Skylee put her suitcases on the floor and locked the
door of “her” room in Kevin and his wife, Kristin’s
house...Or mansion would be more like it. She skimmed the
room and walked to the large bathroom. There was a large
tub along with a separate shower. She turned on the tub and
poured some bubble bath in. In the bathroom closet, she
found a white bath robe. Pulling it off the hanger, she
walked back to the bedroom. (They’re connected). She put
the robe on the bed and walked over to unpack her sleeping
clothes. In the top of the suitcase, there was a framed
picture of her Dad and herself. Her eyes getting blurry,
she removed it from the suitcase and placed it on the
bedside table. Her eye caught on the large full-length
mirror and she walked in front it. Looking at her clothes,
she sighed. Nick was right, she had changed a lot. She was
donning a pair of black pants with zippers at the pants legs
and a form fitting black tank top. Her eyes slid over to
the picture again and she let a few tears fall as she took
the robe and her cell phone and walked into the bathroom.
She got into the full tub and leaned her head back, crying
about everything that had gone on during the past few
months. A few minutes later, her phone rang and she jumped,
startled by the shrill ring. She cleared her throat before
answering.
“ Hello?”
“ Sky? Hey,”
“ Hi, Nick, what’s up?”
“ Nothing much. Just checking if you were settled
in ok,”
“ Oh, yeah, I guess. That was sweet of you,”
“ Are you OK? Were you crying or something?”
“...Yeah, I’m fine,” She replied, her voice wavering.
“ Sky, what’s wrong?” He asked, concerned.
“...I was just thinking,” She replied, sniffling.
“ Listen, sweets, you can’t keep doing this to yourself,” He
said gently and Sky could just picture him drumming his
fingers on the table like he usually did when worried.
“ I know,” She said, tears flowing again.
“ It’ll be OK, I can promise that. It’ll get easier,
Skylee,” He consoled.
“ It hurts so much, Nick,” She said, almost whispering.
“ I know, Sky...Want me to come over?” She smiled faintly.
“ That’s OK, Nick. Thanks though. I gotta go, Kevin’s at
the door,”
" Ok, promise me you won’t linger on it anymore tonight?”
“ I’ll try,”
“ OK, take care,”
“ Bye, Nick,” She hung up and slipped into the bathrobe.
“ Skyl-” She pulled open the bedroom door and faced him.
“ Yes?” She asked stiffly.
“ Why did you lock the door?”
“ The same reason you lock the front door,”
“ Intruders? Wha-...” He looked at her as he realized what
she meant.
“ Did you need something?”
“ No...Just making sure you were OK...Were you crying?”
“ Doesn’t matter,” She pushed it shut but he blocked it with
his foot.
“ Skylee, You are living with me now, you have no one else
here and you still won’t talk to me?”
“ Kevin, leave me alone. I don’t want to be here,
remember?”
“ You have to learn to let go-”
“ Move out of the way, Kevin,” He reluctantly moved and she
shut the door, locking it loudly so he could hear. She
stood by the door for a second longer before changing into
her pajamas and getting into bed...
*****
“ I don’t know what I’m going to do with her,” Kevin
complained as Nick, Howie, AJ and Brian all sat at a table
in the cafeteria after rehearsal.
“ She’ll talk when she’s ready,” Brian said. Kevin looked
at Nick who was absently stirring his soda with the straw,
staring out the rainy day.
“ Did she say anything to you, Nick?”
“ Who? Sky?”
“ Yeah?” Nick shifted his gaze uncomfortably and hesitated.
“ With all due respect, Kev, I can’t say anything because
she confided in me and it’d be wrong if I misplaced her
trust,” He replied finally. Kevin nodded to show he
understood and looked away.
“ She won’t do anything crazy,” Nick assured Kevin, feeling
bad for him.
“ I wonder sometimes...Can you believe she got a tattoo
after my Mom said she absolutely couldn’t?”
“ She got a tattoo? Where?” AJ asked, interested.
“ Why does it matter?” Kevin asked, suspicious of AJ’s
motives.
“ Christ, I was just asking, Kevin. Chill out,” AJ said,
annoyed.
“ You can’t hook up with my sister, McLean,” He said
warningly.
“ Why does everyone think I want to sleep with her so badly?
I mean, Nick and her and pretty close and you don’t say shit
to him,” AJ said, standing up and stalking off.
“ Who said anything about sleeping with her?” Brian
snorted, reading Kevin’s mind.
“ Whatever. Nick? See if you can talk to her please?”
“ Sure,”...
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