Talk to Me
| Breathe APPROXIMATELY 1 MONTH LATER “See, isn’t this fun?” Evie yelled at her friend over the din of the crowd. On Kris’s night off the two girls headed to Church Street Station, a local tourist gathering spot with live music, street party atmosphere, and all sorts of shops. “Yeah it is. I can’t believe we haven’t come sooner.” “Well need I remind you, Miss Work-a-holic, you are the one always too busy working to get out and party. Come on, let’s go over to Terror On Church Street.” “I don’t know, Evie. You know I don’t like scary movies and stuff like that.” “Kris, this is supposed to be the absolute best Haunted House in all of Florida. It’s just a bunch of actors putting on a show, like the theatre. Besides, I’ll be right there to protect you from the boogie man.” Kristyne laughed, “You better let him eat you first! It’ll give me a chance to get away.” “Of course, my dearie.” Kristyne and Evie entered the very elaborate Terror On Church Street. Kris had to admit that it was an expertly choreographed production with great special effects. She wasn’t so sure how she would be sleeping the next couple of nights, but Evie was right, this was kind of fun; in a twisted, demented way. Everything was going pretty good right up until the end of the walk through. Kris was more than a little jumpy, even though she had enjoyed herself. In one of the last rooms there was the guy (or guy dressed up to look like the guy) from Texas Chain Saw Massacre. For some reason he picked up on Kris’s skittishness and played on it. But he took it too far. Instead of backing off when he saw her genuine fear he continued to “attack” her. Before long his aggressiveness and Kris’s over-active imagination and fear had Kris backed into a corner. When she slid to the floor the “attacker” bent over her revving the motor of the completely real-looking make-believe chain saw right in her face. She was crying and had her hands over her head. Evie was yelling at the guy and pounding on his back to leave her alone. All of a sudden someone shoved the guy back away from Kris. This person picked Kris up cradling her like a child and carried her out of the haunted house. Kris was so in shock she didn’t even realize that her rescuer happened to be Nick. She just buried her head in his shoulder and soaked his shirt with her tears. Nick found a bench and sat down with his bundle waiting for her to calm down. “Sshhhhhh. It’s ok. You’re out of there. He was just messing with ya. I know he shouldn’t have pushed it that far. It’s all over now. You’re ok. Just breathe.” He kept repeating to her, trying to get her to stop trembling. “Yo, Frack, did you catch that guy? Man that house is so cool. I never get tired of...Ummm, Nick, who’s in your arms and where is your date?” AJ went from reeling over the haunted house to being shocked at the image of his friend holding some strange girl in his arms. “Yeah, Aje. I saw the jerk. Yeah, I said jerk. You couldn’t see it from where you were at near the back, but he had Kris here pinned on the floor in the corner scaring the shit out of her!” Nick couldn’t believe the venom he felt at the thought of someone hurting Kris. ‘But wait, wasn’t I most recently playing the part of that jerk.’ He said to himself. “That’s Kris? Oh, man. How’d you know?” “I saw her and Evie walk in just before us. At first I almost said for us to leave. But then I guess I figured I’d like to see how she was doing, ya know. If she was doing ok, having fun. So, I guess I kinda kept up to them while you on the other hand fell behind.” “You guess, huh? In all this guessing, can you guess where your date went? What happened to Pamela?” “Ummmm.” Was all Nick could stammer his face turning red. Actually, the minute he had made up his mind to follow Kris he had forgotten all about Pamela. He didn’t even know if she followed him out of the haunted house. Looking around he saw her back over by the exit talking with some people she seemed to know. She looked over at him and he gave her a weak smile. She didn’t return it. Meanwhile, after Evie had acknowledge who Kris’s rescuer was and that she would be ok for a few minutes with him, she went on to find a manager to rant to. The manager was eager to please. He apologized for the mishap and offered a refund. “I don’t want a refund! You have a jerk in there that needs to be told he can’t just completely traumatize people like that! Don’t apologize to me! Do something to him!” Undaunted, Evie stomped off to make sure her friend had calmed down; and to also make sure that Kris didn’t totally freak out again once she realized it was Nick that had saved her. When she walked up to the two of them Nick looked up at Evie. “She stopped crying but she’s still shaking a little. What was he up to anyway?” “I don’t know, but I sure gave his supervisor an ear full. I hope he gets fired. Hey AJ.” “Hey girl. You doing ok?” “Yup, so long as everyone stops picking on my best friend here.” It was meant as a jibe towards Nick, and he nodded his head in understanding. “You take this best friend thing seriously, don’t you.” The comment was said without ridicule or malice. Evie looked at Nick for a minute before answering, she noticed how he was smoothing Kris’s hair down her back and held her cradled with her face on his shoulder and his cheek on the top of her head. He was rocking back and forth like a father with a child. How could he be this big jerk one minute and so caring and tender the next? She couldn’t figure that out. “Hello, earth to Eve.” “Oh, yeah. Just worrying about Kris. Yes, in fact, I DO take it very seriously. Someone needs to be there for her, especially now. But it was back in high school that I needed someone to be there for me, and, well, Kris was that someone. So, yeah, anybody messes with Kris has to deal with me.” For emphasis Evie raised her eyebrows and looked Nick directly in the eye. Nick understood exactly what that gesture meant. He had been the one not so long ago to upset Kris and Evie had let him know in no uncertain terms how callous he had been. AJ had told him to give her time. One week stretched to two, and before he knew it over a month had passed and he still had no idea how to even approach Kris. He had almost managed to convince himself that SHE would be better off without HIM, instead of the other way around, as he had initially thought when everything had exploded. After meeting Evie’s stare he lowered his eyes again to Kris. He hadn’t held her in his arms since that night on the beach all those months ago. The few details Evie had hurled at him over the phone had given him so much understanding, but had also created even more questions. Questions he knew he would probably never get the chance to find out. Questions he felt he didn’t deserve to know. But holding her as he was right then he knew he wanted the chance to find out. He wanted to be the one to be there for her as well. He just didn’t know how to get to that point. Kris had long stopped shaking and sat listening to the conversation between her best friend and Nick. She sat enjoying the comfort of his arms, if only for that moment. Even though the things he had said to her had been mean and hurtful, she didn’t completely blame him. She had, after all, lost her temper as well. It was hard enough thinking about those things much less talking about them. She knew he was trying to get her to open up, at the time she just wasn’t ready. She didn’t know when she would ever be ready. But, he had been right, talking about them helps make them less hurtful. Talking about them helps you deal. And since she started seeing a counselor and talking about things, Kris hopefully thought talking would help her to overcome. Kris realized the talking had stopped and she looked up to see Nick looking down at her. “Hey there. You ok now?” Nick smiled at her. Kris could only nod her head yes. Why did that smile always steal the breath from her chest? She’d think about that later, right now, she realized Nick had reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. The gentleness of his gesture warmed her heart. “Th-thank you.” She managed while trying to stand up. “Kris, I wanted to talk to you, to tell you how sorry...”Nick began, but Kris placed her finger over his lips. Now was not the time nor place. “Shhhhh. No apologies.” Somehow, Kris knew everything would be ok. She leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek and walked away.
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