Work of Art

Chapter 51

The fact that Nick had to go to school the next day was a crime.

Her eyes were heavy as she stepped through the front doors of the building due to her lack of sleep the night before.

With the lingering sensations of Carlisle's lips on hers, it was impossible to settle her mind enough to let sleep take over.

Instead of sleeping, her mind played her time in his office on loop.

He cared about her. And he KISSED her.

Nick's heart raced at the thought of her irrational longing being reciprocated.

Sometime in the night, she stopped just replaying the events that occurred. Instead, she began to add on.

What would have happened had the nurse not knocked on the door? How far would they have let their long-awaited fervor go?

Nick silently cursed the nurse.

Her stomach churned at the thought of seeing him again, her thoughts roiling about how they would proceed. There was no way Nick could ever fall back into the pretenses of being friends, not after a kiss like that. But what would they do? He was many years her senior and the father of one of her very good friends.

It was with those thoughts that a fear struck her: what if this was the end? What if the fruition of their true feelings was the downfall of their connection?

The thought of never getting to speak to Carlisle again made the girl's chest ache.

She spent the rest of the long, sleepless night worrying instead of reminiscing.

"You look like shit," Maggie commented as Nick walked into their first-period painting class.

"Thanks." Nick rolled her eyes. "You're too kind."

"But like actually, are you okay?" Maggie asked, squinting at her tired friend.

Nick sighed, debating how to answer that question. She still couldn't decide if she would tell anyone about her illicit kiss.

"I didn't sleep great last night," Nick ended up responding after a pause.

Maggie stayed silent as she analyzed Nick, waiting to see if she'd say anything else. She could tell Nick didn't want to talk about it, at least not right then.

"If you need to talk, I'm here," she told Nick before walking away from her to get her canvas to get to work.

Nick was stuck in her own mind most of the day, barely surfacing to answer a question her teacher asked her during pre-calc. She couldn't get her brain to stop buzzing, or her chest to stop aching, for that matter.

As ceramics drew to a close, she was debating on driving to the hospital as soon as the bell rang. Yet, as she later sat in her car, she couldn't bring herself to drive there.

Maybe she was better off not knowing if this was the end. If she waited, she could live in her hopeful delusions for longer.

So, with a sigh, Nick put her car into gear and headed toward her house.

Just as she was pulling into her driveway, she could hear her phone vibrate from where it sat in the cup holder of her center console. Immediately, her thoughts went to the doctor. She couldn't decide if she wanted it to be his strand of numbers that flashed across the screen or not. She so desperately wanted to hear from him, but was afraid of what he might have to say. Holding her breath, Nick reached out to grab her phone and rotated it so that the screen faced her. Her mind buzzed as she saw the numbers. With a shaky breath, she swiped the text open.