F*ckin' Perfect

Chapter 13: My Silly Life

Natalie's POV

After the tutor session with Amanda and even during it, I could tell Nic was on edge about something. I knew she was lying to me about the bruise that was on her cheek. No one got a bruise that deep from running into a door frame.

The car ride was quiet on the way to McDonald's, which is where we had decided on going for lunch, except for the soft music playing from the radio. Nic had a death grip on my hand as she drove, and I wondered what had happened at the library. She was fine, normal Nic, until we got to the library. Was it just being in the library? It couldn't have been, she was fine then too. It was when she went to the bathroom. Something must have happened in that ten minute period of time, but what?

My brain hurt so much, and I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even hear Nic as she asked what I wanted.

"Cupcake?" I blinked a couple times, smiling apologetically before giving her a response. As she ordered, I noticed she didn't order as much as the first time we went out to eat together. Even at my house she ate a lot. I hadn't been around Nic for a long time, but it was easy to see that the girl loved to eat, and could work it off easily. We had decided just to get drive through and eat back at my house, maybe watch a movie, which I was fine with, but my thoughts chewed at me the entire way back. Once we got there and were inside the house, I knew I needed answers.

"Nic, what really happened at the library?" She looked over at me, a shocked and guilty look on her face. She knew I knew she had lied.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." I followed her as she sat on the couch, her head hanging low. She had taken her beanie off, which made her hair fall into her face.

"You do know. You didn't run into that door frame. Something happened." She ran her hands across her face as she glanced up at me. I could see an emotion clouding up in them, but before I could distinguish what it was, she looked away again.

"It's a long story..." I sat close to her, hoping my close proximity to her would help her speak.

"I have the time." She looked at me again, sighing.

"I had a girlfriend, one before you. I had had girlfriends before, but nothing serious. It was the first one. For about a month, it was great. I had even fallen in love with her. At least, I thought I had. Thinking back on it now, I knew I hadn't. I was just infatuated with her and I couldn't see what she was doing to me.

After that first month, the day after I told her my feelings, she started to hit me. I didn't tell anyone, because at first I thought it was because I didn't want her to get in trouble. When in reality, I was afraid of what she would do, even if no one believed me. So, that went on for six months. I felt so self-conscious about myself when I was around her. I... I stopped eating... I became so thin, Harper could pick me up. She's not a strong person. Work became a hassle, I would fall to the ground like I was a toothpick.

Eventually, my friends figured out what was going on and smacked some sense into me. Almost literally with Layla, but she figured that wasn't going to help. It took so long, but eventually, I broke up with her. I had decided, right then and there, that I wouldn't have anymore relationships. That I would just be single until I graduated. Maybe even after that... Then I met you." She looked over at me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. I could see a tear line on her cheek, stirring an emotion in me. I didn't think as I grabbed her cheek, wiping the tear line away and gently kissing her. She relaxed at my touch, a second tear sliding down her cheek. "She was there... at the library... She hit me again..."

From the few days that I had known Nic, I knew she didn't cry easy. Yet here she was, crying against my shoulder. We stayed like that, in each others' embrace for a while, until she pulled back.