Nico Cross is not a gentleman. In his universe of tattoos and fighting, chivalry is in fact dead. Killed, murdered, and buried 6 feet underground.

Instead of knocking at my door once he pulled into my driveway, he honked his car horn. Which was fine the first time, but when he did it again before I could even get down the stairs, I flipped him off through the window.

Thankfully, only Rio was home. And he was playing videogames, so he probably couldn't even hear through his headphones.

I stepped outside, surprised by the occasional wind. Maybe wearing a dress wasn't the smartest thing.

As soon as I got into the car, he muttered, "Finally."

"I don't have superpowers. I move at a regular speed."

He put his hand behind my seat as he turned around while he reversed out of the driveway. I bit my lip and fought back the butterflies that filled my stomach.

He drove down the road, the streetlamps sending a dim light onto us when we would drive under them.

The deal is, if Nico likes where we go, he has to get icecream with me.

If not, he gets to punch me.

"I've been warming up my arm all morning, Elle," he replied, making me gulp. Something tells me he isn't being serious, but I still shiver at the thought.

I nodded confidently, "You'll love it."

"We'll see."

I heard his phone buzz in his pocket, but he didn't move or acknowledge it. It buzzed again, and he had the same reaction, until it buzzed for the third time.

"Can you grab the wheel for a sec?" he asked, but before he could even give me a chance to reply, he removed his hands from the wheel.

I quickly leaned across the seat and grabbed the wheel while he lifted himself up in the seat to grab his phone from his back pocket. I moved the wheel as I told him, "You should've given me more warning!"

"You're fine," he muttered, not even looking up from his phone.

If I weren't driving, I would've rolled my eyes. He typed on his phone while I moved the steering wheel, and I wanted to ask who he was texting, but I knew that fell into the category of stuff I couldn't ask.

Once we were downtown, he parked his car on the side of the road. I tried my best to hide my impressed expression since he had just parallel parked with ease.

We stepped out into the night, and he walked around and met me on the sidewalk.

Nico walked on the side of the sidewalk closer to the road as we walked. I was guiding him towards where we were going, and he followed me without complaining. As of right now.

"I saw your little brother looking at me through his window," he spoke up, and my hand I fought a battle to not slap my forehead.

"He likes your tattoos," I told him. "He wants you to give him one."

"Isn't he 17?"

I kept quiet. He nudged my arm, "Elle?"

"Yes, but it's okay. I won't tell the cops if you won't," I held my hand out for him to shake, but he left it hanging.

My hand slapped against my thigh as I lowered it. He spoke quietly, "I'll think about it."

That, paired with the fact that we were now where I wanted us to go, made a smile form on my face.

He rolled his eyes, "You're fucking with me."

"Trust me, I could if I wanted to," my eyes widened realizing what else that could mean. "Forget that I said that, come on. It'll be fun."

"This shit is meant for kids," he muttered.

I disagreed, "No, it isn't. Just give it a try!"

I grabbed onto his wrist and dragged him in with me, to nothing other than an indoor park. There were slides, a ball pit, and a rock-climbing wall. I had always wanted to come here, but never had anybody to go with.

We bought passed before entering, and Nico glared at the children running around as if they were spawns of Satan.

"Okay, where do you want to start?" I asked him.

I watched his green eyes scan around the building. A small smirk formed on his face as he pointed and said, "That."

I turned and looked at what he was looking at. I rubbed my forehead while whispering, "Jesus Christ."

He grabbed my hand, pulled it away from my forehead, and started dragging me toward it. My legs struggled to keep up with him, nearly eating shit ten different times during the 30-second walk.

We stood on the beam above the foam pit, and the worker came over to hand us the foam paddles we were supposed to use to hit each other. We both held them in front of us, and I tried to intimidate him, "I'm not gonna go easy on you, Nico."

"Me either," he matched my tone of voice. "Better watch that pretty face of yours."

I paused.

Did he just call me pretty?

