Running Away

chapter sixteen: more baggage than an airport carousel

Edited.

S I X T E E N : MORE BAGGAGE THAN AN AIRPORT CAROUSEL

– Taylor –

As soon as the door slammed shut behind us, Nick wasted no time in wrapping his arms around me. Within a matter of seconds, I was pressed against the opposite wall, trapped between the fading beige wallpaper and Nick's chest.

Maybe I should've been alarmed, but Nick's chocolate brown eyes were soft on mine, and his palm was warm on the small of my back, and every breath he took feathered across the tip of my nose. Combined, these seemingly small things made quite an intoxicating mixture, and I couldn't help but lean into his touch. Had the sound of a child screaming not shattered the silence between us, I might've pushed up onto my toes and kissed him.

Levi Quinn. Barely two years old, and he was already ruining my life. Like uncle like nephew, I supposed.

"Maybe we should go to your apartment," I suggested, swallowing the disappointment that threatened to seep into my voice. Now that I'd slithered out of Nick's grasp, I found that I really wanted to be back in it. "You did promise me a tour, right?"

Nick grinned, stepping around so that he was standing beside me. Swinging an arm around my shoulders, he pulled me forward with him, "You got me there."

It took us not even a minute to arrive at his place, which was only three down from Derek's. Even with the front door shut, I could recognize the familiar scent of weed and air freshener that always seemed to surround Nick. Before he could reach for the knob, though, the door was flung open with monstrous force, resulting with a terrible creak of hinges.

A woman whizzed through us so fast, I could barely register a single feature on her face. I caught a flash of honey blonde curls and a harried "Sorry, Nick!" In another moment, she'd disappeared into the elevator, leaving a tornado of a mess behind her. On the hall floor was a bundled up jacket and a burst pack of cigarettes, both of which Nick scooped up easily. Chuckling lightly, he strolled into the living room, pulling me by the hand behind him.

"That's my sister," Nick explained, a hint of humor still laced throughout his tone, "Melanie. Probably late for work again."

She—Melanie—had wreaked quite a havoc in her hurry to get to work, too. Couch cushions had been upturned, the remains of her dinner—which appeared to have been a healthy portion of scrambled eggs accompanying a cold slice of pizza—was still sitting on the center table, and she seemed to have spilled coffee on the carpet. Nick frowned, taking in the scene for himself.

"God, I wish she'd quit that awful job," He sighed, grabbing a roll of paper towels from the TV stand and kneeling down by the stain. "She's a bartender, and all she gets are graveyard shifts. She's also in cosmetology school, so she spends all morning there, and then sleeps all day until she has to go back to the restaurant. And that means she's always exhausted and she always leaves a wreck."

I smiled; his concern for Melanie was oddly satisfying, cute even. "So then what do you do?"

"I was supposed to be a sophomore this year at SFCC, but I dropped out. Melanie's salary pays the bills, but only barely. Right now," he shrugged sheepishly, almost apologetically, "I work at this weird little hipster tech shop downtown. Fixing computers and phones for dumbasses who keep shattering the screens and spilling water all over them." Nick laughed, short but compelling.

Apparently there was quite a lot more to Nick Felton than what Derek or Devon saw. Both of them kept warning me about some sort of evil criminal, someone who had been tormenting Derek for years and who made Devon want to hurl every insult in the book. But here, in front of me, was someone who couldn't be more different from the image they'd painted of him. The Nick in front of me was kind and intelligent and cared about his sister. So what if he spent weekends partying with a strange group of friends, so what if the smell of marijuana seemed to cling to his skin, so what if he and Derek had a suspicious rivalry?