With that, I walk back inside Le Chateau D’If, on a hunt for my new friend. Once inside, she proves easy to find. She’s leaning against the bar, looking absolutely insane as she continues to drink from a giant pitcher of Oreo milkshake, her eyes following me as I approach her.
“Interesting choice of friends you’ve got there, Nickayla,” she says, setting the blender down.
I grimace.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “He’s not normally like this. He’s had a rough--”
“Day?”
“No. Brody’s had a rough LIFE. And then, to top it all off, the only girl he’s ever loved slipped right through his fingers last summer,” I tell her.
She sighs and closes her eyes for a long time.
“So you’re saying I should forgive him for calling me a bitch?” she asks.
I laugh. “Well, to be fair, you doused him with water and called him pathetic.” She cocks an eyebrow, and I take a deep breath. “I’m not saying you have to forgive him. Nor does he have to forgive you. But, when he returns to apologize--and he will--just...go a little easy on him. Please? The last thing he needs is another girl he thinks hates him.”
She nods, and wordlessly gets up and retreats into the kitchen. I make my way into the locker room to gather my things, and when I make it back outside, Colin is leaning against his car, his arms folded over his chest, button down shirt wide open and revealing a snug white t-shirt, and a carefree grin on his face.
“Well, hello there, pretty girl,” he says as I approach him. When I’m in front of him, his arms come uncrossed and he draws me in for an intimate kiss. “I missed you.”
I grin and attempt to pull away from him to get in the car, but he grabs the belt loop of my pants and drags me forward lightly. “Babe, Brody’s gonna see us!”
Laughing, Colin shakes his head and points toward the backseat. “He’s been knocked out since he toppled in there. We’re all good.”
Smiling, I wrap my arms around Colin’s neck and, lacing my fingers in the unruly hair at the back of his head, I continue what he started.
Six.
Today has been one of those days.
One of those days where everything that can go wrong, does.
It started with an alarm that decided not to go off this morning, then escalated when my hair decided not to cooperate with my straightener, then Colin and I encountered traffic on the way to school, then I had technical difficulties with my Power Point presentation for AP English, and now, I’m sitting in my Senior Planning Board period staring dead at Belinda Moreno.
Every word that she says sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and every time she glances at me with that fake smile plastered across her face makes me want to throat punch her.
“Nickayla, breathe.” Colin’s voice breaks through my ever-growing irritation at her presence, and his hand slips below the desk we’re sharing to rest on my knee. “She’s not even that bad.”
I turn and glare at him. Immediately he sees that my irritation has projected from Belinda over to him, and his expression turns apologetic.
I could say that I don’t know why the mere sight of Belinda makes my blood boil, but I do. I know all too well. She had sex with Brody, devoted her life to making Michie’s miserable, and then, when Colin and I had our first fight as a couple, she didn’t waste any time trying to get her grimy paws on him.
Ever since my mental health has gotten better—thanks to therapy once a week, support group bi-monthly, and the addition of anti-anxiety medications—I’ve sworn off my fighting ways. And for the most part, I’ve been able to keep my temper in check around the people who piss me off. But Belinda makes me want to throw my meds down the drain.
“Nickayla, why don’t you tell us what you and the rest of the prom committee have come up with for senior prom?” Mrs. McDowell says, looking up from her desk to set her sights on me.
I shake my head and glance pointedly at Belinda, who immediately goes red even before she hears what I have to say. “With all due respect to you, Mrs. McDowell, but I don’t feel comfortable sharing classified information with someone who’s not actually on the board.”
The teacher sighs and looks up at the clock on the wall.
It’s about five minutes before the bell is set to ring, so I know she’s not willing to start a debate over my stance when school is going to be dismissed for the day soon. She gathers all the papers on her desk and asks for the day’s minutes from Kaylie Montag before sighing at me. “Very well then. That’ll be the first thing we discuss tomorrow.”
I nod and begin packing up my things when a text message rings on my cell phone. I pluck it out of my pocket and press the lock button. When I see that there’s one text from Nikky and one text from Sarah, I open it their texts up.
