01. Chasing Nikki (13 page)

Nikki
shifted nervously on her feet.  “Please don’t be angry with me for interfering,
but I called your mom after you went to bed.  I told her why you beat up
Jeremy—the whole story, Chase, and suggested she tell your grandpa too.”

I couldn’t
believe she’d put her neck out for me like that.  I knew how badly she wanted
to keep this to herself.

“Nikki, I
don’t even know what to say.  You shouldn’t have felt like you needed to expose
yourself that way.  I would’ve handled it.”

“You fought
him because you were defending my honor.  I know your grandpa wasn’t just angry
about that, but I had to let them know what a good guy you are.”

I threw the
covers off, and moved toward her.

“You aren’t
dressed,” she squeaked out, blushing as I approached, and I glanced down at my underwear-clad
form.

“Sorry,” I
apologized, knowing I wasn’t leaving much to her imagination now.  “Habit.”  I
hugged her to me, feeling her tremble in my arms.  “I wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re
welcome,” she said, gazing up at me before she cast an anxious glance at the
door.  “You better get dressed.  I need to start getting ready for school
anyway.”

I
reluctantly released her and watched her scurry away before I grabbed my pants
and t-shirt from the day before and slipped them on.  I could hear noises,
along with good smells, coming from the area of the kitchen, but I headed in
the other direction toward the front of the house. 

Stepping outside,
I found my grandpa sitting in the porch swing.  I folded my arms across my
chest and leaned against the railing, waiting.

He glanced
over at me and let out a heavy sigh.  “It appears I may have some apologizing
to do to you this morning.  When your mom filled me in on where you were, and
what was going on, I thought I’d try to come over and catch you before school.”

I didn’t say
anything.

“Look, I’m
sorry I lost my temper with you the way I did yesterday.  I was really angry
when I discovered you were still using marijuana, and then I heard about you
being a fight, and it all escalated from there.  I’m sorry I didn’t take the
time to find out the facts first.  I had no idea Jeremy was even capable of
such behavior, and if I did, well, I would’ve kicked his butt myself.”

It was
difficult to keep the grin off my face from that mental image, so I looked away
from him as I tried not to laugh.

“Here’s the
deal, Chase.  I know there’s a good kid inside of you—he’s just a little mixed
up right now and needs some direction.  You’ve been a hard worker and done a
good job at the chores I’ve given you.  However, I won’t tolerate you bringing
illegal substances of any kind into my home.  Period.  So this is all up to
you.  You can quit with the dope and come back, or you can keep it up and stay
gone.  What’s it going to be?”

I moved to
sit on the steps that went down to the sidewalk, trying to relax.  I knew he
wanted an answer from me right now, but I honestly didn’t know what to say.

He didn’t
speak anymore either, as he waited, and it was a while before I decided to
reply.

“This may
all seem like a cut and dry easy choice to you, but it’s not for me.  Sometimes
I just get so caught up in everything that it becomes painful.  Smoking and
drinking are the only things I’ve found to help numb the pain.  I like it.”

I heard him
leave the swing, and he came to sit next to me.  “But what are you really
accomplishing with that?  As soon as all that wears off, you still have the
same set of worries.  You’re using it as a coping mechanism instead of dealing
with the real issues.  You’re adding to your own problems.”

“That might
be true, but for a few blessed hours I can forget.  I need that.”

“No, you
don’t.  There are other ways of getting past old hurts.  Move forward—make new
friends, new memories.  Find happy things to replace the old ones that aren’t
there anymore.”

“Nothing
will replace my dad,” I said bitterly.

“Nothing
should.  But do you really think he would want you to sit around being
miserable for him your whole life?  I don’t.  He spent too much time trying to
help you successfully build your future.  Get away from self-medicating and
come home.  Coach Hardin will be starting early football training and weight
lifting next week.  That’ll give you something new to focus your energies
into.” He paused for a moment to gesture over his shoulder.  “And you’ve got a
real pretty gal in there who seems to care a lot about you.  Surely that can
count as something good.”

I nodded. 
“She’s great.  It’s nice to have someone who isn’t so quick to judge.”

