Nick was too drunk to drive home, so I ended up driving us. I was grateful I had stopped at my second drink. It was unusual for him to drink so much. I would've thought nothing of it if things weren't so strange between us, but it was just another addition in the string of unusual behaviors coming from him.
When we got home I got Nick settled in bed, a bowl on the floor next to him in case he got sick, and then I got ready for bed myself. On my way to bed I had to pick up Nick's jeans and shoes which he had haphazardly tossed on the floor while getting undressed. I realized his things were still in his pockets and fished around in them to empty their contents. When I pulled out his phone I stared at it in my hand.
I glanced at Nick, asleep in bed and already snoring. I quietly went to my side of the bed and grabbed my phone before going back into the bathroom. I closed the door and locked it before sitting on the closed toilet seat. I unlocked my phone and opened the phone app before unlocking his. I could hear my pulse in my ears as I quickly navigated to his contacts and opened David's contact.
The second number was listed right below the number I knew as David's. I quickly typed in *67, hoping the old trick to block my number would still work, and then typed in the mystery number. I stared at it for a moment, hesitating to press the dial button. I had to know who this phone number was. My hand trembled as I lifted the phone to my ear, the dial tone ringing.
A combination of disappointment and relief flooded my chest as it went over to voicemail. Unfortunately, it was a default voicemail setting so l didn't get any clues as to whose number it was. I set my phone down on my lap. I wasn't sure what to do next.
After a while I got up from the toilet and headed back to the bedroom. Nick was still asleep, and thankfully the puke bowl was still empty. I plugged his phone in and set it on his nightstand before heading to my side of the bed and doing the same.
I laid in bed for some time, staring at our ceiling fan as it spun. I felt empty again, and it was a scary feeling. I had never felt this way before in any relationship, even with Luke.
Luke.
I felt my heart sputter a little at the thought of him, something stirring inside me. I wondered what he was doing. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was past 1am, so he was probably sleeping like a normal person. I rolled onto my side and stared at the orange numbers on my alarm clock until eventually sleep overtook me.
I woke up earlier than I thought I would considering how late I got in bed; it was just past 8am. Nick was still asleep next to me, which wasn't unusual at all - I was glad at least something with him was the same. I got up from bed and went to brush my teeth, trying to get the dryness from drinking out of my mouth.
After making myself some coffee, I settled on the couch with my laptop in my lap. I checked my work emails, seeing if there was anything important I had missed all week, before opening a web browser window. I opened google and stared at the search bar for a moment before typing into it.
Reverse Phone Number Lookup
I hesitated for a second before hitting enter. Thousands of results popped up and I opened one of the first pages. I grabbed my phone and opened up my call log, typing in the phone number from last night. The webpage turned to a searching logo and it cycled through a few different pages before it opened up a new page saying it found my results. My stomach bubbled with anxiety as I quickly clicked on the link, only to be met with a page asking for payment. I rolled my eyes and returned to my google search results to try a different result, only to be met with the same thing.
I slumped back onto the couch, defeated. I couldn't pay for the results without Nick knowing. We had combined our bank accounts when we got married. It made things simpler, like paying for rent and utilities and groceries, but it also meant we could see all the transactions that the other one did. It made it tricky around Christmas and birthdays to keep gifts a secret - or to hide purchases you didn't want the other one to know about.
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Always You - A Second Chance Romance
Romance"Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed." - Leo Tolstoy When Emily Wright married her husband, Nick, she thought he was the man of her dreams. But less than a year into being married, Nick has grown...
