Just as Nick's gaze was back on us Mark was back to standing upright. Holly and Willow walked in before I could bring anything up, so us girls went into my room. I couldn't get away from Mark fast enough. Closing the door behind us I heard the guys start to talk amongst themselves.
"What the hell was with Mark?" Bridget spat out, getting straight to the point.
"I have no idea, it was weird right?" I tried to get reassurance from my friends as my mind was already spinning from the marriages without adding that Mark had kissed my hand.
"What happened?" Willow asked, raising a brow as she sat on the mattress on the floor. I had thrown my backpack in the closet so that it wouldn't be in the way in the tight quarters.
I plopped onto the floor with the others.
"Well, Mark kissed my hand when he came through the door," I answered, hearing the awkwardness in my own voice.
The other two appeared bewildered and Bridget did not seem happy.
"Did Nick see that?" Willow continued.
"No, he purposely waited for Nick not to be looking!" Bridget blurted, before I could.
"Doesn't that sound a bit on the paranoid side?" I questioned, my voice raising an octave, but I had been wondering that myself.
"No," the three answered at the same time.
I groaned as I hid my face in my hands. "Wasn't this whole marriage thing hard enough?" I mumbled.
"Right, isn’t that the real reason we're here?" Willow pointed out, fixing her low ponytail.
"Yeah that was the original plan. Bridget, you said there were protesters?"
"Yeah! You should have seen the signs, but some of them didn't even look like they were old enough to be parents of anyone in our grade. There were even newscasters out there. There were more cops at the gate."
"I'm hoping that someone can solve this soon," Holly responded first, her eyes appearing wide under her long bangs. "I miss my parents."
"Someone better because if not I might literally kill Dill, that's one way to get a divorce." Bridget smirked, her devious look was only helped by her black eyeliner. "Hating him I think is the only reason why I haven't missed my parents yet."
"What, are you going to stab him?" Willow threw back at Bridget. "Which I wouldn't suggest since there would be evidence left behind."
"So wait until it gets cold and stab him with an icicle?" Bridget brought up.
"Exactly, you're catching on young padawan." Willow nodded.
"There's something wrong with you two." Holly's face scrunched as her eyes bounced between Willow and Bridget.
"Probably, we're all friends," I commented, hoping to distract the conversation.
"Forever." Bridget smiled as she wrapped an arm around me to bring me in close for a hug, a favor I returned.
"Even through these deranged marriages we'll have each other," I chipped in as the other two started to beam.
"Not that I'm not happy to have you guys as friends, but I'd still appreciate not being a social experiment for our government."
A little later we filed out of my room as the guys were still lounging around the room. They hugged me, except Willow as I waved to her goodbye. The guys soon followed out. Dill did not say anything as he ran after Bridget; apparently he forgot his key and didn't want to be locked out. John grinned and said bye. Mark stood up, stretching while he continued to talk to Nick. The two laughed as Nick headed to the kitchen. Mark walked over his eyes focused on me.
"Bye, Rachel." He nodded his head before he left.
I followed Nick into the kitchen, but he waltzed back into the living room causing us to bump into each other. We backed up a little while he wore a lopsided grin.
"Missed me already?" Nick asked, his face lighting up.
I rolled my eyes as my breath came from my nose.
"What am I going to do with you?" I questioned in disbelief. His smirk grew as he started to open his mouth I interrupted. "Don't even answer that."
Nick wiggled his eyebrows, "Could be fun," he kind of sung.
"No," I responded, poking him in the chest.
He kept on laughing as his eyes went to the table. Nick's laughter halted
"So the rings…" Nick started.
"What about them?" I now found myself staring at them.
"Should we wear them?" Nick continued getting closer to the table picking them up.
He raised them up a little as the two of us stared at them.
"I don't know, what do you think?" I asked, feeling my heart picking up.
Nick took my left hand in his I opened up my mouth, but no words came out. I closed my mouth just to open it once again. Nick's cobalt eyes were on mine in sincerity.
"I know we're in an awkward situation, but until this is settled out, let's try to make the best of it," Nick said, his tone was serious, steady unlike my own nerves. "We've known each other for as long as we've been in school. So will you Rachel wear the wedding band as a March?"
One of the bands was hovering around the tip of my ring finger at this point. I smiled kindly at him just because of the offer, the tender action. Nick was not being forced to do this and he was doing this on his own free will.
"Yeah," I mustered up a voice. "Yeah I'll wear the band for you."
He grinned as he finished sliding the piece of metal around my finger. Blinking a couple of times I looked up to him. Last night might have been a mess, but Nick was ready to make the temporary situation the best it could be. He really was an amazing guy. I was so lucky to be with him.
6
Nick
I woke up with the sun coming in through the blinds shining on everything in my room. There seemed to be another soft glow in the
