Nick & Bailey

8. Nick

The drive home the next morning could not be more awkward. Ian is driving with Bailey in the passenger seat. Nick is in the back seat, eyes not moving from the side window.

No one is speaking. Ian is, presumably, hungover, and Nick is uncomfortable and exhausted. He spent the night staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping. He still hasn't figured out how to fix the damage Ian created last night.

Nick can not even begin to presume why Bailey is silent. Normally, she never shuts up in the car. Either by talking or singing along to the radio.

Ian and Bailey have to share a car, and Nick's truck is old and always breaking down. So it's not unusual for the three of them to find themselves in the confines of the same vehicle. It has never been this awkward before.

Once they reach Nick's neighborhood, his thoughts shift to when Ian picked him up yesterday.

His stepdad, Ken, had been screaming at him nonstop for the past hour, despite Nick trying to walk away. Ken just kept following Nick from room to room, pushing and shoving him from behind. Nick had to clench his fists to keep from punching the motherfucker in the face.

Nick had only fought back one time. He was sixteen and taller than Ken by a couple of inches at that point. Nick's mom was in the kitchen stirring the vegetable soup she had been preparing all day for supper when Ken got home from work. Nick was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework and noticed Ken stumbling through the door. He must have been drinking during his drive home.

"What the fuck is that smell?" Ken asked as he came up behind Nick's mom and slapped her behind, hard. He looked at Nick and winked when she yelped in surprise. Nick scowled at him.

His mom sounded nervous. "Um...just some soup for supper. I know you don't like it, but I'll make you something else—"

He cut her off. "If you know I don't like it, why the fuck did you make it?!?" He was yelling now.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Ken—"

Before she could finish apologizing, Ken picked up the pot with his bare hands and threw it across the room. It hit the wall next to Nick, spraying his textbook and homework, ruining them.

Nick stopped thinking. He stood up so quickly that the chair he had been sitting on flew backwards. He reached Ken in two long strides.

"What the fu—"

Before he could finish, Nick's fist was smashing into his cheek. Ken was so drunk that he fell backwards sloppily. Nick sat on him and repeatedly punched him over and over, not losing stamina. His anger and hatred giving him strength.

After Ken's face and Nick's hand were completely covered in blood, Nick finally heard his mom's pleas. "Nick, stop! Please! Oh my God! Nick, please stop!"

He sat up and looked around. His mom was kneeling next to him, shaking, with tears running down her face. His younger brothers, who were five and six, sat huddled together under the kitchen table—too afraid to make a sound.

As Nick stood up slowly, Ken began spitting blood onto the floor and gagging. Nick couldn't stand to see his brothers' faces or his mom's tears for another second, so he quickly left to wash off in the bathroom.

When he looked in the mirror, he saw that he had Ken's blood sprinkled on his face and hair. The sight made him sick.

He vowed in that moment that he would just take it from now on—the abuse. No matter hard Ken pushed him—literally or figuratively—he would not fight back.

Yesterday, after thirty minutes of Ken's constant badgering, Nick knew he needed to remove himself from the house if he was going to keep that vow. He texted Ian to pick him up.

Ian: I wish I could. I'm heading to my grandma's tonight.

Nick: OK. Ken is just being fucking asshole about my suspension.

Ian: Dude, thanks again for not ratting me out. I owe you.

Nick: You'd do the same for me.

Ian: Actually I'll be at your house in 30. I'm sure Grandma won't care.

Nick: Fantastic

Nick had been suspended from school for gluing all the cheerleaders' pom-poms together the night before—his latest attempt at fucking with Bailey. Ian had been helping when they heard a janitor coming their direction.

Immediately, Nick whispered, "Go. I'll distract him."

Ian was a straight-A student with acceptance letters to all the top colleges in the country in a drawer at home, while Nick got average grades and was looking at a couple years of community college ahead of him. He didn't have as much to lose. Nick hadn't even hesitated.

Now, he's not sure what he's going to find at home. Ken was still taking turns between yelling and drinking beer as Nick slammed the door behind him yesterday.

Ian pulls into his driveway and puts the car in park. "Call me later, man. I'm going to sleep when I get home, but we should go to Amanda's party tonight."

"K," Nick says as he opens his door.

"Do you want me to wait to make sure you can get in? It looks like no one is home," Ian adds as Nick slides into the cold December air.

"Nah. Just go," Nick says as he slams the door closed.

As he walks in front of the car, he sees Ian raise his hand in a wave. He risks a look at Bailey, and she gives him a shy smile, sending a thrill through his chest.

He hears the car begin to move in reverse as he reaches the bottom of his porch steps. The front door flies open when he is half way up.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!?" Ken yells.

Nick continues until he reaches the porch landing, even with Ken. "I stayed at my friend's house. Why do you care?"

"Your mother was worried sick about you!"

Nick looks behind Ken to see his mom and brothers standing together in the hallway. The expression on his mom's face is not worry, just sadness. She wasn't worried. Ken is just looking for an excuse to be pissed.

Nick notices he's still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. He wonders if Ken slept in them or hadn't slept at all, most likely the latter.

While Nick is focusing on his mother, Ken takes the opportunity to charge at him, placing both hands on his chest and pushing him down the stairs. It feels like slow motion as Nick flies backward, unable to catch himself with his feet as he falls down the four stairs.

He lands on his back on the concrete path that leads to his house. He momentarily can't breathe. He sees Ken practically running down the stairs to him, fury in his eyes. Nick looks around hopelessly for some sort of weapon or way to fight off his attacker when he sees Ian's car still sitting at the end of his driveway.

Please just go...Nick thinks before Ken reaches him and begins punching him in the face. Almost immediately, Nick feels the bones in his nose snap. Ken normally tries to avoid the face in order to dodge any questioning, but he is not holding back this time. Fueled by alcohol or rage, Nick doesn't know.

Nick is feeling dizzy and lightheaded and knows he is about to pass out—a result of both the pain and blood loss.

The last thing he sees before the lights go out is Ken flying off of him like he had been tackled.