You'll Never Stand Alone
Chapter 6
The dinner went perfect. Both Nicky and Becky had a great time
and for the first time since the death of her brother, Becky found
herself laughing, Nicky really had a wicked sense of humour. Nicky
loved to see her laugh; her whole face lit up and for a second he
could see a glimpse of happiness in her beautiful brown eyes. They
noticed that they had loadsa stuff in common and often found
themselves involved in long discussions about anything from football
to politics (which neither of them really liked at all). Becky didn’t
even think about her late family or James for hours, until Nicky said:
“What happened to you Becky?” she stopped smiling and didn’t
really know what to say.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s happened to me…” she tried to
sound convincing, but of course it didn’t work.
“I mean, I don’t mean to pry or anything but… I can see it in your
eyes; they’re full of pain, anger and sorrow. And I know we only just
met, but it tears me apart to see you like that. I just want you to
know that if you ever need to talk, about anything, I’m here for you.”
He put his hand on top of hers and gently squeezed it. His hand felt
warm on hers, and she liked the feeling, but still something inside
of her said that she shouldn’t trust him. She hardly knows him.
“Thank you…” she softly whispered and looked into his eyes, they
had the most amazing blue colour. “For what?”
“For not pressuring me… You’re right, I do have a lot of pain inside
of me and maybe I should talk about it, but I’m just not ready yet,
I’m not ready to talk to anyone…” she looked down at the table.
She could feel his eyes as they watched her so she slowly lifted
her head and met his gaze.
“I understand Becky, I just wanted you to know that I’m here for you
if you ever wanna talk about something, anything…” he kept looking
into her big brown eyes as he spoke and he truly meant every
single word he said.
After they finished their dinner they went for a walk around the
beautiful Notting Hill and they continued to have a terrific time. Not
once did that so very uncomfortable silence appear, they just kept
talking and talking and Becky felt more and more relaxed in Nicky’s
company. But not enough to open up to him, not enough to trust
him. She didn’t wanna get too close to anyone cos then she would
just end up being hurt when they went away… Cos that’s what’s
bound to happen right? I mean, everyone she cared for had gone
that way, why would this time be any different?
“Well this is where I live”, Nicky said as he stopped outside a cute
little blue house very close to the now famous travel book shop from
the movie ‘Notting Hill’, Becky’s favourite movie by the way.
“It’s beautiful. Looks very cosy.” she sad while looking at his house.
As I said it was small and it had big windows that probably let in a
lot of sunlight. Just the kind of house Becky always had dreamt
about having herself. But at the moment she couldn’t afford it and
she didn’t really mind cos she loved the apartment where she lived now.
“Do you wanna come in for a while?” Nicky asked and took her
hand. Of course she wanted to come inside, but she couldn’t… ‘All
alone with him in his house?’ she thought to herself, ‘no, no, I can’t,
it’s too soon.’ “Becky…?” Nicky waved his hand in front of her face, “what’s
wrong?” “What? Oh, I’m sorry, I thought about something else…”
“Yeah, I kinda understood that.” Nicky laughed, “So, do you wanna
come inside for a cup of tea or coffee or something?” “I’d love to…”
“Great, come on!” Nicky was just about to open the door when
Becky continued talking,
“But I can’t. I’m sorry. I really should get going. Thank you so much
for a lovely evening! I really had a great time!” She quickly kissed
his cheek and turned around to walk the five minutes to her apartment.
“Wait!” Nicky took a hold of her arm and turned her around to face
him. “I’m not gonna let you go just like that. Can I call you
sometime?” Now what was she supposed to say? What if she gave
him her phone number and he turned out to be just like James? Not
the best person to give your number to, eh! ‘Jeez, come on
Rebecca!’, she thought, ‘You can’t keep pushing everyone away!
So, Nicky might be like James, not very likely though, but he could
also be that one and only…’ she about it for a few seconds and then she said:
“Yeah sure, of course you can!” she wrote the number down on a
small piece of paper and gave it to him.
“Thanks, I’ll call you tomorrow then, okay?” Nicky flashed one of
those lovely smiles that just make you wanna through yourself in his arms.
“That would be great!” she smiled back and left for her own apartment.