#nick deserves a pretty lacrosse boyfriend | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

skateboardtotheheart · 4 years ago

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Slow On The Uptake

A JATP FANFIC - read on AO3 here

So I made a post the other day about how my brain took the idea that Nick is bisexual and that I wanted to see more of Ryan McEwan’s character (Pretty Lacrosse Boy) and decided to ship the two of them. Since Pretty Lacrosse Boy doesn’t have a name, I named him Tyler Doyle. And I wrote a fanfiction about them:

SUMMARY: When Nick gets a concussion during lacrosse practice, he needs a ride to urgent care. Thankfully for him, his teammate Tyler offers to drive him. Cue awkward conversations, pretty smiles, flustered looks, and “oh crap this guy is really cute”.

Getting slammed into the ground and getting a lacrosse stick to the head to match was not what Nick had planned when he’d gone to practice today. He probably could have avoided it, in hindsight. But he’d been distracted staring at Tyl- the sidelines- to notice that Cameron was about to slam into him until too late. Next thing he knew, Nick was laying on the ground, the back of his head smacking into the hardened ground below him and his stick smacking into his forehead. Pain shot through his head so quickly he didn’t even register the weight of Cameron on top of him until it was gone. He vaguely registered that Cameron was saying something to him- sorry, maybe?- but he couldn’t hear it properly. He clenched his eyes shut, groaning loudly. All he could focus on was the pain.

Nick felt someone shake his shoulder, jostling him. Involuntarily he cried out in pain, and the hand immediately left. He had no idea how long he’d laid there, in the middle of the practice field, before squinting his eyes open. Standing around him looked like about four of his teammates, Coach Barron directly above him.

“-orth! Danforth! Look at me, son.”

It took everything he had to focus his eyes on his coach.

“There we go, kid. How you feelin’?”

Nick sat up, looking around at the teammates gathered around him. Coach Barron repeated his question about how Nick felt. Nick could barely comprehend the question, let alone words to answer it, but opened his mouth to answer anyway. Unfortunately for him, instead of words coming out of his mouth, Nick felt himself doubling over, leaning to the side as he emptied the contents of his stomach. He heard his teammates exclaiming around him in disgust, backing up from the huddle around him. He gagged and heaved the last of it out, and Nick felt an arm come around his shoulder keeping him upright as he almost fell into the pile of his own vomit.

“Woah! You okay, Nick?” came the voice of whoever was holding him.

“Doing great,” he coughed out, trying to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth while the pain in his head seemingly doubled. He leaned back into the person holding him, feeling their chest vibrate as they laughed at his response.

“Okay,” Coach said, “You’re probably concussed. I’ll call someone to get you to urgent care-”

“I can drive him, Coach,” the vibrations against Nick’s back were oddly comforting and he closed his eyes. “No, no- gotta keep your eyes open, Nick. Can’t fall asleep.”

Nick still couldn’t properly distinguish who was talking to him. The voice was familiar, soft. Nick forced his eyes back open, feeling dizzy. He zoned out as coach and his teammate debated taking him to urgent care. As they did, Nick forced himself into turning around to see who had caught him from falling. As he caught sight of who it was, Nick let out a groan. He’d already embarrassed himself by getting pounded into the ground and then throwing up in front of the entire team. Why not go ahead and make things worse?

Tyler glanced down at him as he groaned, eyes trailing over him to check if he was okay, it seemed. Nick grunted a little bit, attempting to pull himself away from Tyler’s chest and sit up on his own. Tyler let him go, keeping a hand on his shoulder.

“Alright, Doyle,” Nick heard Coach say. “You’re both free to go.”

Tyler smiled up at Coach Barron, nodding. Not that Nick would ever willingly admit it, but he wasn’t entirely sure it was the concussion that made him dizzy in the moment. When the dizzy spell was over, Nick’s eyes refocused to find Tyler watching him carefully.

“Huh?” Nick let out, sounding as out of it as he felt. Tyler’s lips twitched up in a smile.

“I asked if you were gonna puke on me if I helped you stand up.”

“Oh. Uh- No. No, I think I’m fine.”

Tyler nodded, then stood up. He was already taller than Nick, but he looked like a giant as Nick sat uselessly, dizzy on the ground. Tyler held a hand out to Nick, which the lacrosse player took hesitantly. He pulled Nick up gently, resting a hand on his back when Nick stumbled. Nick couldn’t register much more than how light headed he was. He stayed silent as Tyler guided him to the sidelines to grab their bags and then out to the parking lot. Tyler didn’t try to talk much either, just whispering quiet reassurances when Nick got hit with dizziness and keeping an arm around him in case Nick fell. The journey out to Tyler’s car passed in a bit of a blur, and Nick didn’t realize he was actually sitting down in the passenger seat until Tyler was taking a slow turn out of the parking lot.

