No Place Like Us || e.d.

- 2 -

Nikki's POV

I've finally put the kids to sleep. When the twins were newborns, my parents flew out to help me take care of them. I'm so grateful for my parents. I literally don't know what I'd do without them.

They always tried to talk me in to telling Ethan, which would've been the right thing to do, but the damage had already been done. He wouldn't talk to me after. Maybe to see his children but other than that, he wouldn't. We wouldn't be together again. He'd push me out of his life and pretend we were never together. That's my only fear. I still love him. I missed him everyday I was gone. I had to delete all my social media to stay away from him. That never helped. I still had pictures and memories of him everywhere. The littlest things reminded me of him. It sucked so bad.

I've seen his football career come to life. Playing D1 schools as he and Grayson had anticipated. I'm happy for them.

"Mom, I'm going out to buy stuff for the kids. May I take the car?"

"Nicole. It's 7pm."

"I need to get them a few things. Alissa lost her little potty training seat, she's trained and all, but she loves sitting in it."

"If you want to get out of the house and have some time for yourself, just say so. I can watch the kids for a while. You need a break." she faintly smiled.

"Thank you." I hugged her and left.

I forgot what being in the country felt like. Being out of the suburbs. No cars driving everywhere, there's definitely no traffic here, I don't feel as suffocated. I'm glad I'm moving back.

I went to Target because it's basically my home. I love this place. Target over Wal-Mart any day. Just an unpopular opinion.

I had to wear a hoodie and my glasses in hopes of keeping it lowkey. Just in case I were to see Ethan.

Ethan's POV

"Let's go to Target." Grayson walked into my room.

"It's 7pm."

"So what? We've been home all day."

"I guess."

"We haven't been to Target in the longest time."

"It's cause we really haven't needed anything from there for the longest time you dingus."

"Okay. Rude. Come on. Let's go."

"Fine."

We walked around the store and I saw a girl that looked like Nikki. She used to wear a hoodie that looked exactly like that one.

"You good?" Grayson tapped my shoulder.

"What? Yeah."

"Ethan."

"I'm fine." I nodded. "Let's just see if we need anything and dip. Practice has me drained and I just wanna rest up. We have a game in a few weeks."

I'm pretty sure that's not Nikki. Why would she be in the baby section? Maybe it's just a coincidence that this girl has the same hoodie. Ethan, snap out of it. It's all an illusion.

Nikki's POV

I picked up a little toilet seat thing and a few new toys for the kids, considering their stuff is still back in LA. We haven't exactly started the moving process yet. I told myself I was gonna get on it tomorrow, but I'm probably not. I'm probably just gonna take a little time to myself because it's been a good while before I got some personal time.

I was in the middle of texting my mom to see if she needed anything and then I ran into the person I didn't want to see yet.

"Sor–"

"Nikki?" he interrupted me.

"Hey." I replied... awkwardly.