A Fragile Heart
The next morning, I woke up, and saw Nicky was still sleeping. Bless him that he had finally settled, he was tossing and turning last night&ldots;I didn’t mind him holding me, it felt normal, in a strange sort of way&ldots; Whatever made him feel safe, and wanted, I wasn’t gonna prevent him from making himself feel comfortable even if it meant him holding me&ldots;
I feel a call of nature coming on, so I quietly got out of bed, and went into the bathroom.
Then I went down to the kitchen, put the kettle on.
My Mobile rang&ldots;who would be ringing at 8am&ldots;
"Hello?" I said, quietly.
"Eilidh, it’s Fee. I’m at the hotel, still. Nicky hasn’t come back yet. No-one seen him, Georgina is so upset that she made him run off&ldots;I stayed over, to keep them company&ldots;"
"Fee, I’m sure he’s okay, and he’ll probably come back when he’s had time to think over what happened last night." I said, thinking of Nicky still asleep in bed.
"God I hope so, Georgina is so worried about him, he’s never done anything like that before&ldots;"
"Well, there’s a first time for everything&ldots;"
"True, well, I better get going&ldots;I’m heading back to the house, I rang Ally last night and only told her that I was staying with Gill, I didn’t want to tell her why I was actually staying here&ldots;in case she told the others."
"Okay, just making tea&ldots;Catch ya Later&ldots;"
I turned off my phone, and made the tea, I carried both cups up to my bedroom.
Nicky was awake.
"Morning," I said as I got back into bed.
"Morning, Thanks for last night&ldots;" Nicky said, sitting up, having a sip of tea.
"No problem, its better you were here, than out there, not knowing anywhere else to go besides the hotel."
"I couldn’t face going back to the hotel, cos I knew that they’d be knocking on my door, seeing if I was alright, every few minutes probably."
"Yeah, but they’re worried about you, even Georgina is&ldots;so Fee was saying"
"Fee, she’s the one with glasses??"
"Yep she just rang before to tell me the latest!"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she said that you hadn’t come back and that no-ones seen you&ldots;"
"You didn’t say that I was here?"
"No, I didn’t. She doesn’t know that you were here yesterday either!"
"Thanks,"
"Nicky, I didn’t tell them, cos I knew if I did, they’d be over in a flash, banging on my door&ldots;"
"Thankfully Anto has been true to his word, last night after I left the bar, I saw him, I told him that I might be staying within the hotel’s grounds with a friend, but I didn’t say who? And I told him that I would have my mobile, in case of any thing, but so far he hasn’t rang&ldots;"
"Yeah, so are you feeling a bit better?" I said, trying to think of things to say.
"I think so, I better get back to the hotel, I won’t tell them that I was with you, I don’t want them to start hassling you for not telling them where I was&ldots;"
"It’s really none of their business where you were, I mean, you were upset, confused, and you came to the one place where you knew you had a friend&ldots;"
"Yep, a very special friend, who makes a good cup of tea&ldots;" He said, giggling&ldots;
I sat there, drinking my tea, trying not to spill any, as Nicky decided to lean his head on my shoulder. I quickly put my tea down&ldots;
"What are you doing?" I asked,
"Nothing, just resting my head&ldots;" Nicky said, innocently&ldots;
"That’s fine by me&ldots;"
Nicky’s mobile rang..
"Hello, Hi Anto, I’m okay, I’ll be there soon, I don’t want any questions about where I was, I’d rather keep it to myself&ldots;see ya in ten minutes&ldots;"
"I’ve got to get going&ldots;so what are ya doing this evening&ldots;"
"I’m working in the bar, till 9pm, but I usually stay and watch the Karaoke!"
"I think we’ll be hitting the bar again&ldots;don’t know about Karaoke, not after Mark’s performance!!"
"Yeah, that was way unexpected&ldots;you better get going"
I watched him get dressed, and then with a quick kiss on the cheek, he was gone&ldots;
"Eil, Didn’t expect you to be in," jokingly said Jules, later that afternoon.
"Oh, why’s that??" I said.
"So, he wasn’t at your apartment then??"
"What??"
"The guy who was missing, he wasn’t with you?&ldots;oh he was&ldots;" Jules said, noticing my innocent smile&ldots;
"Yeah, he was&ldots;he looked really awful, and that’s all I’m saying&ldots;" I said, hitting Jules with a tea towel.
It was busy, and there was no sign yet of Westlife, though Gill and Georgina were sitting there, chatting away.
Around 9pm, they walked in looking mighty fine, with their suits on, obviously they’d been doing a showcase or something.
Mark came bouncing up to the bar.
"Hey, can I please have 5 Guinness’s?" he said,
"Sure, would you like me to bring them over, or will you be able to manage?" I said, smiling&ldots;
"You’d better bring them over, I’m not myself tonight, I’ve been dropping my microphone a few times tonight&ldots;"
"Awww, I’ll bring them over soon,"
"Thanks, oh and thanks for looking after Nicky last night!"
"Excuse me?" I said, with a confused look.
"When we were talking yesterday, I told you that Nicky had said you lived nearby, and that’s where I knew Nicky was&ldots;when he didn’t return" Mark said, with his usual grin...
"You didn’t tell anyone that you might have known where Nicky was&ldots;"
"God, no, I didn’t want to get Nicky annoyed with me, he’s been saying things about you, nice things, and well, I knew if I have told, then you would have been found out!"
"Thanks Mark&ldots;I’d better get these Guinness’s done,"
Mark left, I could see them all chatting, I grabbed the tray of Guinness’s and walked over&ldots;
"5 Guinness's??"
"T’anks," said Nicky,
"Can I get another orange juice?" said Gill.
"Sure, anything else??" I said, leaving the table.
I made the orange juice, and took it to the table. I walked back, collecting empties as I saw them.
"Eil, you okay?" asked Jules.
"Yeah, I’m fine," I said.
In reality I wasn’t really fine. I think seeing Georgina fussing over Nicky wasn’t helping&ldots;I made myself busy, so I couldn’t think of it&ldots;even though it took a whole lot of strength to fight the feelings that I was keeping inside.
All I was wanting was to cool off, and the best place was the hotel pool, Apartment owners had access to the pool, 24 hours, which suited me fine.
It was way after 11pm, when I had finished work. I walked back to my apartment, and got into my togs, and grabbed a towel, and my sandals&ldots;I hoped that no-one else was thinking what I was thinking, by using the pool at this time of night&ldots;
The water felt nice, I felt so relaxed, so relaxed that I didn’t hear anyone getting in, but when they put their arms around me, I quickly turned around in shock&ldots;