“Thanks for doing this,” Nick managed, and Tyler looked sideways at him with a small smile.

“You probably should try not to talk. It’ll only make your headache worse,” Tyler spoke in almost a whisper, and Nick was grateful for the reprieve of noise on his headache.

“Had a concussion before?”

Tyler shook his head, keeping his driving as slow as he could on the busy LA streets. “Nah, but you know my step-brother Dylan? The drumline kid? Turns out marching band is way more dangerous than it seems. I think he’s had like three concussions since he joined the band.”

Nick hummed in response, allowing his eyes to fall shut.

“No, dude, gotta keep your eyes open.”

Nick groaned.

“Nick, seriously- until the doctor checks you out and we know how bad your concussion is, you shouldn’t fall asleep. Here-” Tyler reached in front of Nick, pulling something out of the glovebox as gently as he could, “-wear these, it’ll block out the light.”

Nick took the sunglasses from Tyler’s hand, slipping them over his eyes. He sighed in relief as soon as he did; the sunlight gleaming off the other cars on the street had made him want to cry. Nick wasn’t entirely sure what happened on their way to the closest urgent care. He vaguely heard himself talking- rambling, more like- even though Tyler had told him to stay quiet. He didn’t stop rambling until they’d arrived and the car was parked.

“As interesting as the history of the platypus was, let’s go get you a doctor, yeah?”

If Nick wasn’t already so out of it, he was sure he would have been embarrassed. Is that what he's been talking about all this time?

As they walked into the urgent care clinic, Tyler was once again guiding him with a hand on his back. If Nick felt the urge to lean into the touch, he blamed it on his lack of proper coordination. Nick leaned into the counter of the nurse, receptionist, whoever it was Tyler was talking to instead. He didn’t listen to much of what either one was saying, but tuned in just in time to hear the- nurse?- ask if Nick had a guardian with him.

“No, we drove straight from our school,” Tyler responded, “But his dad’s on his way.”

“He is?” Nick asked, squinting at Tyler from behind the sunglasses still covering his eyes. Tyler looked at him, frowning a little bit.

“Yeah. Coach called him before we left, remember?”

“Oh,” Nick let out, not remembering whatsoever. Tyler gave him a strange look, a hint of a smile on his lips. Nick found himself staring at his teammate as Tyler turned back to the nurse, who was being informed that if they took a seat in the waiting room, someone would be out to see them shortly.

“How you feeling, man?” Tyler asked as he pulled Nick down to sit.

Nick let out a breath, “Floaty.”

Tyler let out a laugh next to him, which he tried to cover with a cough. “Jeez, Cam really hit you hard, didn’t he?”

Nick let out a hum in response, tilting sideways until his head came to rest on Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler seemed to tense under him, and Nick almost moved his head, but then the other relaxed, sliding down in his uncomfortable waiting room chair so that Nick’s head was positioned more comfortably. Like he’d done with the rest of the afternoon, Nick allowed himself to zone out as they waited. He mindlessly watched people walk in and out of the urgent care clinic, letting them all leave his head as soon as they were out of sight. The only person he did focus on was the tall, blond man who looked like he’d just gotten out of teaching a dance class. His eyes locked on Nick almost immediately, letting out a deep breath.

Nick smiled at him, picking his head off of Tyler’s shoulder.

“One of these days, you or your dad is going to give me a heart attack, you know that?” he said in place of greeting, stopping in front of Nick.

“Hey, pops.”

“Don’t call me that, it makes me feel old,” his father replied, kneeling down in front of him. “How are you feeling?”

Beside him, Tyler let out a huffed laugh. Both Nick and his father turned to look at him.

“Sorry,” Tyler said, looking a little red. “It’s just- I asked him the same thing and he said he felt ‘floaty’.”

Nick’s father cracked a smile at that. “You must be Tyler? Coach Barron told me you drove Nick here?”

Tyler nodded.

“Thanks for doing that, Tyler. I’m Ryan.”

“Oh, it’s, uh- It was no problem. My brother has gotten a concussion a couple times, so I’m, well- used to it? I guess?”

Before either of them could continue the conversation, a woman dressed in scrubs came into the waiting room, calling for Nick Danforth-Evans. Ryan stood back up, raising his hand so the doctor knew who she was calling.

“Guess that’s my cue to leave,” Tyler said, and Nick had a strange feeling fill his chest at the thought. Even so, he nodded just barely, smiling at Tyler.

“Thanks, man.”

Tyler just nodded. “Thanks for the lecture on platypuses. Learned a lot, actually.”

Nick ignored the laugh his father had let out, followed by “Really? You’re still telling people about freaking platypuses?” in favor of waving Tyler goodbye and watching his teammate leave the clinic. Eventually, his father gently pulled him to his feet, walking him slowly over to the waiting doctor.