The foam paddle hits my leg, nearly making me fall over. I regain my balance and hit him back, but he didn't move at all. Our paddles hit each other as we fought to knock the other person off.

We started trying to push each other off while our paddles pressed against each others, and my socks were making me slide back.

I stopped pushing my paddle against his, and hit him on his chest. I hit him again when he didn't hit me back, and then I hit him in the leg.

I watched as he fell into the foam pit, and I smiled brightly, even though I knew that he let me do that. He stood up in the pit, his head and shoulders becoming visible as he looked up at me.

"Ha-ha," I teased, making him roll his green eyes.

I hopped down into the foam pit before we both hauled ourselves out. We stood up to our full heights, and I looked at him with a smile, "So? What do you think?"

He didn't reply for a second.

"It was good enough to go and get some ice cream."

I could jump up and down from excitement.

Before leaving, I told him we had to go down the slide. He complained and said no, but I told him if he didn't I'd pop his tires.

So he went down the slide with me.

I ran into a kid at the end as I did so, making their little body stumble back until they landed on their butt. I swore to myself as the kid started crying, but Nico chuckling behind me made me hit his chest.

I dragged him out after that before the kids' mom could yell at us, and now we were walking back to his car.

The night was alive. Dozens of people were out, taking advantage of it being the perfect temperature for a summer night.

A shoulder from a stranger walking from the opposite direction bumped into mine, making me stumble back while they walked on.

"Fucking watch yourself," Nico spat at the stranger whille grabbing my waist and pulling me behind him, which also stopped me from falling.

The guy looked him up and down, "Or what?"

"Or else you're gonna be sucking your dentists' dick for some free veneers," Nico spoke, his voice smooth and cold.

I blinked. Maybe I would do that.

Actually, I don't think I would. I think my jaw would get tired.

The guy rolled his eyes, and continued walking away from us. I thought that would be the end of it, but after walking for a while the guy turned around and yelled, "You seem like all talk, man. Nothing to back it up."

My eyes widened hearing Nico yell the address of his tattoo parlor to the guy in response.

He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me away with him, but my mouth still hung open from what he had just said.

Once we were a good distance away, I asked, "Why did you do that?!"

"Do what?" he asked casually.

I spoke in a 'duh' tone, "Tell him the address of where you work. Why are you just okay with doing that?"

"Cause I wish a motherfucker would."

He really has no fears.

"Until they show up with freaking guns, what are your muscles gonna do against a gun?"

A faint smirk formed on his face, "So you think I'm muscular?"

Of course. If he had ended up punching me, I would be dead right now with no teeth. Maybe that would make it easier to get those veneers from my dentist.

A gush of wind came, blowing my hair behind me and making my dress start to go up. Nico quickly pulled me behind him to block me from accidentally showing my ass to people, and I used my hands to hold my dress down.

Once it was down, unable to be moved by the wind, he stopped blocking me. We walked towards his car, and I only had one question.

What flavor of ice cream does he like?

-----------

Peanut butter ice cream. That's what Nico likes.

Which isn't bad, I'd put it in my top 10 probably. But not 5.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" he asked me.

I shook my head, "Nothing."

I put a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. This is my first time coming here with somebody that wasn't my brothers, and I could see the worker winking at me, as if she were happy for me.

"My flavor is better than yours," he said, making me freeze.

"Cookie dough is better than peanut butter."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

I wiped my spoon against Nicos' hand, and before I could even laugh, he took my plastic spoon and snapped it in half.

"Hey!" I complained. My eyes were already narrowed, but they narrowed even further seeing that Nico was smiling at what he had just done.

To get even, I reached and grabbed his spoon out of his ice cream, licking the spoon clean since I knew he wouldn't want to use it after I did.

I did a smirk to myself as I put the spoon in my ice cream, and he didn't grab it.

Instead, he poked his finger in the ice cream. His hand reached across the table and wiped it against my nose, the cold ice cream not sitting on the tip of my nose.

