“Oh shit, shit, SHIT!” that´s what Nick thought as he jumped out of bed. It was already 8:30 in the morning and he needed to be at work by 9:00. He rushed out of bed leaving his girlfriend sleeping under the sheets, trying his best to leave the apartment as soon as possible he took a shower and took a short cold shower. Once he was dressed with his plain blue shirt and khakis pants, he grabbed an apple from the kitchen and went back to his room to give a goodbye kiss to his girlfriend in the forehead which, although she was sleep, she seemed to notice as she made a slight smile before she turned and went back to a deep sleep.
Now he was leaving his apartment and half jogging down the street to catch the closest cab that passed by. But before we move on, let´s talk a little more about Nick. At 25 years old, Nick stood at 6´2” and had a lean athletic body, he had light brown curly hair, which he always kept short to avoid too much curls, he is what you would call a “funny” guy since he is very immature and always seems to forget things, not major things but he always needed his girlfriend to remind him of his appointments and paying the bills.
On the other side, Nick has been on a relationship with his girlfriend Madison, who she always called Maddy, they have been together since they met in college and the only way Nick could describe her was, as he said, “the woman of my dreams”. She was 25 years old as Nick and stood at a good 5´7” and had long brown hair, and also the prettiest hazelnut-colored eyes. Talking a bit more about her body, she had a lean figure with a big pair of double D´s and a nice round butt accompanied with thick thighs. But that´s not the reason Nick fall in love for her, the reason was that Maddy was a carrying and really sweet person, she was kind and thoughtful and didn´t seemed to mind that Nick was so forgetful and a little clumsy when he got nervous.
After a while Nick managed to get into a cab and was on his way to work by 8:50, after giving the cab driver the address where he was heading, he just laid back on the seat while regretting saying “Just five more minutes”, he had his alarm settled by 7:00, which gave him the time to shower, get dressed and eat something more elaborate, which he did only when his girlfriend made breakfast, he knew how to cook, not very well but at least he won’t starve to death. But whenever he made his own breakfast, he only made some toasts or a bowl of cereal, he really wasn´t a morning person.
Another reason why he fell asleep passed his regular hours was that the night before he went to bed by 1:00 a.m. Normally Maddy would´ve woke him up since they went to work at the same time, but she had a one-week vacation so she was going to rest the most she could. She worked for a big company and had a nice position as assistant manager, she managed to start working there the moment she graduated from college and gradually she had reached that position.
On the other hand, Nick graduated from college at the same time as Maddy, but he decided he´ll take a sabbatical year to travel and just play videogames the most he could. During that time, he and Maddy moved together and their relationship just grew. A couple months ago, after going thru a couple part-time jobs, Nick started an internship on a different company than the one where Maddy worked, she wanted him to apply working the same place she worked, but he just didn´t wanted to, in a way he wanted to make his way up rather than been helped by his girlfriend, and other of the reasons was that Nick didn´t wanted her to be his boss, but he didn´t told her about it.
Once he arrived, he paid the cab and rushed thru the building´s stairs that where on the main entrance, once inside he just started jogging to where his boss was, but while he passed by the lobby he was gritted by Sam, she was a petite young woman standing at 5´3”, about 23 years old, with short black hair and blue eyes. “Hi Nick”, she said. But Nick had no time to lose and just said “Hi Sam, sorry but I´m in a rush, can´t talk right now”.
He checked his watch and it said “9:15”, “Fuck”, Nick thought. Nick worked as the personal assistant of Miss. Williams, she was a CEO of the company and had her office located in the 10th floor of the building. She was in her late 30´s, with long blonde hair accompanied with a thin body, long legs and C cup breasts, she stood at a good 5´11”, making her taller than Maddy, but she always wore two-inch heels, which made her almost 6´1”, just one inch shorter than Nick. He was hopping she wouldn´t mind if he was just a couple minutes late, so he tried to arrive as soon as possible to her office, which was on the third floor, so he rushed thru the stairs rather than going thru the elevator.
Finally, he was in front of Miss. William´s office, he adjusted his tie, which he put on in the cab, and just let out a deep breath before opening the door. One he entered the room he saw Miss. Williams on her desk going thru some papers. “Good morning” Nick said. “Good morning to you” Miss. Williams said, followed by, “May I know why you are 20 minutes late Nicholas?”, “Shit” Nick thought, she only called her by his name when she was about to chide him.
“Sorry Miss. Williams, my alarm didn´t rang and no cab passed by, I..I…” Nick was just making excuses. “Hold on there” Miss Williams said. “What have I told you about calling me Miss. Williams? You can call me Rachel”.
“Sorry…Rachel” Nick replied. “That´s better” Miss. Williams said with a smile, and immediately said: “Listen, I don´t care the reason why you where late, the thing is that it´s the third time this month, and we barely reached the middle of the month today, I wouldn´t like to give you a written warning or submit a report”, “And you won´t need to” Nick rapidly replied. “I…I promise I´ll be on time from now on”. “I´m sure you will Nick, but this will be the last time you arrive late, next time I won´t be so kind”. “There won´t be a next time, I´ll do my best” Nick replied. “Well, that´s the spirit, now it´s time to work Nick, I need you to go thru some papers and send me a report, okey?”. Nick just nodded and went for the boxes where the papers where stored.
