Life is Not a Movie

The Truth

The morning light peeked through the shades, shining in my eyes and waking me up. As my eyes slowly opened, squinting at the sunlight, I could see Tom laying in the same position as the night before, still connected to that horrid machine. I would give anything to not see him like this.

Slowly sitting up, trying not to move the bed to much, I looked around and noticed a figure standing in front of the door. His back was facing me, but I had a good idea of who it was. Hopping off of the bed, I made my way over to the door.

"Hey Cliff."

He jumped at the mention of his name and turned around. He smiled when he saw that it was only me. "Morning Nicole."

I smiled back and we both stood there in an awkward silence. "Is it okay for me to leave, I want to get some coffee." I spoke up, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

"Uh, yeah, hospital security has managed to keep the reporters and everyone outside the building, so the inside should be perfectly safe." Cliff explained.

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit." I told him before leaving.

As I walked down the halls of the hospital, looking for a place to get coffee, I couldn't help but think back to memory of the fire. That was Cliff, there was no doubt about it, and I knew it was him, but does he know that I'm Nicolett? I was so focused on all these thoughts that were swirling around my head that I didn't notice the person headed my way.

"Nicole." They snapped and I finally looked up. It was Jessa. I stopped in my tracks and let her walk the rest of the way to me. She was walking pretty fast and I soon figured out why as she engulfed me in a what I guess you would call a 'mom hug'. "I was so worried about you. You and Tom. But as soon as we saw you go down I didn't know what to think. I guess it's because I knew what was wrong with him, but I didn't with you and it was just so scary, seeing the both of unconscious like that. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack myself." She sputtered out then took a deep breath and pulled away. "In other words, I'm just glad you're okay." She had a tear in her eye and I suddenly had an overwhelming feeling come over me. I'm not sure what it was but it definitely made me feel more guilty about what I had said a couple days ago.

"I'm sorry." I had no control of the words that came out, but knew that I meant them.

"What?" Jessa looked at me confused.

I must have said it too fast. Repeating it, but slower this time I said, "I'm sorry. For the other night. For getting mad at you and then saying that you weren't my mom, when your anything but. My biological mom is dead, but you're the one that's here and that's taking care of me and doing everything that she wishes she could of. My mom is so thankful for you Jessa and so am I and I'm sorry that I would ever make you think that you're not part of my life and that you're not special because you are and-"

"Nikki." Jessa stopped me. "I forgive you."

"You do?"

"I know what kids like you have been through, I work with them everyday. And I don't blame you for wanting to say things like that sometimes and I know that you didn't mean them. Plus you were rambling and we both know that when you start to ramble you're pretty sincere about something." She smiled and winked at me. I couldn't help but laugh and pulled her in for another hug. This one felt just right.

"I was gonna get some coffee, but couldn't for the life of me find a machine." I chuckled.

"Then it's a good thing I got Chris to stop at Starbucks." She joined in. That's when I saw Chris walking our way.

"Mornin' Nic." He spoke in his Aussie accent. "This is for you." He then handed me a warm cup of Starbucks coffee. "One caramel cappuccino with a shot of vanilla.