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to. “Heads or tails?”
    “Heads.”
    His eyes widen and turn dark. Did I say something wrong? “Alright so when I toss the coin if it lands on heads then I get to ask you anything and if it lands on tails you get to ask me something.”
    Why do I feel like this is going to be a dangerous game? “And you’re gonna be honest?”
    “Will you be honest?” I nod. “Then I’ll be honest too.”
    Nicholas flips the coin and of course…Heads.
    “I’ll go easy on you. Did you and Neil date?”
    I nod. “We met at UNC my sophomore year and dated, but we broke up. It was mutual. We both will always love each other, but not in that way. He’s my best friend.”
    Seeming satisfied with my answer I flip the quarter. Heads. What the fuck?
    “How’d you and Alexis meet and why are you living here in Wilmington?”
    “Rude,” I huff. “She was my mentor while I was student teaching. We spent a lot of time together and she helped me with a lot. I told her I didn’t wanna go back to Boston, and the schools I applied to in Chapel Hill weren’t working out so Alexis said to move here and she’ll help me.”
    “That’s Alexis for you. She’s always helping people and making sure they’re happy. You’re lucky to have someone like her in your life. Honestly, putting the fact that she’s my sister aside, she’s the best person I know.”
    “Agree. I don’t have a lot of friends; just Neil and Alexis.”
    Nicholas puts his hand on his heart leaning back with a frown on his face. “What about me?”
    “What about you?” I laugh, throwing a pillow at his face. “We just met and right now you’re on my annoying list for waking me up!” I grab the quarter from the table. “My turn to flip! Somehow you’re cheating.” This causes him to let out a full blown laugh.
    I flip the coin and yet again it’s heads! “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter.
    “So since I’m on your annoying list maybe my next question will put me on your shit list and I’m okay with that.” He pauses and I’m scared. “How many guys have you slept with?”
    Keep your cool Erikson. He wants to get a rise out of you. Don’t show him! For the love of everything good and pretty don’t do it! “None. I’m a proud virgin.”
    Nicholas doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even look at me! Is it such a bad thing to be a virgin?
    He flips the coin again and thank God it lands on tails.
    “Why are you really back in Wilmington?”
    “When Emma was just born Jamie walked out on us. It put me in a dark place. I almost lost her.” He pauses looking at his hands, “When she was one I packed up everything and we went to California to get Jamie back. She didn’t wanna see us at first, but, after a while we tried being a family. Jamie and I tried making it work. We were in love for so long before but our story’s over. So she landed a new job and so did I.” He pauses again and I know there’s more to the story that he’s not sharing. I put my hand on his and smile. “After Jamie and dating a few other women I stopped. Nothing else mattered except Emma.”
    “I’m really sorry about you and Jamie.” My heart breaks listening to his story. I can’t believe a mother would walk out on her child. How can you do that? I’m not the one to judge, but I’m judging Jamie pretty hard. Flashes of my own mother come to mind. Even though she didn’t protect me from my dad she still tried to give me everything. Maybe Jamie thought that leaving would be best. Sometimes people make the wrong decisions, but in their mind it’s the right thing to do. That’s the crazy thing about life . You have to make mistakes in order to realize the mistakes help you learn, before making things right .
    “Thanks,” he squeezes my hand and my face turns bright red. Oh damn . We sit in silence for a few minutes. It’s not uncomfortable, but when I look at Nicholas it seems as though he’s in his own world. There’s something on his mind, but he’s not