The next day, Alice barely got out of bed. She felt terrible and guilty. It was past 11 o’clock when the phone rang forcing her to get up. Though she didn’t feel like talking to anyone, she left the bed and went to the living room to answer the phone.

“Hello?”

“Ali, thank God! What took you so long? Are you okay?” asked Kimberly, her sister.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was away from the phone, that’s why.” Alice replied with no emotion in her voice.

“I see. Anyway, I’m calling to know about yesterday and to let you know I’m coming to pick you up for lunch. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Kim, I’m not really in the mood to go out…” as she let her body fall to the couch, she tried to argue.

“What? No way! Go get ready and wait for me!” Kimberly hung up not giving her sister the chance to say anything else.

Alice went back to her room and grabbed a pair of blue jeans and Nick’s favorite t-shirt. She looked at it for a while thinking about him and what she had done. She felt lost in the moment for a few minutes. Then she decided it was time to go and take a shower.

She was wearing her hoes when the doorbell rang.

“Hello, sis! You ready to go?” said Kim with the biggest smile on her face.

“Guess so.” answered Alice. She didn’t have half the energy her sister seemed to have now.

“Oh, come on! It’s clear you are not! Look at you! We need to change these clothes. Jeans and a t-shirt are old-fashioned now.” Kim said and pulled her sister upstairs.

“Let’s see what you got in here…” she started pulling hangers out of Alice’s wardrobe making remarks as “No, this is too childish” or “Eww, that makes you look like granny. Why would you even wear this?” while throwing the clothes into a pile on the bed.

Alice just sat down across the room and waited. She didn’t feel like arguing about the clothes with her sister. It was useless.

“Oh, I found it!” shrieked Kim. “Wait, isn’t this dress mine?” and she put the dress in front of her body looking in the mirror.

“It might be. I don’t know, Kim.”

“Well, it’ll look fabulous on you. Go and get changed. I’ll be downstairs. You have ten minutes.” And she left the room.

Alice did as she was told and went to the living room to meet Kimberly.

“Wow, you look amazing! If Nick were here, he wouldn’t let you go out like that, for sure.” She laughed. You’re too beautiful!”

As she heard Nick’s name her eyes filled with water and she did all she could not to cry. But Kimberly saw it.

“What happened, darling? You look as if you’re gonna cry.”

“No, it’s nothing…” Alice attempted to lie.

“You keep telling yourself that, but I don’t believe it. You didn’t show any emotion since I arrived here. Something is wrong and you’re telling me what it is right now.” And she ushered her sister to the couch, “Spit it out!”

“There’s nothing, really. I guess I just miss Nick and you mentioned him.” Then she burst out crying. “I just want him to be here right now.”

“Oh, darling, calm down. He’ll come back soon.” Kimberly hugged her sister in an attempt to make her feel better, but it took about half an hour for her to stop crying.

“Come on, Ali. Let’s go have lunch and I still wanna know how your first lecture was. But first, let’s wash your face and put on some make up again.”

All the way to the restaurant Alice was trying hard not to remember what had happened with Mark the night before and she tried even harder not to miss Nick. But it was a little difficult once Kimberly made her talk about the lecture. As time passed, Alice got more involved in the conversation and forgot a little how much she missed her boyfriend. The two sisters spent an agreeable afternoon together.

Alice got back home and checked her messages, though there was none. She went upstairs and filled in the tub. One hour later she was cooking something for dinner and having a glass of wine. With every gulp she thought more and more about Nick. She was trying to resist the urge to call him but she needed to hear his voice, even if it was for just one second, so she picked up the phone and called him.