Stuck: with You

So much for writing again, I write out a quick chapter to get back into the swing of things and it takes me forever to complete the next one. I did take an extended break on this one to write out a story for the Winter Holidays contest and I didn't even finish that on time. So that'll go on the back burner for next year and I'll try to get this damn thing finished.

Since the first Stuck chapter went down a lot better than I expected so I figured I'd add in a little back-story before moving on. While it's not necessary to read Stuck it's probably better than you do. Also this story does take place in the same shared universe as my other stories, specifically it directly follows Somebody That I Used To Know, likewise it's not necessary to read that beforehand but if you'd like some history towards Nicola and her parents give it a read after you're finished here, or beforehand, either or.

Story first, sex second.

*

The story of how Arthur Ross and Nicola McAllister came to be is a little different from what you've been led to believe. Some elements were made-up, most of them were true, Arthur is classed as a 'nerd' by his peers and Nicola is quite the beauty in her own carefree way (she's also a big fan of playing tricks on people). And the pair did indeed meet when they were 13, a day Arthur remembers vividly.

Arthur was helping his father clear the garden, D.I David Ross was enjoying one of the few holidays he got as a police officer and was happy to be spending it with his only son, the pair had a strong relationship made stronger because David had complete trust in his son's judgement.

So when their new neighbours pulled in across the road and David watched his son's eyes glaze over at the sight of their daughter he knew Art had fallen hard and for good reason.

Even at 13 Nicola was beginning to shows the signs of the beauty she would become, she was told frequently she took after her mother but Nicola saw elements of her father in there, particularly her nose, she had his nose no question, his eyes a little as well, for shape if nothing else. And it was with those eyes that she spotted a large, burly man with a smiling face and thick moustache approaching them, a tall, kinda lanky looking boy with glasses behind him. Ever curious Nicola skipped over to greet them.

"Hello there." David put out his large hands for the girl to shake. "Name's David Ross, I live just across the street over there. Welcome to the neighbourhood."

Nicola shook his hand, feeling she'd need both to make even a little impact against his mitts. "Hi, I'm Nicola, but most people just call me Nikki. If you want to talk to my parents my mum should be back out soon for another box, dad's trying to find the stop-cock."

It was at that point Nicola looked to the boy behind David. "And who might you be then?"

"Oh this is my son, Arthur. Christ son, you're 13 will you say hello."

"Hello." Arthur spoke quickly and quietly, trying to avoid eye contact with the bedazzling sight before him, her hazel eyes brimming with the untold happiness she would bring him, her chestnut hair shimmering in the sun, most of all her smile, her smile made him feel safe which, ironically, just made him feel more nervous in fear of getting too comfortable with this girl and embarrassing himself.

Due to her unique heritage, Nicola had matured a lot faster than most girls her age and picked up on Arthur's nervousness around her almost immediately. However she never learned how to stop having fun. Leaning in she spoke to David in a loud whisper.

"I think he fancies me."

As David gave out a hearty chuckle he looked down at his son and realised that there was a deeper shade of red and it was lighting up his son's face like a Christmas tree.

"I think you might be right."

"DAD!"

"Oh hush, if you didn't want us to embarrass you, you shouldn't have made it so obvious."

Nicola couldn't help herself and was laughing with David but her eyes were focussed on Arthur and the look in them told him she wasn't being cruel, she was just playing and it made him feel a little better.

Brought out by the loud laughter from his front garden, Nicola's father emerged at the front door.

"Nicola, who's this?"

Looking into the man's face David was struck by two realisations. Firstly the man was missing an eye, an eye-patch covered his left eye and from the scars around the patch he could see it had been missing for a while.

Secondly, David had met this man before; he remembered the name just as the man joined them on the garden.

"Dad this is our new neighbour David and his son Arthur. Arthur fancies me."

"Does he now? Well he's got good taste, hi there, my name is..."

"Adam McAllister." David interrupted. "I know Mr McAllister, we've met before. I interviewed you at the hospital after your father-in-law took your eye there."

It was then Adam made the connection, seven years ago, in the hospital, two police officers came to talk to him, and David Ross was one of them.

"Well fancy that, my new neighbours a cop and he knows me by name. Now how am I gonna hide all my drugs and bootleg DVDs."

