And if you fall I'll pick you up, pick you up

“…So what else is there I have fun doing? Hmm… have you ever played tennis before?” Vivian asked, holding up another finger. It felt like she’d been talking for hours coming up with different hobbies and interests they could do together.

“I’ve never played,” Nick admitted. “I’m not one for sports. Plus, tennis is kind of like golf. You’ve gotta have access to somewhere to play, and I’m not exactly the country club type.”

“No, but with me you would be!” Vivian pointed out. “Not that it really matters, we have tennis courts on my family’s estate. I can teach you, if you like!”

Nick laughed. “Let’s stick to horseback riding lessons for now, okay?”

“Sure, sure,” Vivian nodded. “Though now that you mention it, golf? You seemed to have some fun playing with Sylvia on your date together from what I hear.”

Nick shook his head. “Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there. That wasn’t golf. That was mini golf. A completely different thing.”

Vivian shrugged. “Walk around, hit a ball into a hole, go to the next one, sounds pretty much the same to me.”

“I can’t believe you’re the one saying that,” Nick replied, shaking his head. “You’re the one who brought it up in the first place!”

Vivian snorted. “What, you think I’m a golfer? Walking around in those ugly shorts, with those tacky hats? Come on, you know me better than that. Polo shirts, though? Yeah, I could rock those.”

She blinked. “…Oh, and polo how about that?! You ever played… wait, no, what am I saying, of course not.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “But once you’re good enough on a horse, maybe we can get in a game or two!”

Vivian turned and looked out over the water wistfully. “That’ll probably be a long time after we leave this island though, I’d bet.”

Nick nodded. He had barely learned to ride, but doing a sport on horseback? That seemed a long way off.

Still, seeing how happy Vivian was… it got to him.

“What about sailing?” Vivian turned back to Nick, her eyes shining with inspiration after her glance at the lake. “I don’t mean cruising around on a yacht to be clear, I’m talking about a proper sailboat. What do you think?”

“Again, could be fun,” Nick agreed. “I’ve been on boats before, at least.”

“Then it’s a date! In fact, I wonder if Dakota would let us borrow one for next time…” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Ah well. No use thinking about it now.”

“You sure? We’ve got plenty of time left today, if you wanted to…” Nick still wasn’t sure what Vivian’s date plan for the day entailed. She sure seemed to be taking things easy, even her main idea seemed to just be to sit back and enjoy herself. Not that he had a problem with that, of course.”

“I’m not an impulsive person,” Vivian lied. “Most of the time, anyway. If we’re going to have a sailing date, it’s not going to be a spur-of-the-moment thing. I want to bring my best material for you. And it doesn’t have to be just us, either! We could invite a few girls along, make a whole day out of it.”

Then a look of concern crossed her face and she pulled back, studying Nick closely. Her look was so appraising he started to get a bit uncomfortable.

“What? What is it?” He asked, shifting awkwardly in place. “Something on my face?”

Vivian shook her head. “Just something that occurred to me. About our conversation this morning, about you getting a little more structure in your harem.”

Nick tensed, not sure if he liked the direction of this conversation. “What about it?” He asked cautiously.

Vivian frowned. “Well, you’ve got a lot of women who are into you, Nick. In the contest alone, there’s 12 of ‘em, including me.”

“Dani doesn’t count,” Nick reminded her.

“But Marley does,” she countered. “And don’t forget Mary, and that little gremlin who’s always drooling over you, Holly. And of course, I’ve just gotta bring Octavia if we head out on a voyage!”

She shook her head, even more firmly. “No, it wouldn’t do to invite everybody. It’d get pretty crowded on there!”

“True,” Nick admitted with a nod. “So what were you imagining?”

“Well, instead of just the two of us, or inviting everyone, why don’t you make a list?” Vivian suggested. “Invite a handful of girls out with you and make a day out of it. Then next time you’re doing some group thing, you invite some of the ones who didn’t get an invitation last time? It’s a simple matter of efficiency! Instead of making sure every girl is invited to everything, you split up the groups and spend time in smaller batches. That way, you can still make sure nobody is receiving preferential treatment, and at the same time, you get to spend more time individually with each girl. I noticed at the beach party, you were getting pulled in so many directions it wasn’t even funny. This way, everybody would get a little more Nick time! What do you think? Pretty stellar idea, I’d say!”

