Secret Diaries (Heartlake Cliche #1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

     “I heard a laugh,” Nick muttered. He turned to Rachelle and raised an eyebrow. “And your very soft voice.”

     The sarcasm was so obvious to Rachelle that she could only assume he was reading, or rather, rereading a Sherlock novel. She embraced Julia Cleveland one more time then gave Nick a huge grin.

     “So,” she began, “has Sherlock convinced you to vote for the legalization of cocaine yet?” 

     She saw Nick roll his eyes before he agreed with his mother to prepare something for Rachelle to eat. As soon as Julia was on her way to the other half of the floor, they went inside—Rachelle proceeding to the living room and picking up the copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of Baskervilles while Nick rummaged through the refrigerator. She had finished all of the Sherlock works she could find and loved the mystery that always surrounded them. True, it was sometimes hard to read; she preferred chick lit or romances but making her brain work while reading was always a welcome treat.

     “Strawberry shortcake or blueberry cheesecake?” Nick shouted from the kitchen.

     “Cheesecake for me!” she replied, delighted that her favorite comfort food was in stock.

     She closed the book and sauntered to the dining table where Nick had started placing their cakes. As soon as they were seated, Nick gave her a glare.

     “What?” Rachelle asked innocently.

     “Are you going to throw me a barrage of questions too?”

     She laughed at Nick’s irritated expression. “Let me guess. Your parents, then Kane and Lance. Though mostly Kane.”

     “Wrong. It was Kane first. Then mom and dad,” he replied with a frown.

     She laughed even louder but sobered when she saw Nick glowering at her.

     “Okay, okay. No questions from me. Unless,” she raised her hand to stop Nick from interrupting her, “you feel like talking. But really, I’m getting tired of waiting for you to come running to your best friend so here I am—willing to wait until 10 p.m. for you to pour your heart out.” She lifted her pointer finger in a manner similar to someone who had just thought of an idea. “With permission from the boyfriend, of course.”

     There was a catch on her voice when she said the last sentence and it didn’t escape Nick’s notice. He narrowed his eyes at her, obviously trying to read what was going on in her head.

     “You have a problem with Liam.”

     He said it as a fact and Rachelle didn’t really want to answer so she forked through her cake and placed it in her mouth.

     “Thought so.” He ate a bite of his own cake before he continued, “Knew you weren’t really interested in what happened with Grace.”

     “’Course I am!” she exclaimed. He saw an inconspicuous smile form in his lips and she kicked him under the table. “You know I’m worried about you too, idiot! I just have some problems of my own too—and Liam is currently a touchy subject,” she ended with a frown.

     “Want to talk about it?”

     “Not until you talk about Grace.”

     “Hmph.”

     They spent the next ten seconds eating in silence before Nick let out a loud sigh.

     “I told her I’d try.” A pause. “But I couldn’t.”

     Rachelle decided it was best to keep her silence instead of prodding him with questions. It was hard to be patient—curious as she was—but she held her tongue. She knew Nick would shut up completely if she wasn’t careful.

     “She said she likes—no, loves—me, and I guess I was flattered but, well, it was hard to flatly reject her since she had already become a friend.” He dropped his fork then leaned back on his chair. His expression turned into something filled with self-loathing. Rachelle thought what happened was nothing too grave to warrant such misery but Nick was different. He hated lying to anyone—much less to a friend. “I didn’t know what got into me but for some reason, when she said she was serious, I told her to go out on a date with me.”

     She wanted to reach out and hold his hand to comfort him. It was odd but Rachelle felt her heart twisting as if she was the one suffering from the guilt instead of Nick. This was the first time it ever happened and she realized that it had always been the other way around. For years, their friendship had been centered on her and her problems because Nick was a good guy—boring, even—so no troubles ever came his way. It was always him doing the listening and Rachelle doing the blabbering. Shame began to claw its way to her heart. It was time for her to be the best friend she claimed to be.

     She saw him close his eyes as if trying to relive what happened in the previous weeks.

     “It would’ve been fine, Rach. But every time I look at Grace, all I could think of was that she’s a good friend. Nothing more.” He opened his eyes and gazed at his best friend. “She knew I’m in love with someone else. But she still agreed. And because I said I’ll try.”

     Oh shit, she cursed in her mind. That must be really awful. Wait, what did he say? He’s in love with someone else? How come I didn’t know?

     “I’m a horrible person,” he ended dejectedly.

     “No, you’re not!” Rachelle strongly denied, forgetting about the new tidbit she had just gathered from her best friend. “You’re human, Nick.” She unconsciously placed one of her hands on his lap. “Humans make mistakes. It’s natural. Besides, everybody gets their heart broken all the time. You can’t judge yourself horrible just because of this one little problem. Heck, I’ve made worse choices. And Grace. I’m sure she understands. Of all the people I know, she’s the one who fervently believes how good you are.”

     “I doubt she still thinks that,” Nick interrupted.

     “Oh, shut up. She had admired you for years. Do you honestly think Grace—Grace—would be so shallow as to condemn you just because you can’t love her back?” Rachelle abruptly sat up straighter and crossed her arms. “At least give her some credit.” She saw Nick purse his lips, deliberating whether to believe her or not. “She’ll be heartbroken, that’s for sure. But she won’t ever turn that to hatred. I assure you.”

     “You sound overly confident.”

     “That’s because I know Grace.” She looked straight at Nick’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. “And you know her too. She may be shy and gentle but she’s strong. She reminds me of you, actually.”

     “I think she’s a hell of a lot stronger,” Nick said with a small smile.

     “Exactly.”

     His smile got bigger and he said, “Thanks, Rach. This means a lot.”

     He stood up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It surprised them both and for a moment, all they could do was stare at each other’s eyes. A sense of happiness started to surround them and Rachelle felt herself floating until her arms were wrapped around Nick. It was momentous—and she held on tightly.

     Nick’s phone, however, had other thoughts. And it was the phone call that started it all.