Mr. and Mrs. Carter: The One

Chapter 10

December 14, 1995 Tampa Florida
LILI'S POV
I try to take as long as I can to clean the kitchen and living room and guest bathroom.

After Nick asked about my parents, I panicked. I didn't want to start crying in front of him, so I quickly went downstairs to clean.

As I finished scrubbing the toilet, I take off my gloves and wash my hands. I go to the living room and look at the clock. It's 6:00 pm.

I sighed as I go upstairs. I look at Nick and realize he's asleep.

I go back downstairs and make dinner. I decide to make pasta, since its easy.

Half an hour later, I carry a steaming plate with Chicken Alfredo upstairs.

Nick is still asleep when I enter. I gently shake him. He opens his eyes and sits up.

He looks at the food and says, "Wow. Fancy." I smile and hand him the plate. He doesn't ask me about earlier, so I take the opportunity to leave.

I go downstairs to wash the pot and everything I used. Once I'm done washing the dishes, I hear footsteps behind me.

I turn around and Nick is there, holding his empty plate.

"Nick! What are you doing?" I exclaim.

"I'm gonna wash my dish." he says flatly, as if the answer was obvious.

Which it probably was.

"Nick go back upstairs, I'll take care of it."

"No, just let me do this. I can't stand staying in bed."

I give up and let him do what he wants. I walk wearily to the sofa, and collapse on it.

A few minutes later, Nick sits down on the sofa next to me.

"So should we watch something?" he asks.

I nod.

"Yeah you can turn on the TV. Or choose a movie from that shelf." I point to a shelf in the living room.

He nods and goes to the shelf. After choosing a movie, he puts it in.

Honestly, I have no idea what movie he chose, as I fell asleep.

NICK'S POV

I look through the shelves and see that she has The Goonies. Hell yeah. That's my favorite movie ever. I'm so engrossed in watching, that when it finishes, I look over at Lili who hasn't said anything. She's asleep. She looks so peaceful, that I don't want to wake her. I stare at her.

She's so beautiful.

Should I carry her back to her bed? No, I had a feeling she wouldn't like that.

Instead, I put the movie back and shook her gently. Lili opened her eyes, and I said, "Lili you fell asleep. It's 9:00 pm."

"Dammit." she groaned. She got up and looked at the TV.

"Did you watch what you wanted to watch?"

I nodded.

"Yeah I watched The Goonies." I said smiling.

Lili grins, and I notice how pretty her eyes get when she smiles.

"Well I'm going to shower and sleep. Goodnight Nick." she says.

"Good night Lili." I watch her walk back upstairs to her room. I hear her door close. I get up, turn off the light and walk upstairs and go into the guest bedroom. I take a quick shower, and change into sweatpants and a white cotton shirt.

Normally I don't sleep in anything, but this is not my house.

As I lie down, I wonder how Aaron is doing. I know I should have called them when I woke up, but I wanted to stay here with Lili for a little bit longer.

I have to admit it, I've had a little crush since I saw her last June. But after actually talking with her, she's more than a crush. She's mysterious, which draws me in.

But I doubt she feels the same way. Sighing, I look up at the ceiling until I fall asleep.
...
NICK'S POV
I'm woken up by screaming.

I hear a voice say "NO PLEASE STOP!" What the hell is going on?

Lili.

She's the one screaming. I rush out of bed, and barge into her room. She's on the bed screaming and kicking. I rush to the bed and wake her up.
"NO STOP NO!" she screams.

"Lili calm down its me Nick!" I shout.

Lili wakes up and looks at me and begins to sob. What happened to her? I wrap my arms around her and she hugs me back, crying. I hold her for a few minutes while she cries.

"It's okay. Just a nightmare." I say, trying to calm her down. I don't know what she dreamt, but it must have been horrible, because of the way she was screaming.

I try to calm her down her by smoothing her hair back.

Finally, she stops sobbing. Lili pulls away from me and I wipe her tear-stained face.

"What happened?" I ask.

She shakes her head and doesn't answer. I press her and ask again.

Again, she shakes her head.

At that point, I lost patience.

"Lili just tell me what fucking happened! That's not fucking normal!" I shout.

"I lied." she sobbed out.

"What?"I ask.

"My parents aren't away."

Yeah, I figured, but I don't say it.

"I'm a Viotto and-"Lili's voice cracks. "I'm his daughter." she hung her head in shame.

Oh shit.

It all makes sense now. If her father is Julius Viotto...fucking shit. I hug her tighter and she begins to cry again.

"Don't tell anyone, please." she begged.

I nodded. "I won't. I promise."

Julius Viotto was one of the most ruthless mafia leaders in North America. He kidnapped girls and made them pleasure his clients for money and drugs. It must have gone worse for Lili, considering she was his child.

"It's ok Lili. I'm here." I whisper. I feel her nod against my chest. I gently rock her, and she falls asleep.

I lay her down on the bed, and cover her with her blanket. I bent down and kissed her forehead. It felt right. I walk out of her room, but I leave the door open a little bit, before going back to sleep.