Nick had to admit, he was a little impressed. “That’s not a bad idea,” he agreed. “But it might be a hard sell for some of the girls.” He could already imagine Rose coming up with half a dozen reasons why she deserved to be invited on all the outings. “And we still wouldn’t want to not include Dani, even if it’s ostensibly a ‘romantic’ date. She would still feel a little isolated at not getting to hang out with her friends, don’t you think?”

Vivian beamed at him. “That’s what makes you such a good guy, Nick. You’re always thinking about everyone’s needs!”

Nick blushed. “W-well, it’s the obvious thing to do,” he replied.

“It’s a sign of a good boss, a good manager,” Vivian continued. “Consulting with all the girls and getting them onboard with an idea. I’m sure if you brought it up, they’d just be jumping with excitement about it!”

Nick could smell when he was being played. “Sneaky of you,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Acting like it’s already a done deal. Before I agree to consider your proposition, though, I’ve gotta ask, who’s going to be drawing up these shifts, hmm? Are you expecting it’ll be you?”

Vivian twisted her mouth into a shocked “O” shape and held her hand over her heart. “Why, what kind of girl do you take me for?” She asked, sounding hurt and scandalized. “I never!”

Nick just gave her an exasperated look until she started cracking up.

“I’d be good at it,” she replied. “Just saying. I kind of manage people for a living, you know.”

“Amelia manages people for a living,” Nick replied. “You run a company where you dictate decisions from the top down. It’s a little different.”

“Fair, fair,” Vivian agreed with a couple thoughtful nods. “Still, I think I could probably be nice and fair.”

Nick shook his head. Even if he was willing to go along with Vivian’s idea, he wasn’t going to hand over control so easily.

“Vivian, while I appreciate your interest, and I don’t doubt you’d be good at making things fair for everyone, I think you need to slow down,” he advised. “You still don’t know the other girls nearly well enough to be making decisions for them. That’s why I think it’ll be better if you left me in charge for now, alright?”

Vivian blinked, and looked a little stunned. But she didn’t disagree. “Okay then,” she relented. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ve been a little too overbearing. But can you blame me? I’m trying to put my best foot forward and make my presence known! And in the business world, you don’t get anywhere just sitting on your thumbs. You have to take opportunity by the reins like a horse, and gently guide it to where you both want to go!”

“Yeah, it’s the ‘gently guide it’ part,” Nick replied. “I get that you wanted to make an impact, on me and everybody else, but… if you’re too blunt and overbearing about it, you’re going to drive people away instead of ingratiate yourself to them. I think you’re trying to rush to the end a little too fast here, Vivian.”

Vivian frowned. “Is that what you heard from Kim?” She asked.

Nick shook his head. “This isn’t about her.”

“Then who is it about?” Her expression was adamant. “If someone’s not happy with me, then let me talk to them! I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding I can clear up without any trouble!”

She still wasn’t getting it.

“Vivian, listen, it’s not that I think anybody has a problem specifically with you, or anything you’ve done,” Nick said. “But just because they aren’t upset with you, that isn’t the same thing as being a close friend. If you want to get close to people instead of them just tolerating being around you and enjoying your company, you’ve got to be a little more…”

It was hard to come up with the words. So Nick tried to explain it a different way.

“…A little more like you have been today, with me.”

Vivian looked surprised again. That was twice in five minutes, which was unusual for her.

“Like how I’ve been today? What do you mean?” She asked. “I haven’t really done anything different, this is how I always am around people.”

“Yes, but it’s different, I can’t really explain it,” Nick sighed, scratching his head. “I guess, what I’m trying to say is, Vivian, you’ve been great today. Helping me with the horses, giving me advice about my relationship with Mary, you haven’t tried to push any boundaries, or tease me too hard, or make me feel uncomfortable. It’s like, normally with you, I’m a little on edge since you’ve got such a sharp tongue, but today… I feel comfortable, like we can just talk. And be genuine and serious, you know what I mean?”

