Running with Scissors

Chapter 6

Paul stood at his bedroom window.  As the road he lived on stood at right angles to Nicola’s street the back of his house gave a perfect view of the front of hers. He could see the light on in her bedroom.  He knew she was in there.  He had seen her come home last night.

He had been so angry with her at the beginning of the week.  He had asked her nicely to come round and stop avoiding him.  But had she?  No! 

At first he had thought she was doing it on purpose.  He had tried to phone her for days, never knowing what he wanted to say but wanting desperately to hear her voice.  At first she would answer and then hang up but for the past week her phone would ring out with no response.

Gradually he had calmed down and come to his senses.  She wouldn’t do this to him deliberately.  He had explained how much he missed her.  Something important must have happened and she had been forced to go away for a while.  It was Christmas after all; everybody’s routine was a little messed up at this time of year.

She was home now.  Whatever had caused her absence was obviously over.  He had seen her being dropped off by a guy in jeans and a scruffy t-shirt.  He had seen her with him before.  The similarity in their looks led him to the conclusion that must be the cousin she had mentioned to him during one of their conversation.  What had she said the guys name was?  Paul couldn’t remember.  At the time it had seemed an unimportant detail but now he wondered whether he had been mistaken.  She spent far too much time with him, and they seemed unnaturally close.

In fact, now that he gave it some thought it occurred to him that it was probably down to the cousin that Nicola had stopped answering his calls. He remembered trying to call her on Christmas Day and seeing the other man at her window blatantly holding her phone.  Who did he think he was?  But these thoughts were starting to make him angry again.  He forced his mind away from the cousin and back to Nicola.

She had looked so happy and relaxed when she arrived back.

So why had she still not come round to see him?

He was so deep in thought about how she had looked the day before that he almost missed her as she stepped out of her front door.  He turned away from the window and darted from the room.  If he was quick maybe he could catch her before she disappeared again.

As Nicky turned the corner she saw Paul walking towards her.  He looked a little out of breathe.  He smiled at her.

“Oh, hi.  You haven’t seen Scott about have you?”  Nicky looked at him in surprise.  She didn’t know what she had expected him to say, but that wasn’t it.  Regaining her composure she shook her head.

“He said he’d be here an hour ago, but… Well you know,” he shrugged his shoulders, “he’s not exactly reliable.”  He was still smiling at her.  Nicky forced herself to smile back.

“So, how have you been?  Did you have a good Christmas?”

“Yes thanks.” She nodded.  “You?”

“I thought you might have been round sometime.”  Nicky felt her smile slip. Was he going to get weird again?