The time went by and Nick just kept checking at the papers one by one, working as hard as he could so that Miss. Williams could forget about the incident this morning. He was so focused that he lost track of time, but there was something in his mind that kept bothering him, but he just didn´t know what. It wasn´t something work related, that was for sure, Nick could be lazy and a little clumsy, but he had his work done very well.
As time passed by, he went to his lunch break and grabbed something from the cafeteria, normally Maddy would make him something, but now she was on vacations and he didn´t had time to fix something for himself. He always thought he was very lucky to have a girlfriend who will look for him that much, but he needed to be more independent and today he didn´t prove that since he was late, maybe that´s what´s been bothering him all morning. So he took a club sandwich and a soda and started eating on a random table from the cafeteria.
When his lunch time was over, he went back to Miss. Williams office and started to work again, but he just couldn´t tell what was wrong, he checked his shoes to see if they there the same, he had socks on, no stains on his clothes. He couldn´t tell what was it, until he asked Miss. Williams “Uh…Rachel, what day is today?”, “What´s the matter, do you have an appointment?” Miss. Williams replied. “No, it´s just that, there´s something off”. “Well,” Miss. Williams said “Today it´s Monday, July the 15th”. “Thank you” he said as he thought to himself “FUUUUUCK, today´s my 5th anniversary with Maddy, how could I forgot? What am I gonna do?”. Now Nick had a few time to think on something before he arrived to his apartment and meet his girlfriend, a romantic Dinner, some perfume, a necklace, that´s what crossed Nick´s mind while he was working, he needed to think of something to do and fast, his shift was almost over and he needed to find something before Maddy find out he forgot.
On the other side of town, back to Nick´s apartment. Maddy was busy, she was looking for a loan to buy a car, which they so much needed, taking the bus to work was slow and taking a cab daily was expensive, they needed to get a car so that they could get to their respective jobs easier. A car would be enough since Maddy and Nick worked on the same area of the city, Nick worked on a building that was on the way to where Maddy worked. And since they had to be at work by the same time, they could leave together.
The only thing that bothered Maddy was if Nick would make her late, she didn´t hate Nick or anything like that, she was just a little too conscious about it. She loved Nick more than anything in the world, she didn’t mind he sometimes forget about stuff or that he was a little irresponsible and maybe childish sometimes, she cared for him and enjoyed sharing her life with him, but if they decided to get a car, they needed to take care of it, for her it was easy, but she was worried Nick may forget the keys inside it or forget to lock the doors. The good thing was that Nick was not much of a drinker, so he wouldn´t crash the car coming from a bar, at least.
As the day went by, Maddy wrapped the present she had for Nick, she ordered a framed poster of some Anime Nick watched, she didn´t know what it was about, but she made sure the poster arrived on the same day so that Nick wouldn´t notice it and that it had all of his favorite characters, it was a big poster, and wasn´t very cheap, but it was worth it to see the expression on his face. He really liked this kind of stuff and Maddy always enjoyed how he sometimes jumped with excitement as he saw this type of details from her.
Talking a little more about Maddy, well, she was kind and sweet but she must admit she really was a maternal person, she couldn´t wait to have a child with Nick, but right now they needed to focus on their career and buy a house before they could do so. Maddy wasn´t very happy about it but she decided that it will happen when it was the right time. But she just couldn´t avoid to think about it, “Wouldn´t it be adorable if he was a tiny version of Nick? Oh my god, I can´t wait”. She didn´t fell in love for Nick by his looks, she did because he was not the type of person who tried too hard to impress a woman, he was himself and the fact that he needed a little extra attention from time to time really made her smile, she found it cute.
Nick was finally on his way home still thinking about what to do. What bothered him the most was that Maddy wouldn´t mind if he forgot their anniversary, instead she will smile and hug him saying that there was no problem, that the only thing she wanted was to be with him. Nick always thought he didn´t deserved her, and that she was just too good to be with him. She was the only one who had a stable job, and she put most of the income in their relationship, they paid him very little but he needed this if he wanted to reach higher in life, and also financially.
He asked the cab driver to park in front of a jewelry store so that he could buy Maddy something, he ended up buying a gold-plated necklace with a heart shaped amethyst rock, it wasn´t a diamond but that´s what he could buy with his salary. Then he went in the cab and ordered a pizza from the place where he proposed to her, he could at least remember that. The pizza would be delivered by 6:00 p.m. and they will have a sort of rooftop picnic of their apartment complex where he will give her the necklace. It wasn´t the most romantic dinner for their anniversary, but that´s the best he could think of.
He entered his apartment and was greeted by his girlfriend, who was wearing a yellow dress. They kissed each other on the entrance and after that Nick said: “Happy anniversary”, “Happy anniversary my love, how was your day?” Maddy replied. “It was ok I guess, I mean I arrived late and everything, but Miss. Williams was not very hard on me about it”, said Nick.
