One of us - Nichorello

8. Remain silent

<Lorna's POV>

I suck in a breath the moment I feel my entire world turn on its axis. I prop up against the wall when the clarity hits.

I feel like such an idiot.  Nicky doesn't love me, she doesn't even care about me.

Nicky notices the change in my demeanor, and when my eyes lock with hers, she slowly begins to smirk. It's clear that I understood, and she does nothing to dismiss my assumption.

Instant jealousy.

Building, raging, insane jealousy. I'm forced to leave the hallway and rush to the bathroom because I refuse to let her see how much this completely destroyed me in a matter of seconds. She doesn't even bother holding me back. I rush straight to the sink and grip the edges of it, staring at myself in the mirror.

Calm down, Lorna. Don't cry. Save the heartbreak for when you get home.

I'm not prepared for this. I have no idea how to deal with this. It feels like my heart is literally breaking. Cracking right down the middle, bleeding out into my chest, filling my lungs with blood, making it impossible to breathe.

I try to inhale calmly, distract me from reality, but all I could see was the image of Nicky. I close my eyes so I don't have to see her ghost-reflection in the mirror. I drop my head between my shoulders and just start crying.

-------

I found myself curled up on the bathroom floor, my mascara had left black marks all over my face. I wash my face with water, seeing my make up floating down the drainage, hoping that my pain would disappear with it. Once I fix my hair to a decent ponytail I wipe my hands with a napkin and inhale deeply, gathering the courage to step outside again.

"Oh my gosh, Lorna. Finally," Liza yelled at me without an explanation and pulled me out of the bathroom, to the middle of the bar where a crowd has gathered in a circle. I heard Piper scream and began pushing through the crowd, growing more worried with every second it took me longer to find her. At the time I was able to catch a glimpse of her, she was lying on the ground, with a laceration on her forehead. The next thing I knew, a girl was pushing her even harder to the ground, kneeling on top of her, ready to strike the next punch.

I pushed more people to the side, hoping that I would eventually arrive somehow on time.

"Fuck, Sylvie. Stop it!" Alex, a member of the gang, attempted to pull Sylvie off of Piper. Apparently, I had missed most of the fight since Alex had scratches covering her arm.

I finally reached Piper and sat down next to her, checking whether she was okay. There wasn't much blood or bruises, but it was the sparkling rage in her eyes that made me worry about her mental condition.

"That is my girlfriend you whore!" The girl, who apparently was Sylvie, pointed at Alex angrily.

"What?" Piper got off the ground, her eyes widening in disbelief. The crowd gathered even closer together, eager for Alex's response. A few more members of the gang arrived, including Nicky, who had lipstick smeared all over her face. She was rubbing her temples and blinked her eyes heavily as if she couldn't believe what was happening. Her eyes were floating through the room, not fixating anyone or anything; it made me wonder if she was on drugs.

Sylvie had meanwhile left the club, while Piper was still staring at Alex in confusion.

"It's true," Alex whispered.

I heard Piper gasp and turned around. Never have I seen Piper this furious before, her eyes were narrowed and her fists were clenched together so hard that her knuckles had turned white. She attempted to rush away but stumbled and fell to the ground again.

The crowd slowly began to spread throughout the club again, leaving Alex, Nicky, Piper and I alone.

"What the fuck happened Vause?" Nicky was sitting on a chair, stabilizing herself with her elbows on the table, shaking her head in disbelief. By looking at her one could tell how much this incident had surprised her.

Vause just grinned in response, not knowing how to answer that question.

"I mean, I thought I was hallucinating again." Nicky chuckled, still wearing that devilish smirk on her lips from before. Looking at her lips, seeing that red lipstick, which clearly wasn't hers, pushed me over the edge.

"You are fucking laughing right now? My best friend is bleeding because of you junkies and all you do is laugh?"

Nicky's attention shifted towards me, and by the look on her face, I could tell that she was mad at me too.

"Oh it's you Lorna!" she raised her voice even more "I didn't recognize you without that boyfriend of yours"

Boyfriend... boyfriend...boyfriend.

Her words echoed in my head so often until it made sense. She was jealous of Christopher?!

"Would you two fuckin shut up and deal with your relationship problems elsewhere?" Alex stepped between us.

"What relationship?" Christopher's loud voice, caused me to flinch.

"Uhm nothing" I smiled at him, hoping that he would forget it. I turned around quickly and examined Piper's forehead closer, to check her injury and avoid Christopher's suspicious look.

"We definitely need something to stop the bleeding," I said, hoping that someone would come up with a good solution. Liza and Christopher both left the club, I didn't own a car and Piper wasn't in condition to walk home.

"We can go to my place," Alex suggested.

"NO. I'm definitely not going with her," Piper's eyes were almost closed. Her body was laying on the cold ground in a very uncomfortable looking position. It was obvious that she needed to rest somewhere.

"You're not in the condition of going anywhere, sweetie. So just go with them." I helped her stand up; her weight almost pulling me down to the ground too. Luckily Alex's car wasn't too far.

"See you tomorrow Piper, alright?" Piper was almost asleep, but I still wanted to speak to her, reassuring her that she is safe. Even though I wasn't sure myself if leaving her alone with two drug addicts was the best decision.

"You know you can come with us right?" Alex must have noticed my hesitation.

"No it's alright, but thanks" I didn't want to get in their way, but most importantly I didn't want to spend more time with Nicky.

"Don't be such a chickenshit and get in the fuckin car," Nicky practically pushed me into the backseat, next to Piper. I didn't know what to respond, so I remained silent throughout the whole drive.