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Tyler wasn’t entirely sure what possessed him to do it. He and Nick weren’t not friends, but they didn’t know each other that well either. There was frankly no logical reason for him to be doing this. He told himself it was because he hadn’t been able to text Nick all day- he’d overheard Carrie saying that Nick had given a “no screen time” rule by his doctor- and wasn’t it only reasonable to follow up with the guy you’d taken to urgent care yesterday? Tyler ignored the part of his brain that told him the truth; he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about his teammate since he’d left the hospital yesterday, and he just wanted an excuse to see Nick again. So Tyler had taken his lunch period interrogating the other lacrosse team members to figure out what classes Nick was taking and with which teachers he had them.

The reasonable part of his brain told him this was kind of creepy, and entirely unnecessary for him to do. But even so, he told Kayla to let Mrs. Kelly know that he wouldn’t make it to dance practice after school today, and he went around to Nick’s teachers’ classrooms. About 20 minutes later, he pulled out of the Los Feliz parking lot with a folder full of class notes, homework, and messages from teachers for Nick. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove in the general direction he knew Nick’s house was. He’d only been there a few times, all for lacrosse purposes. Nick’s dad loved to host the team over- said he’d always done it in high school when he was on the basketball team and that it was a great bonding opportunity.

Really, the only reason he was doing this was because he just wanted to check on him. Make sure he was feeling alright. It had nothing to do with the way Nick had leaned into his chest on the field or rested his head on Tyler’s shoulder in the waiting room, and it definitely had nothing to do with how Nick had still managed to look cute when concussed and rambling about random things in the waiting room.

When he finally reached Nick's house, he parked his car in the driveway and just sat there. He bounced his leg, tapping his fingers against the wheel. Nick's house was slightly foreboding. Both of Nick's fathers made plenty of money, and it was one of the fancier houses in the area surrounding Los Feliz High School. He kind of felt like the house was judging him as he sat in the driveway, too nervous to actually go in.

"This is stupid, Tyler," he mumbled to himself. "You're already here, just get out of the damn car."

It must have been another five minutes that he sat there, one hand ready to twist his key in the ignition and leave and the other on the door handle, ready to get out of the car. Eventually, he took his hand away from the ignition, pulling the key out.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he grumbled, grabbing the folder and finally leaving his car. “It’ll be fine. Just say hey, drop the homework off, and leave without looking like a complete idiot.”

He schooled his expression into something casual and normal looking by the time he reached the front door. With all the determination he had, he raised his hand, knocking on the door. He didn’t want to use the doorbell; last time Dylan had a concussion he’d physically witnessed his step-brother crying at the sound.

The door opened so quickly after his knock that Tyler froze in shock for a moment. He found himself looking down at a little girl he’d never met before- Nick’s sister, he assumed. She was dressed in a blindingly yellow princess dress, and atop her mess of deep, black curls was a plastic tiara to match.

She cocked her head at him curiously, asking with no shyness in her voice, “Who are you?”

“Oh- um. . .” He always felt awkward around kids. The only ones he ever really interacted with were his cousins. “I’m looking for Nick?”

“He’s in the living room!” the girl in front of him announced happily, pointing off to her left. Tyler hesitated, but stumbled through the front door as the girl grabbed his hand, pulling him into the large house. Tyler didn’t even know what to say, just struggled to not drop the folder of papers for Nick as he was forcibly invited into the house.

“Arabella, please tell me you opened the door because dad’s back and not because you just let some stran-” Nick cut himself off as he caught sight of Tyler behind the little girl- Arabella.

“Tyler. Hey.”

Tyler cleared his throat, trying his best to put on a casual smile. Nick was seated on a large, fluffy looking couch. He was leaning against the armrest, his legs stretched out in front of him. Nick looked practically buried in the large sweatshirt he was wearing, branded with a faded EHS on the chest, and the soft white blanket thrown over him. Tyler felt frozen to the spot as he looked at Nick, his mouth opening dumbly as no words came out. He looked anywhere but Nick’s eyes, not sure he’d be able to function at all if he did. He was saved from the awkwardness as Arabella let go of her iron grip on his hand, moving over to the couch. Tyler winced in sympathy as Nick groaned and clamped his eyes shut, Arabella jostling him as she climbed into her brother’s lap. Even though both of them were adopted, Tyler could see a resemblance between the siblings. They had the same smile: a toothy grin framed by dimples. He felt himself smile softly as Nick instinctively wrapped an arm around his sister to steady her before she fell right back off the couch.

“Ari, we’ve talked about how you’re not supposed to open the door for strangers,” Nick spoke softly, and Tyler had to suck in a breath.

Arabella pouted in his lap, “He’s not a stranger! You knew his name!”

“That’s not the- Look, just remember you have to wait for me, daddy, or papa before you open the door, okay?”

