I woke up and stretched as I looked at my surroundings. It wasn�t the hotel that I knew for sure. Oh shit, the hotel. Colleen. The airport. Her flight. I looked over at looked at the alarm clock; fuck, it was eight thirty. Not only did I not take Colleen to the airport but also her flight was gone. Damn, I hoped she made the flight. Another part of me hoped she didn�t so I could properly send her off. If she were gone I would really feel like a heel. I didn�t even tell anyone where I was going. Carl was going to be pissed because I just took off and Kevin was going to be pissed because I ditched Colleen. Shit, what a royal fuck up. I�ve done some crazy shit but I�ve never left a girl stranded in a city before. And on top it was a city she had never been to. Of all cities, it was New York City; I may as well have dropped her off in the center of Beijing. I picked up my phone and cursed,
�Fuck.� When the hell did I turn my phone off? I don�t even remember doing that. The last call I got was from Brehan and I didn't turn it off after that. I looked down at the ID panel, fifteen missed calls. They�ve been looking for me and I�ve been lounging in Brehan�s bed. A comfortable fucking bed if I may be so bold as to compliment on at the moment. I listened to my voice mail messages. They were all from Colleen, Carl and Kevin. Colleen sounded anxious, Carl�s voice was of controlled angered and Kevin was just straight up livid. I called Carl�s cell phone and he picked up on the second ring,
�Yes.� He knew he couldn�t be pissy with me but he was making it very obvious that he wasn�t happy,
�Yeah Carl, it�s Nick.� Stupid, as if he didn't know that,
�Is Colleen with you?�
�No.� No, where the fuck was she? Why was he playing games with me? Tell me what the fuck I want to know. I�m not going to play guessing games this early in the morning,
�Well where the hell is she? Where are you?� He let out a slow and deliberate breath,
�I�m on my way back from the airport. I put her on the plane and she�s on her way back to Boston. She said to tell you goodbye and thank you. Nice girl.� I rolled my eyes. That last part was to make me feel like shit and it worked. Even after I ditched her she still had the etiquette to thank me, I�m a jerk. I ran my hand through may hair and noticed my shoes were off; I must have been all about being comfortable last night.
�I�ll be back at the hotel soon.� I didn�t bother to listen for any goodbyes from him I just hung up and played my messages. Earlier this morning Carl called Colleen�s room repeatedly before using the extra key and finding Colleen knocked out in my room. She had no idea where I was and he had her get ready and took her to the airport, the entire time her only concern was my welfare. Throughout this whole ordeal Kevin was pissed at me calling my cell phone trying to figure out where I was. I deleted my messages and walked out of Brehan�s bedroom to see her in a tank top and panties looking out the window drinking something in a mug. I cleared my throat and she turned to look at me,
�Hey you.� Any other time, her little greeting would have put a smile on my face but not this time I was too preoccupied with feeling like shit. I grunted and sat on the couch. She walked over and sat next to me, offering me her drink,
�Want some tea?� I frowned and turned my head,
�No, what the heck happened last night? I missed taking Colleen to the airport and she�s already on her way back to Boston.� She shrugged,
�We were listening to music and we fell asleep.� That�s about all I remembered. There was that time her phone rang and she took the phone call in the other room. She ran her fingers through my hair and once she started massaging my scalp my head fell back and my eyes closed.
�I need to get back to my hotel, I have to catch a plane too.� I heard her mug being placed on the table and opened my eyes when I felt her straddle my lap,
�I�ll have the doorman send a car to take you back.� I�ve never seen her without makeup before. She was still so pretty. Granted, she didn�t look like she did on the cover of those magazines but I knew that wasn�t real because I didn�t either. Some girls made me laugh; they said I looked better in person than I did on TV or in pictures. I figure they�re just blowing smoke up my ass.
�Thanks.� Didn�t know what else to say. She was naked straddling my lap. She continued to run her fingers through my hair and looked directly into my eyes. I don�t know how people do that. Its hard for me to look into someone�s eyes, it can be so intimidating to me.
�Why do you look so down kid?� I sighed and from the look on her face I guess it made me seen more pathetic,
�Just feel like shit for not being there to take Colleen to the airport.� I could sense the change in her at the mention of Colleen�s name,
�She made her flight right?� I nodded,
�Yeah, but I should have been there. And what�s worse is that she�s too nice to be pissed.� She sighed,
�Why should she? She�s a big girl; she can take care of herself. It�s all over now, you can talk to her later.�
We were sitting at her table eating breakfast, Starbucks lattes and danish that were delivered, who knew that Starbucks delivered, when we both turned once we heard the door open. She jumped up from the table so quickly I thought she was going to knock the chair over,
�Steven, hi. What are you doing here so early?� She kissed him on the cheek but he was more concerned about my presence. She continued to fawn over him as he stared at me and stared back at him. He looked at her and I could tell he was talking but I didn�t know he was saying. He walked into her bedroom and she followed, not bothering to look over at me as she closed the door. I was ready to get out of there but my fucking shoes were in her bedroom. Damn, how was she supposed to explain that? I grabbed the bag and sat on the couch wondering if I should knock on the door or just wait. Her phone rang and after three rings it stopped. Suddenly her door opened and she closed it behind before walking over to me with my shoes in her hand,
�That was the doorman, your car is here. I�ll talk to you soon ok?� I nodded,
�Yeah, I hope everything is ok. I mean, he doesn�t think-� I looked in the direction of her bedroom and she shook her head,
�No, everything is fine. Don�t worry.� She pecked me on the lips and stood up,
�Just close the door on your way out ok kiddo.� I nodded as she walked back in her bedroom and closed the door. I put my shoes on and grabbed the bag, hoping like crazy that my presence in her apartment first thing in the morning wasn�t going to get her into trouble. If it did, I�ll hear about it after he chewed her out and she got drunk to get over it. Or maybe I wouldn�t, there is no telling how much he puts her through that she doesn�t tell me about. She should just leave him. There was just something about him, no matter what she wants I'm never going to like him. I had a bad feeling about him before Brehan began to confide in me, it was my first implression, they are usually wrong. However, I never thought I would like Brehan let alone care about her after my first impression of her. This guy was different, there is no way I'm ever going to like him, I know it.
Chapter 52
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
Feedback