Sarah Clay: Can you meet me in the hallway ASAP? Emergency :(
Nikky Quinn: Need to talk to you.
I peer over at Colin who’s looking at his phone. I wonder idly if Nikkolas and Sarah have contacted him as well.
When the bell rings, Colin grabs my hand and he leads me out of the door without looking backward at anyone else. We make our way through the seemingly endless swarms of people. Standing right in front of my locker is a very frazzled looking Sarah, and my twin brother is nowhere to be found.
“Hey, Sarah. What’s going on?” I ask.
“Emmy’s sick. Nikkolas and I are working, my mom’s out of town, and my brother won’t answer his phone! I even called your parents and they can’t take her. And my boss wouldn’t let me take the evening off. Can you get her from day care and keep her for the night? Please? I can pay you—”
“Sarah, it’s fine. Give Colin your key so he can stop by the house and pick up some of her things. I’ll go get her from day care. Breathe, okay?”
She nods, and her demeanor seems to calm a bit. I wrap her in a hug, and I wait patiently while she pulls her house keys out of her purse and hands them to Colin. “The gold one’s for the outside door and the silver one’s for the inside door. Her clothes are in the big closet in my room. Also she won’t go to sleep without her stuffed bunny that Nickayla gave her for her baptism. Make sure you grab that. Thank you guys so much!”
“Don’t worry about it.” I give Colin a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you at the house, babe. I just love you.”
“I just love you,” he replies.
Racing to my car, I climb inside and take a deep breath. All that I can hope is that my day truly gets better after this.
…
I picked Emerson up from day care an hour ago, and then stopped by our local Walgreens to pick up medicine for her and dinner for Colin and I before heading to the apartment. Now, I’m carrying her in my arms, her clammy hands clinging to my neck.
I settle my four year old niece on my hip and stick my key inside the lock. Using my foot, I kick the door open after I turn the doorknob. Colin rushes over to me and grabs Emerson, giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head. I smile when I see how much he adores my niece.
I’m about to tell him what I got for him from Little Sicily when the door to the bathroom squeaks open, and the bottle red hair I’ve dreaded seeing in person comes flouncing out, a cheesy Madilyn following right behind it.
“Nickayla!” she exclaims with a grin. “Hi!”
My head snaps in Colin’s direction and he gives me an apologetic smile. I turn back to Madilyn and realize her lip is split and she’s got a black eye. I don’t even want to know what happened. Mostly I want to know why she’s in our apartment. Colin shrugs, and then walks toward my girl cave. Without speaking to Madilyn, I rush after my boyfriend and close the door to my girl cave behind me.
“What the actual fuck is she doing here?” I inquire.
“She had a fight with her boyfriend. He put his hands on her,” Colin says, placing Emerson in her bed—one that we bought for her for when she spent weekends with us.
I nod, and my heart rate is accelerating with every second. “I can see that. Stevie
Wonder could see that. But that still doesn’t answer my question. What’s she doing here? Doesn’t she have parents in Big Springs? What about her sister? Why did she have to come out here when she had a fight with her boyfriend?”
Colin shakes his head, and lowers his voice as he leads me toward the door. “She’s my friend.”
Groaning, I narrow my eyes at him. “Interesting choice of friends you’ve got there.”
I know he knows why I’m pissed about her being here. Last summer while we were in his hometown, Michie and I ran into Madilyn. She made some comments about Colin and I, and when her comments escalated to her making a slur about my race, we got into a physical altercation and haven’t spoken since. The fact that she said what she said to me means that she could someday say the same thing to my little sister, my nieces and nephew, my mother…and that’s completely unacceptable.
Colin gazes at me wordlessly. He’s not speaking, but his expression speaks volumes. He wants me to get over it so he can help her, because he’s genuinely concerned for her.
I’m sad and upset about the fact that her boyfriend hit her, because no man should ever lay his hands on a woman, but I still don’t want her in our apartment.
