I bit my cheek.

It stung, horribly, and I began hopping around in my kitchen as I waved my hands about.

"Oh, God! Ow!" I shouted, and leaned against the counter. "I've never bitten my cheek that hard!"

Rian laughed at my demise. He picked another strawberry from the little plastic container, and chewed slowly.

"More importantly, it takes my cheeks, like, three weeks to heal fully," I continued complaining, "So now I'm stuck a gimp-cheek."

Rian snorted and almost collapsed to the floor, but held himself up on the edge of the counter. He was laughing so hard he almost choked on his strawberry. This caused a chuckle from me, and I shook my head.

After a few minutes, Rian had gathered himself; and he said, "I'm going out for a run in a little bit, so..."

"Okay?" I cocked my head. "I'll be here. I guess."

I departed for my bedroom.

On my bedside table was my cell. I had been fighting the urge to call Nikki. To text her. Or, to be the first to do so.

She had texted me twice in the past four days. That was a good sign, I had thought to myself. Never did I think I would find myself in the situation where I was too nervous to talk to a girl.

I was at a conflict with myself.

Did I call her? Make plans for her to come down before either of us had to tour again?

Or did I let her be?

The anticipation was fucking horrible. I needed to talk to her, right then and there. I needed to just...hear her voice.

So I picked up my phone, searched up her contact, and pressed, "Call."

It was a solid three and a half very long dial tone rings before she had picked up.

"Hey, Alex!" she had sounded giddy. I loved that about her voice. That you didn't have to see her to know the exact emotion in her words. She was expressive in just about every way.

"Hey," I smiled to myself, "I need to know if you want to come to Baltimore..." I trailed off. I wasn't really sure if I had succeeded in asking the question in a friendly way, rather than in a stalker/creep way. I was honestly scared out of my mind.

"Of course! When?"

I shit my pants. Figuratively speaking.

"Oh, um," I looked up behind me at the kitten calendar I had hung up just before Warped had begun.

Tour didn't begin for a while. I was in the clear for a few weeks of Nikki.

"Anytime. Until September, that's when we gotta hit the road."

"Okay, yeah. Yeah. I can fly down whenever you need me to."

"Friday?" The day I had called was a Tuesday. Just a few days without the woman I was so intrigued by. Just a few days until I could really see who she was.

"I don't care. Buy my tickets."

I did. I bought her tickets.