The girl- only 7 years old if Tyler remembered correctly- let out a heavy breath, still looking sure she’d done nothing wrong, but she nodded to her brother. She leaned into Nick’s chest, who carefully shifted her in his arms so she was next to him rather than on top. Tyler wasn’t sure he could stop the smile on his face if he tried. Nick looked back at him once Arabella was situated, casting him a soft smile that had Tyler feeling weak.

“Sorry about her-” Arabella elbowed him, “-my dad ran out to the store and she was expecting him back soon. So, uh. . . What’s up, man? Don’t you have dance team after school on Thursdays?”

The question knocked Tyler out of his reverie as he remembered why he was here. He ignored the heat in his cheeks- Nick remembered he had dance on Thursdays?

“Oh, right, yeah. Um, I- well. I brought you your homework?” Tyler inwardly cursed himself for stumbling over his words. You’d think he’d never talked to the guy before.

Nick looked surprised at the words, his eyebrows raising a little bit. Tyler had to glance away.

“I didn’t figure you’d be at school tomorrow either, so I, um, I brought you tomorrow’s, too.”

Nick was just kind of staring at him, and Tyler shifted his weight between his feet. Silence lapsed between the three of them until Arabella whispered something to her brother that had Nick glaring down at her for a second.

“Thanks, Tyler,” Nick said quietly. “I really appreciate that.”

Tyler smiled at him, nodding. “Yeah, it’s no problem.”

He held up the folder, “Is there somewhere you. . ?”

“Oh, um. Just that table right next to you is fine.”

Tyler nodded again, setting the folder down. Without anything to hold, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands. He settled for stuffing them in his pocket. Tyler’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn back to Nick. He looked sleepy and comfortable the way he was wrapped up on the couch. His hair was slightly tousled like Nick had been running his hands through it. Tyler fought the urge to go over and fix it for him.

In order to stop himself from doing something stupid like just that, Tyler took in a deep breath and asked, “So how are you feeling?”

Nick shrugged a little, “Better. I don’t remember all that much from yesterday, honestly. Still kind of feels like my skull is gonna split open, but pain meds have been helping. This one-” Arabella let out a quiet giggle as Nick tickled her side, “-not so much.”

Tyler let out a huffed laugh. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure Dylan was ready to put my head through his snare drum last time he had a concussion.”

Nick laughed, but it cut off as he winced. Tyler grimaced at the sight.

“Sorry.”

Nick just smiled as if to say “don’t worry about it”.

Before either of them could say anymore, they heard the sounds of the door opening and footsteps coming into the room.

“Hey, I’m home. Boo, I got you some Gatorade and these light blocking glasses that are great for concussions. And for the munchkin I got- Oh.”

Nick and Arabella’s father- Chad- looked up from the shopping bag he was holding, eyes immediately locking on Tyler. The lacrosse player wasn’t sure what else to do but awkwardly wave as Nick’s father regarded him.

“I know you, don’t I?”

“Um, yes, sir. I’m on the lacrosse team with Nick.”

Chad nodded in recognition, “Right. Tim? Tyson?”

“Tyler,” Nick said for him, in what could almost be said to be a defensive tone. Chad looked over to Nick, raising an eyebrow at his son. “He was just bringing my homework over for me.”

Chad nodded at his son slowly. “Sure, kid. And thanks for doing that, Tyler. I was going to head over to the school tomorrow to do that.”

“It was no problem, Mr. Danforth-Evans,” Tyler mumbled, not sure what to do with himself.

Chad snorted, shaking his head. “It’s just Chad, Tyler.”

Tyler nodded stiffly. He’d met Nick’s parents before, but something about this whole situation made it feel like he’d forgotten any and every way to properly interact with other human beings.

“Well,” Chad said, holding his hand out towards his children, “Ari, why don’t we leave Boo and his friend to talk a little more and you can come help me put this stuff away.”

Arabella nodded, sliding off the couch and moving towards her dad.

“Boo?” Tyler couldn’t stop himself from asking. Nick sighed, cringing.

“I really liked Monsters Inc when I was a kid,” he explained, but Chad let out a snort.

“Really liked? You insisted- and I mean insisted- on dressing up as Boo from that movie for three Halloweens in a row.” Chad’s face was lit up with the smirk of a parent who knew exactly what they were doing to torture their child.

Nick ran a hand down his face, “Thanks for that, dad.”

Chad just smiled and picked Arabella up into his arms, walking past the couch into what looked like the kitchen from the angle Tyler was stood at. He dropped a kiss onto Nick’s head as he passed, laughing again as his son looked further embarrassed. Tyler couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped him, which had Nick’s eyes turning on him. Nick’s face was tinged a soft pink, and Tyler was captivated by the way it made the other look.

After a moment’s or two silence, Nick said, “You know, the only other person who knows the Boo story is Carrie, and she’s sworn to secrecy, so if that suddenly gets around the school- I’m coming after you first.”