“Colin, I want her out of here. I want her out of our home.”
I wrench the door open and storm out, making a beeline for our bedroom.
I can hear Colin’s footsteps behind me, but I completely ignore his presence as I reach into my top drawer for some relaxing clothes to put on.
“Nickayla, she has nowhere else to go!” Colin exclaims, closing the door to our bedroom, leaving Mads out in the living room.
I’m livid. I’ve had a difficult enough day already. Between trying to help plan prom, babysitting my sick niece, and then coming home to find Madilyn fucking Spencer sitting in my living room, I’m at my breaking point. I feel physically and emotionally exhausted. It’s too much for one day, and I feel like I’m seriously about to blow.
“Oh, really?” I ask. “I’ve got a few ideas.”
“Okay, shoot,” Colin says.
I stare at him like he has two heads. I march around the bedroom, kicking off my shoes and tugging my jeans off as I try to make him see sense.
“I dunno, Colin. Hell, perhaps?” I say. “A homeless shelter? Or the best idea I’ve got—wait for it—back to Raleigh where she came from?!” I pause, pulling on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. “Seriously, what kind of sense does it make that she had a fight with her boyfriend, so she hopped on a plane for a trip that was TWO THOUSAND MILES AWAY and came to see you? I don’t like it one bit.”
“Nickayla,” he says, his eyes pleading with me.
I want to like Mads, for Colin’s sake. But there’s something totally wrong about her and I can’t put my finger on it.
“Babe, I don’t like it,” I say, taking off my shirt, standing in the middle of our bedroom with my hands on my hips, wearing only a bra and pajama pants. “And while I’m being honest, I don’t like her. I don’t like her, or her annoyingly high-pitched voice, or her fucking Prada bag—which, what seventeen year old really needs a Prada bag?!—or her fake red hair, or the fact that she acted like she cared about you and then cheated on you, or the fact that she pretended to like me to get in your good graces, or the fact that she pretty much keeps taking advantage of you and you keep letting her!”
Colin stares at me for a moment, trying to fight off a smile. Me? I’m trying to fight the urge to smack that smug smile off of his face.
“What?!” I exclaim, irritated that he’s still smirking at me.
“I just find it hard to argue with you when you’re standing there with your shirt off,” he says. “You’re incredibly sexy.”
He walks over to me, running his hands along my stomach, kissing me on the neck. Involuntarily, I let a moan escape, and I try to keep myself under control. He has a habit of trying to distract me when I’m mad at him, and so far, he’s doing a spectacular job of it.
“Don’t change the subject,” I murmur, trying to fight him off but that’s proving unsuccessful. “I don’t want her here.”
He kisses me on the lips softly, placing a hand at the small of my back. “Okay, sweetie,” he says, conceding. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
His hands roam up my back, leaving goosebumps in his wake. I place my hands on his forearms, trying to pull away, but his lips are too inviting. I have to get one more taste before I let go.
“For starters, you can stop trying to distract me,” I say, pouting. “I can’t think straight with your hands all over my body.”
“Noted,” he says, as he pushes me lightly so that I’m sitting on the bed. He kneels in front of me, kissing my throat, then leaving a trail of kisses from my neck all the way down to my abdomen. “Next?”
I close my eyes, trying to get my thoughts together. They’re severely scrambled.
“You can get her a hotel room,” I say. “I give you permission to dip into our Spring Break fund and get her a hotel room—and not a nice one. If she wants to stay at a nice hotel, she can pawn her Prada bag and pay for it herself. I really don’t care, as long as that bitch is out of our house.”
For a long time, we’ve been saving to go to Florida for Spring Break. We’ve got about fifteen hundred dollars saved up, and even though I don’t want a red cent of it spent on Madilyn Spencer, I’d rather it be spent on a hotel room for her than have to wake up to that fake ass smile for however long she’s planning on staying.
He chuckles, shaking his head as he continues his slow torture of my body. I place my hands in his hair, wanting to kiss him, wanting to touch him, wanting him as close to me as possible.
