Now It's My Time to Strike Back

A few hours later, my alarm clock sounded, but I hit the off button, wanting to get more sleep than the nightmare allowed me to.

I was so tired that I felt like I was going to sleep in all day, but I knew I couldn’t. I had to get back into the routine of getting up at 7:30 even though I was getting up at 9 today.

I groaned as I heard the blinds getting pulled back as the sunlight poured into the room.

“Ugh, Nick. Close the blinds!” I grumbled, grabbing my comforter as I pulled it over my eyes, blocking out the sunlight.

“Rosie, you have to wake up. I know you don’t want to, but you know we have to”, he replied.

I groaned, but didn’t budge. Big mistake. A few moments passed before my comforter was pulled off of me abruptly by Nick causing me to groan some more.

He crawled on my bed until he was hovering over me. My eyes trailed over his outfit.

“Are you going to get up?” he asked, staring into my eyes.

I rolled them to avoid his gaze before nodding, scooting out from under him before walking to my closet, pulling out this, walking to the bathroom, shutting it behind me.

As I quickly freshened up and changed, my mind raced as I thought about how close Nick was to me earlier. He had to stop doing that.

As I pulled on my shoes, a sigh escaped my mouth as I thought of what would have happened if he would have leaned in.

I shook my head feverishly as I tried wiping the blush from my face, but failed miserably. Apparently, it was evident to Nick as I stepped out of the bathroom, his eyes landing on my figure as I threw my clothes into my hamper.

“Are you OK? You look a little..flushed”, he said, raising a brow at me.

I nodded once more, grabbing my phone as I busied myself with that. I had 7 missed calls and texts. 5 of the calls were from Jake while the other two were from Vic. But with the texts, two were from Mel, four from Jake, and one from Vic.

I sighed, checking the texts from Mel first.

Hey, Rosie! How are you? : )

I’m not mad at you, you know? I just wish you would have told me sooner.

I then read Jake’s texts.

Hey, Rose. Why didn’t you ever text me? You know how forgetful I am sometimes. And I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. Call me.

Um, what is wrong with Mel? She’s been acting weird ever since you guys talked last night. She won’t tell me a thing.

Is everything OK? Is it your dorm? Did Vic do anything to you? What’s wrong???

Fine. Don’t tell me. W/e

I sighed louder as I read Vic’s text.

The three of us are going to have a chat later either before or after your performance. I’ve made up my mind as to what I have to say to the both of you.

“What’s wrong?” Nick asked, checking his own phone.

“Look at this!” I exclaimed, handing him my phone as I let him read the messages Jake and Vic sent me.

A sigh escaped his lips also, but he didn’t say anything, only handing my phone back to me as he grabbed his wallet and key with his free hand.

I did the same as we proceeded out of the door once more.

..

After breakfast, we roamed around the campus first to the gym and then our tree. A smile was on both of our lips as the memories we shared flooded in our minds, or at least in mine.

I rested my back against its trunk as Nick just laid down in the shade. It seemed to be bigger than I remembered it, but I knew that had to be my imagination.

A content sigh escaped both of us as a much-needed breeze blew as we took in the peace and quietness of the school.

We were free from tours until a little bit later, but my nervous thoughts concerning my performance later were eating away at me.

“Did you ever finish the song?” Nick asked suddenly, but his voice was soft.

I looked down at him as I saw one eye of his open looking up at me waiting for me to respond.

“Yeah. I finished it a few days ago after I had to think”, I admitted, thinking back to the altercation between me and Vic.

“That’s good”, he said, interrupting my thoughts as he readjusted himself as he turned to face me with his face propped up with his left arm as he stared at me again.

“Is there something you want to say or something?” I asked wrinkling my brows as I finally got annoyed at his intense staring.

“It’s just-these past few days have been intense and it’s caused me to start rethinking some things. I know I said I’d talk to you, but seeing as you’ve been going through your own thing right now, I haven’t exactly been honest with you”, he said, catching me off guard.

“What haven’t you told me?” I asked, watching him as he rearranged himself so that he sat up straight like me.

“I’ve been a wreck ever since yesterday. I’m not happy about what Vic did and said yesterday in front of everyone like that”, he said, trailing off.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” I asked, catching him off guard this time at how straightforward I was.

“I mean, I’ve already talked to her about it and I’m pretty sure nothing’s going to change. I just have to stick with it, then”, he said, irritating me more.

“What the hell, Nick?!” I exclaimed angrily, standing abruptly.

“What?” he asked in a slightly irritated tone.

“Stop being Victoria’s bitch! If you don’t want to deal with her, then don’t deal with her. It’s as simple as that!” I rambled, unable to stop myself.

“Victoria’s bitch? Really, Rose?” he asked, his jaw tightening.

I didn’t care I was pissing him off. He needed someone to tell him the truth.

“It’s true! You bend to her every word and command as though you’ve lost your own self-respect. How can you just let Vic walk over you like that? And what about these so-called second thoughts? I think you should listen to those”, I ranted, folding my arms across my chest.

He took a light breath before rounding on me.

“Wow, Rose. I’m glad to see you want me to just leave Vic!” he exclaimed sarcastically.

“I never said that! Now you’re putting words into my mouth”, I retorted, glaring at him.

“That’s the gist of what I gather from what you’ve said. My so-called thoughts have been telling me not to be with her, but what am I supposed to do? Give up over Vic being Vic? I can’t do that”, he said, staring at me first, then away from me as he stopped speaking.

