The District Lights

Two weeks had passed since Nina had started cleaning Patrick Kane's apartment and she had yet to see him in person. Nina was usually in and out of the apartment before he got home. She found out from her boyfriend, Alex, and brother, Jack, who were major hockey fans, that Patrick Kane was a Chicago Blackhawks player. Really though, the information didn't even make a difference to her.

To her, Patrick was just a lazy twenty-one year old male that couldn't even keep a simple apartment clean for more than two days. Every time she had to go to his apartment to clean it, it was usually in the same state that she found it the first time she went there.

Scrubbing the kitchen floor clean of all the dirt, Nina pushed back a rogue strand of her brunette her. She sighed and got up, stretching her aching back. A picture hanged on the refrigerator caught her eye.

She had seen it many times but never bothered to really look at it. Examining it closely, she knew it to be Patrick in the middle of three girls. She guessed that they were his sisters as they all looked alike. Same facial features, same wide smile and same bright blue eyes Nina was envious of.

"Dude she was so hot," Nina heard voices from the front door.

Her eyes widened and she looked at the clock. It was only twelve in the afternoon; she had two more hours before he was suppose to come back home. Part of her job was to be invisible. Go in quietly when the person is at work, clean and do everything in the span of three hours and leave quietly.

Quickly grabbing her things from the floor, Nina dusted off the imaginary dirt from her clothes and looked up when she saw the boy in the picture. Her eyes widening, her jaws dropped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd be home early. Amy didn't say anything about you being early," she panicked and mentally cursed Amy. She watched as another brunette followed behind him.

Patrick held up his hands. "It's fine. I didn't really tell Amy that I'd be early. No worries," he said calmly. "I'm Patrick, by the way. Patrick Kane. I'm guessing you're the girl that's been cleaning my apartment for the last three weeks," he continued and held out his hand, a smirk played out on his lips as he began to examine her up and down.

Nina took off her gloves; her eye brows knitted together in annoyance and just nodded her head. "Nina. Nina Mortimer," she said politely. She didn't like how he blatantly checked her out and not even bothering to be discreet about it.

Something about Patrick Kane Nina didn't like. She knew it was unfair to have had judged him already by the way he kept his apartment, but now that she met him she disliked him even more. He was arrogant, just the way he held himself screamed egotistical.

She would admit though that he was cute and that she was insanely jealous of his clear blue eyes. But he wasn't her type. Nina liked the more rugged looking guys, and Patrick Kane reminded her of a child just going through puberty.

"I should get back to cleaning. I don't want to be in your way any longer than I already am," she explained and picked up the bucket beside her.

Patrick nodded and watched as the pretty brunette gathered her things and moved from the kitchen to the living room. He shamelessly checked her out, looking at every curve that her clothes allowed him to see.

"Dude, you actually hired a maid?" Jonathan Toews laughed and looked at him with a smug look.

"Shut up. You have Soo-Yun helping you with the house and I have no one," he retaliated and hit Jon the arm.

Shaking his head, Jon just laughed. "Calla doesn't do too much in the house. I won't let her," he explained. "She only does the laundry 'cause she knows I can't to save my life."

"Well I can't do much to save mine. Whatever man let's just play some games," said Patrick and the two went into the living room where Nina was now vacuuming the carpet.

*

Rushing out of the car, Nina quickly slammed the door shut and winced when she heard it make contact with her baby. She begged her brother to run faster as soon as they got out of the car. Both, brother and sister made it into the building and slowed their running until they were walking.

"That was fun, Nina, we should do that more," her brother, Jack, said as they made their way into a narrow hallway.

Nina looked back and smiled at her brother. He was the only family she had left and loved him to pieces, there was nothing in the world she wouldn't do for him. She hooked her arms with Jack's and walked towards the last room in the hallway.

The moment she opened the door, Nina could feel many judging eyes on her all scrutinizing her in their heads. She smiled timidly at them and told Jack to join his other friends as she headed to where the parents were.

It was obvious to Nina the moment she stepped into the room that the parents disapproved of her and how she was taking care of Jack. For some reason unknown to her, the parents in the support group never liked her. They criticized and took jabs at her every chance they got.

"Sorry I'm late, my car gave me some trouble along the way," she tried to explain and took her seat at the far end of the table.

The fat woman at the other end of the table scoffed and glared at Nina. "This is your fifth time being late. Clearly you're still irresponsible, what you're mother would think if she saw you now," the woman scoffed again.

Nina looked down on her lap and then looked back up at the woman with a glare. "Sorry that my mom isn't here, because you know, she's been dead for three years now," she spat angrily. The woman had no right talking to her that way, she had no idea what it was like to be taking care of her brother by herself with limited income.

Sara Carver was one of the mothers that had always disapproved of Nina from the beginning and she always voiced it. Nina's parents were the ones that started the support group for autistic children, when Jack was diagnosed with autism, with the money they had and when they passed away, Nina ended up being her brother's guardian, even though he was much older than she was.

The parents didn't like Nina because they thought that she was a lazy good for nothing that was only taking care of her brother so she could use up the majority of her parent's estate that was left to Jack. After all, what young twenty-one year old would want to take care of a special needs adult?

Sara gasped; appalled that Nina would even talk back to her. "How dare you speak to me that way!" she said dramatically and placed a chubby hand over her chest.

Nina rolled her eyes and flipped the woman off. "You know what; I really don't have to take your bullshit. I'm sorry that my parents are dead. It must be really hard on you guys because there isn't anyone to financially support this group," she said angrily and grabbed her things. "Jack, let's go," she ordered her brother gently. "Fucking leaches," Nina muttered as she and Jack left the room.