Strawberry Sweet

.Falling.

🍓Chapter Nineteen: Falling🍓

🍓Strawberry Sweet🍓

"Let's go get food, yeah?" I ask Drake who is currently sitting next to me in my passenger seat.

"Sure" he agrees. His eyes -although I'm not looking at him- I could tell were trained on me, studying my face. "Nichole?"

I ignore him and continue driving down the rode with my fingers tightly clenched around the steering wheel. My knuckles turning a pale yellow color.

"Nichole." He calls out again. I subsequently continue driving down the rode; not really wanting to talk.

"Nichole, babe. I know you're mad but please talk to me" he places a hand on my upper thigh in a soothing manner.
I let out a long sigh and pull over to the side of the rode and turn the car off.

After a while of neither one of us daring to break the silence I finally speak up.

"How much did he tell you?" I ask.

"What?"

"How much did he tell you, Drake?" I ask again.

"He told me that your Ex had cheated on you with your best friend... and that you had just up and changed everything about yourself after that" he admits.

I let out another sigh and look out of the windshield to avoid making eye contact. The rode ahead is surrounded by trees and lush vegetation that is currently dripping wet in water. The streets slick with fresh rain. "He was horrible, Drake" I finally tell him after moments of silence.

He doesn't speak; but stays quiet allowing me to continue. "I had originally got with him because he was popular. He was the schools golden boy... like, the perfect student inside of school. But... outside of school he was different. He would party with his varsity friends. He would go get absolutely trashed and into so much trouble." I look over to Drake to see that he was promptly paying attention; listening to every word that comes out of my mouth.

Then I began to speak again, my voice barely above a whisper. "And behind closed doors he was even worse..." with this one simple sentence my voice begins to shake and I can already feel the lump in my throat enclosing around my throat like the talons of an eagle.

After a second Drake reached his hand out and intertwined our fingers together. I look over at him again to see that he is giving me a reassuring smile. A breathtaking Colgate smile, at that.

"He um... He would get mad when I wouldn't drink with him or party with him. Sometimes just for the hell of it he would slap me." I choke out the last two words with trouble. "He would hit me all the time and then demand that I love him. I used so much makeup covering up bruises... so much makeup" I laugh out. Although not really a humorous laugh; more like a scoff of sorts.

I grit my teeth.

Drake's expression is now a sympathetic one with the slightest trace of anger in it. I offer him a slight smile that holds a sad undertone. I feel a cold tear run down my pale cheeks and immediately mumble profanities under my breath.

I wipe the tears away with the sleeve of my jacket -trying to be discreet. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cry in front of you" I mumble.

"Hey... that's okay" Drake tells me as he hooks a finger under my chin forcing me to look up at him. "That just lets me know that you trust me. Everyone needs to let their walls down every once in a while" He smiles at me.

"Pity isn't a good look on you Drake" I mumble, too embarrassed to say anything more.

"Oh please" he scoffs with fake hurt; putting a hand over his heart and rolling his eyes "every look is a good look on me"