If I Only Knew

Chapter three

Nicole's pov

July 20, 2013

I hear another crash from outside the door. Then Aiden's thundering, drunken voice.

"WHO WAS IT GODDAMMIT? WHO!!?"

     I ease open the back door out of the bathroom so he won't hear.

"I AM NOT GOING TO ASK AGAIN YOU BITCH."

    Oh no, he must have seen me with Derrick last night. I rush out of the back door into the bedroom trying to be as quiet as possible so he thinks I'm still in the bathroom. I rush into the laundry room and hide in between the dryer and the shelf filled with detergent.
   I so wish I could tell Derrick about this, but I can't... I can't burden him with this. My head is pounding, his piercing voice bouncing around in my head. I hear him stumble down the hallway muttering to himself. He opens the door breathing heavy as I cower in my hiding spot hoping that he won't notice me.

I can't do this anymore.

I can't think

I can't move

I can't

I can't

  I   Just    can't . . .  .

Derricks pov

July 22, 2013

     Its almost 2 in the afternoon when I hear john knock on my door. He comes in smiling with a stack of newspapers in his hand.

"I got everyone I can find" he says handing me a stack as he sits down on the couch. I get my computer and settle down next to him. Like me John is having trouble finding a job. He's super smart and can do anything he puts his mind to, he just can't find anything that interests him, like me I guess. So every day for the past few weeks John comes over and we sit down and look for jobs.

"Hmm how about those people that draw your blood at like clinics and stuff?" John asks holding up a page in the paper.

"Eww no way man you know needles freak me out. How about a cashier?"I suggest

"Seriously? A cashier?"

"What?! Cashiers are really smart"

"No they're not you can be a complete moron and still be a cashier"

"No morons don't know what 2+2 is" he rolled his eyes and put the papers on the end table.

"Your such an idiot sometimes. Hey I got to go, I promised Brice I would help him move furniture into his new apartment. I'll come back tomorrow, maybe we will have better luck then" He got up and left leaving the stack of papers on my end table.
   I close my computer, put it on the counter and plug it in. I make myself and sandwich for munch and turn in the tv. There's nothing good on as usual so I end up just watching the news. Its been about 15 minuets when I get a text from Nicole.

"hey wanna meet me at the park?"

"sure be there in 10" I send back.

   Worried, I rush into the bathroom. Ive been lounging around all day and I probably look like I just got out of bed. I quickly comb my hair, put on some cologne and hurry to the park.

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    I get to the park and find her sitting on a bench underneath a blossoming Mongolia tree. Today shes wearing a light blue, long sleeve sun dress and her hair tied up in a pony tail, blowing in the breeze. She's watching a ladybug crawl around on her finger when I come and sit down. She watches it as it flys away. Then she notices me and smiles.

"Hey" she greets me

"Hey what's up?"

"I had some free time and I wanted to hang out. This is my favorite place in the park I love to come here and just think you know?"

"Yea it's really relaxing. I don't come here as often as I should"

"I come here as much as I can" she said gazing off at a little boy and his puppy playing a couple feet away.

"come here I wanna show you something" she says after a few minuets. She grabs my hand and leads me up a hill to an oak tree standing in the middle of the park.

"Me and my mom planted this when I was little, a few months before she died. I would come here with her everyday and water it, even after she was gone. I guess it was like my little piece of her that no one could ever take away." she says staring up at its long twisty branches. Tears start to form in her eyes. I grab her hand and she jumped. She looks down at my hand and nervously grabs back.

"My mom died when I was little too. It's so nice that you'll always have a little piece of her right here in the park" I say trying to cheer her up. She blinks away the tears and walks back to the bench. The breeze knocks flower off of the tree and it falls onto her lap. I pick it up and tuck it behind her ear. She looks at me and smiles.

"Now that's what I like to see" I say she giggles and goes back to playing with her skirt. We keep talking for a while, I told her every story about me I could remember, even the embarrassing ones. I don't know why, she was just so easy to talk to.

   "...and so then, I fell all the way down the stairs..."
 
  She interrupts me with her beautiful laugh. Its so adorable I can't help but laugh too. Then she snorts and we laugh even harder. We both fall to the ground as we attempted to stop but it just makes it worse. We finally get control of ourselves as we lay there in the sun, my stomach hurts from laughing so much. Ive never seen Nicole this happy, it made me feel so warm inside knowing that I did that. I reach out to hold her hand again when her phone goes off. She sits up and looks at it. All of the sudden a wave of fear washes over her face.

"I got to go I'll text you later" she said as she stood up brushing the grass and dirt off of her dress. She picks up her purse and scurries off without another word.

"But... I didn't get to finish my story" I think as I watch her disappear down he hill.

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    I lay in my bed staring up at the ceiling. Its 1:00am, I've been laying here for 2 hours trying to fall asleep. My mind won't shut off, I just can't get the image of her eyes twinkling in he sunlight out of my head. It was beautiful, like I was looking at the stars. Oh and her hands, her soft hands that sent a shock of warmth through my body. I can almost feel her, enlacing her fingers into mine as I lay here in the dark.