“Oh, well, I guess someone needs to go to bed earlier when he has things to do in the morning” Maddy replied with a smile as she gently stroked his hair. “I guess you´re right” Was all Nick managed to say, knowing very well she was right.
“Sooo…are you ready for your gift?” Said Maddy with her hands behind her back and looking at Nick with a big smile. “What, a gift? For me?” said Nick as he pointed to himself with a surprise look on his face. Of course she will buy him something, but he was so stressed about forgetting their anniversary that he forgot to think of it.
“Well yeah dummy, do you really think I wouldn´t give my man something?” said Maddy while raising her eyebrows. “No, well, I guess I didn´t give it that much thought” replied Nick scratching the back of his head. “I´ll be right back” that was the last thing Maddy said before heading to their main room.
When she went back, she was holding a huge thin box in her hands, with a light blue wrapper and a big red ribbon on top. Nick´s eyes just went wide and his mouth fall to the floor. Once he opened it, he saw a huge poster which he had been looking for during months, aside of that it was framed and ready to be hanged on the wall. “Did you like it?” Maddy asked, “I love it honey, thank you thank you thank you” Nick replied as he strongly kissed his girlfriend´s cheek. Which made Maddy really happy to hear.
“Ok now, don´t think I forgot our anniversary, I have a nice dinner planed for the two of us, and to avoid all that traffic and stuff, I planned it to be on the rooftop” said Nick with a big grin making sure to convince her that he had previously planned this and that it was not the first thing he came up to. Maddy really know he was lying about it, whenever started over explaining something or making it look as if he tried to sell the idea, she knew Nick had just planned it, but she didn´t mind, after all, she only wanted to be with him it didn´t matter if it was on a romantic dinner on the Eiffel tower or on their rooftop, so she decided to play along and just smiled to Nick. “Oh that´s so sweet and considerate” she said, “So…what are we eating?”.
Nick told her about the pizza and the reason why, which Maddy found very cute. Once the pizza arrived, they graved their things and went to the roof, it wasn´t a high building, it had 5 floors and a basement to do the laundry. Once they arrived, they ate the pizza and laid back looking at the stars. Nick couldn´t help but to think how much effort she must´ve put and that he only did the first thing he thought will be nice, he felt really guilty, but if she saw he was sad she will get sad too, she was a very empathetic person, and more when it comes about Nick, so he decided to be cool and not talk about it, while he was grabbing the necklace box from his pocket Maddy said: “Look, it´s a shooting star, make a wish, close your eyes and make a wish” saying this she grabbed Nick´s hand and they both closed their eyes.
“Please, I want to be better, I want to actually be what Maddy truly deserves and needs” That was Nick´s wish, something simple, but that´s what he genuinely wished for, not something for him, but for Maddy. Before they both opened their eyes, the shooting star made a quick blink, it turned into a light pink color for a second, and then it continued it turned back to it´s regular color. Maybe no one saw it, maybe they did, but for sure, Nick and Maddy didn´t. When they opened their eyes, Nick gave Maddy the necklace he bought for her and she putted it on, he told her that if he could make enough money, he would´ve bought the moon and the stars just for her, but she didn´t mind, she was not a materialistic person, she cared more about spending time with Nick rather than having all the jewelry in the world, there will be a time when they´ll have money, but right now, all she needed was her Nick and nothing more.
The shooting star seemed to be long gone in the night sky, they decided to pack everything and return to their apartment. Maddy decided that if Nick was supposed to arrive on time to his job tomorrow, then he must be in bed early, 11:00 p.m. will be alright she thought. And so she decided that there will be no anniversary sex today, not unless she wanted him to stay up all night, Nick really liked the foreplay, and Maddy really thought he was very good at it, gentle and sweet, to be honest Nick wasn´t a stud in college, he was rather shy.
Nick couldn´t believe another year went by, he remembered when they where in college and he first saw Maddy, she was gorgeous, she was one of those people who had a certain glow around them that you could actually see, so he decided he wouldn´t talk to her, she will never be friends with a basket case like him. To his surprise, she was the one who gave the first step and ask him out for an ice cream, which actually she made it seem as if he was the one with the idea, she still wanted him to feel as if he was the one who decided it in the first place.
Although Maddy was a sweet person she wasn´t as shy as Nick, she was rather assertive, but in the kind way, she will remind Nick of his shores around the house and what he needed to do or buy, and other times when she wanted to do something she left little clues for Nick to think about it and suggest it. She wasn´t mean or anything, but she knew his boyfriend required a little extra attention, which she didn´t mind, actually she kind of liked it, to have a little power over him.
As she planned, Nick was in bed by 11:00 p.m. sharp. She just talked to him about how important it was that he arrived on time tomorrow so that his boss will notice he was going in the right path. That´s how Nick “decided” to go to bed earlier, needless to say, she had a little smile about his “idea”. She was not the controlling type, rather than that, she just wanted what was good for Nick, and she preferred if it seemed as if he was the one making the choices.
Now they where both asleep, since Maddy was a little tired as well. And by mid-night something happened, as if a bunch of pink sparkles just flashed around them. Nothing seemed different, nut this is where all started.