Lessons learned

Chapter 28

After the phone call we both sat in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

The rain had picked up and somewhere along the way it turned into hail. The noise got increasingly louder but neither of us cared, if anything it was soothing, rhythmic even. I listened to the melodic syncopated beat, trying to match my breathing to it.

I shut my eyes and leaned my head on the back on my chair.

Peter invaded my mind, like usual.

I started remembering all the times where he was my happy place, he was the one person that I thought would always be there for me.

My intrusive mind floats back to that night when I completely lost it and destroyed Logan's bed. I remember Peter picking me up and just holding me in his arms for hours promising me that he'll always be there for me. I remember how I brought him back to my dorm that same night, and he stole my top and held it about his head. Forcing me to reach for it.

I remembered how I woke up next to him in the middle of the night confused, but yet I didn't dare move him. The truth was I was comfortable with him there with me. I needed him there with me. So when I woke up again in the morning and he wasn't there I was disappointed, my heart sank.

I remembered the first time I beat him while playing the PS3. He'd been so surprised that he'd lost, it was absolutely adorable, he screwed his face up and stared at me before lunging at me and climbing on top of me. I remember how my heart was racing, how much I wanted to kiss him, I remember feeling dirty for the thoughts I was having about my best friend.

While going through my memories with Peter, I somehow managed to fall asleep.

'Nic? Nic we're here.' Abby's soft voice woke me. I slowly opened my eyes.

I was outside a large mansion like house on a street where pretty much every other house looked like this one. A large lamp post shone into the car and filled the dark space immediately.

'Where are we?'

'London.' She said happily.

'Bascially, before I came to you tonight I rung up some of my friends from college. I told them that I had a friend in distress and I asked them if it would be alright if I could come down and visit. So...here we are.' She explained quickly.

She opened her door, while I sat in the passenger seat in confusion. Abby came over to my side and unlocked the door for me encouraging me to leave my car.

We walked up to the large black door in silence, I waited for her to knock.

'Abby! It's been so long!' A slender blonde figure exclaimed when she flung the door open. Her body was dressed in a cute short summer dress, leaving hardly anything to the imagination.

Abby embraced the girl in a warm hug before looking over at me.

'You must be Abby's distressed friend.' The girl laughed pulling me into a hug as well. She was far too thin to hug properly but somehow her hug seemed very welcoming.

'Come in, the others are waiting.'

I don't know if I want to be around anyone at the moment but it didn't seem like I had a choice.

I walked into the grand hallway, photos were hung on the red wall all dressed in gold frames. I rolled my eyes at how fancy everything was, it was like my parent's house.

I walked into a large living room, two sofas were positioned on a rug with sketches of little gold angles on.

A tall male with brown scruffy hair made his way over to me, a smile adoring his handsome face. His jawline was on point and it was littered with the right amount of stubble.

'Hello, I'm Sir William Bambi Smith .' He told me in a posh tone before sticking his nose in the air looking away from me.

I let out a soft laugh making him look back down at me.

'Just kidding.' A thick Irish accent sounded from the handsome man. 'I thought I'd ease you in a little. I'm actually Ben, nice to meet ya.' He smiled and I laughed again, I like him already.

'Ay, I got a laugh from her guys!' He exclaimed to the rest of the group. Abby smiled at me and gave me a reassuring thumbs up before she continued to talk to the blonde girl that I had just met.

'Let me introduce you.' I nodded and followed him round the room.

'This is Hazel.'

I looked at the small girl standing in front of me. Her brown hair had been messily curled and it had two pins on both sides of her head letting one strand of hair fall over her face. Her light brown skin make her smokey eye make up look perfect, and she smiled sincerely at me.

'Hi, I'm Nicollette.' She brought me in for a tight hug. 'I know what you're going through, I've been through it too.' She whispered in my ear before pulling away from me, tapping my shoulders and walking away.

'Okay, this is Nathan, he's my best friend.' Ben said happily and brought me over to Nathan.

He was wearing a tight fitting suit and a small shy smile. His dirty blonde hair was flattened on the top of his head and his blue eyes were magical, not as beautiful as Peter's but still breathtaking.

'Hi Nathan.' I said robotic-ally as the thoughts of Peter consumed me again.

'Hiya Nic.'

'Now over there talking to Abby is Lottie.' Ben pointed towards the two girls.

I looked around the room until my eyes settled on a male sitting by the fire, his back turned away from me. I stepped closer to Ben. 'Who's that?' I asked with my voice low.

'That's Zeke, he don't like to talk much. He don't like no one.'

I nodded in understanding.

'Nic and Abby shall I show you to your rooms?' Lottie asked us and I nodded saying goodbye to Ben and followed Lottie.

She took us to a room at the end of a long corridor. 'I'm sorry but you guys have to share a room, all the other ones are taken.'

'It's fine we have dorms at uni, I share a room with two other girls.' I informed and thanked her before entering my temporary room.

'I don't have any clothes for tomorrow.' I tell Abby walking over to one of the double beds.

'It's a good job that I packed one of your bags before I came to you then.'

'What? When did you have time to put it in the car?'

'Well, you weren't really paying attention to anything that was happening around you at the time.' I nodded not caring about the rest of her story.

'How did you even know where to find me? Or that I even ran away?'

'Megan came back to our dorm. She told me that her and Peter were now dating, we had an argument and I told her that I'd had enough. I had packed a bag for myself while she had a shower and came to see if you knew about them. When Indiana, Calli and Kathy told me that you had gone to see Peter I knew. So I packed a bag for you too and told them not to tell anyone where we were. Then I came to find you.'

'You had an argument?'

'Yeah, I told her that she's a selfish whore who needs to consider other people's feelings first. I've never liked her anyway you know that.'

I laid against my bed and looked up at the artwork on the ceiling.

'Right, I'm just going to get the bags from the car. Now promise me if I leave you, you're not going to like kill yourself or anything are you?'

'No.' I groaned making her leave.

A few seconds later the door opened, I rolled my head to the side to see who had entered.

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Lesson learned; go on a road trip with your friend, then make your own happiness.