"I've been known to take a bribe or two."

"Would that include a nice scotch?"

"Almost exclusively."

The two men laughed, their friendship sealing almost immediately, Adam gestured for David to come inside with him. "We just arrived yesterday with a few essentials, today is all the rest of our stuff, there's some drink inside if you'd like to join me and my wife."

"I'd love to, thanks."

As he went to head inside David felt a tapping on his arm, he looked down to see Nicola beaming at him. "Sir, is it alright if I play with Arthur in the garden so I can try and teach him to talk."

Once again Arthur did not share the humour his father did.

"Of course pet, and please just David would be fine."

With a courteous nod, Nicola turned back to Arthur while their fathers went inside, she could see the nervous young lad practically shaking with nerves at the prospect of being alone with her.

After a few seconds Nikki came to accept it was her job to break the silence. "Hi."

"Um, hi."

"You been here long?"

"Yeah, I mean no, I mean... it's been a few years at least, dad had to move to a smaller house since he couldn't afford a full family home for just the two of us."

"What happened with your mum?"

"I don't know if I should say, it's kinda personal."

"Trust me Arthur; I'm very good at keeping secrets. I won't tell anyone."

Arthur nerves threatened to shake him to pieces; he's hoped that the personal nature would deter her. The truth was that as much as he loved his mother he was a little ashamed at being a child of divorce, part of him felt like he was missing out of the atypical family life that made for a well-rounded adult. It was just one of those things that added to his already weakened self-confidence.

Part of him knew he should argue more, but looking into the shining hazel doe eyes of this wonderful creature he knew he couldn't.

"She, uh, she and dad divorced, about five years ago now."

"That's not so bad, my brother Kevin went through a divorce with his parents and he's fine. Oh, we have dad in common, he lives in Hawaii with his mother."

"Hawaii? That's pretty far."

"Yeah, it's a long and difficult story, I'll explain another day."

Nicola smoothed out a loose hair behind her ear, her wicked and adventurous mind wondering how to torment Arthur. Not maliciously of course, she teased all of her friends but this shy, unassuming and very smitten young lad was going to make a great playmate. She just needed a plan to stay close to him as much as possible.

"Can I ask what school you go to?"

"Hillpark, why?"

"Well since I've moved house I need to look into a new high school, Hillpark seems like the best choice for me but I need someone to help show me around. Think you can help me out."

"Uh, yeah, yeah sure I can see if the teacher has anyone that can..."

"No Arthur, you misunderstood me, I was asking if YOU could show me around."

All the blood rushed from Arthur's head and he forgot how to speak, he could barely survive a few minutes with Nicola, now she was suggesting spending hours, days together.

"I... I guess I could..."

"Oh thank you Art."

Before he could react, Nicola jumped up and kissed him on the cheek, she could feel the heat of embarrassment and teenage arousal flush through his face but she paid it no mind, she kinda liked how uneasy she made him, it was a nice change of pace from the typical macho culture assholes she'd seen in the Upper years at school.

"I hope you don't mind me calling you that, y'know, Art."

"Not, not at all." No-one had ever called Arthur 'Art' before, hell no-one had given him a nickname before, but out of her mouth it felt right."

"Brilliant, I'll let mum and dad know what's going on. Maybe we could go up together."

With a skip and a jump, Nicola turned back inside her house, leaving Arthur standing slack-jawed and unsure about what to make of this eccentric, beautiful young woman that had bounded into his life.

One thing was for sure, it would never be the same again.

*

When Monday came around Arthur was on edge about having to spend the day with Nicola, in his silent prays he wished for her to stay with him and to leave him alone. Only his best friend Brendan Richards caught onto his emotional troubles as the two of them stood outside the school gates, Brendan smoking one of his dad's stolen cigarettes and Arthur pacing back and forth, not looking his friend in the eye.

"Christ Arthur, what the fuck's up your butt?"

"It's uh, my new neighbours. They have a daughter and she's coming here, today."

"So, what's that got to do with you?"

"She's asked me to show her around and... Brendan I don't think I can."

"Why, is she hot?"

"She's... indescribable."

"Fuck, this chick must be something else if you're busting out big words like that. And if you can't talk to her, maybe I should show her around."

"You go anywhere near her and I'll beat you down."

