10. NEVER LET YOU FALL

"Eliza?!" Antonia exclaims in surprise as soon as she opens the door.

"Hi." I grin at her.

She engulfs me in a tight hug and kisses my cheek before closing the front door behind us.

"How have you been? I've missed you child." she says after pulling away.

"Aw, me too. I am so sorry, school kept me busy but you guys are coming over next week, right? For the twin's birthday?" I ask for reassurance.

"Of course, we are."  she replies.

"I wish I could say I am seeing my favorite girl because she misses us and not my son who's lying sick in his room." I  hear Vince's voice from behind me.

I gasp and turn around to see him standing by the door, dressed in a grey suit and a black briefcase in his left hand.

"Hi, Vince." I greet in happiness as I embrace him.

"Ciao, figlia mia."  he greets back with a loving kiss on the crown of my head.

"How have you been? You came early?" I ask pulling away.

"Been good and yeah I did come early today to see him." he answers nodding his head towards Nick's room upstairs.

"Oh." I nod my head.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Antonia says all of a sudden, making no sense at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about but I will go along because I love you." Vince replies.

"Aw." I gush with a pout at the end.

"You stay here." Antonia instructs before going upstairs with Vince following closely behind her.

Like the curious cat that I am, I follow but stay behind and stop right outside Nick's bedroom door. Antonia winks at me and gestures me to stay quiet as she and Vince goes inside the room.

"Hey honey, are you feeling any fresh after taking a bath?" she asks him.

"Yeah, mom. Hey, dad." he croaks out.

My heart aches in my chest as I hear his weak voice.

"Hey son, have you taken your medicine?" his dad asks.

"Mm hmm." he replies.

"Good. I'll send you soup in a while. Oh and by the way, Eliza came over some time ago but I sent her back since you were in shower and wasn't feeling great." Antonia tells him.

My eyes widen and I cover my mouth with my hand to stop the bubbling laugh.

"WHAT?!" he exclaims loudly and started coughing immediately after that.

I felt bad for him instantly. I just want to see him now. Right now.

"Mom, I wanted to see her. How could you do that to me? You know I'd never turn her down. I miss her, I would have felt better if I had seen her face." Nick grumbles.

"The doctor should burn his degree then, right? If Eliza is all you need to feel better." Antonia teases.

"Whatever, mom." he grumbles again and I hear ruffling of sheets afterwards.

Antonia and Vince comes out and  I follow them downstairs with a grin plastered on my face.

"You can take the soup upstairs for him and I'll fix you something to eat, too." Antonia says and we both chuckle afterwards.

"You're still a child." Vince states while taking a seat on the kitchen counter.

"You go upstairs and change into fresh clothes." she scolds him with a stern look.

"Yes ma'am." he gives her a mock salute and leaves the kitchen.

I help Antonia with the sandwiches and place everything in tray before making my way upstairs. I knock lightly on his door while managing the tray with one hand.

"Go away, mom." he speaks weakly.

I stifle a laugh and open the door to see his back turned towards the door and the sheets  covering his form from head to toe.

"I don't want soup." he whispers with a scratchy voice.

Placing the tray on his nightstand, I climb in his bed and he scoots away like an angry child before I lift the covers slightly off of his face, "Do you want Eliza then?" I question softly.

His eyes snap open, in a flash, and he looks at me in complete surprise before sitting up abruptly.

"Careful there." I say and set two pillows behind his back for support and push his body back slowly all the while he gawks at me.

"Hi." I smile at him.

He looks so weak as compared to  yesterday and his face is completely pale.

"Hey baby." he whispers with a small smile. "You didn't leave?" he asks.

I shake my head in negative, "Do you really think Antonia would send me back? Or better yet, I'd go without seeing you?"

He shakes his head with a small smile and grabs my hand, "How are you? How was your day?"

"I'll tell you while I feed you." I say and tuck a napkin in his shirt's neck.

He frowns looking down at it but says nothing as I take the bowl from the tray and sit on his lap before bringing a spoon to his lips.

He looks at me in amusement as I urge him to open his mouth, "Come on, Nick." I say softly.

He opens his mouth and I start feeding him, "I am having a mix of a good and bad day." I start to speak.

He looks at me intently as I feed him another spoon, "We went out during lunch today. We got McDonald's and Krispy Kreme. Your friends are really nice." I smile up at him.

He nods his head and tells me to continue, "I talked to Finn and told him to talk to Lilly." I purposely left the part where he said this is why he thinks Nick is so crazy about me.

I bring another spoonful to his mouth and he sips it, "Primrose cornered me in the morning. She said that one date doesn't mean anything and that she's better than me. I told her to back off."

He frowns at that and his hands come to rest on my waist making me shiver slightly.

