"Get me cookies and cream." I butt bump Nick towards the counter and find a place for us to sit by the shop windows.
Nick comes back with two cones. One with mint chocolate chip and the other with cookies and cream.
"So what did you want to talk about," I ask him, already starting to devour my ice cream. I saw him start to fidget in his seat and that made me start to worry.
"Ryan finally called me back today." I looked up from my ice cream and Nick was staring with a sorry gaze.
"Nick," I tried to speak, but he cuts me off.
"Why didn't you tell me, Spencer? I've been trying to figure out what happened and why you came, but you wouldn't tell me anything. I kept calling Ryan to see if he'd tell me, but he would ignore my phone calls. He finally called me back today while I was at work and told me what he did."
"I've just been trying to forget about it. If your going to yell at me for dating your best friend, there's no need because I already regret it," I tell him, clearing my throat, willing myself not to cry. It hasn't been easy to forget with all the nightmares keeping me up at night.
"This is all my fault." Nick was running his hands through his hair. He totally forgot about his ice cream and just placed it down in a glass cup, as if it were a milkshake.
"It's not your fault, Nick."
"It is. I'm the one who left you alone to fend for yourself. I was being selfish and thought only of myself. I made you think it was ok for you to be treated like that and I was never a true role model. I was supposed to be the one to protect you after dad died and I wasn't. I let my own best friend hurt you and I'll never forgive myself."
"Nick, he's your best friend and you guys have been like brothers for a long time. I got in the way of that and I'm sorry. I knew what was going to happen and it's my fault for being so dumb. I-."
"Stop it, Spencer. Stop blaming yourself. Stop making excuses for him. No matter what, you come before him and I can't believe he went that far. Your my sister before he's my friend and he's no longer my friend."
"I can't ask you to give up your friendship, Nick. I don't want to be the reason you guys stopped being friends."
"Don't worry about it. He was never a real friend." I stand from my seat and throw away my ice cream. I didn't want to talk anymore. If I did keep taking I was going to have a serious breakdown in this ice cream shop.
"Can we go home now," I ask him, clearing my voice so I wouldn't sound weak. He just nods his head in responds.
The ride home was quite. When we finally got home, I made my way upstairs, but Nick called my name before I got all the way up.
"If you need anything, I'm downstairs." I nod my head to him and go to my room.
I drop face first on my bed and let out the breathe I was holding. I was so exhausted and just wanted to fall asleep. I didn't want to think about Ryan or Lynn, but Nick brought everything back up again.
I forced my eyes shut and willed myself to sleep. My body was so tired that it allowed me to pass out.
There was a knock at the door. I ran to it excitedly and opened it wide to see who I was waiting for.
"Hey, babe." Ryan pulled me in for a kiss. He smelled of after shave and mint.
"I've missed you all day," I tell him, hugging him tighter.
"I've missed you too. Let's watch a movie." He picks me up and starts running up my stairs. I giggle and tell him to put me down. He throws me onto the bed and grabs my remote.
"What genre do you feel like watching today," he asks me, getting comfortable next to me.
"Let's do horror."
"You always choose horror." He had a pout on his face that said he was tired of it.
"Because I love horror movies. When I'm over at your house, you can choose the genre."
"How about, we do this instead." He pulls me on top of him, so that my body is straddling his. He brings his lips down on mines, but we're interrupted when his phone vibrates on my bed.
"Who is it," I ask, getting off of him.
"It's Lynn." When he said it was Lynn, my mind blanked in confusion.
"When did you get her number? I didn't even know you guys talk." I felt something dripping from my ear, but I ignored it.
"Why do you care? It's not like we're together," he told me.
"What are you talking about, Ryan? We've been together for three months now." My eyes started to water.
"Spencer, you know that I don't stay with girls for long and that includes you. You aren't special. Your just another score. Your just like all of the other girls. Dumb and oblivious." The liquid from my ears became too much and I wiped it for it to stop, but more kept coming. I looked down at my hand and saw blood. I wiped the tears that came out of my eyes to see it was blood too.
"But why Lynn? She's my bestfriend. Why would you do that?" At this point I was screaming. I wanted to know why. Why would they do this to me? I was nothing but a great friend to them.
"Because shes the next best thing." I started choking on something in my throat. Blood started pouring out of my mouth, but Ryan didn't care. He just sat there and laughed at my suffering.
I kept coughing up more blood and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I was gasping for air, but the view of my eyesight was turning black.
I took one more gasp for air and woke up from my nightmare. I was surrounded by the darkness of my room. I had to take a minute to catch my breath. I check my phone to see the time and it was only around 2:30 in the morning.
I guess I wasn't getting any sleep tonight.
I could hear Nick still up downstairs and decided to take his offer.
Nick was sitting in the living with a bucket of ice cream, watching a horror film. He looks up at the stairs where I was when he heard my footsteps.
"Hey, what's wrong." he asks. I walk over to him and sit next to him. I start crying again and Nick pulls me into a hug.
"It's going to be alright, Spence." He rubs my back soothingly and lets me cry on his shoulder.
"Give me the ice cream," I tell him through my ugly cry and he just laughs, handing me the carton.
"I'm always here, Spence. Remember that."
We stay cuddled on the couch and watch scary movies. Before I fall asleep I wipe off the snob from my nose and see blood. I just ignore it and drift off to sleep. The first time I was able to really sleep.