'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETE]

Fourteen (Part 3)

Nico laid on her living room carpet facing the ceiling. She had her trusty heating pad across her abdomen as she moved out of her bedroom and she found a separate outlet for it this time. A few inches away, Carter laid on the ground on his stomach, with his hands folded beneath his head, facing her.

She felt his eyes on her for a while but was enjoying the blankness of her mind resembling that of the white ceiling she stared at.

Their food arrived and they ate in much of silence as the heaviness from the conversation she shared about her sister's death carried over as a cloud in the living room.

Nico felt raw and open, and she didn't have any more words to share.

Carter on the other hand did have things he wanted to say, but he wasn't sure the timing was right. Still, he laid there analyzing her beautiful features and the sorrow beneath them. It made sense why she took her sister's passing in such a difficult way, because she lost her in such a difficult way. And while Carter knew a thing or two about grief, he was never one to tell someone else how to process it.

But he knew when wrong was wrong.

"I feel your stare," Nico announced.

"I'm just looking at'chu," he responded innocently.

She turned to finally meet his gaze, and saw it was anything but innocent. It was intentional, and there was a lot more behind it.

Nico swallowed. "Is there something you wanna say?"

"There are a couple things," he admitted. "I just don't know if now is the most appropriate time."

He wasn't trying to upset her more than she probably already was, considering the events of her day.

"I appreciate honesty."

"Even if it's brutal?" He asked.

Nico took a while to think it over. There were a few cheese fries left and some of her Coke, and she reached for her drink to take a sip. "Even if it's brutal," she agreed.

"I'm sorry about the way you lost your sister, but policing other people's feelings and how they would want to honor her isn't up to you."

Nico said nothing. She just watched his mouth move as he spoke, and the passion on his face as he did so.

"Not showing up to the wedding because of how your parents may feel, even after they said they were okay with it, ain't right. She already lost a guest at her wedding years ago and now you wanna back out over that same person she loved being honored.. that ain't right at all, Nico. Y'all are practically family."

She swallowed. "What happened to 'fuck family'?" She asked, reminding him of words he spoke in her very home only weeks ago.

"Fuck family if they weren't around for you," he clarified his words once again. "Are you saying your best friend and her family weren't around for you and your family after your sister passed?"

"They were."

Jada stayed at Nico's for an entire month after Emi's passing, and did everything from wipe her tears every night, to brushing her hair for her, and helping her bathe some nights. Lena was there every evening after work, doing everything from cooking dinner for them and cleaning up the home every night before going home and crying herself to sleep as well. Then there were their parents, who handled every bill that arrived and every knock at the door, because her parents were no longer on planet earth to deal with things like mail, or guests.

And then there was Reggie, who was practically a zombie for months after his girlfriend died but he still found the time to fix things around the house that they needed.