Tyler held his hands up in surrender, smiling at Nick. “The only other person who knows is Carrie? Well, now I just feel special.”

Nick looked down at his lap, a small smile on his face. His voice was quiet, barely audible for Tyler to hear as he said, “Yeah, I guess you are.”

Tyler wasn’t sure what to do with that. His chest felt a little tighter at the words, and he bit his tongue to keep from saying anything to embarrass himself.

“I should probably head out. Let you rest,” Tyler managed to get out. Nick looked back up at him, an expression on his face that Tyler couldn’t quite pick out.

“Oh. Yeah, sure. Thanks for- For bringing me my school stuff. And. . . for yesterday. My dads said I wasn’t the easiest person to deal with, so I’m sorry if I was annoying or anything.”

You look cute while rambling about how the platypus has been your favorite animal since you watched Phineas and Ferb, then practically gave me a heart attack when you put your head on my shoulder.

Tyler shook his head. “It’s no problem, man. You were out of it, but you weren’t annoying. I offered to drive you, remember? Anyway, I’m gonna go. I’ll let you know how that scrimmage game on Saturday goes?”

Nick nodded as much as he could without hurting his head and smiled at that- the toothy grin framed by dimples. Tyler sucked in a breath, forcing his eyes away from Nick.

“See you later, Nick.”

“Bye, Tyler.”

Tyler forced himself not to look back as he left the house, moving swiftly back to his car. As soon as he was inside, he slumped forward, repeatedly thumping his forehead against his steering wheel. Maybe if he got lucky, Nick’s concussion would make him forget the entire interaction- every excruciatingly awkward moment that Tyler allowed himself to look like a complete fool.

“Real smooth, idiot,” he said out loud as he started his car and pulled out of the Danforth-Evans driveway.

It was going on a little under a year now that Tyler had had a crush on Nick. He’d caught the other lacrosse player doing a mini victory dance after a game last year and had quite literally fallen- he’d gotten so distracted looking at Nick’s hair and his smiles and the way the sweat made his arms glisten a little bit in the sunlight that he’d tripped over another team member’s bag, falling face first into the grass.

He’d spent the last year both avoiding all and taking any opportunity to interact with Nick. He’d evidently gotten no better at stifling his pure embarrassing energy when it came to talking to him. He’d just add today onto the ever-growing list of Ways To Make Terrible Impressions On Your Crush. Fantastic.

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As soon as the front door shut behind Tyler, Nick buried his face in his hands. He could hear the footsteps of his father coming back into the living room, followed by quiet laughter.

“I hate you,” Nick mumbled into his hands, but he knew his dad heard it anyway. “I have a concussion- shouldn’t you be nicer to me?”

“Hey, I wasn’t the one who knocked you in the head. Besides, what kind of father would I be if I didn’t take every opportunity to embarrass you?”

“The kind whose kids don’t grow up to hate him.”

Nick knew his father wasn’t taking his words to heart, as usual. For all Nick joked that he wanted nothing to do with his dad, the two of them had always been close.

“Sorry, Boo, but if you’re going to invite a boy over to the house-”

“I didn’t invite him! I don’t even have my phone to invite him. He was just bringing me my homework.” Nick felt his face going even redder than it already was, and he kept it covered by pulling the blanket over his face to avoid his dad’s further teasing.

“Out of the kindness of his heart, huh?”

Nick peeked an eye out, squinting at his father. “What are you implying here?”

His dad just shrugged, a little too casually for Nick’s taste. Nick sighed loudly, shrinking down into the couch cushions.

“My head hurts too much for this.”

At that, his dad moved over to the couch, the teasing smile dropped from his face as he took a seat next to Nick. “Has it gotten any worse?”

Chad had always been the parent that took care of the kids’ injuries. He’d gotten so many himself as a kid that he knew the remedy and care for each one Nick or Arabella could ever get. Nick and his father agreed that if Chad ever got bored of basketball- he was currently an assistant coach for the Lakers- he’d likely be amazing in medical school.

“No, it actually felt better when-” Nick cut himself off.

When Tyler was here, his brain supplied the rest of the sentence. Nick wasn’t sure what to do with that information. He shut his mouth, frowning a little. He stayed silent as his dad fussed around him a little bit, shifting pillows and pulling the living room curtains closed some more, trying to block out as much light as possible. Nick ran back through the conversation with Tyler in his head. He thought about his teammate dressed in a pair of light colored jeans and his letter jacket that seemed just a little too big for him- Nick was so used to seeing him dressed for lacrosse that he never really saw him dressed casually like that. He thought about Tyler holding Ari’s hand. He thought about Tyler’s thoughtfulness in bringing over his school work so that Nick didn’t have to stress about it later, and he thought about the image of Tyler smiling at him.

“Well, shit,” Nick let out softly, staring at the wall.

