"Excuse me for a second, I just have to use the ladies room." I got up and walked away from Valarie and I's table, shuffling through the drunken New Yorkers who've already become regulars at this bar. I opened the door to the street and looked both ways, and directly to my right was Nicky, with her back against the brick wall, taking a drag of her cigarette. My stomach sank, feeling like poison just spurted out from my insides, burning and chewing through itself. Nicky looked in my direction, and her face was just blank. Not that I could ever see what she was thinking anyways, but the look in her eyes was just plain, empty space.
"Nicky-"
We started the conversation at the same time, and her words overpowered mine.
"Well this is awkward, huh? Thought the whole avoiding game was going pretty smoothly." Her eyebrows were tightened and her eyes squinted, like it was causing her physical pain to talk.
"I don't want you to avoid me. I just want to talk to you, please."
"Go for it." She slurred a bit, and it looked as if that brick wall was the only thing keeping her on her feet.
"Jeez, Nick are you okay? Are you drunk?" I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to get a better look at her eyes.
"Can I saya secret? Yes." She wasn't talking right, and I could only imagine how many drinks she's had.
"Who are you here with?"
"Eh," She dragged her cigarette in between her words, "Not anyone important. Myself. No worries though, no worries."
Her eyes were beginning to close and her hand dropped to her side with the cigarette between her fingers.
"I gotta get you back Nick, come on let's go."
"What makes you think I wanna leave? I'm just good. I'm good."
"Just trust me,"
"Trust you? Like actually trust you?" She wasn't being her usual drunk self, and she seemed to find away to go against everything I said.
"I'm going to get you home, just please let me get you somewhere where I know you'll be safe. Here, let's smoke a butt and walk." I spoke sweetly, hoping to convince her.
She stumbled off the wall and we started down the sidewalk, I held onto her so she wouldn't run into the wrong person, and we smoked, and walked, and it felt all too familiar. I sent Val a text as we were walking
(Lorna)
Val- sorry. I ran into a friend who needs my help. I'll pay you back at work, I'm sorry. Gotta deal with this.
I locked my phone, not caring about a text back. What's important is straggling aside of me, chain smoking and swearing about people walking in her way.
We reached our apartments and I offered her to stay at my place.
"Hey, sleep at my place so I can keep an eye on you."
She said nothing, and we headed into my apartment and I lead her to the bedroom.
"What the fuck, Morello." She collapsed on my bed and I covered her and put a water on the bedside table.
"Go to sleep. We'll talk tomorrow." I closed my bedroom door and fell asleep on my couch, just so I made it clear I didn't want to take advantage of her and complicate things.
I woke to the sounds of Nicky throwing up in my bathroom. I walked in and rubbed her back as she kneeled into my toilet. "What the fuck, Morello." She moaned into the toilet, funny how drunk Nicky's words said same thing as next-morning-hungover Nicky.
When she finished puking she sickly waddled back into my bedroom and laid back in my bed. "You feelin' okay now?"
"I just wanna know what the fuck happened. Should I be thanking you right now?" Her voice was extremely broken, more raspy than usual.
"I saw you really drunk outside the bar last night and I wanted to make sure you were safe. I care about you, Nicky. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." I sat on my bed next to her and waited for her response. Her eyes were closed against one of my pillows and her hand was on her head, trying to stop the throbbing.
"Let's save this conversation for later, please. I just really need to not do this right now." She felt around for me, and once her fingers grasped my t-shirt she pulled me down next to her, and we slept through the next hours of the morning.
Once we awoke, I felt so incredible. It was the same feeling I had the first night I met Nicky, everything was good. Nicky tossed next to me, waking up from the sense of me being awake next to her.
"I knew this shit was gonna happen sooner or later." She spoke softly into the pillow, and her mood seemed to have brightened a ton. It was happy Nicky, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"You're the one that said there's no gettin' rid of ya! Rememba that?" I said as her sleepy eyes met mine, still resting on the side of the pillow.
"My words always come back to bite me." She laughed and I gave her a playful nudge on the arm.
"Fuck, Morello. What the hell is wrong with us?"
"So much. But I love it."
"My clothes smell like cigarettes and booze, and they're making me wanna gag again."
I got up out of bed and opened my dresser drawer to her bra and sweatpants, "Just when I thought these were gonna be mine for good. Look familiar?" I tossed them to her and she smiled.
"Shit, I forgot all about these. I know the sweatpants are mine, but the bra? The fucks up with that?"
"When you tried to fight Christopher you were bra-less. You left it in the bed, and I was so mad because it kept reminding me of you." I giggled.
She laughed and put her newly reunited sweatpants and bra on, all in front of me. Her hair was a mess, and her makeup run down as usual after her reckless nights, but I missed it so much. I watched her undress and redress, her body was still so intriguing, her legs were the best I had ever seen and all though it was only her backside, I still couldn't stop my eyes from locking onto her.
It was almost noon, and I was on the work schedule for 1pm today. I explained to Nick that Christopher was gone, and that I had gotten a new job and she told me about what she's been up to the past two weeks, which consisted of lots of writing, reading and drinking.
"You're workin' at that urgent care center? No fuckin' way! I used to go there all the time in college! Alcohol poisoning, ear infections, broken toes, you name it. I was a fucked up kid, I tell ya." Our conversations branched out and it was like nothing had ever happened. I think we were both ready to forget and move on to better things. We couldn't avoid each other forever, and that's for sure.
Eventually I got ready for work and Nicky headed back to her apartment.
"I'm gonna go sleep the rest of this hangover off. I still feel like shit. Come see me after work, yeah?"
I told her I would be walking through her door around 9 tonight. "No drinking tonight, troublemaker."
When I got to work I had explained to Valarie that the girl who doesn't own a hairbrush was my best friend and that she had a little too much and needed to get home. I didn't care what she thought of Nicky, because in my eyes I see nothing but beauty. I would take the girl who drinks too much and chain smokes in her salvation army blazers any day, and I plan to do so for as long as the City is my home.
Author notes
Alright, so I don't even know how this story has blossomed to what it's become. I hope you're all enjoying it and it means so much to me that people are actually reading it. I hope this chapter didn't suck too bad, or was too predictable, considering I wrote this on literally an hour of sleep. I keep telling myself to hear Lorna's voice in my head, so if some of her dialogue seems a bit off I sincerely apologize. Suggestions and reviews are lovely and I appreciate all of you who have to no measure. :) Hot stuff soon to come. Thank you all again!
