Take Me Home {Completed}

Chapter Forty-Three

Unedited

***

"To deny someone's feelings or experiences is to literally deny their reality."

- Danu Morrigan

***

Chapter Forty-Three:

Nola stood in front of Parker's door, frozen in place. Her eyes were staring straight at the golden numbers placed on his door, indicating his apartment number. However, she wasn't focused on the numbers themselves because her mind was off in thought about Mitch and the fact that he had apparently arranged a meeting with her for Thursday.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her thoughts concentrated on the reason he might want to talk to her. She wondered if it had to do with Camille and whatever she might be planning.

Blinking, Nola found herself slowly coming back to reality as a headache began to form. She rubbed her forehead and inhaled, hoping for relief.

Nola began to consider turning around and not showing up for dinner with Parker. She was too much of a nervous wreck as her mind constantly reminded herself of the predicament she was in.

When Nola heard the loud sound of her phone ringing, in her pocket, she fished it out. Parker's name flashed on the screen and she pressed her lips into a fine line.

She didn't want to answer because she still hadn't made up her mind to stay or not.

The phone continued to ring until it stopped after several seconds. Nola sighed, and questioned if she could pull off acting like everything was okay in front of Parker. Earlier, she would have no doubt she could - but now she was still processing the fact that Mitch wanted to speak to her and, at the same time, questioned his motive behind the meeting.

'Did he want to threaten or intimidate me?'  She thought. 'Or maybe get me to, somehow, withdraw my charges against him?'

Nola once again became wrapped in her thoughts, as she wondered why Mr. Harper had not called her and told her about Mitch. She immediately figured it was because she harmed his daughter and his was anger with her. Nola saw that as being unprofessional, though, and didn't think Mr. Harper would do something like that. Then again, Nola realized, she was not the best judge of people, especially people she has only known for a little while.

An image of Mitch popped into her mind and she closed her eyes.

Her phone rang once more, Nola stared down at her hand, which was still clutching her phone. She saw that it was once again Parker.

She immediately thought about how she barely knew Parker - as soon as she realized she was about to question if Parker, after a while, would turn out like Mitch, she shook that thought out of her head.

Nola knew she was and would be wary of any male for a long time but Parker was different. She was constantly reminding herself and instilling it in her mind that Parker was not any male. She knew in her gut that he would never lay a finger on her.

Nola's phone stopped ringing for a moment before to began to ring again.

She was about to answer when his front door flew open. Nola jumped back and felt her heart skip a beat in shock from not expecting Parker to open the door.

Parker ended the call and stared at Nola with confusion. "I thought that was your phone ringing a few minutes ago. What have you been doing out here?" He looked around the hallway to see if there was any reason for her to be standing outside. However, he saw none and was confused as to why she did not knock or ring the doorbell.