“Language,” his dad chastised, but Nick ignored him.

“Shit,” he repeated, then turned as quickly as he could without hurting his head to face his father. “Dad, can I have my phone?”

His dad frowned at him. “Nick, the doctor said no screens, remember? You-”

“Yeah, I know what she said. But I really need my phone. Please?”

“Why?”

“Because I have a concussion and I’m slow on the uptake and I really need to talk to Carrie right now. Ten minutes. Please.”

His dad looked him over, eyes narrowed. “Fine. Ten minutes. But don’t tell your father.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Nick let out, holding his hand out to his dad. Chad grabbed Nick’s phone from where it was sitting next to the TV, then deposited it into his son’s hand.

Nick scrambled with the device, wincing as he turned the brightness down all the way and pulling up Carrie’s contact.

carrie

CARRIE

Carrie Wilson i swear if you don’t respond right now

im gonna lose my damn mind

Okay okay I’m responding

What do you want

tyler was just at my house and he dropped off

all my homework and talked to my dad and my sister

and my head hurts i’m way too tired for this

Tyler??

Pretty lacrosse boy Tyler??

Nick I love you but I am not seeing the importance here

carrie he was at my HOUSE and he SMILED AT ME

have you ever seen him smile???

because i know my brain isn’t like working right

now or whatever but he SMILED AT ME and its

all i can think about

Oh damn

Nick

My best friend and love of my life

Do you

Have a crush

ON TYLER DOYLE???

YEAH I THINK SO

CARRIE

i always thought he was really pretty and cute

but hhnnngg i think it’s an actual crush and idk

what to do about that

Oh my god

he smiled at me and i really wanted to kiss him

how did i not realize i wanted to kiss him

concussion make me dumb

Don’t know if the concussion is to blame for

that but okay honey

fuck i have to go dad is taking my phone

WAIT WHAT

NICHOLAS

YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THAT

NICK

Nick was grateful he’d had time to lock his phone before his dad pulled it from his hands. He did not need the embarrassment of his dad catching sight of that conversation. He felt a little bad for leaving Carrie on that note, but he was too stressed about how did he not notice he had a crush on this guy to care at the moment. As his dad returned his phone to its original spot, Nick pulled the blanket back over his head, sinking down in an attempt to become one with the couch. As he shut his eyes, he felt his dad’s hand come to rest on his head, above the blanket.

“I know having a concussion sucks, Boo,” his dad spoke softly.

Sure. Yeah, let’s pretend the concussion is his biggest problem right now.

“I’ll take the munchkin upstairs and keep her quiet, why don’t you try to get a little bit of sleep before your father gets home? I’ll wake you up in two hours.”

Nick sighed at the thought that his dad would have to wake him up. He’d had to do it all night as doctor’s orders. Every two hours, wake him up and make him answer a few memory questions to make sure his head injury wasn’t getting any worse. Nick was exhausted, and he knew his dad was as well. It was off season for basketball, so he wasn’t out of the house as often and had been the elected parent to stay up with Nick all night.

“Love you, Nick,” his father whispered above him, and then the hand disappeared from his head.

“Love you, too,” Nick mumbled. He knew at this point he wasn’t likely to get any sleep. Not when Tyler had been in his house and giving him that smile- Nick was pretty sure the image was now ingrained in his brain.

Tyler had never been a teammate that Nick was close to, but he’d always been aware of him. Tyler was funny, and kind, and the two of them had had fun getting stuck in Mrs. Kelly’s fourth period dance class for those few weeks together. And there had never been any denying that Tyler was nice to look at. Really nice. Nice enough that Nick had allowed himself to get so distracted watching Tyler on the sidelines of the field that he’d gotten slammed into the ground and concussed. But he had been so sure that that’s all it was. Tyler was attractive, Nick knew it, and that was that. But then Tyler had driven him to urgent care without a hesitation, sat with him until his father showed up, and then brought him all his school work. Nick had been so struck by that that he’d sat on the couch, staring like an idiot until his 7 year old sister leaned up and whispered that he needed to say something. And damn, Nick might actually be grateful for the concussion because while it may have made him a little slow to realize that Tyler was right there and god, did he want to kiss him, it also saved him from becoming the blushing mess he knew he would have otherwise.

“Well, shit,” Nick repeated once more, covering his face with his hands.

if you made it this far, thanks so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!! if this gets a good response I’m planning on following it up with a part 2 in which they might go on a date or something like that.

tag list (let me know if you want added for future parts):

@sunsetcurve123

#nick deserves a pretty lacrosse boyfriend #i'm honestly so invested in this ship #if you couldn't tell by how long this was #jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp fanfic #nick danforth-evans #sacha carlson #carrie wilson #savannah lee may #ryan mcewan #nick jatp #fanfiction

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missmitchieg · 4 years ago

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Triple Threat And The Fantabulous Redemption of One Carrie Wilson - Ch 2

Later, she found Nick in the hallway with his lacrosse buddies and bit her lip, taking a deep breath. Well, time to execute step two, miss Wilson. She thought to herself before walking toward him and tapping his shoulder. “Hey, Nick. Can I talk to you?“ She asked softly, biting her lip and feeling her heart pound painfully at the tired, annoyed look on his face.