“You’re so cute when you’re mad,” he says. He kisses me softly on the lips, then stands up hastily, walking away from me. “I’ll go take care of it. I promise.”
I groan, still yearning for more of his touch. He walks out the bedroom door, and I’m happy that I’ve won the argument for the time being.
I want to be the super-evolved girlfriend, and not be jealous of his ex-girlfriend, but it’s hard when I’m the only one who can see right through her. I know that she came to Colin for a reason, and I’m going to find out what that reason is.
I stand up, grabbing one of my tank tops from the dresser and tugging it on. I take my hair out of its ponytail, brushing it out so that I can wear it down. I’m just about to remove my makeup when I hear the sound of glass breaking.
I pull on my slippers, then race out to the living room to see what all the commotion is.
When I step out there, Colin is a frozen statue in the middle of the living room, and Madilyn’s hand is resting on his shoulder. There’s broken glass at his feet, and his cell phone drops from his hand. I watch in horror as he walks forward, his eyes glassy as they search blindly for me.
I stumble slightly, finding my way to the couch. He falls to his knees, wrapping his arms around my waist, burying his face in my lap. I place my hands in his hair, soothing him, even though I don’t know what’s going on. I cradle his head, feeling his entire body rock with tremors. My eyes flash to Mads, and she shrugs, though her expression matches precisely what I’m feeling: worry.
“Colin,” I whisper. “Babe, what’s going on?”
He doesn’t lift his head, but I can tell that he’s crying. His shoulders shake violently and I wrap my arms around him and scoot slowly off the couch so that I’m level with him as he continues to break down. Tears form in my own eyes, because it’s been almost a year since I last saw him this upset.
Actually, no. I’ve never seen him this upset. And that fact alone breaks my heart.
“Babe.” I’m pleading with him now, because I honestly need to know what’s going on. He’s scaring me, and I don’t know how to help him. He’s so silent, and so is Mads, and all that we can hear is the sound of his cries as his head nestles against my shoulder. I rest my chin against his shoulder and squeeze him, gasping when I feel him clutch my shirt from behind like he�
�s holding on to it for dear life. “Babe. Tell me what’s happening. Please.”
“That was Susanna on the phone,” he says, his voice muffled by sobs and my shirt. “My dad died of a heart attack this afternoon.”
Seven.
It’s been a week since we got news of Colin’s father passing, and today, we get to attend his funeral.
Susanna has moved back in with us temporarily, because she told us she couldn’t handle being at her parents’ house without Colin there with her. They’ve been each other’s rock, and me…well, I’ve been holding them both up as well as I can. It’s amazing watching my boyfriend support his sister. He’ll lie in the bed in my girl cave with her until she falls asleep, and once he’s certain that she’s knocked out, he climbs in bed with me and lets all that he’s been feeling throughout the day break free.
I’ve been so concerned with Colin and Suze’s well-being that I haven’t been able to focus on the fact that Madilyn is still here and has been sleeping on our couch.
Mr. Westwick’s funeral is about half an hour away, and Colin’s finishing up getting dressed before we have to leave. I’ve no idea how he’s going to take today, but I’ll be there for him no matter what.
He walks into our bedroom, struggling with his tie. His hands are shaking a little bit, and I wonder if that’s why. “Babe, come here. Let me help.”
I’m still in my bra and underwear, and all I have to do is put my dress on. I walk over to him, I reach for his tie and I fix it for him. I look up at him and see that he’s due for a haircut sometime soon. I extend my hand and smooth his hair down before giving him a small smile.
“There. Perfect.”
He kisses my forehead and whispers, “Thanks.”
“Any time, babe.”
I walk over to the closet where my navy blue dress hangs.
Mrs. Westwick requested that no one wear black to the funeral, which I don’t understand, really. But either way, we’re respecting her wishes.
I unzip my dress and step into it. Once I’ve got it secured, I grab my hair in one hand and pull it to the side. “Colin, will you zip me up, please?”
Almost Everything (Nickayla Quinn Trilogy Book 2) Page 6