More then friends // Nichorello AU

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Nicky's POV

The silence continues. I want Lorna to go, but I also want her to stay. But I can't let her know everything that's wrong. I only just met the woman 2 days ago. I know I should probably ask her about last night. Or tell her I saw my ex.

"I'm sorry I ran off, but i just want to be alone right now."

Lorna's grip tightens on my hand.

"Ok I understand, I should go back to work. Can I at least have your phone number? I want to be able to check up on you. I'm working tomorrow morning from 7-11 if you want to come by. I'll make sure the coffee's extra good!"

I give her my number, kind of regretting it. I don't want someone to feel as if they have to check up on me. But it's nice Lorna isn't like Red, telling me to talk about my feelings all the time. She's the first person (except Daniel, but he didnt care anyway) to understand that talking is hard for me. 

"Maybe.." I say as Lorna makes her way to the door. I don't think she heard me.

Lorna's POV

As I walk back to work, I'm concerned for Nicky. I need to make sure she eats something. But I'm too passive to say something, i cant force her to.

"Back so soon?" I hear Gloria say as I walk in to the break room to grab my apron.

"Yeah, sorry about being late again this morning. I promise it won't happen anymore."

"I know you've had a rough few weeks Lorna, if you need to take some time off you can."

"It's ok, coming to work is a good distraction. Plus, I love my job."

"Ok, get on out there. If you do need to take some time away from work though, my offer stands."

"Thanks Gloria, but really I'm fine."

I walk up to the counter, and begin taking orders, but I can't shake Nicky out of my mind. I know she's not ok, but I'm so confused as to what we did last night. 

My shift ends, I don't remember much of it, my mind was all over the place. I could tell Gloria was watching over me the entire time, I think she's waiting for the point where i'll have a breakdown. But it's not going to happen. 

Gloria has being my boss for 3 years now, she took me in after I got out of the psychiatric ward and I had found out my mother had moved away without telling me. She didn't even visit the two weeks I was in the hospital, didn't even care that my boyfriend Christopher was abusive and caused me to attempt to take my own life. 

Gloria noticed that I would come into Litchfield cafe and just sit for hours, only ordering one drink because that's all I could afford. At first she got mad at me, saying I was hogging the table, when there were paying customers around. But then she saw that I kept coming back, and one day asked me why I always sat in here. I told her I just was bored and this was one of the only places that was never too crowded. I didn't tell her I was homeless. She still doesn't know that I was ever homeless. 

"You know if you love sitting in here so much, I need more staff to run this place properly you should think about applying." she said, jokingly.

I thought that actually sounded like a great idea, so I told her I was interested. She told me to come in the next day for an interview with a resumè. I ended up getting the job, because I worked as a waitress while I was in high school, since I wanted to get away from my family as soon as possible, and I would need money to do that. She was impressed enough with that.

One day she ended up seeing a burn mark on my arm, that was caused by Christopher when he poured boiling hot coffee on me one time when he got into one of his 'moods', that was his pathetic excuse every time.  She asked me if it happened at work, and I said no, and for some reason I told her about Christopher. Ever since then she's been concerned about me, but that day she became the mother I never had. Someone who cared enough to worry about how my ex had treated me. 

I arrive home, and I crash onto the couch. I moved into this apartment not long after I had started working for Gloria, as I was on a full-time contract, and had stable income to afford rent. It was small, but it worked for me. I didn't plan on ever getting into another relationship again, at least I didn't until last night...