All You Need Is Love

Chapter 16

*Nicole's POV*

"Get the fuck out of here!" My Father yells at the top of his lungs when he whisks the door open to find a terrified Michael standing on the other side.

I stand at the bottom of the stairs, absolutely terrified. I make eye contact with Michael who's eyes are already watering because he has no idea why my Dad is screaming at him.

"P-Please, sir. Let me introduce myself-" Michael says timidly.

"I know exactly who you are!" He screams. "You're the motherfucker my wife hired to help my daughter, but you're just a fucking sicko trying to take advantage of her!"

"No, no, no! Sir, it's not like that!" Michael says while waving his hands almost as if it's a sign of surrender.

"Don't call me 'sir' when we're in the same fucking generation-" he stops talking for a minute and inches closer to Michael's face, squinting his eyes. "Goddamn, you're even uglier up close! I can tell where you're spending your money, but you'd better be careful- there might not be much left to fix of that nose of yours pretty soon."

I look at Michael who's doing his best to hold back tears from my Father's words that have obviously just struck a nerve within him.

The room has fallen completely silent at this point, even my Mother is quiet, most likely because she is shocked by the pure cruelty my Father's attitude is displaying. Before this night, I could honestly say he was the sweetest man on earth who never laid a finger on me, but that had all changed in just a matter of moments tonight.

"Michael, let's go." I say quietly. While grabbing the bag I packed that contained only a change of clothes, phone charger and my toothbrush.

"Nicole, don't-" My Mother begins before my Father cuts her off.

"Let her go, Alex. If she's in love with plastic man, let her learn the hard way."

I feel my lip quiver at the pure hatred in his choice of words. I grab Michael's hand and pull him out the front door, not saying a word, but just letting the sound of it slamming behind me do the talking.

When we get into Michael's car, it's completely silent. He doesn't even put the key in the ignition. He just sits there, staring blankly ahead out the windshield at the city lights in the distance.

I try my best to ease the awkwardness. "Michael, I'm so sorry. I just really needed to get out of there and-"

He interrupts me. "What am I?" he asks me in a monotone voice.

I look at him confused. "A human?" I say jokingly.

The joke seems to go right over his head. "No, what am I? Like on a scale of one to ten. You know, how you kids rate each other nowadays, what would I be?" he asks me while biting his lip and still looking straight ahead. I can see that his eyes are glossy from the tears he's been holding back.

I scoff at him. "Michael, that's stupid. The whole idea of that is stupid. You're super hot to me and that's all that matters."

My answer doesn't seem to satisfy him."But what would I be?"

I roll my eyes and grab his hand. "There aren't enough numbers in existence that add up to how hot you are."

I see him crack a small smile and cover his face with his free hand. "You're embarrassing me!" he says with a laugh.

"It's the truth!" I say. "And I don't want you to take what my dad said seriously. He's just angry right now, I know he doesn't mean it."

He gives my hand a light squeeze. "Thank you." he says softly while lifting my hand up to his lips and giving it a small peck. "You're so sweet."

I laugh. "I try to be, now can you drive me to the hotel down the road before it gets too late?"

He looks at me and furrows his brow. "Hotel? I am not letting you stay in a hotel by yourself."

I sigh. "Well, I don't want you to take me to your place that's totally rude of me just to invite myself to spend the night."

"Nonsense. I'm taking you to my place." he says with a laugh.

I look at him and smile. "Thanks, but you don't have to. I'm the one who got us into this mess anyways."

"I want to." he says while squeezing my hand again.

I sigh, pretending to be annoyed. "Fine." I say. "But only for tonight, then I'm going to figure something else out."

He laughs. "Okay, but you can stay with me as long as you like."

I smile. "Thanks." I say again. "But I already told you that won't be necessary."

He shrugs his shoulders almost sarcastically. "Okay, whatever you say... but you're coming to my place."

I laugh and realize arguing with him would just be a waste of time- I guess I should just give into him.