The Addiction

The Addiction - Chapter 4 Prt 3

We walk in the direction of my apartment building for a good 5 minutes, talking languidly about miniscule subjects and accidentally bumping arms everytime we swayed. Even though there was a gargantuan part of me that wanted to associate with Nick any time I could, there was still that little part which guilted me by propping up a image of Elize's face in my mind every now and again. 

'You're disgusting.' My mind continues telling me over and over again, but I decide to ignore it, on behalf of my sanity. Once we make it to the building, Nick holds open the luxurious glass doors while a smirk played on his lips. 

"After you my lady." He bows slyly, his oceanic eyes gleaming with humor. I blush and walk through the door and down the hall with my arm tangled in his. We step into the ivory/golden elevator.

"Which floor do you live on?" 

"On the 21th."

"Damn, all the way to the top I see. I'm actually going there now. My friend's supposed to be living on that floor."

"Oh, that's a cool coincidence." I say, but something in my gut starts twisting, making me feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden. I pull it together however, no matter what my stomach says nothing will go wrong. I've made a friend who's super sweet and kind. This might be god hearing my prayers.

We make it all the way to the 21st floor, and as the doors  slide open I gasp when I see a grown man with a puffy brown head of hair kneeling and looking underneath the door that was meant to be the apartment I'm staying at. 

"Um, hello?" Nick questions, causing the men to jolt to his feet and look at both of us with huge eyes. 

"Oh, wow. Uh, yeah there's some, you know, faulty wiring connecting to this door. Um, I'm... I'm a worker here. Yeah."

I stare incredulously at the man while Nick goes and picks up a small device from the floor with a black strap around both its side. 

"Oh, you dropped your camera. I didn't know you needed that for the job as well."

"Oh." He grabs it and starts to gradually walk backwards towards the apartment buildings main stairs.

"Yeah, need to take pictures of the damage, yep. Thanks have a good day." He says before disappearing behind the stair doors. 

"I swear, this happens all the time. The friend I'm going to see is, you know, pretty popular in the industry. I think thats her room." My heart freezes in my chest as a cascading feeling of angst falls all over me. I scratch the inner destitute corners of my mind to find out why I hadn't made the connection earlier. He was talking about Chloe this entire time! 

My throat closes as we walk towards the room, my voice not returning to me until he begins knocking on the porcelain white door.

"Oh this apartment door? I live here..."

"Woah, no seriously? Wait, she didn't tell me anything about a roomate."

"Yeah, the thing is-" I hear creaks pepper the hallway as a shadow forms in the crack of the door. My heart plummets into my stomach as Chloe's gratuitously high pitch voice scratches against my ears. 

"Who is it?"

"Is that the magnificent Chloe Renegal I hear? Its Nick, with your amazing roommate I might add."

"What the fuck are you talking about. What roommate? I swear if this is a prank Nick." Chloe aggressively opens the door, displaying a dormant look on her face before it twists into a sly smirk. She's changed the white silky bathrobe she had earlier to a more loose baby pink tank top with matching velvet shorts which exaggerated more of her bulging baby bump. I swallow as she crosses her arms over her stomach, leaning against the entrance wall as a snicker plays on her lips. 

"Oh, I see. First of all, I had told you to get me those Wendy's an HOUR ago. An hour Amanda! Like what in the hell where you doing?" She sharply grabs the bag from my hand, turning her back on both of us for the cloud colored couches. Nick follows her inside while I arrive last, embarrassment from being scolded like a child coloring my cheeks. 

"Hey Chloe, wait up. I know you're pregnant and all but damn, that was a little cold to say to a friend who just got you food." Nick defends. I feel like my mouth's transforming to a dessicated dessert and all the joviality I had felt earlier with Nick has completely flushed down the drain. I knew I should've listened to my head. Dumb. 

"No, she isn't a friend." She narrows her eyes towards me, crossing her legs over the other as if she's about to enjoy every single ounce of her demolishing me. Nick's eyebrows crease in the center, not fully understanding where this is heading. 

"Did you do the other thins I asked you to do." I don't think I can get anymore uneasy then this. I think back to her second bidding and realize that I still haven't made the effort to call Elize. I breathe in slowly. 

"I... I tried to." I finally mumble, averting my eyes from her degrading stare. 

"Oh, you tried to. That's what happened, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I said." I don't know where the attitude came from, but for some reason I think I have a solid foundation for my lie. It built up a little more confidence then I should be mustering at this moment. 

"Chloe, what is the meaning of this? I didn't come here for you to disrespect someone right in front of me. Like what the hell?" My heart falls a little as I hear Nick use the word 'someone' to refer to me, even though in this situation it would be dense to assume that our relationship was any more special then that. 

"Oh she didn't tell you? She's the damn maid dumbass. And a terribly bad one at that. I bet you didn't even call him. If I called him right now and asked if he got a missed message..." She adds as she reaches for her phone on the stand next to her. My hands turn hot and sweaty as I wring them between each other, readying for the shame to end. I sneak a look at Nick, who's standing next to Chloe with a unreadable look on his face, not bad, but not good either. 

In the span of Chloe rushing to type in Elize's number from her keypad, Nick walks behind the couch she's sitting on and reaches over, massaging the spaces between her collarbone and shoulders. 

"Okay, okay Chloe. No need for rash decisions. Let's just calm down for a moment. I know you're upset and all, but look on the bright side-" His pearly white teeth shows through his smile as he lifts the bundle of bags full with gifts. 

"We have some celebrating to do." Her  green eyes slice holes into me as if she's ready pounce on her pray. I again swallow and force my eyes to look away before I turn to stone. Of course I would pull myself into the worst of situations...

Remember to Vote! And also, well that was unexpected, or was it? It is all in the mind of the viewer.  I wonder what might happen next? Seems like Amanda is going to get herself in a bit of trouble...