Part Two: Chapter Seven

Morning came and immediately Kaylin knew there was something wrong. Nick was out of bed and aggitated, he had a nervous energy about him. She began to panic that he was afraid that he regretted his actions of that night. While he flitted about his room, Kaylin quietly straightened herself and tried to slink out his door.

"Kay, where are you going?" Nick was alarmed that she was up and her first thought was to leave. He smile quickly and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"I thought I'd go home now, you've done enough and I don't want to overstay," she looked down and bit her lip, her hands were tugging at her shirt absent-mindedly.

"Oh Kaylin," Nick said, suddenly aware of how she was feeling. He pulled her to him and hugged her hard and sat with her on his bed. "Babe, I know what you're thinking and stop it. It's just," he looked over her head, but his arm remained around her shoulders before finally letting out a large breath of air and leaning forward, "It's not what you're thinking, God, it's anything but that. It's that I take these pills, to help me sleep and I didn't have any last night, but I didn't want to leave you for a minute, so my body is just reacting."

"Oh," she wasn't expecting to hear that.

"Listen, why don't you get a shower? My dad's away until Thursday, so we're pretty much alone. Get yourself cleaned up and I'll get something for this," he showed Kaylin his shaking hand.

"Are you sure? I can just go home," she began.

"No. I'm sure there are going to consequences for my actions, and we're going to face them together." His self-confidence was waining in light of his situation, so Kaylin agreed a shower would be a good idea. He gave her a towel and one of his shirts to wear, and promised to be good, but added a sly, "this time" and wagged his eyebrows.

It was evident from the state of the bathroom that only men lived here. It wasn't messy so much as just not clean. She turned the water on as hot as she could take it and let the water wash away her feelings of lonliness and worry. She was determined that she would get through what happened, her father might not even remember it. The water stung when it rained down on where she had been cut, and getting the knots out of her hair with only 2 in 1 shampoo & conditioner was a nightmare, but the soap smelled like Nick and she scrubbed her entire body with it, drinking in the scent.

She came back to his room, and he was spread out on his bed obviously much more relaxed. A quick glance at the clock told her she had only been away twenty minutes. "Nick? Everything OK?" she said, "How did you get to a drug store that fast?"

"Ah," Nick sat up, avoiding her eyes. He thought she had understood when he told her he needed something to calm down, he wasn't expecting her to think it was a prescription. He looked to his dresser where bottles of pills of all kinds were stashed. He looked up to where she stood before him: hair loose and wet around her face and down her shoulders, his tee shirt hanging damp around her body, and her eyes questioning and so naive. "I found some," was all he could say, not ready to lie to her, but not ready to tell her everything, yet. He justified his statement by thinking that soon she would know everything about him, he was willing to share everything with her, but he didn't want to burden her anymore today.

"Listen, babe, it's still early. Let's sleep somemore and then we'll deal with your dad when we're both more well rested," he pulled her hands to him and hugged her, his head resting on her stomach. "I'm so sorry about earlier. I do love you, and sleeping with you next to me was how I wish every night could be. I know we've only been dating a few weeks, but I really feel this babe." He was looking up to her, his eyes pleading with her. She was running her fingers through his hair and taking in every word he was saying. They were young, true, but she couldn't deny that she loved him, too.

They crawled back into bed and she snuggled into the crook of his shoulder as he lay on his back. "Nick," she said, "I love you, too."