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Nicky has been unbearable. It’s been three weeks since Erik went back to Germany and Nicky is still moping around, one wedding dress away from giving Miss Havisham a run for her money in the overly-dramatic-forlorn department.
The Foxes are over it. It was bad enough watching Nicky and Erik gush all over each other for a week, but the dramatic sighs, wistful gazing out windows, and constant loop of sad love songs at the dorm has to stop. (Who knew Sarah McLachlan had so many songs? Because the Foxes now know.)
Not to mention the constant Erik and I did this or that comments. ‘Erik and I had coffee there...’ (“Well yeah, it’s the only coffee shop on campus” Matt had reminded him.) Or, the more frequent ‘Erik and I did it on *insert pretty much every flat surface in Fox tower and in the locker room...’ which always earned a groan from everyone.
But mostly Nicky just wasn’t acting like Nicky anymore. He was dulled around the edges. His usual warmth and boisterousness noticeably lacking from the Foxes’ practices and weekly get togethers. His bubbly encouragement replaced with an increasingly apathetic demeanor.
“He’s making me nostalgic for the Nest” Kevin griped after their last group dinner. Nicky opted to go back to the dorm while everyone else went to the common room.
“What the fuck, Kevin?” Dan snapped at him.
“I get what you mean” Neil chimed in.
“Oh for fuck’s sake! Neil, don’t you dare...” Dan started as Aaron piled on.
“I would take medicated Andrew over this.”
“Oh my god, what is wrong with all of you?” Dan groaned, putting her head in her hands.
“Well,” Renee said, “maybe there is something we can do for him. Something to help remind him of the good times he has even when Erik is away.”
Matt nodded, “I think that’s great plan. Any ideas for what we could do?”
“What about a spa day?” Allison suggests, but she’s shot down quickly after trying to convince everyone that a $250 seaweed wrap facial and stone massage is supposedly a good deal.
“How about we go to a professional Exy match?” Kevin tries. “Detroit is playing...” but he’s cut off by a barrage of no’s and an empty soda can being thrown at him.
“Fucking Junkie,” Andrew says under his breath to Neil. He’s standing beside him and noticeably disappointed Kevin’s Exy idea was squashed. Andrew notices his expression shift from disappointment to enthusiasm.
“We could make him a mixed tape” Neil offers.
The whole room goes silent, all of the Foxes staring at him. Andrew’s glare feels like it could bore a hole through cement and Neil’s face flushes a little. “What?”
“Okay, well, first things first, Grandpa Josten, who the hell listens to tapes?” Allison snickers.
“Yeah, and is this a middle school crush we are trying win over?” Matt says, failing to stifle his laughter.
“I didn’t think it was that bad of an idea” Neil mumbles, slumping his shoulders.
“It’s not” Renee encourages. “I think with a little finessing, this could work. Like, instead of a tape, we could make a playlist.”
“Yeah, we can each pick songs that remind of us of Nicky!” Dan adds enthusiastically. “Ones that we know will cheer him up.”
Twenty minutes later, Dan and Renee have begrudgingly gotten the other foxes to agree. They even have a few songs picked out and have a plan to sneak the playlist onto his phone as a surprise.
Neil is more than a little pleased his idea was picked and he spends an hour the next day bothering Andrew by singing lyrics off key in an attempt to get Andrew to name the song titles he can’t remember. He only relents when Andrew pushes him up against a wall and finds a better use for his mouth.
After all of the Foxes have picked their songs, Andrew swipes Nicky’s phone and lets Matt add their playlist before Nicky and Andrew head to Columbia for the weekend. Matt has figured out a way to change the titles on each song to just the name of the Fox who picked it so Nicky will know who choose each song, but won’t know what song it is until it’s playing. Nicky is thrilled when Neil tells him about it and Andrew is less thrilled when Nicky insists he has to listen to it over the car stereo and not his headphones.
Nicky is smiling a little wider with every song that comes on. Abby’s choice of ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ earns a chuckle as Nicky remembers singing it, rather loudly and over dramatically, to her as she wrapped up his broken finger after an excessively violent match.
Neil’s pick baffles Nicky for a minute. Rosenstolz’s ‘Sex im Hotel’. A 90s German pop song that Nicky knows, but he isn’t sure why Neil picked it or how he’s even heard of it. He looks at Andrew who clues him in. “You were constantly humming this whenever you saw Neil after he started at Palmetto.” Nicky’s cheeks turn red. He forgot he did that before he found out Neil understood German.
“Well, you have to admit his Mund der ist zu süß Um ungeküsst zu sein” he laughs. Andrew jerks the wheel so hard the car swerves into the next lane and Nicky has to brace his hands on the dashboard. “Okay, okay. Sorry.” And he sulks a little in his seat, but regains his enthusiasm by the time Kevin’s song comes on. He recounts how he could only convince Kevin to do karaoke if he could change all the lyrics of ‘SexyBack’ to ExyBack. The bar hated it and Kevin can’t sing to save his life, but Nicky loved it and Kevin didn’t make him delete the video he took.
