The Mistake

The Leather Jacket

"Nick," she yawned, barely able to keep her eyes open. "You forgot to wake me up again."

Nick turned and crouched down next to her. "Sorry, kiddo. I thought Alex was going to help you get ready for school."

Cassie shook her head and clutched her teddy bear tighter. "He told me he had football practice very early." She narrowed her eyes and squinted at me. "Hi Samantha. What happened?" She asked as she got closer. "Did you hurt your foot?" Her eyes brightened up and she widened her eyes at me when she daw my swollen ankle.

I smiled at her. "Yeah, I did Cassie."

"Oh, Nick, can I help? Please, please please?"

"No, you'll be late for school. Go get dressed, Cassie." He said gently, with a tender warmth in his eyes when he talked to her. He shook her hair around and sent her off to her bedroom as she pouted.

It was when he turned around and knitted his eyebrows together when I realized the way I was looking at him. I quickly darted my eyes away. He ripped open the roll of gauze and gently held my leg. "She wants to be a doctor now, apparently." He started wrapping the gauze around, starting at the center of my foot and travelling over to my ankle.

"I thought she wanted to be a boxer." I chuckled, remembering when she punched me in the back with those gloves that were too big for her. Nick looked up at me.

"Yeah, that too. She switches every couple days." He wrapped more of the bandage around, but I was barely paying attention to the dull pain in my ankle. "Last week, she wanted to be a biochemical engineer."

I grinned. "Cassie's going places."

"Yeah, she is." He chuckled, finished the wrapping the last of it and stood up. He towered over me once more.

"You're a good brother, you know? She looks up to you." I noted.

His eyes flickered to me, his arms went over to my waist. I took in a sharp breath and tensed as he lowered me down from the sink. I slid down from his hands until my good foot touched the ground. "Tsk. A few days ago I was an 'asshole' and a 'jerk' and now I'm the best brother ever? Make up your mind, Sammi."

"You can be a jerk and a good brother." I laughed.

"Best of both worlds then." He grinned and leaned in just a little.

"Did you just quote Hannah Montana?" The smirk was wiped from his face.

"Who's Hannah Montana?" He grumbled

"Ha! Liar, you totally know who she is." He rolled my eyes and I shoved him away playfully. Those teasing, deep hazel eyes weren't going to phaze me like they seemed to do with so many girls. I hoped.

I kept giggling like an idiot when he nodded his head towards the door and fetched his keys from his pocket. "Come on, I'll drive you back."

***

You know that feeling you get sometimes at three in the morning where you just lay there and regret every embarrassing, bad decision you've made, even if it was a long time ago?

Yeah, that's a pretty sucky feeling.

Sweat had seeped onto the white bed sheets when I woke up in the middle of the night. That same nightmare that plagued my sleep had left for a few days. I thought if I didn't think about it anymore, it would disappear, but it didn't work. It was always the same; the boy kissing me in the dark, the girl tearing down the door, screams and insults and rumors and endless humiliation.

I curled up into a ball. I steadied my breathing, but that night in the dark was something I would always be ashamed of. Something that followed me no matter how far I tried to get away.

I tried to go back to sleep and lay in the empty dark for hours, but it was helpless. I gave up and pulled the covers off myself, standing up from the bed. The air felt chilly now that I wasn't under a blanket and goosebumps had started to rise along my arm. I stumbled upon a chair in the dark and felt a familiar texture draped over it.

Without thinking too much, I took it and shrugged it on. I breathed in the scent and walked back to bed. I sighed. Warmth and coziness started to settle in, and the bitter feeling in my stomach was starting to dissipate.

Somehow, wearing that leather jacket made me feel... safe. Sleep came soon enough, and I dozed off without dreaming of the past again.

——

Sorry for the loooong wait, had a lot of stuff going on. I'll try to get out a new chapter as soon as I can! Next ch. will start off with Nick's perspective ;)

Please leave a vote and comment if you enjoyed!

P.S.
Thanks to everyone for reading and following the story until here. Especially for  putting up with my unstable, irregular updating. I know it can be irritating sometimes. Just hope each chapter is worth the wait! :)