He hoped he was explaining himself in a way she could understand. And she looked at him thoughtfully, like she was considering his side of things.

“…Perhaps I could lighten up a little,” she agreed. “I’ve been going at it so directly since, well, we’re all going to be spending the rest of our lives together, right? So no sense in putting on airs and acting all stuffy. But maybe I should give everybody some room to breathe and get to know me better, you’re right.”

Vivian was acting the way she would when she was placed in a new environment, and that was to twist the environment and the people around her to center on her, for the sake of her business interests, since that was usually what those situations were about.

But this was different. This was about making friends. It couldn’t and shouldn’t be all about her, obviously.

“…Save the jokes and teasing for when I’m already close to them, I can do that,” Vivian agreed. She almost sounded disappointed, much to Nick’s concern.

“Is everything alright?” He asked gently.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine, it’s fine,” she said, but she was shaking her head as she did. “It’s fine…”

“Vivian?”

She straightened up and turned to him, a slight smile straining against her lips.

“I just thought, all the girls and I… I thought we already were friends, you know?” She said softly. “That’s why I was teasing ‘em so much. But after what happened with Kim, and now you telling me all this, I guess…”

She sighed in disappointment. “…I guess that was just wishful thinking, huh?”

“You’ve got to give this time,” Nick said. “You should have seen the hostility I faced from some of the girls, when we were all brought here.”

Not to mention the strange hostility he was still getting from Cinder.

Vivian nodded. She seemed to cheer up a little after hearing about Nick’s own concerns.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “What am I worried about? Now, where were we? Talking about sailing, I think?”

Nick shook his head. “We were discussing our hobbies,” he replied. “To see what common interests we could share for future dates. And I think it was my turn.”

“Well, fire away,” Vivian said, slapping her chest. “I’m open to just about anything! …Within reason, of course.”

Nick was keen to test that statement.

“What are your thoughts on video games?” He asked. “I like ‘em quite a bit.”

She deflated slightly. “…Figures,” she said.

“What?” He felt a little defensive. “Don’t look at me like that!”

“Hmm? I wasn’t looking at you like anything, honest!” Vivian protested, shaking her head.

“Yeah you were!” Nick said firmly. “I know all about that look, that’s the ‘oh, look, this nerd likes video games instead of doing real things with his life’ look. I’ve gotten it dozens of times from women before, you know!”

Vivian shook her head. “Honest, Nick, there’s no look.”

“Then why did you say ‘figures’ huh?” Nick demanded. He didn’t even like video games all that much, if he was being honest, but he wasn’t about to be looked down on by Vivian for the things he was interested in.

“I just said that, because it makes sense, you know?” Vivian held up her hands. “It’s not a bad thing to like video games! But you’re an introvert, so it just kind of makes sense that you’d like things where you could be alone with your thoughts. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, I really didn’t mean to come off like I was judging you, Nick.”

She looked into his eyes, and he could feel the sincerity in her gaze.

“…I believe you,” Nick said.

Vivian sighed in relief. “Good… I’d hate for you to think I was one of those girls, the kind who makes fun of people’s hobbies.”

Nick shrugged. “I mean, you kind of did. Video games aren’t just for introverts, you know. Lots of outgoing and ordinary people like video games! Just because you don’t…”

“Well, wait, I mean, I didn’t say I don’t like them,” Vivian replied, cutting him off before he could finish his thought. “I just never played them before. Not really my thing, you know? I’ve always had other things in my life that mattered more.”

“Right, like polo and sailing.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Vivian chuckled and shook her head. “Video games, they just weren’t my thing. It always felt like a hollow experience, you know? Why play a video game when you could go do the real thing in real life?”

“You can shoot aliens from a space ship in real life?” Nick’s eyes widened. “Wow, the rich really do live entirely different lives from us…”

“Shut up, you know what I’m talking about!” Vivian laughed, lightly socking him in the arm.

