Page 50 of Falling for Nicole
Chapter Eleven
Nicole
The sun is streaming into the room when I wake, and the other side of the bed is empty. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised—he probably went surfing first thing, but I can’t help being a little disappointed he didn’t wake me to say goodbye. I felt like the connection between us grew last night, and I feel strangely abandoned now. It’s not a feeling I’m particularly comfortable with.
Grabbing my phone, I see that it’s much later than I was expecting—I’ve not got all that long before I need to be in work. I guess that puts pay to my plans for furniture shopping this morning.
I open up my messages and type and retype a message about ten times when I realise what I want to say makes me look like a needy girlfriend. In the end, I go with a simple,You should have woken me before you left. I hope the surf was good.It’s far from theI missed you when I woke upthat I wanted to write, but even after last night’s breakdown, I’m concerned about putting my true feelings out there for him to stomp all over.
I get a message back almost instantly.
You needed to sleep. See you soon.
Well that doesn’t give away any of his true feelings either, and makes me wonder yet again if he actually has anytrue feelingswhen it comes to me. Letting out a large sigh, I get myself in the shower to start my day.
I’ve just wrapped a towel around myself when I hear a knock at the front door. Bailey goes scrambling off to see who it is.
My heart jumps into my throat when I think about it being Declan. Yes, I missed him, but suddenly I’m nervous to see him after my emotional breakdown last night. He didn’t need to witness that. I’ve kept everything to myself for a reason, but I have to admit I do feel better for having a good cry. I smile to myself as I replay my rendition of Rihanna last night. I actually did it. I got up and sang without crumbling.
“Not expecting me?” Lilly asks when my smile drops slightly.
“I wasn’t really expecting anyone. Come in.”
“Liar,” she mutters behind me. “I brought pastries.”
“Oh, yum. Let me just go and throw some clothes on and I’ll be with you.”
“Late night?” she calls out as I climb the stairs.
“Nothing you’d want me to share.”
I hear her muttering about how it’s gross and how she doesn’t want any dirty details about her brother while I pull on a pair of shorts and a Dec’s Surf and Shack vest.
“So things are good then?” she asks when I reappear.
“I guess.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well…” I pause as I try to gather my thoughts so I don’t sound like a crazy person. “Yes,thingsare good,” I say with a wink while Lilly screws her face up. “But…I don’t know. What is all this? We go from being at each other’s throats all the time and driving each other crazy to…well—”
“Still driving each other crazy?”
“Yeah. How do I know this isn’t all one big joke?”
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper after a second or two. “He’s going to break my heart, Lilly. I know that’s not what you want to hear because he’s your brother, but this is all going to end up one big disaster.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it’s too good to be true.”
“When you’ve foundthe oneit usually feels that way. At least, that’s what happened to me, anyway.”
“You think Dec’sthe one?”
“Don’t you?”
