Felicia:
Stefania and I drove to Nick’s house. I really didn’t want to go and almost didn’t, but Steph made me. She wanted me to make more friends and change my lifestyle. Yeah, like I really wanted to do that. I was content with the way my life was; though it was unhappy. That’s all I know.
"Ok, make a right at the stop sign and go all the way down ‘til you see a huge gate." Steph instructed. I did as she said and drove all the way down and saw a huge gate. There was a security guard at the entrance. I rolled down my window and waited for him to walk over.
"Name?" He asked.
"Felicia Roberts" I replied.
"Ok, go ahead." The gate opened and I drove through it and up the long driveway, we finally saw a house. I parked in front of it and we got out. I grabbed my purse and we walked up to the door. Steph rang the doorbell and we waited while someone answered the door.
"So, what does this Nick guy look like?" Steph asked.
"He’s blonde, blue eyed, and very tall."
"Cool. Is he cute?"
"You can find that out now." I replied when I heard the lock unlock and the door open. I saw Nick standing there in a wife beater and his swim trunks.
"Hey Felicia. I’m glad you decided to come." He greeted.
"Yeah, well she didn’t want to at first, so I made her come. She doesn’t get out very much." Steph said.
"Dude, can I not talk for myself?! I swear. Anyway, Nick this is my best friend Stefania, or Steph. Steph this is Nick."
"Hi, it’s nice to meet you." Steph extended her hand.
"You too." Nick replied.
"Well, that’s done." I said.
"So, are you two going to stand out here forever, or are you going to come in?" Nick asked.
"Come in, I guess." I said.
"Alright, follow me."
He turned around and started walking down the hallway, and we followed behind him. His house was huge and beautiful. He was rich alright. Damn, this house just goes on forever. We followed him outside, past his pool and to the private beach. We saw four other people there, two I recognized from last night. We walked up to them and they stopped their game of volleyball.
"Hey guys. This is Felicia and Steph. And these are my best friends Brian, AJ, Dani, and Amanda." Nick introduced.
"Hi, it’s nice to meet you all." Steph shook all their hands and I did the same.
"So, you’re the girl these two made laugh?" Amanda asked and I nodded. "Wow, I didn’t think they were that funny." She teased, laughing.
"Hey, we’re pretty funny. If Bri was there, it would have been even funnier." Nick whined.
"Yeah, sure whatever. So, what did they do?"
"AJ loosened the cap of the cream and gave it to Nick. Nick poured it into his coffee cup, the top fell off and all the cream poured into his cup. It was so retarded that i had to laugh."
"Man, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard. You guys are pathetic. If I was there it would have been much better." Brian scolded teasingly.
"Yeah, well we were somewhat drunk. So, you gotta give us credit." AJ defended.
"Hun, you weren’t that funny and aren’t even when you’re sober." Dani said, holding in her laughter.
"Hey, you’re my girlfriend! You’re supposed to defend me."
"Who ever said that?!"
"It’s just the rules." AJ whined, which made Dani burst into laughter.
"Y’all are too much." Steph laughed.
"Oh, just wait ‘til you get to know these guys more. You’ll think they’re insane and wish you had never met them." Amanda said, smiling.
"Thanks for the warning." I laughed lightly.
"You girls are just mean!" Brian pouted.
"Aw Bri, don’t pout. I still love you no matter what." She kissed him lightly and I just turned the other way. Because seeing people ‘in love’ made my heart sting.
"So, what are we gonna do?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Anything, volleyball, sunbathe, talk, chill, swim?" Nick replied.
"Swim!" All of us screamed, then laughed. We got out of the clothes that were over out bathing suits and ran to the water. We swam and played water games for about 3 hours and then sunbathed for about 2 hours while the sun went down into the horizon.
"Hey, does anyone know when D is going to be home?" AJ asked.
D, who the hell was D? Steph and I were clueless.
"He’s in Australia with Laura right now. They’re gonna come home in about a week. And Kev is in Kentucky with Kristin." Brian explained.
"Oh, ok. Cool." AJ replied.
"So, Steph, Felicia how long have you been friend?" Dani asked.
"Since sophomore year in high school."
"Wow, that’s pretty long."
"Yeah" Steph responded.
"How old are you both?" Amanda asked.
"We’re both 20." I answered.
"Cool. So, do you two have boyfriends?" AJ asked.
I just looked down at my hands, not wanting to answer that question.
"Um, I do. But Felicia doesn’t right now." Steph answered. I was still looking at my hands.
I guess they sensed it was a touchy subject, so they changed it. They were talking about sports and I just listened, but my mind kept wondering off to when I had a boyfriend.
His name was Bret, and he was perfect, or so he seemed. I thought he really loved me, but I was obviously wrong when I found him in bed with the girl that lived next door to us. I wish I hadn’t gone home early that night, but if I hadn’t, he’d be lying behind my back and that was worse.
I came back to reality when I heard Nick calling my name.
"Felicia, are you ok?" I saw his hand waving in front of me.
"Huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine. I’m going to go take a walk, that ok?"
"Um, yeah sure go ahead."
"Thanks."
I got up and walked to the edge of the water and walked down the beach. I didn’t want to be alone, because I didn’t want to think about anything, especially not Bret. But I wanted to be alone too, just to try and forget him, but nothing was working to get my mind off him.
I continued to walk down the beach, hearing nothing but the waves washing up against the shore. Thoughts of Bret kept running through my mind, like a wild horse on the run and they weren’t going to stop. I closed my eyes, and all that I saw was Bret and that woman. Why couldn’t they get out of my mind? Why couldn’t I forget about him? He was a jackass and yet I couldn’t seem to get him out of my head. There had to be something wrong with me. Seriously wrong.
