Need You

CHAPTER 13

She muttered something that I was too drunk to intepret and left me at the door. Shutting it when I entered, I went to the living room and fell on the sofa.

I thought considering how drunk I was I could have a good sleep but again a nightmare woke me up.
It was similar to the one where my big bad strong cell mates wouldn't let me sleep and beat me if they even caught me dozing off.

The ache in my stomach from all the drinking made the punches I took in the dream feel a lot more real.

"Harry," Amanda called. "where's Nikki?"

"Huh?" The loudness of her voice made my head ache.

"Where's Nikki?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?! Didn't you come back with her?!"

"I did."

"Then why is she not in her room?" She asked.

I thought she was. I didn't remember much from the clubbing.

"Nikki has been calling me for ten minutes straight. Where is she?"

"I don't know." I said. "I don't remember what-"

"What do you mean by you don't know?" She was worried. "Her phone is off so I need you to try very hard to remember where she is."

My headache was getting worse. Rubbing my forehead with my eyes shut, events from the club flashed my mind.

Nikki got into Derrick's car and then when I tried to get in he said he had company and got me into a taxi.

"Harry."

"She was in Derrick's car." I said.

"What!?" I groaned in response. "Was she drunk?"

"We all were." I sighed.

She started pacing across the hall and then she asked, "You know where Derrick stays, don't you?'

I nodded. "Good. Let's go." She said.

I didn't want to but the command in Amanda's voice was clear and I knew that how weak and ill I felt wouldn't be regarded.

The skies had not cleared yet but we managed to get into a taxi. I told the driver where we were going.bI didn't know what to say to Amanda but I was sure Nikki was safe or at least I hoped so.

The unexpected ringing of a phone startled us. The car was really quiet. Looking at Amanda thinking it was her phone, she stared at me, her look saying she thought it was from me.

That was when I remembered I had a phone. Hurriedly, I took it out of my pocket. Derrick's name was on the screen.

"Hello." I answered.

"Yeah. I need you to come and pick up your friend."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah. I think she's just very uncomfortable and wants to go home."

"Okay. We're on our way.

"Was that Derrick?" Amanda asked as I ended the call.

"Yes. He said Nikki's okay.bThere's nothing for you to worry about."

"That's not what I'm worried about." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Telling the driver to wait for us, Amanda got out of the car and I followed. After a couple of knocks on the door Derrick opened it and let us in.

It felt like something had happened between Nikki and Derrick. Even though Derrick seemed normal, she was seated awkwardly on the sofa and didn't look directly at either my or Amanda's face.

"Are you okay?" Amanda asked Nikki as she stood.

She nodded and quickly took the lead. "Harry let's go." Amanda said.

I wanted to ask Derrick if something had happened but I decided against it. Maybe that was simply how Nikki expressed her discomfort.

We had another silent drive back to the house. Something had definitely happened. None of us said anything.
The skies were clearer now and the sun was rising.

Ethel must be up by now. I hoped she wasn't wondering where we were. When we got to the house, Nikki went straight to her room.

"If Ethel asks, tell her you came back late and slept over." Amanda said to me before entering Nikki's room.

As expected, Ethel was already up. She had a cup of tea on the table while she watched a morning show.

"Good morning."

"Good morning." I forced a happy tone even though I felt sick inside.

"Did you sleep at Nikki's?"

"Um yeah. We came back late last night so I decided to just sleep over. I didn't want to disturb you."

"Okay. Is Nikki awake?"

"I don't know." I lied. From how Nikki was looking, I didn't think she'd want to see her aunt right now.

"Alright. Your breakfast is in the kitchen so go freshen up and eat."

"Okay. Thank you."

I headed to the bathroom and got ready. I wished I could have asked Ethel for some pills to help bring down the headache.

I felt slightly better than I was after showering. Doing my best to endure the hangover, I was hopeful that I would get better soon.

Ethel was done eating when I came out. I went into the kitchen and brought out the food; a cup of tea and a bread and egg sandwich. I was taking it to the dining table when she asked me to eat in the living area.

The volume of the TV wasn't helping - it made my headache worse.

"Did you hear from the companies yesterday?" Ethel asked.

"I did. Neither chose me."

"That's too bad." She said. "I'm sure you'll find something eventually."

I hoped so.

"In the mean time, you can continue working at the restaurant. Not as a busboy though." I looked at her with my mouth full. What was I going to be working as?

"You'd be working as a financial controller." I was confused. "The investors agreed to what you suggested to me. We won't be taking any loan. From the records we now know what to buy more of and what to buy less of. But the investors insisted that we put someone in charge of tracking the progress. It would be temporary." She explained.

"Okay. I like that. Thank you very much." This was refreshing news. "I hope I'm able to please you with my work. Thank you very much."

"No need." She smiled. "I was going to do it myself or have Nikki do it but since they made the mistake of not employing you. Their loss is my gain."

I grinned.