Grandpa gave
a slight grimace.  “Chase, I don’t know what else to say to you except I truly
feel I have your best interest at heart.”

“Well,
thanks for coming to tell me,” I said, standing up and walking over to the
door.

“Will you
come back home after school?” He turned to look at me.

I shrugged. 
“I guess there’s a stronger possibility of that happening now than there was
early.  I don’t know.  I need to think some things over.”

“Try not to
be too long about it.  Your mom might actually kill me if you don’t show up out
there soon.” He stood and shook his head.  “She was madder than a wet hen at me
last night.”

I wasn’t
entirely sure what that term meant, but I knew my mom never minced words when
she was angry.  “Tell her I love her, and I’ll get hold of her soon.  My phone
is still dead since I forgot my charger.”

Grandpa
smiled.  “Well, that’s almost a guarantee that you’ll come home then, isn’t
it?  I know how you kids can’t live without your technological contraptions.”

I had to
fight to keep from rolling my eyes.  “I’ve got to get ready for school, or I’m
going to be late.  I don’t need another detention.”

“Alright. 
Have a good day.” He gave a slight wave before moving toward his truck.  I
didn’t watch him any longer, instead I went inside and headed toward Nikki’s
room.

“Chase? Do
you want some breakfast real quick before you shower?  I’ve got cold cereal and
hot blueberry muffins in here,” Justine called from the kitchen.

“Sure.  That
sounds great.  Thank you.”

“Did everything
go okay outside?” she asked casually as she brought me a bowl and spoon to the
table.

“Yeah, it’s
fine.  He apologized for a couple of things and gave me some advice.”

“Well, if
there is one thing I’ve always thought about Warren Johnson, it’s that he’s a
fair man.” 

“So I’ve
heard,” I mumbled as I reached for the box of cereal, pouring it.  Justine set
the plate of muffins along with some butter down next to me.

“The others
have already eaten. I need to go supervise the little ones getting dressed and
fixing their hair.  Are you going to be okay in here?  Can I get you anything
else?”

“No, I’m
good.  Thank you for everything, Mrs. Wagner.  I really appreciate all you’ve
done for me—especially with me being a complete stranger.”

“You can
thank my daughter for that.  She’s always been selective about who she trusts,
and for some reason she trusts you.  That’s a big compliment.”

I saw Nikki
step out of the bathroom briefly, her wet hair wrapped in a towel before she
ducked into her bedroom.  Even without her hair fixed and makeup on, she was
still beautiful.

“Nikki’s
just special anyway you look at it,” I replied, lifting a bite to my mouth.

She slid
into the seat next to me.  “You really like her a lot, don’t you?” She stared
directly at me as she awaited my answer.

I nodded and
swallowed.

“Please be
careful with her, Chase.  Her heart has already been badly damaged once.  I’d
hate to see anything like that happen to her again.”

“You have my
word, Mrs. Wagner.  I’d never intentionally do anything to hurt her.”

“Justine,”
she corrected me, patting my hand.  “Call me Justine.”

“Sorry,” I
smiled.  “Old habit.”

“Old is
exactly how it makes me feel.” She laughed as she stood.  “I guess I better
tend to these kids.”

Chapter Twelve

Nikki rode
to school with me, snuggled up against my side, and I liked having her there.

“You know
it’s actually a good thing for you that I’ve been in so much trouble lately,” I
said, helping her from the vehicle.

“Really? 
Why’s that?”

“Because you
look so dang hot today, I’m totally tempted to kidnap you and go somewhere the
two of us can be alone.” I touched the end of her nose with my finger.  “But
that would definitely get me landed into more scalding water with everyone.”

She
laughed.  “I figured you were probably sick of me by now.  You know—staying at
my house, sleeping in my bed, having to share the same bathroom.”

“Nope.  All
those things just make me want to steal you away even worse.” She had no idea
what her presence did, both calming and exciting me at the same time.

“I thought
being around the little kids would’ve run you off for sure.  They get so
annoying sometimes.”

“I like
them. I think they’re cute,” I replied, reaching to carry her books.

“Which is
proof you haven’t been around them long enough.” She laced her fingers through
mine.

