Nikki Shay & Co.

Chapter 21

*I guess there's some slightly mature content

Nick didn't call me to tell me where he went. I called every person that he associated with in my phone contacts. No one knew where he was. By the time I woke up that Saturday, there were 14 hours until I could call the police and report him missing.

Mom wasn't talking. Well, she wasn't talking to me or Felicia. She was switching between talking to Gio, Fred and Alice.

It took months for Fred and Alice to tell my mom. I thought she already knew about the divorce. From the sound of it, only me, Alice's parents and Ashley knew about what was going on. Mom tried to convince Alice that she didn't have to divorce Fred, that they could fix their problems. Mom tried to tell Fred that everything was going to work out for the best. She talked to Alice for part of the morning and Fred in the afternoon. I left and went to Ashley's when Fred came over, and brought Fe with me.

Very early in the morning, Mom talked to Gio. I couldn't figure out if I'd ever call him Dad. He left us, cut contact with us as far as I know, then just came back into our lives, trying to ease his way in. It hurt finding out that he left us, and that pain wasn't going to soften just from him coming back. I told my mom that, and that's why she wasn't talking to me.

Anyway, Mom talked to Gio about Nick leaving. From the sound of it, Gio said that my Mom shouldn't worry about it. How could he not worry his sons location not being known? Why wasn't he mad at my mom for kicking him out?

We went over to Ashley's around one o'clock. We watched The Fantastic Four and left Felicia to watch The Silver Surfer sequel by herself.

Ashley and I had already texted each other about what was going on with Nick and my dad in the morning.

"So, once the divorce is final, I'm moving to live with my mom. Before you say anything, remember that we can always Skype or FaceTime each other. And it would probably be a good experience to get out of a town that I've lived in for my whole life. So there, I'm leaving all of my friends and half of my family to live somewhere that I've never been with a lot of people that I barely know. I don't care if I miss you all. I can always come back for my junior year if I don't like the UK. I love my mom and I'm doing this for her."

Halfway through her speech, Ashley was crying. By the time she was done. she was sobbing on my shoulder. I hugged her and rubbed her head.

"I just can't believe that she's done with him. I love her, but how could she do it? Nothing seemed to be wrong with them! Nothing! She's barely even talked to me about it. Just that she was sorry, and she hoped that I was okay with the divorce. How can I be okay with my parents divorcing? That's pure sh*t! I don't even think she cares about how I feel in this whole matter, or how my dad feels. She's just so selfish. I can't believe that I decided to live with her. Now I want to call it off," she strengthened her voice with that last sentence. "But I won't."

We sat there for a while. I didn't need to talk. Ashley just wanted someone to be there with her. She wanted to talk it out to herself, though. Eventually went back to the living room for the second half of The Silver Surfer.

--

I called Brett around six. Me and Fe were still at Ashley's. Fe was on her fourth movie, one of the best movies made after 2005, Fame. Ashley had decided to play chess online. I was previously playing Angry Birds: Star Wars.

I waited for Brett to answer his phone. Eventually he did.

"So I met my dad last night, basically for the first time. No one knows where Nick is. And my best friend is moving away. I'm fine, but I just wanted to tell you," I said, before Brett could even say 'hello.' There was silence for a few seconds.