The two of us - Nichorello

32. Ideas

<Lorna's POV> 

She crashes onto her knees and falls half on top of me before she starts crying uncontrollably.  

"Hey, hey, shhh," I try to comfort her. I tuck the strands of hair behind her ears, revealing her puffy, red eyes. She must have been crying for hours. She continues to cry into my t-shirt, the tears now soaking through it. Yet all I could concentrate on was the heartbreaking sound of her shudders. 

"It's all right. I'm here. Everything is fine." I wrap my arms around her, waiting for her sobs to silence. After a few minutes, she falls asleep. Weirdly, she even looks as she were in pain whilst sleeping. I carry her to the couch with all my power and cover her with a blanket. I look around the room, which was once a clean office. 

I hang a sign saying 'I'm ill. Please consult Sarah -from Nicole' on the door so that Nicky can have her peace. Exiting her office silently I bump into Sarah on my way to the cafeteria. 

"Hey, I heard about Nicole. Is she feeling all right?" 

"She isn't feeling that well, but I don't really know about her." 

"Where did you guys meet?" She asked. How did she know we met? Did Nicky talk to her about me?

"What are you talking about?" I answered inocenntly. 

"She said you know each other, remember? When you forgot your passport?" 

Ah, that's how she knew. So, Nicky didn't tell her about me. I tried to suppress the disappointment. 

"We know each other from school, we go way back." 

"Ah, I thought you two were fuck buddies or something. I thought there was something wrong. No, offence but you don't look gay." 

What did she just say to me? This girl was really weird. "None, taken. Don't worry I'm not trying to date my boss." At least not this version of her. 

"I have no idea why she won't go out with me. From what I heard she used to be a real player, but now? Nothing. Maybe she's married or so," Sarah said waving at me as I exited the elevator. 

She was right. Maybe Nicky was in a long term commitment, she may have gotten engaged to Monica. I had assumed she was still in a relationship with her, but I hadn't considered anything that serious. 

I found the Aspirin I was looking for and headed back to Nicky's office. I placed the medicine and a bottle of water next to her and began to clean up the mess she made. After three hours of organising the books, cleaning the empty bottles and the broken glasses, I found a picture frame, of which the glass was broken. It looked like she had punched into it several times. The picture showed her and Monica in front of the Empire State building, both smiling into the camera. 

For a second, I wondered why she destroyed a picture she had displayed in her office so nicely. Although it hurt me to see her this happy with someone else I took the picture from the frame and laid it on the table. My eyes fell on the note stuck to the back of the picture.

'I hope we can go back to those times. So happy and in love. -Monica' 

The note almost made me cry. I put it back and tried to distract me with organising the rest of the files not he floor. Every few seconds I looked over to the redhead, who was tightly clutching at the blanket of hers. She used to hold on to my hand like that. 

<flashback> 

"Let go of my hand!" I yelled at her. 

"No! Listen to me first!"