“The fuck you can’t! She disrespected you! It’s not about who it was in front of. It’s the fact that she did it in general! And um, if your second thoughts are gut feelings, then go with that! Stop being so damn nice and just dump her!” I exclaimed, breathing heavily afterwards as we stared at one another.

“It’s so easy for you to say that, isn’t it?” he asked in a low tone, glaring at me.

I didn’t speak as I felt the slight guilt flood my mind.

“I broke up with you for her and now one day passes in which she treats me like crap and your advice is for me to break up with her. Is there some sort of subconscious side of you that wants me single or just not with Vic?” he asked, his words stabbing me.

I scoffed as I turned on my heel before I began walking wherever my feet pleased, but I stopped, turning to face him as I walked back to him.

“Let’s get this straight, OK? I loved you and even though you put me through hell by breaking up with me for my sister, I never wanted anyone to treat you like Vic did yesterday.”

“This isn’t about how I feel about you or our past. I just know you deserve so much better. I’m not in any way saying that that person is me, but I know it’s not Vic”, I concluded as I began to walk away again.

I made it a few steps from him when he grabbed my wrist, turning me to face him as he placed a tender kiss to my lips, catching me off guard. I don’t know what made me do it, but I kissed back just as much, my arms wrapping around his neck as his arms wrapped around my torso, pulling me closer to him.

I was so angry at him, but when his lips touched mine, it faded away (consciously, anyway). Our bodies longed for one another and I thought as we kissed of the dream I had.

He pulled away, a dazed look on his face as his eyes swam with emotions in them. He grabbed my hand gently, before he started leading me to the dorm building.

“W-why are we going back to the dorm?” I asked in confusion as my mind was clouded with dirty thoughts.

“We can’t kiss here. There are too many people that can see us”, he got out, leading me up the steps 2-3 at a time.

Once we reached our dorm, he fumbled with his key, unlocking it easily and we went through the door, Nick closing it behind us. As soon as the door closed, his lips were hot on mine again and my eyes rolled back as I enjoyed the feeling I hadn’t had in so long.

His hands fumbled with the buttons on my shirt as I felt mine do the same to his. We ended up on his bed, obviously, his movements gentler and more loving than lustful.

Once we got our shirts off, I put a hand on his chest as reality flooded me.

“Nick, w-we can’t do this”, I said reluctantly, catching my breath.

“But Rose I love you”, he blurted, catching me off guard again.

“What?” I asked in confusion. “Y-you can’t love me if you’re in love with Vic”, I said, my head beginning to hurt from the predicament as well as the little voice in my head that tugged at my heartstrings as his words repeated in my mind.

“But I do love you, Rose! I-I made a mistake by choosing Vic and-and-”, he began, but I cut across him.

“So you think that’s going to get you into my pants because you and Vic are having problems?” I asked incredulously as the though came into my mind.

“No, Rose. I truly and deeply love you and I want to show you how much I love you”, he said with sincerity.

A thought crossed my mind and I struggled to say it, but I did.

“Even if you do, where does that leave you and Vic? You may say you chose the wrong person, but do you honestly think that? What if Vic apologizes and treats you better and you get over that? Where would that leave you and me? As some sort of friends with benefits thing?” I rambled, biting my lip afterward.

Nick sat in thought for a moment as my words sunk in. He didn’t speak for a while so silence enveloped us for a good five minutes before either of us spoke.

“I have to choose, then, don’t I?” he asked knowing the answer.

“No”, I answered, staring at his confused expression.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because we both know what we have to do”, I said as though it were obvious.

“And what’s that, exactly?” he asked as I stared at him.

A light bulb clicked in his mind before he sat up abruptly, shaking his head feverishly.

“No, no, no, no, no! I can’t just pretend this didn’t happen! I won’t!” he exclaimed.

“We have to. It’s only right. You can’t or don’t want to break up with Vic and I’m not going to ask, force, or beg you to. You saw something in Vic that made you want to be with her more than you did with me, so the only fair thing to do is for you to stay with her”, I said, feeling my heart tear to bits at my own words.

“If that’s true, then why have I been thinking of you these past months? Why have you been the only person that’s mattered in my mind?” he retorted, catching me off guard again.

“H-how am I supposed to know the answer to that? These are your feelings you’re talking about”, I replied, avoiding eye contact with him.

He knew he had me, but there was no way in hell I would tell him that I still had feelings for him. Wait, did I just think that? Ugh. There’s no way I’d tell him I considered having feelings for him. Ugh, that doesn’t sound any better, does it?

“That’s true, but-”, he began, but stopped once his phone went off with the familiar ringtone for Vic. I closed my eyes as guilt filled me even more than it already did.

“I’m sorry”, he mumbled before answering the phone.

I grabbed my shirt, buttoning it back up as I couldn’t help but hear his conversation or at least his side, anyway.

“Hello?... Yes, I’m with Rose right now….Where is our dorm?.. Uh… We’ll just meet you downstairs in five, OK?... Because I don’t want you bothering Rose while we share dorms this year.. Vic, please don’t say that, OK? I’m still mad at you for not even telling your cheerleading friends I’m your boyfriend and for calling all of us dweebs….Apologizing isn’t going to do anything, Vic…Actions speak louder than words and empty words are useless”, he concluded, hanging up on her, shocking me.

He grabbed his shirt, buttoning it up slowly as I watched him, but he didn’t humiliate me by saying anything.

I didn’t know what to say to him. I couldn’t say anything.

“Let’s just head downstairs, OK?” he asked in a calmer tone to me, but I could tell he was irritated.

“OK”, I replied, leading the way out of the door once more.