It Was Easier Not Loving You

*Niki's P.O.V.*

I didn't hardly sleep any last night, I've been thinking about Mike. I stayed up and watched tv all night. It's amazing what stupid shows they show at three in the morning. Some are good, but most are just weird. So many paid programmings also. I watched two hours of paid programming about kitchen knives and Billy Mayes stuff. Tre didn't want to leave me all night. He fell asleep in my lap somewhere around 2 a.m.

*Narrator's P.O.V*

Niki dialed on the phone and held it up to her ear. It rang two times and was answered.

"Hello?"

"Alec?"

"Hey, Niki, what's happening?"

"Um, I need to talk to you."

She paused briefly. "Is everything alright?"

"Not really. Meet me at the park soon?"

"Yeah, I can leave now. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay. See you soon."

"Bye."

"Bye."

She hung up and stared at the textures in the ceiling. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Tre poked his head in the door.

"You alright this morning?"

She shrugged. "I've been better. You?"

"Not unless you are."

He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really. I just need some time to recuperate. I'll be fine soon, I'm sure." She gave a fake smile.

"Am I getting to close? I don't want to make you more uncomfortable than you already are."

"No, you're fine. I'll tell you if I'm uncomfortable."

He laid down on the pillow next to her and wrapped his arms around her torso.

"I told Alec I'd meet her at the park. I guess I better get going soon. I'll be back soon."

Tre squeezed her waist and buried his face in her back.

"Call me if you need anything. I'll always be here for you."

He kissed the back of her neck. She squeezed his arms.

"Thanks."

Alec threw her arms around Niki's shoulders.

"I'm sorry this happened. You aren't mad at him, are you?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I know that it was my fault too."

"I don't want you to be mad, especially if he didn't force you."

"I know. I wanted you to know, though."

"Thanks, dear. Just remember that you had a small part too, whether you were wasted or not, but it's not really anyone's fault. I know you still want to be his friend and I know it is a lot to swallow at once, but you've been in worse scrapes than this, I'm sure of it. "

Niki smirked and nodded. They sat and listened to the birds sing to each other until Alec broke the silence.

"So, how's Tre?"

Niki's trance was broken. She raised her brows.

"I said, how is Tre? I haven't heard anything about him lately."

"Oh, he's fine. He found me here last night and I didn't want to be alone so he let me stay. I watched paid programming nearly all night."

"Sounds like fun for the family."

"Yeah, it was really boring. Nothing good was on and all the music videos were practically porn to hip hop music. I hate hip hop."

Niki shivered at the thought of the videos and Alec laughed.

"There are very few hip hop songs I like or can tolerate," Niki continued, "but it's all old-school. This new stuff is a load of garbage on a kabob stick. I don't want to hear about Justin Beiber and how he loves this girl when he's 12, and I don't want to hear about smacking asses. I don't see why it can't be like it used to be. You buy an album now and it's all about sex and whores. Why can't it be about rebellion or something? Sex is the last thing I want to think about." Niki rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Well, I think I can fix that." A grin grew across Alec's face.

"Really, how?"

"Tag! You're it!"

Alec took off running and Niki stared at her with a brow raised.

"Well, come on."

"Aren't we a little old for this?"

"Nope."

Alec pulled her hands to her ears and made provocative faces. Niki jumped up and began chasing her and and almost caught her a couple times. Alec jumped in a tree and climbed to the center.

"Ha ha, you can't get me!"

"That's not fair! You know I'm afraid of heights!"

"Niki, Niki, Niki," Alec tisked, "you know it's not the heights you're afraid of, it's falling from heights that scare you."

She chuckled, but Niki found it scarcely amusing.

"Well, I guess I better be getting back, it's getting late," Niki said.

Alec climbed out of the tree and hugged Niki.

"Thanks for coming over and listening," she paused, "and tag. That was fun." She chuckled.

"Any time. I'll talk to you later."

Niki opened the front door of Tre's house, kicked off her shoes, and hung up her coat.

"Welcome back," she heard in the distance.

She looked up and around and found Tre in the corner of another room.

