One of us - Nichorello

19. Holding on

<Lorna's POV>

Christopher had called me over a dozen times over the weekend, leaving me worried that something was wrong. I clicked the call button and hoped for him to pick up the phone, although I didn't want to hear his voice right now.

"Lorna?!" He already sounded angry.

"Yeah, hi. I saw that you called, what's up?"

"Let's talk in person. At the cafe in five." he quickly hung up, leaving me no time to respond.

----------

He entered the cafe, with a black hoodie covering most of his face, reminding me of a thief. Without saying a word he dragged me out of the cafe into a quiet by-road.

"I know about you and the junky," he pointed at me threatening.

"What are you talking about?" I felt the wave of guilt rushing through me as I lied to him.

"Marc told me about you and her at the dance, so cut it out." He stepped closer to me, gripping my wrist.

"Au, that hurts Christopher"

"Tell me the fucking truth!"

"Let go," I felt the tears swell up as he tightened the grip, causing me to flinch.

"She said: Let go" Alex's voice saved me.

Christopher let my hand go and whispered to me: "this is not over", before leaving me and Alex alone.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine."

"How long has he been doing this?" she lifted my arm, looking closer at the bruise that was already covering my wrist.

"A few months"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What was I supposed to do?" I yelled.

"Leave him?" she asked if that was obvious.

"And then what?"

"Be with Nicky"

I gasped at her words, surprised that she would consider it a possibility. Even though I wanted that more than anything, I was worried that it would take the same turn as soon as she got what she wanted.

<flashback>

"Hey sweetie" Christopher pulled me into a tight hug.

"Hey" I giggled.

The date began as perfect as I had imagined, he took me to a fancy restaurant, before going to the movies. I couldn't have expressed my happiness in words as he had handed me the roses, before asking me:

"Lorna, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes," I said, not knowing that this would be the beginning of the end.

A few weeks later, everything was normal, the sweet, innocent guy I fell in love with still acted the same. Little did I know that he was only waiting for one promise.

"I love you," I said pecking his lips.

"forever" I added as the kiss grew more passionate.

"Forever?" he asked for reassurement.

"Forever."

A devilish smile spread across his face, signalizing that he had achieved his goal. At that time I didn't know how people were different on the inside.

<flashback ends>

"They're all the same" I almost screamed at Alex's face, frustrated and scared by all those lies and memories I was haunted by. "They'll tell you what you want to hear, but in the end they're all the same." I think I was speaking to myself, hoping that my heart would listen to my words, realizing that falling for Nicky is a bad choice. "In the end, they will hurt you all. At least that's the only thing I know."

As I looked up Alex didn't look pitying or compassionate, her eyes were filled with truthfulness and loyalty as she tilted her head a bit, signalizing that she would give some kind of wise advice that Nicky and she were really good at.

"It doesn't matter who hurt you, or broke you down, what matters is who made you smile again."

I hated Alex for making so much sense.

------------

The cold breeze was making me freeze as soon as I got out of the school building after cheerleading practice. The sky had already turned completely black, enclosing me in the darkness. I felt the goosebumps on my arms as I hurried to get to my car, which was the only vehicle left in the parking lot. I hurried as I heard a rustling behind me and got into the car quickly.

Just great. My car just broke down in the middle of the night, in the dark, nowhere near any sign of life. I got out of the car for better reception, simultaneously dialing Piper's phone number. Of course, she wouldn't pick up when it was an emergency. I wrapped my arms around my shivering body, as I was only wearing the cropped top and skirt from cheerleading. Frustrated I sighed, looking for other contacts I could call. The creaking of footsteps on the pebble of the parking lot, caused me to raise my head as I saw somebody shining at me with a flashlight.

"Looks like you got light bugs. Might be an infestation." Nicky's voice said amused.

"Oh gee," I chuckled "I don't know what to do about that. You got any advice for me, Miss Nichols?" I teased, smiling as I saw her scrolling my body with her eyes.

"Darkness Miss Morello. You fight the light with darkness. Care to visit me on the dark side?" she held out her hand.

Without hesitating, I reached out, causing warmth to spread through my body as soon as our skin touched. She led me back to our school campus, still holding my hand. She sat down on a bench, slowly laying down before patting the spot next to her, inviting me. Normally, with this amount of clothes on I would want to get home as soon as possible, but with Nicky, I didn't care where I was as long as I was with her.

After a few minutes, she laid her arm around me, allowing me to cuddle up against her. Even though her touch wasn't exactly new to me, it still had a strong effect, causing chills all over my arms. She grinned at me, knowing that it was because of her, while innocently saying:

"Are you cold?"

I smiled a bit, embarrassed by the strong influence she had on me, no matter how hard I tried to resist.

"Then let's go home" She practically picked me up from the bench without any effort and swirled me around before putting me back down. I still had my arms wrapped around her neck as she smiled with that crooked smile of hers. The moonlight made her eyes shine even brighter, underlining the compassion with which her eyes were filled. Looking into her eyes was like looking into the sun, almost blinding you with the emotions it held in it.

"My car broke down," I said, wondering how she was planning on getting home.

"I figured," she said, leading me to a motorcycle I hadn't noticed before.

"We could have gone home an hour ago?"

"No need to lie, I know that you enjoyed it with me," she said teasingly.

---------

My arms were wrapped around her waist, my body pressed against her warm back as we drove through the city. The wind blowing through my hair, the adrenaline pumping through my blood as I was tightly holding on to the girl I fell in love with.