Now It's My Time to Strike Back

The next morning arrived and the five of us hung out as a group again. I was in this whereas Mel was in this and Megan in this.

We arrived to the dock again after breakfast waiting at least half an hour before getting into the water.

I stripped down to my bathing suit, Megan and Mel doing the same whereas Mark just placed his things on the dock before just cannonballing into the lake. Mel and Megan followed suit while Nick joined me by my side knowing my fear of water.

I sat on the edge of the dock as he got in first before jumping in myself. He allowed me to wrap my legs around his torso as he sort of had me on his back swimming effortlessly through the cool water.

We had fun the entire time, but decided to get out when most of the other seniors began filing towards the shore. My eyes scanned the crowd realizing once again, Jake and Vic were missing even though her bimbos were even in the lake.

Shrugging the matter away, I wrapped my towel around my body before grabbing my bag as our group headed back into the cabin to change. For some reason, however, my mind wouldn’t get Vic’s absence out of it.

It was definitely odd to say the least. Mel’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

“You alright?” she asked in a slightly concerned tone.

I nodded plastering a fake smile to my lips before I went into the bathroom to blow-dry my hair. After I was done, I changed into this. Mel changed into a plain black t-shirt and shorts with flip flops while Megan was wearing black and white altogether. When we got into the lounge area to meet the guys, Nick was missing.

“Where’s Nick?” Mel asked before I could.

“He had a phone call just as we were about to leave the room,” Mark answered nonchalantly.

Just as he finished that statement, Nick came walking from the hallway towards the rooms. His expression was blank at first, but changed to a smile when he saw us.

“Hey, guys. Sorry about that I had a phone call real quick,” he said as though he were out of breath.

“It’s cool, dude. We understand,” Mark said with a smile. Megan and Mel were deep in conversation about what to do next whereas all I did was stare at Nick. He avoided my eyes for a few seconds before plastering a smile to his lips as though nothing were wrong, but I knew otherwise.

The girls and Mark led the way to our rooms when I grabbed Nick’s arm to talk to him privately.

“Is everything really OK?” I asked in a concerned tone.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked nonchalantly.

I raised a brow at his tone.

“Usually you don’t answer phone calls away from people, that’s why,” I retorted. His smile faltered for a few seconds before it was forced back to his lips.

“It was nobody important. Don’t worry, Rosie, OK?” he asked before leaving me stunned.

Why was he acting this way over a phone call? What was going on?

…

Another day passed when finally the morning of the following Sunday arrived for us to depart the lake. I hadn’t spoken much for the rest of the trip causing the others (except Nick) to worry. Something was going on, but I didn’t know what; I hated that feeling.

Once all of us had everything packed and we loaded up onto the bus, I sat away from Nick and instead with Mark not fully realizing whom I was sitting by. I was in such a daze that the only things that caught my attention had to be when the others would call my name or when my phone vibrated notifying I’d gotten a text. Surprisingly, it was from Kevin.

Is everything alright?

I quickly responded to him wondering why or how he would know something was wrong.

Everything is sort of OK. Did you get my distress signal or something?

Actually yeah I guess. Something told me to text you to see how you were so I did.

I guess Nick’s been hiding something from me I responded reluctantly.

Hiding something like what?

I bit my lip before texting him again. Well, yesterday he got a phone call and answered it elsewhere. I asked him was everything OK and he said yeah, but I could tell he was lying.

That is sort of like Nick and it sort of isn’t. Maybe it wasn’t something and he doesn’t want you to worry but then again like you already know, Nick isn’t the type of person to walk off just to answer a phone call unless it’s for a surprise or something. I don’t know what’s going on with him.

A sigh escaped my lips before I texted Kevin a final time that day.

I know. Maybe it was nothing..maybe I’m overthinking it again.

Go with your heart. If you trust Nick’s words then don’t worry about it, K?

I closed my eyes as I thought the matter over. Was Nick hiding something from me or was I blowing all of this out of proportion unnecessarily?

…

When we arrived back to the school, I grabbed my bags as quickly as I could and took them to our dorm without Nick’s help. Forgetting how fast Nick could move as well as how long his strides were, it didn’t take long for him to grab my wrist just as I placed my key into the lock.

“Will you talk to me, please?” he asked practically begging.

I kept my silence, unlocking the door successfully despite his slack hold on my wrist tossing my bags onto my bed as Nick placed his next to his own before turning to me again.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Did you?” I asked, letting my emotions get the better of me.

An exasperated sigh escaped his lips before he spoke.

“This is because of the phone call, isn’t it?” he asked staring directly at me.

“Of course it is! How can I know what’s going on if you lie to me so easily?” I asked regretting the word usage even though it was honestly how I felt.

“I didn’t want you to worry, babe! Is that so wrong?” he said in the same tone I used.

“Worry about what?” I asked, my anger subsiding.

“Vic. Vic was the one who called me,” he answered honestly.

My mouth dropped open as a million things ran through my mind at once.

“What happened? What did she want? Why did she call you? What did she say?” I asked frantically as I began to panic.

Nick was to my side instantly as he embraced me in a hug.

“It was nothing, Rose. Vic is nobody but a person with empty threats. There’s no reason to worry about her,” he said soothingly, but the second statement caught my attention.

“Empty threats? Did Vic threaten you?” I asked in anger.

“I can’t tell you what she said, but all I can say is not to worry,” he replied cryptically.

I pulled away staring at him in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious, Nick. Don’t do this. Don’t shut me out. Whatever it is, we can fight it together-,” I began, but he cut across me.

“This.. isn’t something we should fight together. It’s something I should do alone,” he got out.

“Why can’t you just say what you mean? You’re not fully making sense,” I said in the same tone, but all he did was shake his head.

“I can’t, Rose. I’m sorry,” he said before loosening his grasp and then walked to his bags before he began to unpack.

I held back the tears, my emotions and everything that wanted to escape me as I, too began to unpack. There were so many unsaid words, yet everything was said with that conversation that night.

I wanted to yell, scream, get angry-something, anything with Nick as long as he told me everything that happened with that phone call. But even when morning came the following day, I began to fear what I didn’t expect to; Nick wasn’t being entirely honest with me. Was I beginning to lose him to Vic once again?