“You know
you adore them.  I can tell just by watching you,” I told her.  “You’re a good
big sister.  If you don’t mind me asking, how come there is such a big age gap
between all of you?”

She sighed. 
“Mom and Dad decided to have me not long after they got married.  Dad was
diagnosed with cancer a couple of years later and was sick for a while, but
then he went into remission, or so we thought.  It came back, and he died two
years after Timmy was born.  I don’t think Timmy even remembers much about
him.”

I squeezed
her hand.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to bring up a painful subject.”

“No
worries.  We’re learning to get by.  We work together and try to stay busy
filling our lives with new happy memories to go with the old ones we have of him.”

I chuckled. 
“My grandpa said something similar to me this morning.  Are you sure you
weren’t spying on us?”

She shook
her head.  “I’d never invade your privacy like that.”

“Really? 
Aren’t you the one who called my mom?” I teased.

“That was
different,” Nikki said, jumping to defend her actions.  “I had pertinent
information she needed.”

“I’m not
mad.  I appreciate you trying to help out.”

“Well, you
stood up for me.  It’s only fair I do the same for you.”

I stopped
and looked at her.  “Is that the reason you did it?  Because it was fair?”  I
didn’t want her thinking I was some charity case.

“No.  I did
it because I like you, and I don’t want you to end up living somewhere else
away from here.  I was afraid if you didn’t go back to your grandparents’ house
then your mom might move you again.”

Her comment
struck me hard, because it made me realize how much I wanted to stay too.  A
couple of weeks ago, I would’ve done anything to escape this place.  Now I’d do
anything to stay.  If I could adjust so easily to that, what else could I
adjust to?

“Hey, you
two,” Brett’s voice broke me from my reverie, and I turned to find him and
Brittney walking behind us.

“How you
doing, bro?” I asked as the four of us fell into step together. I flashed a
smile over at Brittney.

“I’m good. 
Things go okay at home last night?  I tried to call you, but I couldn’t get you
to answer.”

“Sorry, my
phone died.  Things were rough, actually, but it’s nothing that can’t be worked
out.  So you’ve been checking up on me, huh?”

“Yeah, friends
do that for each other occasionally, you know.”

It suddenly
occurred to me that that’s exactly what I had right here … friends—real friends
who cared about what was going on with me when I wasn’t with them.  It didn’t
revolve around a party, or getting my next fix, or what I could do for them.

“Well,
thanks for watching out for me.  I’ll ask my grandpa if you can come over
tomorrow night if you like.  We still need to have that video game
competition.”

“Sounds
great,” he replied, opening the door to school for us.  “You want to come hang
with us too, Nikki?”

“I don’t
know if I can.  Cheer tryouts for next year start tomorrow.” She glanced at
Brittney.  “Both of us will be busy the rest of the week with that.”

“Dang! I
knew I should’ve kidnapped you when I had the chance,” I whispered into her
ear.  “Now I’m hardly going to see you.”

“I promise
I’ll try to fit you in somewhere.” She laughed.

“You
better,” I replied, bending to kiss the top of her head.  “Or I’ll have to come
hunt you down.”

As it turned
out, my predictions for spending time together became entirely too true.  I
rarely saw Nikki over the rest of the week between my Grandpa working me to the
bone to make up for my mistake, and Nikki’s demanding practice schedule.  Our
relationship was reduced to a few stolen kisses in the hallway between classes,
and late phone calls after mountains of homework to say goodnight to each other
before the two of us collapsed into bed.

I was
looking forward to my community service hours on Saturday, just so I could be
next to her, even if it was only to staple papers.  I missed her.  I wanted to
take her out that night, but Grandpa had designated that as the evening Brett
could come over to hang out, and I didn’t want to give him the brush off again.

But that didn’t
stop me from planning ahead. I’d found a sweet secluded place down by Silver
Creek where the trees were big.  Tall, green, natural grasses grew underneath
them.  It seemed like the perfect place to take Nikki for a picnic or something
on a Sunday afternoon.  My mind couldn’t get over how nice it would be to lie
on a blanket with her in the fresh, spring air.