Chapter 1
Closing the case to her guitar, she smirked a little in satisfaction. Finally the sore fingers paid off, she was actually able to play the damn thing.
Climbing the up the stairs she stopped short when she heard a noise coming from the hallway. Peering around the corner she frowned, “No, please don’t tell me you decided on another surprise visit.”
“Why do you insist on being so darn cold to me all the time?”
“Why do you insist on continually showing up at my house uninvited…” she held her hands in the air in utter annoyance. Though she remained calm, she was far too used to these occurrences to get upset.
“This is my house too remember?”
“You moved out, remember? It was that one day when that big truck came and took all your belongings away.” She did her best to completely ignore him and just walked into the kitchen to start making lunch.
“Chelsea, I’ve been doing some thinking…” he started.
“Good,” she nodded, “How bout you think your way out the door?”
“I’m serious,” he warned and she chuckled. He was always ‘serious.’ If only he knew the true meaning of the word. “I’ve been remembering all our time together.”
“And it finally hit you that it’s over. Great, ok. Well now, Nick, I’m glad you came to your senses but if you don’t mind I have some things I have to get done.” Sipping on a bottle of water he watched her graceful body. He always knew there was something unique about her that separated her from everyone else. She was the one person that could captivate him with the most simple movement.
“I heard you playing the guitar,” he tried to change the subject. “Sounds like you really got the hang of it.”
“Yea,” she nodded and looked at him, “Well I had a good teacher. Notice the past tense there, you really can go.”
“Why do insist on always being a road block?”
“No Nick, why do you insist on always being a dead end?”
“That’s not fair; you know damn well that I didn’t break things off. That my dear would be you.”
“And not a minute too soon,” she added and took a bite off a chip. He reached into the bag to take one but she snatched it away. “No, you’re not invited for lunch.”
“Come on, just listen to me. Last night I was in my bed thinking about the first day we met and…”
“You know I really don’t see the point in this trip down memory lane. Don’t forget that it only leads to me leaving you. Me leaving you with countless reasons. So let’s just call it a day and you can leave and I’ll finish my lunch and it’ll be just dandy.”
“I know I made mistakes,” he continued opting to ignore what she said the way he usual did. “But what’s the best thing you can do with mistakes? Learn from them. Which means, since I made so many, that I’ve learned a lot.”
“Quit talking, I’m really not interested in what you have to say. You know that I’ve moved on. You know that I’ve finally found a window of happiness in my life. Why must you insist on constantly raining on my parade?” Talking to him she was starting to get frustrated. “Fuck,” she muttered. “Look at me, you got me rambling. Just leave now Nick, please.”
“They say you will always love your first love,” he yet again continued.
“Yes. And your first love is yourself. So thank you Nick for clarifying that you will always love yourself.”
“You know that I don’t just love myself,” he cocked his head at her and she remembered that look. She remembered how many times it had convinced her that whatever words he was saying were true. “I know I messed up with you and I’m sorry. But look Chelsea, you messed up too…”
“Oh so now you’re saying it’s my fault!” shaking her head in amusement she couldn’t help but laugh, “That’s incredible. Congratulations.”
“No, I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m saying that neither one of us are perfect and we both deserve a second chance.”
“Right, a second chance that you’ve already gotten. Heck, I can’t even count how many additional chances I gave you. But they’ve dried up. You couldn’t fix what you broke so for once in your life know when to quit and just go. Go find happiness. Go find success. Go find whatever it is that you want. But I guarantee you, you won’t find anything here.”
“When are you going to let me finish?”
“Oh I did, you’re quite finished. This here, now, is just one of those horrible endings that drags on and on because someone, you, don’t see that it ended.”
“Remember when we met?” he asked. The one thing about him that never seemed to fade was his persistence. The boy just never knew how to quit. Looking up at him she gave an ‘I’m-tired-of-hearing-you-talk’ glare.
“Of course I remember when we met Nick. I didn’t get amnesia here ok? I just decided that it was better if I quit before we kept killing each other over and over…”
“Now when did I ever kill you?” he asked unable to understand the concept of ‘metaphor.’
“Oh you know what I mean. I’m not saying we went at each other with guns it’s just we…” she stopped herself and swallowed, “You know it doesn’t even matter. Cause it’s over.”
“And what am I supposed to do with my life now?”
“Try moving on.” Closing the bag of chips she took a seat at the counter. They had bought the house together thinking it would be a dream. Never once did it cross either of their minds that it would have ended.
“Come to think of it,” Nick tapped his finger on the counter and she just looked at him. “You know, I think, yep. I’m moving back in.”
Trying to pretend she didn’t hear the words he had just said she just sorta looked at him, “Excuse me?”
“Yea, most of the stuff in the house is mine anyway. Yea, I’m moving back in. We can be roomies again.”
“No, no, no, NO!” she shook her head in refusal and raised up from her chair. “You are not living here again. No!”
“Fine, then you can move out. We found this place together and I’ve decided that, well, my name is still on the deed and I wanna live here.”
“But you’re never even in town.”
“Who says? Maybe that’s changed. Ahh,” he sighed and grabbed a coke from the fridge. “Yup, it’s definitely good to be home.”
Was this really happening? Was he really threatening to move back in? Talk about a desperate attempt to salvage what died a long time ago. “Nick, you can’t move back in here. I won’t let you.”
“You can’t stop me,” he shrugged and took a swig of her cold refreshing can of coke that he stole from her refrigerator. “You say that we’re over, well fine then. We’re over. We’re not a couple anymore. This won’t be a relationship. This is strictly a living arrangement.”
“You have more money then God, you can surely find your own place to live…”
“Well I like it here, so tough luck for you.”
“AH! I knew it!” she stammered, “I just knew that you would never be able to grow up. You’re still getting under my skin on purpose. Just let it go!” He looked at her amused. He loved when Chelsea got worked up, for some reason he found her at her most seductive that way.
“FINE! You wanna move in here? Fine! You move in here. But I swear to you I will make you so sorry. I’ll make it a living hell and you’ll be packed up to go in less time then it takes me to…to…WASH MY HAIR!” Storming off Nick sat down and laughed. Yes. He knew he had made mistakes in his life, but the biggest one of all was letting her go. And he was definitely, definitely, gonna get her back. Even if it meant smothering her to the high heavens.
Chapter 2
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