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Chapter 16*


I decide I wont be able to go back to sleep after being woken up by my mom, so I climb out of bed. As I walk into the kitchen to get some coffee, I hear a knock at the door.

Ugh, why are people bothering me so early in the morning, I think.

I set my cup on the counter and make my way to the door.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________


I stand on the other side of the door, patiently waiting for her to answer it. I hear the lock click, and the door finally swings open.

She stands there in the open doorway wearing only her booty shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Her eyes still seem tired from sleep, her hair is a tangled mess, and she stands there looking confused.

“Nick what the hell….”

I know she’s pissed that I came this early, but her mood changes when I pull my hands out from behind my back revealing a dozen flowers.

“Aww baby.” She squeals as she jumps on me.

I walk into the apartment with her still in my arms, close the door with the my foot, then take us both over to the couch.


When she lets go she asks, “ So what are these for? Am I missing something?”

“Ha, no you’re not. I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“That’s so sweet. Thanks Nick.”

She gets up and walks to the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase.
“Do you have any plans tonight?” I ask hopefully.

“Well actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. My mom called this morning, that’s why I’m up so early. She saw the magazine and she knows.”

“Oh God.”

“Yeah I know, but the bad part is that my dad knows too, so I told my mom that you and I would go over there for dinner tonight.”

“I guess that sounds ok.”

“I know you don’t necessarily wanna go, but thank you.” She says as she comes back over to the couch and kisses me.

Great. I mean, I don’t mind going over there, her mom is pretty cool, but her dad, well let’s just say he’s not.

“So why are you here so early anyways?” Anna asks.

“I donno. Was up and just thought id come over.”

“Well I have to go get ready so you can just watch TV or something.”

“K thanks babe.”

As she walks out, I grab the remote, put my feet up, and turn the TV on.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________


When I’m done getting ready, I walk back into the living room to find Sarah and Nick on the couches laughing at cartoons.

“Well I’m glad you guys are having fun, but I’ve gotta get to work.”

“Why don’t I take you?” Nick offers.

“No its alright, because if you take me then I wont have a car.”

“Well if I do take you, I can pick you up right after school and we can go straight to your parent’s.”

“Oh uh, alright that sounds fine.” I tell him.

He gets up off the couch and we both say goodbye to Sarah as we walk out the door.
*10 minutes later*

I climb out of the car, and then bend back down to stick my head into the open window.

“School gets out at 3 so try to be here a little after that, ok?”

“I’ll be here.” He says smiling.

“Good. See you later.” I say and blow him a kiss.

As I start walking into the school, I hear him yell, “I love you!.”

I turn around laughing and reply, “I love you too!”


*3:10*

I walk out of the school into the parking lot, hauling my bags full of papers and projects along with me. I wobble over to an empty bench and take a seat.

As I sit waiting for Nick, I really start to worry about tonight. The only thing I want is for my dad and Nick to get along, and not get into another yelling match.

As the minutes tick by and there is still no sign of Nick, I start to wonder where he is.

I pull my purse onto my lap and fish through it until I find my cell phone. I dial his number then bring the phone to my ear.

After a couple of rings, it goes straight to his voicemail. I click send again and on the third ring he answers, but doesn’t say anything.

“Hello?” I say into the phone.

He doesn’t answer. The only thing I can hear is music and laughter.

“Nick!” I yell getting frustrated.

“Oh hey baby.” He finally answers.

“Nick where are you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” he replies. His voice is shaky and has a strange tone in it.

“What do you mean don’t worry about it? You were supposed to pick me up almost twenty minutes ago!”

“Oh yeah. Sorry.”

“ What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing babe. Everything’s cool.”

“Nick are you…are you drunk?”

“Um, just a little I think.”

“What the hell were you thinking, I mean, we were supposed to go to my parent’s tonight!”

“Hold on say that again. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Forget it. Where are you, I’ll come get you.”

“No don’t.”

“No I’m coming, so where….” My voice trails off as I realize he had hung up.

I sit there not knowing what to do. I have to call my parents and tell them we can’t come and my boyfriend is sitting at a bar somewhere, drunk. There could be a million places he might be and I don’t even know where to start….

But then I get an idea.

I re-open my phone, find the number I’m looking for, and press send.

“Hello?”

“AJ it’s Anna. I need your help.”


*15 minutes later*

As the car pulls around, I gather up all my things. I walk to the back door, open it throw my stuff in, then get into the front seat.

When I climb in, a look over to AJ who gives me a smile.

“Thank you so much AJ, I’m really sorry you had to come do this.”

“Oh come on I didn’t have to do anything, I wanted to help. Besides, I think I know where he is.”

“You do?!”

“We all used to go there a lot when we were here, so we’ll go over there and see what we can find.”

We pull up to a bar in the middle of LA a half an hour later. He parks the car and we both get out.

“AJ, you don’t have to come in, I can just go…”

“No, no, no. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure.”

He takes the lead, and I follow him into the bar.

When we enter, the smell of smoke overwhelms me. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but when they do I see that it is almost empty except for three people. One of them is Nick.

He is sitting at the bar, with his head in his hands, staring at a TV set mounted on the wall.

The bartender looks up, and when he sees AJ, he says “Look who it is! How are ya J?”

“Hey Chuck, I’m doing good. This is Nick’s girlfriend Anna.”

“Nice to meet you. You two came to here to get him I’m guessing.” Chuck says.

“Yeah.” AJ answers.

AJ walks over to Nick with me right behind him.

“Nick.” I say when I reach him.

“Hey baby what are you doing here?” he says woozily, as he leans in to try to kiss me. I move my head back. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes contaminates his breath.

“Come on Nick, let’s go.”

I help him off the stool, and he puts his arm around me. AJ appears on his other side to help me support him.

“Bye Chuck.” Nick says as we walk out of the bar.
“Bye guys.”

We slowly make our way to the car and when we reach it, I open the back door and AJ helps him in.

“Thanks man.” Nick says.

“I’ll sit back here with him.” I tell AJ

When we are all situated in the car Nick says, “Wow, I’m tired. I think I’ll just lie down.”

He scoots his body sideways and plops his head down onto my lap. He falls asleep pretty quickly due to his drunkenness.

I rub my hands gently through his hair. Even though I many not seem it, I’m really angry. He knew what we were supposed to do tonight. I don’t know if that’s what drove him to get drunk or not, but this whole scene worries me. Why would he just go to a bar in the middle of the afternoon? He hasn’t had any problems this week, but I know he has been having some alcohol problems. Nothing too serious, I just know he parties a lot and gets drunk all the time.

The only thing keeping me from not blowing up is the fact that he’s still drunk. And I know it wouldn’t do any good. It’ll just have to wait for later.