My jaw dropped while he smirked at me.

I was annoyed that he put ice cream on my nose, but the worst part was,

He dipped his finger in my ice cream.

"Elle?" a familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned my torso in my chair, a smile spreading across my face seeing Winter standing behind me.

"Hi!" I stood up from my chair, reaching my arms out to hug her.

She hugged me back, and the smell of her honey and vanilla perfume filled my nose. She asked me while we pulled away from the hug, "You wanna come to the bathroom with me and wash that...."

She pointed her finger to the ice cream that sat on my nose. I laugh slightly once I heard her laugh, and I nodded my head. I turned around to look at Nico, "Don't make a break for it while I'm gone."

"No promises," he shrugged, but the content look on his face made me feel like he wouldn't.

Winter linked her arm with mine as we headed for the pink-painted bathroom door. I pressed my palms against it, swinging it open while it creaked on its hinges. I walked over to the sink, pulling some brown paper towels out before putting a pump of white soap on it.

"Is that your boyfriend?" she asked me.

While wiping the ice cream off of the tip of my nose, I answered her, "Depends on if you have a knife."

She looked at me with a 'what the fuck?' face. I smiled and told her, "No. We're just friends."

"Makes sense," she nodded. "You two seem like you hate each other, though."

I shook my head, "We don't. Not really."

My response made me pause for a second. I didn't hate him anymore, that I was sure of. But as I thought about it, butterflies filled in my stomach.

I couldn't be starting to like Nico. That's ridiculous. He barely tolerates me, and I'm well aware that he's out of my league.

But even though I tell myself that I'm not starting to feel anything towards him,

My heart still lifts in my chest knowing that he's out there waiting for me.

I tossed the paper towel into the garbage. I leaned my butt against the counter as I turned around to look at her, "Are you here with Melina again?"

"No. I don't think she's a very good friend," she shrugged, but she didn't seem too upset about it.

"Maybe I could take her place," I smiled sweetly.

She pulled her phone out of her black bag, and handed her phone to me. She told me, "Put your number in my phone."

Oh my gosh. She wants to be friends with me.

I typed it in before handing it back to her. We exited together, and before walking over to her table, she smiled, "I'll text you soon, Elle."

I carried my smile with me over to Nico, who stood up to his full height once he saw me. He said, "I'll drop you off at home now. I've got something to go out and do in a bit."

I nodded, ready to end the night on a good note.

While we walked down the steps of the ice cream shop, Nico held onto my elbow, as if he thought I would fall if he didn't. He released it once we were on the sidewalk, and I told him, "I wasn't going to fall."

"You probably were. You're the most fucking clumsy person I've ever met."

"I fell from a vent and was fine," I shrugged.

His eyebrows lowered and his hand raised slightly in the air, "Cause I fucking caught you. If I wouldn't have, you would've broken a bone."

"I think I would've been fine. I'm built different."

We got to his car and opened our car doors at the same time. Before getting in, he nearly whispered, "You sure are different."

During the drive, I hummed along to the radio. I was expecting Nico to tell me to stop and be quiet. But to my surprise, he didn't.

He pulled into my driveway, and I felt a little disappointed that it was over. He doesn't train me anymore, so who knows the next time I'll see him.

As if he could read my thoughts, he spoke up, "I'll start training you again."

"Really?"

"Mhm. Be there at 2 tomorrow."

I nodded, fighting back the smirk that wanted to form, knowing I was going to show up at 2:01 just to make him a little angry.

"Goodnight, Nico," I smiled at him.

I got out of the car, shutting the door behind me. I stopped and turned around, hearing his car door open and close. He was now beside me, walking me to my front door.

CPR has been done on chivalry; it's alive again.

I smiled while he walked me to my front door, stopping once our feet stepped onto the doormat. I turned the handle quietly, taking a step into my house.

As I shut the door, he whispered, "Goodnight, Elle."