Just Two More Broken Souls

Chapter Three

With her relationship on hold, Nicky found it liberating to not have to worry about Annalisa's comments whenever she was planning to do something with Lorna. She could call, text, see her without a care in the world. It was truly a redeeming sensation. She felt free without Annalisa always hovering over her. Always wondering what she was or wasn't doing. She smiled and grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge, cracking it open once in her living room and kicking her feet up on the coffee table. This was the life, she blissfully thought.

The vibration of her phone was the only thing to interrupt her from the tranquil moment. She quickly took it out of her pocket to see a text from Lorna waiting to be read. She smiled while keying in her passcode. All the time she spent lusting over that docile petite teen in high school and never said a word to her, she deemed to make up for that loss now. To continue to strengthen their friendship and, hopefully in the future, turn that into something even more meaningful.

She sipped her cold pop while awaiting to hear back from the brunette. The past couple of weeks were exhilarating to say the least. She spent the majority of her time over at Lorna's apartment, making sure she didn't overdo it and getting Ona on and off the bus so she wouldn't risk another fall in the frigid winter's wrath. It made her thankful that she came across that little girl at the gas station—such an occurrence really seemed to be changing her life for the better. She only smoked half-a-pack of cigarettes a day now, she realized.

Her phone's screen lighting up took her away from her thoughts. She set aside the pop can and focused her eyes on the screen. Hey, Ona just left for school. Wanna go have coffee at that coffee shop? Maybe this time we can actually do some talking, lol. Reading the response immediately induced a chuckle out of Nicky.

Sounds like a plan, Stan. I'll pick ya up so you don't have another 'slipping' incident, yeah? ;), she used her fingers to type the message into her phone and pressed the send button with her thumb. After receiving confirmation, Nicky chugged the rest of her Diet Coke, grabbed her satchel, and shook herself into her winter-coat. She walked through the kitchen, taking a half-full pack of cigarettes lying on her table and placing it in her pocket before making her way out the door to her car.

Lorna smiled as she made her way down the sidewalk to enter inside of her friend's vehicle. "Nice car," she commented, taking a look around the inside of it once she was securely fastened with the seatbelt. Aside from the fact that it wasn't quite as clenly as she chose to keep her own car, overall it had a rather appealing appearance. The smell of smoke, however, was a different story.

"Yeah, she keeps me going at least," the redhead answered with a laugh. She patted her hand over the steering wheel before pulling out of the parking spot. Her eyes averted over towards Lorna, a genuine smile on her face. "Sorry for the mess, kid. I'm a messy person, I guess. How're ya feelin' today?"

The brunette only gave small shrug. The total opposite of herself, she seemed to be. But then again, people always said that opposites attract. Maybe that was true. She watched as Nicky picked up a cigarette from the cup holder and held it perfectly between her fingers while steering the car down the street. Some example of eye-hand coordination, she thought with a laugh.

"No big deal," she finally spoke up. "The pain is finally starting to get less and less. I only have to take a half a pain pill every six or so hours to get me by."

Nicky tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes at her. "I'm glad to hear the pain's getting better but is that what your doctor said to do, kid?"

"Not technically...but I don't think I need the whole dose. It's too much."

Tapping the butt of her cigarette on the rim of her open window, Nicky arched her eyebrows and shook her head. "Stopping it too soon might make the pain come back worse, kid. But it's your body...you know what's best, yeah? Just be careful." The rest of the drive went by without incident. She pulled into a parking spot right in front of the coffee shop. A rare event she deemed. The city hardly ever had any decent spots to park available.