Chapter 5

"Now dip your head into this basin," she told him. he did so, and she rinsed his hair out, so that it was so clean it squeaked, and then she toweled his hair.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"No, it wasn't. Thanks for doing this for me, I don't deserve it."
Jacinda looked at Nick quizically. "Who ever told you that? Besides, it doesn't matter. Your hair really was dirty and needed it. Plus, you can't get up to do it yourself, so I was more than happy to oblige and do it for you. Now, no more talk about not deserving anything. I'm here to take care of you, and you are obviously not even from this country, so there is no one else here for you but me. Now get some rest and I'll be back later."
She got up and kissed his forehead lightly, then walked out the door. Nick pressed a hand to his forehead wonderingly, still feeling the mark of her kiss there. He decided he'd eventually tell her why he had come here, but not until she was ready to confess the source of her hurt to him in turn. Jacinda walked down the stairs, and sat in the living room. Suddenly, the phone started to ring. She picked it up, wondering who'd be calling her at this time of the day.
"Hello?" she asked politely, not really feeling like talking to anyone right now.
"Jaci? It's Kathy." Jacinda cringed. Kathy was the last person she wanted to speak with.
"Hey, Kathy. What can I do for ya?"
"I was wondering if ya wanted to go shopping at the mall with Andy and me?" she asked, her tone obviously hopeful.
"Sorry, Kathy, but I already have plans for today." she replied, knowing that it was at least the truth.
"To do what? With who?"
"None of your business and none of your business." Jacinda stated, becoming annoyed.
"Ooohh! It's a guy! Don't lie to me, girl. Is it a guy?"
Jacinda sighed. "No. I'm gonna do something on my own today, I don't feel like being the third wheel between you and Andy again."
"Oh ok, suit yourself. Bye."
"Bye." Both girls hung up. Jacinda sighed again, and plopped down onto the couch. Little did she know that the conversation had been loud enough for a certain young man upstairs to hear everything.
Jaci didn't come back upstairs until when she was ready for bed. She was restless, so she just made her bed and turned around, staring at the wall.
"Jacinda, you still awake?" Nick suddenly asked, looking down at her.
"Yeah, why?" she asked, turned around to stare up at her guest.
"I wanna talk, that's all. I was a bit rude earlier and I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. I was a little rude, too and for that I'm sorry."
"So what do you wanna talk about?" Jacinda asked him, raising her pretty head up on an elbow.
"I dunno, I just wanna talk about anything."
She smiled then, and his breath caught. He'd never seen her smile before and it was a damn beautiful sight. "You don't seem to know what your saying."
"Yes I do!" he mumbled, looking back at her.
"Cool your jets, I wasn't making fun of you." she said, taking one of his hands in hers.
"Oh," he mumbled, looking down at her hand holding his.
"Now, how do you find living in the limelight?" she asked, looking with a semi-trusting gaze up at him.

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