THE REAL ILLUSORY

Chapter 11

"Were you about to cut yourself Nicole?" Kate asked Nicole who laid her head on her lap  while she moved her fingers through Nicole's hair.

"I was just......." Nicole was cut off by Mark who entered the house.

"What the hell happened here?" Mark asked looking really confused.

"Umm nothing happened babe" Nicole replied.

"Don't tell me that.....look at the fucking house Nicole....did you do this?"

"Yes I did.....I'm sorry" Nicole said sitting upright on the couch.

"Oh my gosh.....why?!!" Mark asked.

"Well, you left the house and you didn't tell me and I called but you didn't return any of my calls....why?". She asked.

"That's cause Mr Wilson our next door neighbor asked me to help him with some heavy boxes......and that's why I couldn't pick up your call cause I was helping him carry the boxes.". Nicole realized she overreacted so she placed her head on her hands and said "Babe I'm so sorry, I don't know why I overreacted.....I'm so sorry". She got up, went over to Mark and gave him a hug. Mark was a little bit annoyed with what she did but he couldn't resist giving her a hug.

"I love you babe" she said.

"I love you too teddy" he replied.

She gave him a peck on his lips and said "I'll go shower now, see you guys later".

He turned over to Kate and asked "What just happened?". Kate shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't even know".
   After some minutes had gone by Mark asked Kate who was cleaning the mess Nicole made "So what brings you by Kate?". She picked up the broken pieces of glass from the ground and said "well I was worried about Nicole so I decided to drop by.

"Wow that's really nice of you....don't you have work today?" He asked.

"Yeah I do.......by 12:00pm" she replied.

"So when you called me you said Nicole wasn't herself at work.....what did you mean by that?". Mark asked while he joined her in cleaning.

"I think she was just stressed that's all". Kate replied to Michael who seemed really worried. And she didn't want her friend feel she betrayed her again.

"Don't lie to me Kate I know that wasn't stress..... I can see how worried you are about her too.....it's written all over your face just as it is in mine". Mark held her by her shoulders and said "please tell me" she couldn't resist the sad look on his face so she explained to him what happened at work before Nicole was suspended.

"Nicole has not been herself for some weeks now. It's like something is bothering her but you know your girlfriend, she always keep her problems to herself. She keeps zoning out whenever I speak to her, it's as if she's thinking of something....." before Kate could finish her sentence Mark said "Or someone".

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well...." he paused for a while so he could check if Nicole was close by because he didn't want her to hear what he was about to say "The other day when she got back from work, she seemed tired so I told her to go take a shower while I prepare dinner.....she took a lot of time so I decided to check if she was still in the shower. Guess what I hear?" He asked Kate who paid so much attention to the story.

"I don't know.....what did you hear"

"I heard soft moans from Nicole....." Mark replied.

"For real?....was she masturbating?" Kate asked looking shocked.