Nick shook his head. “No, honestly, I don’t think I do. Video games have expanded quite a bit. And unless you’ve lived in a bubble this whole time, I think you know that.”

Vivian wasn’t some isolated loner. She had a massive social media following and ran a successful business, while being the sole heiress to one of the largest noble houses in Europe.

If she was saying that stuff about video games, her ignorance had to be willful.

“How about this?” Nick proposed. “Tonight, I’ll find a video game for us to play together, one I’m sure you’ll like. Will you do that? At least humor me that much, before you decide that video games aren’t serious.”

“I didn’t say they weren’t serious,” Vivian replied, getting a little indignant at how much Nick was misrepresenting her position, even though she was inadvertently misrepresenting video games herself. “Just that they’re not my style.”

“Give it a chance,” Nick urged her.

She still looked uncertain. And that made Nick curious. He expected Vivian to go right ahead and take him up on his offer, but looking at her now… maybe there was a deeper reason why she wasn’t interested in-

“Okay, you’ve got a deal,” she said with a grin.

Right, of course, a deeper reason for not liking video games? That’s just dumb.

“Good, then it’s a deal,” Nick said.

Vivian held out her hand. “Shake on it? Verbal contracts aren’t that binding, I’m afraid.”

Nick raised his eyebrow. “And a handshake is?”

“Afraid to shake hands with a girl?” Vivian teased him out of nowhere. The utter juvenile nature of her taunt nearly knocked Nick into the lake. But he rolled his eyes and accepted her handshake all the same.

“Good, we’ve got a date then,” Vivian said firmly. Then she patted her stomach. “You know something? I’m getting a little hungry actually.”

Nick perked up. “You are?” He glanced over at the horses. “Maybe we should head back, then. It’s almost lunchtime.”

Vivian shook her head. “No, no need for that. I’ve got it covered!”

She clapped her hands. Nick stared at her in confusion, when all of a sudden he saw a flash of red and some movement out of the corner of his eye.

A few seconds later, a bright red faerie appeared next to them, holding a brown paper bag that was even larger than she was. To Nick’s eyes it seemed like her wings were straining to keep her small body in the air, but any discomfort she had didn’t show on her face.

“Here is your takeout order!” The faerie said cheerfully, gently dropping the fast food bag down on the grass between the two of them before flying off.

Nick’s eyes widened in surprise. “You… you ordered fast food?” He asked, looking up at the heiress. Vivian laughed and began to unwrap the bag.

“What, you have a problem with cheeseburgers?” She asked, unwrapping one. “Wasn’t what you were saying at the beach party.”

Nick shook his head. “No, I just… I don’t know, you’re rich.”

He had been expecting a picnic by the lake, something to help ease things into a casual and more intimate atmosphere. That was the kind of game he expected from Vivian. But she sure knew how to throw him for a loop.

Who delivers fast food to a lake for a picnic?! Rich people, I guess.

“Mm, delicious,” Vivian groaned, wiping the juice from her lips with a napkin as she set her burger down in the wrapped. “You know, Nick, you really have a lot to learn. Us rich folk, we’re ordinary people in our own way. Even billionaires love a good greasy bite of McDonalds every now and then, don’t you yanks pay attention to your own politicians?”

Nick shot her a scathing look.

“What?” Vivian held up her hands. “Not like I coulda voted for him. This is an American issue and you know it. Now, have some chips?”

She offered him the red container.

“You mean french fries?” Nick asked, accepting a few of the greasy, salt-drenched potato sticks.

“Mmng,” Vivian shook her head, taking another bite. “You know, for some reason, we don’t call ‘em that. We hate giving the French credit for anything, you know how it is. Old grudges and the like.”

“That sounds incredibly childish.”

“Don’t it just?” She laughed and took a bite of her french fry. “Still, whatever you call ‘em, they sure are delicious.”

Nick had to smirk at that. She definitely had a point. “You’re not wrong there,” he agreed.

It was an odd lunch, cheeseburgers and french fries by the lake, but it was the kind of surprising move that helped him see just how casual and at-ease Vivian could be, when she wanted to.

Nick found that he was enjoying this date a lot more than he’d expected this morning.