Miss Perfect and The Bad Boy

twenty one - apologies

Nicole

"Stop worrying about him," Kelani exclaimed over the phone.

"He hasn't been at school in 3 days," I mumbled, checking to see if I had any missed texts from Alex.

"3 days since he basically admitted to using you this whole time."

I sighed. "I wish I could just forget him that easily, especially after what he said. But I can't. He's literally a part of me."

I could hear her frown over the phone. "You're not his caretaker. You need to forget him and move on. This isn't good for you. Please, Nicole."

"I know," I murmured, but I still touched the necklace at my throat.

There was some talking on the other end and Kelani said, "My mom's calling me to put away groceries. I got to go, but please stop thinking about him. I love you!"

"I'll try, love you too." I sighed and hung up the phone. She was right. I had to stop thinking about Alex. I heard a knock on the window and turned around.

And saw Alex in my window.

Talk about deja vu.

I ran to open it. It was raining and he was wearing only a t-shirt and jeans. He stood on the balcony and stared at me before taking a deep breath. "Can I come in? Please."

I don't know why, but I nodded. Alex climbed in through the window and got rain water all over the carpet.

Then, he went and hugged me, getting all my clothes wet. I was too shocked to hug him back. "I'm sorry," he said softly in my ear. "I do love you, more than anything, and I'm sorry for saying I didn't. I didn't know what to do, I had to protect you. But I failed at that too. I'm so, so sorry."

"What? What are you talking about?" My voice came out muffled against his chest.

He pulled away and explained everything, from how the Della Luna gang came to his house and forced him to join, how they couldn't find his dad. The whole time, his eyes were getting watery and his voice was getting thicker, but he wouldn't look at me. While he was talking, I noticed a cut on his lip and a bruise on his cheek.

"What's that?" I asked, bringing my hand up to his lip.

He looked away and flinched at my touch. "Antonio Alessandro is making me fight someone in The Crowns, their rival gang. We were practicing this morning."

I gasped. "What are we going to do? We need to get you out of there!"

Alex gave me a sad smile and put his forehead against mine. "We're not going to do anything. It's done, there's no getting out now."

"Don't say that, there's still time."

"No, Nikki. Stay out of this. I mean it." His voice was firm, but defeated.

"I can help-"

He cut me off and moved away. "They're already after you, please don't give them a reason to actually hurt you. I can't let you get hurt. Don't get involved."

I paused. "They're after me?"

He nodded. "They threatened me saying if I don't follow directions, they're going to come after you. Which is why we need to pretend like I'm not seeing you anymore. At least until they forget about you. I had to make them think I didn't care about you. It hasn't worked, obviously.