“Oh, the next one is yours Andrew!” At the opening beats Nicky’s mouth splits into a shit eating grin. ‘Shoop’ by Salt-N-Pepa blares through the speakers.
“Uh, here I go, here I go, here I go againGirls, what's my weakness? Men!” Nicky practically screams along before breaking into his first genuine laugh in weeks.
“Andrew! I can’t believe you picked this song! You hate this song. Why would you put it on here?”
Andrew doesnt respond. Nicky knows damn well the only reason Andrew has ever heard this song is because Nicky played it at least once a night when they all worked at Eden’s. Twice if it was slow and the DJ could be bribed with a free shot. Nicky would dance around, singing loudly, bothering the regulars, and going out of his way to perform for the entire 4 minutes and 9 seconds of the song.
Andrew is pretty sure Nicky doesn’t remember the first time he did it though. That first memory blurred and merged into all the other renditions that followed. But Andrew remembers: It was the twins’ first shift at Eden’s. Nicky was on edge that night, upset that the twins needed to work and he couldn’t just provide what they needed himself. Aaron was nervous, feeling itchy about being around more than a few customers (and a fair amount of his coworkers) casually trading pills and cash.
Nicky tried to stay close, but he was working a section on the opposite side of the dance floor. He would check in with the twins when he could break away from his tables. He was relieved Andrew seemed to fall effortlessly into bussing tables and wasn’t terrifying too many of the customers. If anything, his scowl made it easier for him to make his way through the crowds. Even the drunkest patrons picked up on his I-will-stab-you-if-you-don’t-move energy and hurriedly moved aside.
But Aaron was still tense and jumpy washing glasses behind the bar. He had already broken four glasses and Nicky was starting to worry Roland wouldn’t keep him on the staff at this rate. As much as he wished the twins didn’t need to be here, they needed the money and working at the same place simplified the logistics of sharing one car.
Nicky didn’t know what to do. He knew he couldn’t magically fix anything, but he knew he could at least make it fun. So on a whim he grabbed a beer bottle as a make shift microphone and started to sing along to the song playing. And that song, to Andrew’s dismay, was ‘Shoop’.
At first, both the twins rolled their eyes at Nicky, but the customers were loving it and egging him on. On the second verse Nicky could make out a faint smile on Aaron’s face and that was all the encouragement he needed to pull out all the stops.
By the time Nicky is on top of a table dancing and singing, Aaron is laughing fully. And when Nicky pulls Roland up to dance with him (almost causing both of them to fall on their faces), Aaron is laughing so hard he almost breaks another glass. And so it began. Nicky’s personal mission to out perform himself every time this song came on to make their shift a little more bearable.
Nicky whoops as he jumps into the chorus, pulling Andrew back into the present.
“Shoop shoop ba-doop, Shoop ba-doop...”
Andrew looks at him and rolls his eyes. He looks back out at the road and lets out an exasperated sigh.
And then...
“Um, you're packed and you're stacked 'specially in the back
Brother, wanna thank your mother for a butt like that’
Andrew.
Singing.
Andrew is singing.
Well, technically Andrew is rapping.
“Can I get some fries with that shake-shake booty...’
And he’s good. He knows every lyric and matches the rhythm and cadence and inflection of every word. He even throws in a few well timed hand gestures for emphasis, eyes never leaving the road.
“Come and give me some of that yum-yum
Chocolate chip, honey dip, can I get a scoop?
Baby, take a ride in my coupe, you make me wanna”
Nicky’s jaw is hanging open and he doesn’t even realize they’ve pulled up to the house until the car is stopped and Andrew kills the engine, and subsequently the radio, before the chorus starts again. Andrew pointedly avoids looking at a wide eyed Nicky. When Nicky finally finds his voice he asks “Why?”
Andrew keeps his gaze out the windshield, but replies after a minute, slightly annoyed as if the answer had been written on the dashboard right in front of them the entire trip.
“You like the song. It reminds me of you. That was the whole point of the playlist” Andrew deadpans.
“That’s not what I meant...” Nicky starts but Andrew cuts him off.
“Someone who constantly tries to show others that they can be happy, no matter how misguided their efforts might be, shouldn’t be so surprised when others do the same for them.”
Nicky looks like his heart is about to burst through his chest. He’s beaming and his eyes are on the verge of tears. He contemplates hugging Andrew and quickly decides against it. He considers saying ‘thank you’, but he knows Andrew isn’t looking for acknowledgment. He is still trying to form a response when he hears the latch of Andrew’s door click open. Nicky expects him to get out, but Andrew turns back to him.
“Also,” Andrew says flatly, but Nicky can make out a slight smirk to his lips, “No one will ever believe you.”