“I already told you, Carrie. We’re not getting back together.“ He said firmly, arms crossed over his chest. “It’s not happening.“

“No, no.“ Carrie shook her head quickly, taking a step back and holding her hands up. “No. I know you said that. I’m not here to ask to get back together.“

Nick furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in confusion, eying her curiously. “Then what’s going on?” He asked, his buddies walking away so as not to get involved in their relationship drama. None of them had ever really liked Carrie or her dramatic antics, but they mostly kept quiet about it when she was around. They didn’t want to deal with Carrie Wilson’s fury, so they only talked about her when she was gone.

“Nick, please. I just wanted to apologize.“ She said softly, tightening her grip on her purse as Nick’s jaw dropped slightly. She felt her chest tighten and her lips form a frown at the realization that Nick was only so shocked because in all the time that they had been together, then broken up, then gotten back together, she had never bothered to apologize to Nick for the way she talked to him. “Can I just have one minute?“

“O-oh.“ Nick said softly, his eyes softening, if only slightly. Ok, that was a good sign, right? That had to mean something good. She had to mean something to him, after everything. “Alright.“

Carrie took a breath before she started to speak again, wishing she knew what Nick was thinking right now. Was he already thinking about rejecting her? Was he thinking about forgiving and forgetting? Or was he not even thinking about her at all? Was he thinking about Julie? Some other person he liked? She quickly shook the anxious thoughts away, looking at Nick nervously.

“I just- I’ve realized that I was never the best girlfriend to you. I was never the girlfriend I should’ve been. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I’m so sorry, Nick.“ She said guiltily, looking back in regret. “You deserved better from me. You deserved so. Much. Better.“ She told him, smiling a little when his eyes softened more. “But you were an amazing boyfriend to me. Whoever gets to call you their boyfriend next is a lucky person.“ She said sweetly.

“Oh. Um... Thanks, Carrie.“ He said softly after he recovered from the shock of everything he’d just heard from Carrie.

Carrie frowned again at that, slumping her shoulders and biting her lip. She’d been doing that so often recently, she was surprised her lips hadn’t broken and started to bleed yet. She licked her lips, twiddling her fingers as she spoke again.

“I don’t know why I ever treated you like that. I was hurting, but that’s no reason not to be a good girlfriend to you.“ She shook her head and quickly blinked a tear away. Now was not the time to cry about Nick. Now was the time to be his friend. Hopefully. She looked at Nick when he licked his lips and started to speak, stiffening under his gaze.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Carrie. That you’re right, again? That you could have supported me as much as I tried to support you even when you exhausted me? That we look good together, as much as we don’t work? We can’t...” He sighed. “I can’t do this again.“ He said softly, not knowing a bit how much he was breaking her heart.

“You don’t have to say anything, Nick. All I wanted was to tell you how much I regret everything.“ She told him. “All I wanted was to apologize.“

“Well, you did it. Apology made.“

“Right. Um, I also wanted to tell you that I made up with Flynn and Julie today. No more bad blood. We fixed it all.“ She smiled a tiny bit, standing a little taller.

“That’s great, Carrie. I know you were all really close before. I’m happy you guys got all your problems sorted out.“

Carrie nodded, flipping her hair back. “Yeah, we’re all hanging out at Julie’s after school, too.“ Nick raised his eyebrows with a smile, uncrossing his arms and putting his hands on his hips.

“Seriously? The Triple Threat girls are already hanging out at Molina’s again?” He asked happily. Ok, that was another good sign. He was warming up more.

Carrie smiled and nodded again, touched to know that Nick cared enough to listen and remember little things Carrie had told him about the girls when they were friends, like their nicknames. Even if it was in an annoyed, angry tone complaining about how Julie and Flynn had changed and seemingly turned against her.

Now she felt really bad that she had never paid him much attention when he complained about his lacrosse buddies or the coach being a butt. But she could fix that, too. She could absolutely fix that. She just needed a chance to. She hoped he would give her that chance.

“Yes, Triple Threat are officially “calling each other by our old nicknames and hanging out at the Molina’s after school” status again.” She said before turning serious.

