Dad, Justin," Drew said as he put Sam back down on his feet. Then he gave each of them a hug. Then he faced Nick and introduced his family to him.
"Please to meet you," Nick said politely as he shook their hands. "Thanks for having em over."
"We want to thank you for bringing back Drew to us even for a day or two," Mrs. Matthews said as she smiled at her son's boss. A beautiful woman came out of the house. Nick knew that it was probably Drew's sister-in-law, Anne.
"Drew!" Anne said cheerfully. She went up to him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she faced Drew. "This must be your boss, Nicholas Greene, right?"
"Just call me Nick," Nick said politely as he put up his hand. To his surprise, Anne gave him a hug also. Then Anne looked at everyone and said, "Why don't we have lunch now." Everyone agreed so they walked inside the house.
While Drew's mom and Anne finish setting up the table, they had to wait in the living room. Nick was having a discussion about New York with Mr. Matthews and Justin. Drew meanwhile was playing with Sam, listening to all his stories about school and his friends.
Nick glanced at Drew and Sam and couldn't help but smile at the closeness the two had. Fifteen minutes later, they were called to dining room and they had a leisurely lunch.
"I don't believe you!" Nick looked at Carey, an old friend of Drew's. Nick and Drew were inside a local fast food place talking to an old high school friend of Drew's. Carey just told Nick that Drew used to be in a band.
"He did," Carey said with a laugh. "He played the guitars while Shawn was the drummer. They played with a couple of other friends we had. They did about two gigs before they split up."
"Why?" Nick asked Carey curiously. Drew just looked at his boss weirdly. He sounded like he was so interested about his life.
"I personally think that it was because he and Shawn had something going on between them," Carey said with a laugh.
"Like you guys even knew we were lovers back then!" Drew said indignantly. "And you know very well that the reason the band broke up was because no one was hiring us."
"How is Shawn by the way?" Carey asked Drew curiously. "Last I heard, he was thrown out of his parents' house after he came out."
"He's doing fine," Drew shrugged his shoulders. "He said his new job is great and everyone in his office is friendly."
"So you guys back together again?" Carey asked him warily.
"No," Drew laughed uneasily. "We haven't even talked about us yet. We're just roommates."
"Roommates who have a long history together," Carey laughed out. "Anyway, you guys look cute together. I know you guys like each other, maybe even love each other. I'm betting that next time you come back here, you'll be a couple again."
"Maybe," Drew shrugged his shoulders. "I---"
"Drew?! Is that you?!" A girl's voice said behind them. Drew turned his head around and saw a couple of girls he knew also. He invited them to sit down in their table. Nick watched as Drew reminisced with his friends.
Drew made sure that he'd always let Drew join in any of their conversations. He would even explain anything that he thought Nick wouldn't understand. They all decided to have dinner together and it was past nine when Drew and Nick got back to the house.
Drew was about to open the front door when he felt Nick's hand grabbing his. He jumped back a little as he faced Nick. He gave him a quizzical look. He saw that Nick was looking at him anxiously.
"What?" Drew asked him softly as he tried to pull his hand back but Nick held on it firmly.
"My head tells me that what I'm about to do is probably the stupidest thing I'll ever do in this life and the next," Nick said as he stepped closer to Drew. He lifted his other hand to Drew's cheek and caressed it gently.
"But my heart tells me that I have to do this or I let go of my one chance of true happiness in this world," Nick whispered. Then he leaned forward and planted a soft and gentle kiss on Drew's lips!
*************** To be continued ***************
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