"Hey, how is everything?"

"Eh, same old, same old. You?"

"Feeling a lot better." Niki walked into the living room, sat down on the couch, and was joined by Tre. He put his arm around her shoulders as she continued. "I was thinking on the way back that I should probably forgive Mike for what happened. I talked to Alec about it and she helped me take some of it in. I can't be mad forever, and I don't want to lose a good friend like him."

Tre nodded, "Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if I stole Mike's virginity and he hated me."

He smirked. Niki lightly slapped his ribs, "Ha ha, very funny."

"I know," he grinned and pulled her into a hug. "I'm glad we can all be friends again."

"Yeah."

"Well, there was something I was wanting to talk to you about."

Tre had a seriousness to his tone which immediately made Niki's ears perk and give him full attention. It's rare that he'd ever be serious like this.

"We were informed today that Jennifer has escaped from prison. I know she's going to be after you and stop at nothing to find you because she's that crazy of a bitch. I recommend that you stay at Alec's or somewhere you feel she can't find you until they catch her again."

Niki's chin trembled slightly. She gulped and nodded. She knew that Jennifer hated her because she thinks she stole her from Mike. She also knows she won't stop at anything to kill her. Tre sensed her fear and held her close. The warmth from his chest radiated onto her. This closeness is unlike anything she's felt before. She felt safe for the first time in her life. She was always tortured and chased after as a child, only accepted by select few people, and this was totally out of this world to her.

A tear ran down Niki's cheek as the memories of her childhood flowed back to her after the years of forgetting her past. Tre ran his hand through Niki's hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I guess."

He tilted his head so he could see the majority of her face that wasn't in his chest.

"Honestly, I don't want to move from here." She pulled him closer. "I've never felt this safe before. I never understood how people could be so happy in a world of torture and misery, but now I do."

Tre barely grasped what he heard. "What do you mean by that?"

"I didn't have the best childhood in the world. Barely anyone accepted me and almost all picked on me. I wasn't the best dressed or the richest, like the other kids, but my parents wanted me to go to a private school. They got a divorce and I went to public school. It wasn't much better, but I wasn't picked on because my family wasn't as rich as the other kid. In middle school I always had acne and thrift store clothes because my mom was hooked on drugs and couldn't take care of me and my dad was always gone and wouldn't hardly take me shopping for decent clothes. Alec was the only person to see me for who I was and not what I looked like or had." Niki paused to let it soak in before continuing. "When I was 17 my mother attempted suicide while I was staying at her house. The drugs and debt had finally gotten to her. She was going to be evicted late that week and she knew she couldn't pay for the house, me, and her drugs, and she just wanted to end it. Hearing the gun shot had scarred me from that moment on. I never imagined meeting someone like Jennifer. I was traumatized by the gun shots and shot. She was crazier than anyone I had ever met and I didn't even do anything to her."

Tre gazed at the floor trying his best to soak in all she had said. He didn't know hardly what she had to go through as a child and on up. All he could do was hold her closer and let her cry. He couldn't say anything to help, couldn't do anything. He felt so helpless, but he finally absorbed it all. He knew everything was wrong.

"I'm so sorry. No one, especially you, deserves anything like that."

Niki kept silent, silently choked on tears.

Slowly she drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were drenched in memories. They all blended together and were nightmarish. Suddenly she sees Billie, then Mike, and Tre. Slowly all her friends came into view. 'Niki' called Tre. His voice was garbled other than her name. She walked closer to try to make out what he was saying. Suddenly she was shaken awake. She swiftly sits up and bangs heads with Tre.

"Calm down, are you okay?"

Niki blankly stared at him, then gave a slightly confused look.

"You were tossing around, moaning and groaning. I just came in to check on you."

Niki looked over at the clock on the night stand. 4:43.

She shook her head a little. "Yeah, I'm fine, just some nightmare is all. It's nothing."

"Positive?"

"Yeah, thanks, now go back to sleep."

"If you say so. Good night."

"Good night, Tre."

He shut the door and she laid her head back down on the pillow, but didn't go back to sleep.