My thoughts jolted to a stop when I heard someone calling me. I turned around and saw Nick running toward me.
"Felicia, wait up!" He called, while running. I stopped and waited for him to catch up to me. He reached me and we started walking in silence for a bit.
"Is there something you needed?" I asked, when he didn’t say anything.
"No, I just wanted to see if you wanted some company?"
"Yeah, I guess. It’ll get my mind of my thoughts."
"What are you thinking about?"
"A bunch of things, it’s complicated really."
"Is everything with you complicated?" He stifled a laugh.
"Not all the time, but lately it has been."
"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where I am."
"Yep, and I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks."
"No prob."
"So, I was wondering. What got you and AJ to make me laugh last night? I mean, why did you want to?"
"Well, because Dani saw you and noticed you had this sad, lonely look on your face. And Dani, being her normal, weird, helpful, friendly self, got AJ and I to get you to laugh or at least smile. Dani has a huge heart, as does AJ though they’re both crazy, and have the bad girl/boy image."
"What about you? Do you have a huge heart?"
"I guess, I mean I wouldn’t know. People say I do, so I guess I do."
"That’s cool. Though that’s a strange way to make friends, but it works." I lightly laughed.
"Yeah, it does. So, if I’m going to be your friend, I guess I should learn some things about you."
"Alright, what do you want to know?"
"Where do you work?"
"At Barnes and Noble bookstore in Tampa. Yeah, not the most exciting job and doesn’t pay that great. But, it gets me through college. I go to University of South Florida. And I want to be a professional choreographer, believe it or not."
"Wow, that’s pretty cool. I’ll have to see you dance sometime."
"Yeah, maybe. What about you? What do you do?"
"I’m in a band with my friends Brian, AJ, Howie, and Kevin. We’re pretty popular, which I’m surprised you don’t recognize us. But it’s cool to actually meet people who aren’t fans and don’t judge you just because we’re famous."
"What's your group’s name?"
"The Backstreet Boys."
Hearing that I went wide eyed. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t recognize them, but then again I wasn’t the biggest fan of pop. I only hear their songs on the radio every once and a while and never paid much attention to the magazines they were on that we sold at work.
"Wow, that’s pretty cool. Do you like what you do?"
"I love what I do. And I love making the fans happy. That’s the best part of it all. But it is stressful and tiring and we don’t get to be home very much. Which puts a strain on relationships. Which is putting one on the one I’m in now."
"Oh, well I guess that kind of business can strain a relationship. Not seeing them all the time. What’s your girlfriend’s name?"
"Becca. My friends say she’s just using me, but I don’t believe it. My last girlfriend did that and I swore to myself that I wouldn’t date another girl like that."
"I’m sure that she’s not."
"Thanks."
We talked more and decided to go back. We got back within 20 minutes and they were beginning to play volleyball.
"Hey Nick, Felicia. Do you guys wanna play?" Dani asked.
"You’ll have uneven teams. I’ll sit this one out. Nick you can go ahead and play." I replied.
"Uh uh, girl! You’re playing and you’re gonna be on my team!" Steph protested, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the playing area. We had AJ and Dani on our team.
"Fine, but to warn you all. I really suck at this game!"
"Whatever." Steph retorted.
We started playing and our team was losing by one point. It was my turn to serve and I was about to hit the ball, when I heard someone yell. Making me hit the ball and it went over to the water.
"Nicky!" The voice yelled again. I ignored it and ran to get the ball. I retrived it and ran back to everyone else. I saw a girl there, that I hadn’t seen before. She had long, very light brown hair, almost blonde. And she didn’t look too happy.
"Nick, why are they still here?" I heard her whine.
"Because we’re just having some fun. You can join us."
"No, I don’t want to. I want to spend time with just you. And who are these two bitches?"
‘Um, excuse me?! You so totally didn’t call Steph and me bitches! You skank!‘ I wanted to yell that so bad, but I didn’t know her, so I couldn’t.
"Bec, these are our new friends. Stefania and Felicia. And they’re not bitches! Can you please be nice to them?"
"Yeah, I guess. Hi, I’m Becca. Nick’s girlfriend."
"Hi." Steph and I replied.
"Well Nick, it was fun. Thanks for inviting us. It was great meeting everyone. But Steph and I need to go. We have classes in the morning. See y’all later. Bye."
"Bye Felicia & Steph. It was great meeting you and Steph. We’ll have to hang out soon and have a girls day out." Amanda said.
"Yeah, definitely!" Steph replied, and I smiled.
"Bye you two. See you later." AJ said. Brian and Dani said bye and Steph and I began to leave. We walked by the side of Nick’s house and got into my car. I started it and drove away. I took Steph home and then want to my lonely quiet apartment. I parked and went inside. I placed my keys on the table that was near the door and plopped down on my dark blue couch. Taking in the silence. I couldn’t take the silence anymore, so I grabbed the remote for my CD player, turned it on and pushed play. Dream’s CD was in there right now. It was the last one I was making dances up to . I listened to it for a while, and the song ‘How Long’ came on. It just described everything I wanted to feel, but I knew I never would.
‘There’s a place in my heart
That I to when I dream
A place nobody can see
Every night I feel love
I see someone whose waiting
Waiting for someone like me
He must be out there
Somewhere, someone for me
Tell me how long
‘Til I’m not just dreaming
How long ‘til somebody cares
How long ‘til I meet an angel
And give him my heart
When can I start
How long ‘til I fall in love...’
I turned it off right after the first chorus. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. I knew I wouldn’t find anyone, so why wish for that. It’s pointless. I got up from the couch, went into my bedroom, changed into my pajamas and went to sleep. Trying to forget about everything and actually sleep that night and it actually worked....
