Scars

Part 3

 Nichole's POV:

"What the hell, Nichole!", Alexis yelled at me, in the kitchen the next morning.

She was pissed the fuck off about last night.  As I knew she would be.  I pretty much expected it.

"I'm sorry", I said, apologizing.  Because I honestly felt bad.

"You couldn't even text me?!  You told me you would!  I was worried!"

"I know.  And I'm sorry.  I just forgot.  And kinda lost track of time."

She glared at me, obviously very angry.  "Speaking of which.  What time did you get home last night?"

I glanced at her, with a look of fear in my eyes.  Fuck, I thought, knowing I was about to get busted.  Because I knew this wasn't gong to go over well.  At all.

"What time, Nichole?", she demanded.

"I don't know... Around 3", I said, trying to sound casual.

"Three o'clock?!  In the morning?!  Are you serious?!  What the hell were you doing until 3 in the morning?!"

"Well, it wasn't exactly 3 in the morning.  It was... 2:45", I said, hoping that that would make a difference.

She furrowed her eyebrows together, and shook her head.  "Oh, ok.  Like 15 minutes makes a fucking difference."

I didn't say anything,  because she was so pissed, that I was afraid that no matter what I said, it would only make things worse.  So I didn't say anything.  And just waited to see where this went.

"Well", she said, folding her arms in front of her.  "You still didn't answer my question."

"What question?", I asked, playing stupid.

"Don't try to play stupid, Nichole.  What the fuck were  you doing until 3 in morning?!"

"I told you.  I met Teagan for a drink.  And Kendall was there too.  And well, one drink turned into another.  And the next thing I knew, it was after 2:30 am.  And that's when I left."

She paused, then finally spoke.  "Look, I don't care if you go out with your friends.  But you could of at least called or texted me, just to let me know that you were ok and that you were going to be home late."

"And I know", I said, trying to diffuse the situation, because I didn't want this to turn into yet another big ass argument.   "You're absolutely right.  I fucked up.  And I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything, and I could tell she was still mad.

"You walked out on me last night", she said, getting to the heart of what was obviously really bothering her.  "How many times in the last year, Nichole, have done that exact thing?   We get in a fight and you just walk out.  You just leave and you're gone for hours, and you never even call or text.  Like you don't even care.  Then you just come back and act like everything's fine.  Well, it's not fine", she said, her blue eyes faded.  

And as hard as it was to admit, the sparkle in her eyes, that I had fallen in love with so long ago, was... gone.  And I honestly didn't know what the hell do about it.

"And then you go to work, and sometimes you're gone for weeks.  And you leave me again."

And I could feel myself starting to get frustrated.  Because she just didn't get it.  She just didn't understand.  And yes, I was wrong for so often walking out on her whenever we had an argument.  So, that part I got.  But everything involving work,  none of that was my fault.  But she didn't seem to understand that.