Chapter Fourteen

Kevin walked into the room to see little light, coming only through the window. He saw her motionless body on the bed while he heard music coming from the dresser. Noticing a Discman plugged into miniature speakers, he walked slowly across the floor towards the music. He picked up her CD case and looked over her collection. The CD was playing depressing sounds of "The City of Angels" Soundtrack. She shifted and turned her head over to see his backside. She was relieved he was the one in the room, especially once he turned around to see her. He had heard her movements and faced her with a warm smile. "Hi," he spoke soft yet encouragingly. She smiled half-heartedly back at him leaning her chin on her arms, looking up at him. He was now leaning against the dresser and kept the smile on his face, but could see disappointment in hers. She was not in good spirits, but was better with his presence.

She still had the half-smile on her lips when a familiar song filled the room. Peter Gabiel's "I Grieve" filled the empty room. Her face dropped with sorrow and she stared at the edge of the bed. "How you feeling?"

She appreciated his concern, but she didn't want to speak. Her only response was a shrug of her shoulders. Nicole wanted to be alone, but now felt she wanted him to stay. She laid her head back onto its side leaning on her arms still. She was facing the door and

Kevin could still see hurt in her eyes. Trying to cheer her up, he brought up the night's events. "We went to Pizzeria Uno's tonight. Then Maggie took us to North Pier where AJ was in heaven. He was in and out of every store." He began to chuckle to himself, but saw no change in her face. "We're planning on trying for Navy Pier before we leave."

Still there was silence. He furthered with an inquiry, "Are you going to come with us to Navy Pier?" She slowly shrugged her shoulders. He felt now he had no place to stay in her room. He waited a few more moments hoping she would speak. When she didn't, he walked over to the door in silence.

She watched him as he crossed the room and opened her mouth as he grabbed for the door knob, "Leaving?" She was upset he was leaving her when she wanted him to stay.

He froze in his place in front of the door. His hand was still on the doorknob when he turned his upper body to look at her. He could see the pleading face and wondered where this was going.

"You going to talk now?" She had the half-smile again, then looked away from his face and shrugged. "I know you don't want any company. I just thought that--"

Nicole cut off Kevin in a soft voice, "Who said I don't want company?"

"Maggie said you wanted to be alone."

Nicole sighed and continued to speak, "I'd like for you to stay." He let go of the knob and crossed back over to the bed. Sitting down next to her, he laid his hand on her back and lightly rubbed up and down. In the same voice she asked of him, "I just hope you'll understand if I'm not too talkative." She was still laying her head on her arms, but turned upward to look at him.

He swept away some hair from her face and continued by gently stroking her hair. Speaking in a confident, caring tone, "I'm here for you as long as you want." Kevin was beginning to take a care for Nicole after he had shared personal thoughts with her. He figured this was a way to repay her for listening to him talk about Kristin.

He knew there was something bothering her, but didn't know what, so he asked. She kept silent while she was thinking. She wanted to tell him, because it was Kevin. She didn’t, however, want to talk about the situation. Her voice was still soft in the silent room. "I just don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to stay here. This is all too comfortable to ruin the moment."

His hand was still on her head playing with her hair as he answered, "I'm here for you. Whatever you need, just let me know." She smiled warmly and with more emotion than since he had entered the room.

She laid in the same position and eventually closed her eyes taking in the moments. He eventually moved to lie down next to her on the bed. He felt something stiff under his hip and looked to find a notebook. She opened her eyes when she heard pages turning as he examined the notes inside.

He felt her eyes on him and looked down; worried she would be upset. "Poems." He nodded and closed the book. "There aren't that many because I only write in there when it's real personal."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have looked through it."

"It's ok. I just don't share those with anyone but one of my old friends from home. She's read all my writings."

"You write?"

She began to chuckle on the inside thinking of why she went to college. "Yeah, I majored in Journalism."

"Wow. Well, what I saw," Kevin got on the defense, "Which was hardly anything, sounded good."

She smiled back at him, "Thanks. The last one, I wrote that because of Jason." He recalled the story Maggie told the boys about her phone conversation when she tried to call home earlier that day. He handed her the notebook back. "Go ahead and read it. I want to know what you think." He opened back up the book and flipped through to the last page with writing. He read intently:

"That's real good Nicole. You've really got something there." She smiled proudly. "I'd like to read more of your stuff. I never knew you could say those kinds of things."

She frowned wondering what he meant by that. He laid back down next to her and saw the look. As he began to stroke her hair again, he reassured her, "It's a compliment. I meant that last you, as an everyone you. Not particularly you. But anyone." She smiled knowing he was complimenting her.

They laid in the bed in complete silence, but both were content with the evening. Nicole was no longer thinking about Scott; Kevin consumed her thoughts. Kevin was feeling an inner peace he hadn't experienced in quite some time. Soon after the silence came upon the two, they fell asleep.