"I am sure you did, bambi." he smiles weakly at me.

I look down to see his once brimming bowl now almost empty so I feed him two more spoons before setting it aside and wiping his pretty much clean mouth with the white napkin. Untucking the napkin, I place it beside the empty bowl in the tray.

"Liza." Nick drawls out.

I look at him with a pout and move a little closer to bring his head to my chest and rest mine atop his.

"I missed you so much." we both speak simultaneously making me bite my lip as a giddy feeling erupts in the pit of my stomach.

"Why are you wearing a baggy tee and leggings?" he asks playing with my hair.

"I don't look good?" I pout.

"You do, bambi. You look good in everything." he compliments.

I blush profusely but feel glad since he couldn't see my face.

"I got my period this morning. I wanted to be comfortable." I tell him truthfully.

He hums in response and picks me up to lay me down beside him, tucking my head under his chin and covering me with the duvet.

"I was so worried about you. You didn't even tell me." I complain.

His arm that is draped around my shoulder rubs my forearm as he replies, "I know and I'm sorry. I forgot to charge it last night." he explains.

I nod and snuggle closer to him. His body is warm but not much. His fever had subsided already. I look up to see some color now filling his cheeks.

"You're coming next week?" I inquire.

"I am." he confirms making me happy.

"Nick, what's your relationship with Primrose?" I finally ask.

"I... it wasn't exactly what you could call a relationship. We just... um, we, uh, just played around." he stutters out.

"You mean you had sex with her?" I ask abruptly.

He goes quiet for a couple of second before awkwardly clearing his throat, "I did." he hesitates before replying.

I sigh, "It's alright, Nick. That was your past and your choice. I'm not judging you, I never will." I speak softly and smile up at him.

He looks at me with an unfathomable emotion swimming in his eyes and leans down to peck my forehead.

"You're perfect. Too perfect for me." he whispered after pulling away.

I hide my face in his chest and he chuckles, "Did you inform at your house that your coming here?" he questions.

"Yeah, I called mom." I tell.

"Good." he nods his head. "You should eat, Liza."

I sit up after a minute and grab the plate of sandwiches from the tray along with the tall glass of orange juice.

After I munch on them, we settle down to watch the movie 'A Knight before Christmas' because I really love Vanessa Hudgens.

"He's so cute, Nick. So handsome and he's got that British accent." I gush.

"Yeah, sure whatever. Let's watch something else." he says picking up the remote but I snatch it away from him and hold it close to my chest.

"NO!" I gasp.

"Liza, this is a stupid, childish movie." he rolls his eyes in annoyance.

And then it hits me suddenly, "Are you jealous, Nick?" I ask with a wide smile.

"What? Me? Of him? Pft. No." he shrugs and dismisses it.

I laugh throwing my head back as I realise that he is, indeed, very jealous of the cute guy in the movie.

"You so are." I tease.

"No. You're such a child." he huffs.

"But I am your child." I reply cheekily.

He mirrors my smile and nods his head twice, "Yes, you are"

My cheeks flame up as I fix my eyes on the movie once again and we fall in a comfortable silence even though I could still feel his scorching gaze on the side of my face.

Nick has always had that kind of effect on me. He would just look at me and I would forget what was I going to say or do. He renders me speechless without speaking a word himself.

The Christmas tree in the movie reminded me of our last Christmas together as kids.

Flashback

"Nick! A little more higher." I whine as I hang a decoration on the Christmas tree.

"You'll fall, Liza." he huffs in annoyance.

"I won't. You wouldn't let me,will you?" I ask.

"Never." he replies and stands on his tippy toes to lift me up more.

I was standing with my feet on Nick's shoulders as he held my legs and my upper body was supported by the tall and huge Christmas tree, which I was decorating.

"Liza, do it fast. If mom and dad sees us, they will scold us." he says.

"I am almost done, Nick. Don't move too much." I instruct him and place the Santa hat on top of the tree.

"How will I get down now, Nick?" I ask panicking a little.

Standing up on his shoulders seemed easier than getting down.

"What if I fall?" I ask as my heart begins to beat at a faster pace.

"I won't let you, remember?" he whispers as he carefully sits down on his knees with me holding on the tree with dear life.

"Slide down slowly and carefully." he instructs.

I follow, carefully, and after a lot of prayers sent to God for protecting the both of us from our parent's wrath, I finally got down and hugged Nick tightly.

"Thank you, Nicky Nick. You're the best." I say and plant a big kiss on his cheek as he strokes my hair.

"You are, too, baby Liza." he smiles and kisses my forehead.

I smile as I reminisce our childhood memories.

A couple minutes later, Nick breaks the silence by asking something I never even thought he would, so soon or today for that matter.

"Be my girlfriend, bambi?"