Fall Into You

12

never forget
the ones who
saw greatness
in you even in your
darkest moments

Nicollette barely made it out of the room before the tears started to fall. She made her way to the nearest bathroom, locking herself in until she was able to get herself together. She knew she still needed to leave the Sutcliffe residence and get through her house without catching any attention, but she couldn't help the breakdown she had.

It was as if the moment she managed to push away from Matthias, she broke. The pressure hit her all at once - the fancy brunches, the distance from Charles, the rude conversations with both Candice and Ryker and realizing how much Matthias disliked her.

Not only had she begun to look forward to seeing him, but she actually enjoyed their conversations. She had begun to change her point of view on Matthias, letting herself think that he'd changed how he thought about her as well. But she was wrong, she was wrong and it took Atlas saying something to make her realize that.

Wiping her cheeks, she finally decided that she was calm enough to head home. Slowly opening the bathroom door, she glanced into the hall both ways before booking it toward the exit, rubbing her hands together nervously as she walked.

It was silent minus the sound of her feet hitting the ground, her breathing picking up slightly as she turned the corner.

Right as she got about halfway down the hallway, another figure turned the corner. It took two seconds for her to notice that it was Ryker, who was probably the last person she wanted to see besides Matthias.

Panic flowed through her system. She took a step back but knew she wouldn't be able to get away before Ryker noticed her. The only option besides facing him was to hide, and the only place nearby she could hide was a side room.

Nicollette took the room. She stepped foot into the small storage room in the hallway, shutting the door as gently as she could to avoid causing attention to herself. She could only hope that Ryker hadn't seen her - she would wait in the room as long as she needed to if it meant no more run-ins with anyone.

She stayed silent, stepping further back into the room. Thankfully, the storage room wasn't full to the max. It only had a few boxes in it, stuff that looked to be decorations for different holidays throughout the year. This gave her more than enough room to crouch onto the ground, looking underneath the door to see if she could see Ryker walk by the room.

Nicollette smiled briefly to herself as she saw the shadow of Ryker's feet. He suddenly stopped in front of the door, causing the blonde to pull herself away. Did he see her? Did he know she was in here and did he plan on saying something?

Questions continued to run through her mind, but they all came to a halt when she heard Ryker's voice.

"You missed it, man."

"Missed what, exactly?" Matthias asked from the other side of the door.

Nicollette's face twisted. Of course, the last two people she wanted to see were blocking her exit and preventing her from leaving the house. Part of her was glad she'd decided to hide, because if she hadn't then she would've basically had to choose between confrontation with Ryker, Matthias, or both. She didn't want any of that at all.

"That psycho peasant girl that works for you!" Ryker exclaimed.

Nicollette felt tears surface, her lips beginning to tremble as she listened to what Ryker said about her. She didn't say anything, as even though she usually wanted to stick up for herself - this time she just couldn't.