That was obviously a joke, Arthur wasn't the fighting type and even if he was Brendan could easily take him. He'd forgotten how the two of them became friends but they'd stuck together for nearly a decade now and found their relationship to be mutually beneficial, Brendan was self-confessed 'dumb-muscle', a guy who preferred fighting over anything else even if it affected his school grades, which is where Arthur came in, he helped his friend study and Brendan went out of his way to include Arthur with his popular group, some people grumbled about 'inviting the nerd' until Brendan made sure that that wasn't going to be an issue and once everyone saw how harmless Arthur was they all stopped giving a shit.

Not that Arthur minded, he wasn't a huge fan of the popular crowd but he always respected Brendan for including him and trying to get him into the social circle.

Brendan took a drag of his cigarette as he thought over a theory. "Listen, did you offer to help this chick or did she ask you?"

"I told you, she asked me."

"Then you're golden, this girl comes TO you, she's actively sought out your help so she's making the first move."

"Wait, you think so?"

"Absolutely, if you'd asked her and she said yes it would just be out of being nice, but she went to you personally meaning she wants to spend time with you."

"You don't think she's just asking to be shown around."

"Fuck no, you don't ASK to be shown around, you wait until you get to class and have the teacher assign some unlucky prick to look out for you."

"Speaking of teachers."

Brendan saw the approaching figure and dropped his cigarette on the ground, praying they didn't see him put it out with his shoe, he tried and failed to put on an innocent smile as the teacher stopped in front of the pair.

"Morning Mrs Dawltry."

"Morning Brendan, Arthur."

"Hello Mrs Dawltry."

"Mind if I ask why you two are standing outside instead of in the lunch hall?"

"Oh you know." Brendan looked up at the sky so as not to look at Madison Dawltry's eyes. "It's such a wonderful day out we figured we'd get some fresh air before class."

"Is that so? You forget I know your parents Brendan, I catch you with even a whiff of smoke and I'll call your mother so fast you'll be grounded before the start of class. Understand?"

"Yes Mrs Dawltry."

"Good, now Arthur I want you to report straight to the main office when the bell rings, Mrs McAllister called and explained the situation with her daughter, you'll find her there. Nicola seems very excited to have you as her guide, so don't disappoint her."

Arthur nodded; suddenly the feeling of disappointing Nicola made him uneasy. Madison left the two boys to finish up some paperwork before the bell. Brendan watching her as she left.

"Of all the girls in all the classes in all the schools, my dyke sister had to go and become best friends with my teacher's daughter."

"Hey, watch the language, someone might hear you." Arthur knew that Brendan teased his sister over being a lesbian but it was all fun and games for them, to anyone listening it would've easily come off the wrong way.

"Whatever. So, you're really gonna be a glorified tour guide, good luck to you."

"It won't be that difficult, will it? Christ, I'm 13 years old, I should not be freaking out this much about talking to a girl. I've talked to girls, what is this feeling in my gut that makes this one so difficult?"

"It's called an erection Arthur."

The two of them laughed and headed inside, all the while Arthur worried about what he was going to with Nicola all day.

Suddenly an erection felt like the least of his worries.

*

Arthur went straight to the main office, not entirely sure if he was desperate to get the day over with or just desperate to see Nicola again, he turned the corner and immediately his eyes went to her. The sunlight beaming in through the glass doors seemed to highlight her like wings on an angel, she wore her long hair free, enjoying the mane it gave her, and her permanently fixed smile lit up at the sight of Arthur, she ran over and hugged him before he had the chance to react.

"Art! I'm so glad you're here."

"No, no problem."

"Mrs Dawltry told me what to expect, she was a little surprised that I asked for you but since we're friends I figured who better right?"

"We're friends?"

Nicola giggled, brushing another loose hair behind her ear. "Of course we are silly, I mean we're neighbours so I'm gonna be seeing a whole lot of you, I'd rather we'd be friends if that's the case. You do want to be friends right?"

Art bit his tongue to keep from yelling out that he wanted more than that and simply nodded, his awkwardness amusing Nicola who quickly linked her arm in Arthur's.

"Well then, lead on."