“Nick, I know we’re never getting back together, and I have to be ok with that. Like, it’s so ok with me. I don’t deserve another shot at being your girlfriend. But I was hoping that maybe you and I, we could at least try to be friends?“ She asked nervously. “I would miss you too much if you weren’t a part of my life anymore. It would feel too weird.“

Nick looked at her for a second and chuckled, tucking the perfect curl that had fallen out of place back behind Carrie’s ear. “We can try, Wilson. Just as long as you don’t talk my ear off anymore about how much they’ve changed and how they’re out to get you now. And as long as I don’t have to watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette with you anymore. Those shows are so not my thing.“ He said with a cheeky smile, making Carrie grin again at the new nickname and tackle hug him happily, letting out a giggle.

“I promise I’ll try to be a better friend than I was a girlfriend, Danforth-Evans. You deserve it.“ She whispered in his ear as he hugged her back just as tightly as she hugged him, pulling away after a minute to smile at him. “We should get to science.“ Nick nodded and linked arms with Carrie, walking to their next class.

“So. You asked Julie for a selfie with her before trying to ask her on a date, huh?“ She teased him with a slight smirk, trying not to laugh at him.

“I was nervous and buying time!“ Nick said defensively and laughed, flipping his hair with a blush.

“Oh, yeah. A selfie’s gonna buy you so much time to calm your nerves and know exactly what to say to a cute girl in front of you when you’re trying to ask her out!“ Carrie laughed, too, shaking her head.

“And I asked to be study partners first!“ Nick said, groaning softly in embarrassment at the memory. “What’s wrong with me?“

“Oh, I forgot about that part! That’s really cute, Nick.“ Carrie smiled, squeezing his arm comfortingly. “And hey, just because Julie’s got some other boy on her mind, doesn’t mean you can’t find another cutie to hang on your arm. They’re just... A little lost right now, but you two’ll find each other.“ She told him, shrugging just a little so she didn’t dislodge their linked arms.

“Mm, I guess so. And I guess that person will come to me in time.“ He said, deciding he needed to focus on lacrosse and school and the friends he already had instead of some imaginary person he could date. “Yours will come in time, too. You’ll find each other eventually.“ He told her, trying to comfort her. He did still care about her after all, even if he didn’t want to date her anymore.

Carrie gave a small smile and nodded, telling herself exactly that. She would find someone, but she could focus on that later. Right now, she was only focused on fixing what she already had.

“Hey, I hear Joey from your third period has a thing for you.“ She said, giving him an encouraging smile. “He’s pretty cute.“

“Oh, him? Yeah, he’s cool.“ Nick grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Word in the hall is he’s one of your biggest fanboys. Actually, word in the hall is you have quite a lot of little fanboys.“ She told him, her smile growing.

“Oh, is it now?“ He asked in a joking manner, biting his lip. Joey was really sweet to him and he was really cute. And funny. And he gave nice hugs. And he had nice dimples.

“Indeed it is, my boy. Indeed it is.“ She said before hearing whispering about them, looking to her side. She felt her smile tighten and put a fisted hand on her hip, taking a deep breath so she could think instead of her usual habit of a snarky, mean command to shut up.

“And if anyone in this hall is wondering, Nick and I are just friends now, and we’re not getting back together.“ She said loudly to the crowds of whispering teenagers that were clearly not paying attention to the words being said, only their arms looped and their mouths grinning. “So no rumors about the two of us ever getting back together, please.“

She watched the crowd go silent and nod at her words, wondering if they were shocked silent by her saying “please.“ She frowned at the thought and shook her head, letting Nick go to run to her locker and grab her science text book and notes. She watched him clutch his own notes and walked with him, sitting next to him like she always did.

She smiled as he wrote a little note for her, taking it when the teacher wasn’t looking. She always thought it was really cute that Nick preferred written notes to texting.

“It’s more fun that way, Carrie! It’s how they used to do it before cell phones.“ He would tell her when she asked him about it, his eyes having a certain little sparkle. A sparkle that hadn’t been there in a while since they’d been together. She glanced at him and read the note quickly, shooting him a sweet smile.

She loved that Nick decided to get back into writing her little notes in their newborn friendship. She hated missing them when they weren’t talking anymore. She smiled as she wrote a quick reply and passed it back to him, quickly writing down notes when the teacher turned around.

She walked out after class, Nick giving a little wave as he walked in the opposite direction to talk to his friends. “See you around, Nick!“ She called to him, getting a “Later, Wilson!“ in response. She saw the Dirty Candy girls in the hall, gesturing in the direction Nick went and shrugged with a grin, flipping her hair.

Step two, accomplished. She almost giggled giddily at the thought she just had, deflating anxiously a little when she realized what the next step was.

Oh, well. She would cross that bridge when she got to it. Right now, she was just going to celebrate getting Flynn and Julie back and getting Nick back as her friends. And that she was going to hang out at Julie’s after school. And right now, that was good enough for her. But she had to fix things with her girls tomorrow. And she would fix things with her girls.

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#julie and the phantoms #carrie wilson #nick danforth-evans #fanfiction #jatp fanfic #Triple Threat And The Fantabulous Redemption of One Carrie Wilson

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