The Nice Guy {#Wattys2017}

Choices and Consequences

"There are two primary choices in life:

To accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them."

-Denise Waitley

We lied there, looking up at the stars as the wind nipped at our noses.

"This is perfect" Liam's husky voice rung out as he pulled me closer to him. The only other sounds were the crashing waves of the ocean and our breathing.

"I don't deserve someone like you" I sighed happily.

"No, no you don't" he spat causing me to sit up quickly and turn to him.

"But...I thought you said this was perfect?" I say as tears spring my eyes. "Well I lied. Who would want to be with someone like you? You're damaged!" he yelled before barking out a laugh.

"Why....why would you say such a thing?" I cry, turning away from him as I pull my knees to my chest.

"Oh don't worry, I know someone who will always want you" He whispered in my ear and I turn my head to reveal Vinnie staring back at me with a devilish grin before he pushed me into the sand and got on top of me.

I screamed for help as I attempted to fight him off of me.

"Adelaide! Wake up, stop fighting!" I awake to see Cami holding my hands down and yelling at me. "Okay, okay I'm up" I say relaxing my head as she releases my hands from her grasp.

"What in the world happened?! You scared the life out of me!" she stammered and I focused on slowing down my heart rate.

"Answer me!" she yelled and my eyes widened.

"Will you just shut up Camile! I just had a nightmare" I spat adjusting myself so that I was sitting on the end of the bed. "Oh..I'm sorry...well what was it about?" she said awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"I don't wanna talk about it, you wouldn't understand" I huff before walking out to the bathroom, it was all too real.

As soon as I closed the door I slid down the wall and held myself as I cried silently. Why couldn't I just move on from this? Maybe I am damaged. Soon enough I fell asleep on the cold tiled floor.

The next morning I groggily got up from the uncomfortable floor and headed down the short hallway to the kitchen. Before I came around the corner I heard Cami on the phone with someone and judging from their hushed tones it seemed serious so I decided to eavesdrop.

Don't judge me.

"Yeah you really need to talk to her and find out what's going on, this is the third time she's woken me up screaming just this week." she mumbled into the phone and I suppressed a gasp. Was this true? Had I been having the same dream more than once? How did I not know?

"Yeah that sounds great, she really needs to be around people who will understand what she's been through. Okay, bye" she whispered before hanging up.

What was she talking about? I shook the thought out of my head and waited a moment before stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh, you're awake!" she said smiling a little nervously. "Yeah, I just woke up" I shrugged and went over to grab some Fruity Pebbles.

"So how did you sleep?" she asked casually and I almost choked on my cereal. "I think we both know the answer to that, but my question to you is...how long have you known about me having these dreams?"