Still deathly nervous but unwilling to tell her to let go, Arthur began his tour, he'd only been at the school a year and wasn't entirely sure about everything, he knew where the gym and the lockers were and the lunch hall, but he'd only seen a handful of the teachers and could only give Nicola a brief description of them, mostly on whether they were nice or rude. Nicola didn't seem to mind, she looked peaceful as she listened to Arthur talk, since everyone was in class Nicola decided to be brave and placed her head on his shoulder, smiling as she felt him tense at the contact.

Nicola enjoyed playing tricks on people, she was a prankster at heart, fun-loving and mischievous but never cruel, she knew she had to tread lightly with Art or risk him mistaking her teasing as malicious. Truth was that she liked him, and liked him enough to consider getting a little closer than just friends, not right now though, they'd only just met and they were far too young to be considering anything, but after seeing the shit her own parents went through, she wasn't one to waste time.

The tour took up most of first period so Arthur took a slow walk up to his next class in the English Department, since he and Nicola were in the same year group she was in the same class and went with him, though she'd since let go of his arm. They stood outside the classroom as the bell rang and the previous class left, once they were sure it was empty they headed inside, finding Mr Stevenson, a kind man, younger than some of the teachers but one of the friendliest as well, setting up for Arthur's class.

"Mr. Stevenson, this is Nicola McAllister, she's joining us today."

"Ah yes, I was told about her, good to meet you Nicola."

"You too Mr Stevenson. Art was just telling me about your class as we came up, a lot of good things you'll be pleased to hear."

"Oh really, 'ART'."

Mr Stevenson was one of the friendlier teachers and enjoyed a good joke with the students, he smiled as he watched Arthur's face turned bright red and look away at the mocking of his new pet name.

"Well I'm glad to hear that and I hope you enjoy the class Nicola."

"So do I, thank you."

The class started to arrive so Arthur found his seat near the back corner of the room while Nicola stayed at the front with Mr Stevenson to introduce her to the class, her eyes kept darting over to Arthur, smiling sweetly at him. It was subtle enough for most of the class to miss it, except for Brendan who saw the slight but noticeable grin on his face and sussed it was for the new girl.

Arthur didn't even notice Brendan hadn't taken his regular seat beside him until he'd already sat down at the desk in front and snapped his fingers to break him out of his trance.

"Huh, what?"

"Hello, Earth to Arthur. You making eyes at the new girl?"

"Her name's Nicola, I told you about her."

"Told him about who?"

Brendan's cousin Megan sat down next to Brendan, wondering what the conversation was about, and why Brendan wasn't sitting next to Arthur.

"Arthur's got a crush on the new girl." Brendan said pointing at the front of the class.

"Brendan." Arthur tried to hide away from the embarrassment his friends were putting him in.

Megan turned to look at where Brendan was pointing. "Who? Her?"

"Yeah, the one giggling at us."

"Brendan please."

"Aww, I think she's laughing at poor Arthur. How'd you manage to talk to her already?"

Arthur didn't look up as he answered Megan. "She's my new neighbour. We met before and now she's having me tour her around the school."

"Wait, so SHE asked you?"

"Yeah, why?"

A small smile crept onto Megan's face, showing she had come to the same conclusion Brendan had. "Nothing, just thinking."

Arthur knew from experience that he didn't like it when Megan was thinking; she was a smart girl, too smart for her own good. She shared her cousin's tendency to talk without thinking and when she teamed up with Brendan they were a nasty pair to be around. He'd been privileged several times to watch Brendan's sister Heather take them down a peg or two when their plotting got out of hand.

Before he could say anything, class had started and Mr Stevenson was introducing Nicola.

"Good morning everyone, now before we get started I'd like to introduce Nicola, she'll be joining us this year."

"Hi."

"If you'd like to take a seat anywhere we can begin."

Nicola made a point of looking around the room, her eyes going off some of the jock type guys who made it clear they wanted her to sit next to them. But her choice was already made, and when she spotted the empty chair next to Arthur, she made a beeline straight for it.

Brendan leaned back as Nicola got closer. "That's why I left your spot open, thank me later."

Arthur realised that he could in fact get even redder than he imagined as Nicola sat herself next to him, her arm gently grazing his as she did.

"Hello again Art."

"H...Hi."

"Art? Oh my god that is too funny. Hi, I'm Megan, this is my cousin Brendan."