Page 137 of Nicky and the Night Owls, Part One

“It's not my fault that you’re too slow to be first.”

“And how am I supposed to keep up with you bounding at the door like a rabbit the second you hear car wheels?”

“You’re not. Just accept my victory.” Allie grinned, and the two of them ushered me inside.

“We ordered Thai food,” said Sidney. “It should be here soon.”

Allie and I took up our spots at the dining room table while Sidney finished preparing some Thai iced tea for us.

“How's everything?” she asked.

“Pack stuff is good. No real updates on Alphonse, so I think I have to move out of my apartment.”

Allie hissed. “That fucker better hope I never see him because I will open a whole can of whoop ass on him.”

“You’ll have to get in line for that,” said Sidney as he set the three glasses down on the table for us.

“Sidney said you’re going to stay with us for a bit?” Allie asked.

“Sometimes. Before all the Alphonse fuckery, I was still staying at my apartment a few days a week. It just feels a bit early to contemplate moving in with the pack.”

“Foryou,maybe,” Allie said with a laugh. “I saw those faces when everyone offered to let you stay with them instead. They like you a whole heck of a lot.”

“You don’t think it's too fast?” I asked, sipping my iced tea.

“We’re really not the best people to ask about timelines,” said Allie. “We had an accidental bonding, so we’re out of the norm, and to be fair, I was already immediately ready to climb all over him.”

“The point is,” said Sidney, “that things can go as fast or slow as you want. There's no timeline that anyone has to follow. If it feels right, then go for it.”

“I want to, but I’m a worrier.” I chewed my bottom lip.

“Worry if you need to,” said Sidney. “But don’t let it stop you from living the way you want. I may not have spent as much time with you in recent years as I should have, but I would have to be lacking in every sense to not know that you’re happier now than I’ve seen you your entire adult life.”

The doorbell interrupted my response, and Sidney went to get our dinner. We spread it out, family style, and snared bites with our chopsticks.

“What are you really worried about Nicky?” he asked.

“I don’t even know if I know,” I confessed.

“Do you like everyone in the pack?” Allie asked.

I nodded.

“And everyone in the pack likes you?”

“Yeah. I wondered for a little while, but that'sdefinitelyall cleared up now.”

“My personal vote,” said Allie, “is to just go with the flow. If you ever decide you don’t like it, you can leave. Our guest room is always open for you. If they make you happy, then be with them.”

I fidgeted with my chopsticks. “You make it sound so simple.”

Allie shrugged. “Sometimes love is a lot simpler than people think it is.”

I mused on the statement while we ate. They got me familiarized with the guest room and gave me my own set of keys. The space was clean and quiet, and given their propensity to having foster pups run around, neither of them had any issue with Spud joining me here.

“Give me a list of anything you might need,” said Sidney. “We’ll pick up some things for you and Spud on our next grocery trip. Then you don’t have to worry about carting stuff back and forth.

“You two are seriously the best.”

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