Heart Strings <3 ~Complete

Heart Strings Chapter Seventeen

♥

17

Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.

Swedish Proverb

I stepped off the bus straight into a cold puddle but carried on straight home, tears still clouding my vision.

The moment I opened the gate leading to my house I saw him leaning against the front door, head down.

Nick.

 I closed the gate door behind me. The gentle click caused Nick to look up.

‘Sephy,’ he said quietly with a humourless smile. He seemed to register my red rimmed eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Everything felt surreal. It felt like a bad dream that I desperately wanted to wake up from, except I knew that this was no dream, no matter how much I tried to convince myself that at any moment I’d wake up and breathe a sigh of relief, everything inside me was screaming at me, turn around, run, this is real, you are awake. I wanted to listen to what they were saying, to run far, far away just so I could lie down, close my eyes and sleep, never to wake up again. I didn’t want to believe it. It was still sinking in. Burning me. Burning my heart.

‘Are you gonna to let me in or we gonna talk in the rain?’ he said drily.

I looked up at him and went straight to the door. I unlocked it nervously, unsure if I was doing the right thing, letting Nick in, but I couldn’t have him getting angry and shouting outside in case one of the neighbours saw or mum and dad came home early…

Once inside I ushered him formally into the living room. I wished I’d let Sammie come home with me. I didn’t want to be home alone with him at all.

I dropped my school bag. It felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders. After nudging it out of the way I stood dejectedly for a moment in front of Nick before he sat down. I wished I could forget about the article, erase it from my memory, block it out. I closed my eyes wanting to just somehow hide even though I couldn’t. I was even more exposed just standing in front of Nick. He was scrutinising me, an aggravated look on his features.

I held my breath. What could I say to him? I couldn’t say anything. I needed to cry once again but I didn’t want him to see me cry. I wasn’t going to let him.

‘You are late home. Where were you?’ He asked eventually.

‘I was at the bus stop.’

‘With Nathan right?’ he frowned. It wasn’t my Nick that was looking at me, snarling at me, it couldn’t be.

‘No. I was with Sammie, Tabby and Adam. Besides Nick, I can have other friends.’

You can’t control me.

I could feel tears spilling out of my eyes so I turned and walked out of the room and into the kitchen hoping he wouldn’t follow, but he did.

‘I’ve been waiting for an hour,’ he said, his voice taking on a dark tone. ‘How am I meant to know if you are cheating on me Sephy?’

I leaned on the kitchen surface silent.

‘Shit Sephy, answer me.’ Nick’s patience was disintegrating.

‘I’m sorry you’ve been waiting Nick, but it’s not my fault you skived off school.’

He narrowed his eyes, ‘you didn’t answer the last thing I asked.’

For a moment I was quiet. I turned around and our eyes locked. Nick looked so angry, he hadn’t always been like this...

‘You don’t know if I’ve cheated or not, you can only take my word for it.’ I told him as I turned back around and pulled out a mug from a cupboard, hoping that a hot chocolate would somehow stop my shivering, but I knew I wasn’t shivering because of the cold. When I turned around Nick was right in front of me. I placed my cup down.