Nepenthe | Sapnap |

Turning Back Around

"Kate! Please!" Nick called out to me, begging for me to turn around.

He was begging. He was fucking begging. I couldn't help but scoff and kept walking with my head held high. I missed the turn to go down my street, not like going home right now would help with him practically on my heels. I could possibly lose him in town square though.

"Kate, wait up." He called out again. For some reason, I had to close my eyes and shake my head. No, I'm pissed at him. I'm so mad at him, but now it just sounds like I'm just trying to convince myself that I am.

I didn't know what I wanted. Of course, I want to talk to him and just forget everything that happened to go back to what it was like last week, but that wasn't possible. I had my life threatened by someone who was in the same room of the event that killed many of my friends and almost myself. I watched the person who saved me get a bullet returned six years later. It's been a fucking rollercoaster of a day and I had no clue how I was even keeping my mind straight at that point.

"Freckles, please-" Nick choked on his words when I whipped around and started to walk back to where he was.

"No!" I yelled at him. My voice sounded tight and rough. I pointed my finger directly at his face, well more technically his nose, as I shook my head at him. "You don't get to do that!"

My throat was constricting as it took everything in me to not start crying on the spot. His eyes fell on my finger before moving past to look at my face. He furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Do what?"

Oh, my god. He's so stupid.

I let out a noise that was something in between annoyance and frustration as I gripped at the roots of my hair before focusing back on Nick. "You can't say that nickname that only you call me and expect me to immediately forgive you!"

He pressed his lips together to form a line as the corners of his mouth tilted up into one of the smallest smiles ever, "But you are talking to me." He tried to lighten the mood, but that response resulted in the exact opposite reaction in me.

A scoffed full of disbelief escaped my mouth as his face dropped, realizing that his attempt to make a joke fell flat in the mud. I ran my hands down my face and left them on my neck as I tried to pick my next words.

Shaking my head again at him, I spoke with my eyes closed tight, "You don't get to ignore me for a week and just let it be water under the bridge."

Nick swallowed as his gaze fell to the ground between our feet, "I wasn't ignoring you."

I took a deep breath and threw my head back, annoyed with his vague and redundant answers. "Then what do you call you not talking to me since that night?"

He pulled his lip in between his teeth as he slowly lifted his head back up. The brim of his hat just barely allowing me to see his face. "I was... avoiding you?" He cringed at his own response, and I simply laughed at him.

"Fuck this," I threw my arms up and turned back around but I barely made it one step away from him when his hand shot out to quickly grab my hand.

Just as fast as he touched me, he pulled away and let go. "No, Kate, please let's talk about this."

"Let's talk this through? Talk about what!" I whipped back around and raised my voice. His shoulder slumped and bowed his head again, looking like a puppy who was just whacked on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. "You should have come to me days ago! What happened with all that 'you're my best friend' shit and that you were afraid to lose me?" I couldn't help the tears flowing down my face anymore as I took a couple steps forward to slight duck so he could see what his actions caused. "You have no clue how much I wanted to just talk to you, I missed you so much."