One Day at a Time - (Season One)

Chapter Three: Love can turn you into the biggest Fool

After picking up all her paperwork and setting up her next appointment, Marty decided that they might as well get her medications from the pharmacy before finally heading home to relax for a bit before her shift at the movie theater. Lukas didn't put up much of a fuss, especially not after she promised that he could pick out one candy from the front. Honestly, he deserved it since he'd been so good during her appointment. It was only after they'd finally settled at home that she received a not-so-welcomed phone call.

She'd been sitting at the kitchen table, helping Lukas with the minuscule amount of homework he'd been assigned, when her small and cheap flip phone started buzzing incessantly. "Sorry squirt, give me a second." Marty murmured to him as she dug out the contraption from her small purse. She lovingly stroked the newly printed images of her unborn children, unable to simply pass them by when her fingers skimmed them before picking up the phone without looking at the ID. "Hello?"

"Martina? This Madison Clark. Nick's mom."

Marty held her breath in, it had been a mistake not to check the caller ID. "Yes, hello, Mrs. Clark. This is... kinda unexpected, is there something that I can help you with?"

"Have you seen Nick?" was the immediate reply, "We're looking for him. He was in an accident recently," Marty's heart dropped into her stomach, "but he ran away from the hospital this morning." Mrs. Clark rushed out.

"I-I, no. I haven't seen him in three months." Marty stammered, trying to process the information being unloaded on her, "Nick was in an accident? Is he okay? Was he really hurt?"

Mrs. Clark sighed with disappointment, "He was brought in after he ran into traffic." she reported almost blandly, "Nick wasn't too badly injured, the majority of his problems are coming from whatever he was taking." she took in a frustrated breath that made the receiver crinkle loudly in Marty's ear, "Listen, Martina. Please just- call me if you see him or- or if he gets in touch with you."

"Yeah," Marty gasped. "O-Of course I will- I just—Mrs. Clark, I know, I know that you don't like me very much—but please, please, tell him to call me when you find him. I-I have something really important to talk about with him."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment. "I'll let him know," the woman said abruptly before hanging up the phone.

Marty let the flip phone slip from her grip and drop onto the table. She started to run her fingers through her short brown locks nervously, tugging until her scalp burned. God damn it, Nick. When she yelled at him to get the hell out of her apartment three months ago, it didn't mean that she hated him... or that she never wanted to see him again. Marty had just been so freaking furious, so hurt and betrayed that he'd brought that shit into her home where her baby brother could find it.

She'd been living with his drug addiction for years.

They'd been friends since they were in middle school. She'd been the only one to treat him the same after his Dad died, and he'd been the first person to overlook the 'creepiness' that the other kids said plagued her. Said 'creepiness' was only masking Marty's broken heart over the loss of her Papi and Marcos. Both of them had lost their family because of hit-and-runs... they'd bonded over their shared loss, and the friendship that had been born out of that pain was a strong one.

Whenever Marty had felt like she was going over the edge, mentally and physically, Nick was there to coax her down. Whenever Nick felt like he was shattering, she'd put the pieces back together. They'd found comfort with one another where they couldn't find it at home.

She'd always suspected that that was the reason why Mrs. Clark did not like her—that and for being the 'factor' that exposed Nick to the wonders of drugs.