I say that'd be something you'd have to work out between you and Nick.
Through my experience, I just say that I'm going to hang out with a good friend of mine whenever I've wanted to hang out with a gay friend or a boyfriend.
If your mother wants to know every detail about your friends, then let 'em know about everything but his sexuality as well as your relationship with him (if, of course, you do pursue a relationship)
I will say that I honestly thing that if you and Nick do work out and start dating.. and want the relationship to last a really long time.. I say you should plan to be open about yourself to your parents sometime in the future (however you decide to do so), because hiding a relationship is probably REALLY hard to do from what I can guess.
I wish you the best of luck, though, ethan. =) You've got more luck than I do.
Your story suddenly reminds me, once again, about this guy that a friend of mine knows. He knows he's gay, but he's not openly gay at all. I once told him a while ago to introduce me and so far, no luck in that.. He says he's tried, but the guy doesn't really know if he's ready to be open about it and whatnot, and even said he's not sure if he can believe that I myself am gay xP
I really wanna meet this guy. I've helped some people become open before, and I wanna try and help this guy out. Even if I can't do that much, I'd love to at least make another friend, and finally have a gay friend that lives near me. Who knows, maybe me and him could eventually develop ^_^
Here's hoping.