It didn’t take much to forgive Sam. Only three days had passed since he had screwed up Nick’s face and he had me letting him drive me to school today. But I still made him stay in the car while I went upstairs to drop off Ren. I didn’t think the two should even be in the same city but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
It was the first time I had seen him since Sam knocked his face in, and I instantly felt my heart shatter. His black eye seemed to just have started healing, and it was an odd purple and red color. His sad green eyes strained to hide any pain left with him. There was a welt still remaining on his cheek on the opposite side of his face. I had to admit that he looked awful, and I had this tugging urge to reach out and hug him. But the conscious part of me knew the extreme consequences there would be if I did. Instead, I released Ren to do the hugging for him.
His face lit up with Ren in his arms.
I was about to turn leave when Nick stopped me and said, “Hey come inside. I’ll make you coffee.” I couldn’t resist free coffee, so I reluctantly walked inside.
Nick let Ren loose so she could go play while I hopped up on his kitchen counter. Nick was probably going to be annoyed that I came in to have coffee with him, but at the moment, I wasn’t sure I exactly cared. Nick came up beside me and started to pour water inside the coffee maker. “How’s your face?” I asked trying to break the deathly silence between us.
Nick smirked, “Oh, well, it looks a lot worse than it feels.” I smiled at that. “Sorry by the way, about the whole fight thing.
I could tell he felt bad about it and I suddenly felt bad for him. “No it wasn’t your fault. You don’t have to apologize. But I do have a question I’ve been wondering for days.” Nick paused what he was doing and looked up at me. “Why didn’t you fight back?” Nick gave me a strange look. “I mean, well, because of your size compared to him. You didn’t even try and defend yourself.” I felt suddenly stupid for asking the question.
Nick then smiled and looked back at what he was doing. “I didn’t fight back because I knew I was stronger than him. I could have probably hurt him much worse than I am hurt now. I couldn’t do that to him, no matter how much I wanted to pound his face through his skull.” Nick chuckled and I smiled. “Plus, the kids were there. I didn’t want Ren to see me… you know.” Nick suddenly became sheepish as if he was embarrassed about his feelings for Ren.
My smile grew. He had changed so much since we were younger. It almost scared me how mature he had become and how willing he was to take a blow to the face for Ren. My heart seemed to tear into a million pieces then at how much I loved him in that moment.
Wait. Love? Of course I didn’t really mean that. I mean… not love in an in love way, but more like in a family love kind of way. Because I did love him as family. He was my family. But that was the thing about family. Sometimes you like them and sometimes you don’t, but you still always love them. So yes, I did love Nick… in a family way.
When the coffee was finished brewing, he handed me a steaming red mug. “You’ve changed.” I pointed out as I hopped off the counter to go and get the sugar from the cabinet.
Nick smirked as he poured himself a cup. “How so?” like he hadn’t noticed.
I suddenly felt awakward answering his question. “Well, uh, you’ve gotten… more sensitive. You know, more fatherly. To be honest, I thought I would never see you again. To be even more honest, I was happy with that.”
There was a pause as Nick thought about what I had said. He took a long sip of his black coffee before answering, “If we’re being honest, I never thought I would have kids. I told myself I would never ever have any. But, I don’t know, something about realizing you’ve… created a real human being just makes you… feel different, you know? It was like something sparked inside of me and made me love her more than anything else then.” He smirked again and took another sip. “But wow, did you really hate me that much?”
I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks. “Well yeah.” I took a drink from my mug. The hot liquid burned my throat as it went down, making me cringe slightly. “I mean, you…” I trailed off, but Nick got the idea.
“Oh. Well you don’t remember any of the good times we had? We had a lot actually. I used to think about them all the time. Even bragged a little to some of the friends I made in juvy.” I smiled but shook my head no. It was a long time ago and those weeks we were together seemed so insignificant to everything else after. “Well, do you remember that time I convinced you to sneak out of the house so we could go to the carnival?” Nick laughed at the memory.
I suddenly remembered. I remembered how he had tried to climb up to the window, but couldn’t even make it a few feet off the ground. I remembered landing in the rose bush and getting nearly stabbed to death by thorns. I remembered laughing until our sides hurt and riding the Ferris wheel at midnight and stuffed bear he failed to get me after spending all his money on the same booth. I suddenly remembered the whole night and was able to laugh along with him.
“So do you still hate me?” Nick smiled as he waited for an answer. I hesitated which gave him the wrong idea. His face suddenly fell and he turned his attention back to his coffee. “I guess I deserve it.”
My heart broke again, snapping me back to reality. “Oh no, I don’t still hate you.”
Nick smiled a small smile, “You just don’t love me like that anymore.”
My heart broke again. “No” I lied.
YOU ARE READING
Scars
Novela JuvenilBOOK ONE IN THE 'SCARRED' SERIES If I could have taken it back, everything, I wouldn't have because here he is, his bright green eyes staring down at me and his arms holding me tightly to him as if he had let go, I would have gotten away from him ye...
