Chapter 41

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Nicola's POV

It's been six months without seeing or hearing from Gabriel. My heart feels really heavy, and I am tired from dragging it around each day.

I don't know whether I should be waiting for Gabriel or trying to move on as I had originally planned to.

I hate that Gabriel had held me back and told me what was in his heart, making it harder and more confusing.

I sighed, watching the rain splattering on the ground as I sat at a table near the window in a cafe. It looked gloomy, suiting my mood exactly.

"Hey," I heard someone say, making me drag my eyes away from the gloomy scene outside the window and look up at the person calling me.

"Hey." I responded quietly. It was Danny, my neighbor. He had recently moved into the house next door to mine, and now I keep running into him everywhere.

Today, I was feeling especially down, and I just wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. But I still forced myself to smile as he gave me a cute, dimpled smile of his own. He asked to sit down, and I nodded. He instantly started chatting while I just kept nodding while my mind kept wondering to a certain someone who had completely ignored me for six months.

I inwardly groaned. Danny was very handsome, and he had made it very clear to me from the start that he was very interested. But here I am, stuck on a man who is emotionally unavailable and has no interest in pursuing a relationship with me.

I did tell Danny that I was not looking for a relationship, but he had said he hoped to be around when I do start looking.

All I wanted was to be left alone to think clearly and to make a solid decision in my life. I swear I am losing my mind living like this.

Thank god my phone started ringing, and I gave an excuse to Danny about forgetting to meet someone and fled.

The call had been from Simon.

To catch you up to date, Simon was actually getting engaged. It was to his high school sweetheart.

They had broken up when they graduated, since they wanted to live life and have lots of adventures before being tied down. I guess by age 28, they have had their fill of adventures and were now ready to settle down.

They had met again a couple of months ago and started dating each other again, and now they were madly in love and were pasted to each other 24/7.

It did not suit my gloomy, miserable, sick of love moods, so I was quite tired of seeing those lovey dovies all the time and have been avoiding them. And I mean them because, if I want to see Simon, an additional she came along with him.

Seriously, I have become a bitter, loveless spinster already because Ally, Simon's girlfriend, was actually a sweetheart, and anyone who met her would love her. I love her too, just a bit physically separated from Simon, that's all.

Anyway, back to today, Simon's engagement ceremony was tomorrow night. The whole thing had to be a formal arrangement as they were the heirs of business partners, and this was an auspicious occasion that the parents wanted to share with everyone.

I was very happy and very excited for them and ofcause I would be their to support them. Just not today. Today I am going home and I am going to bed. I know it's only afternoon, but who cares.

I have no work I need to be doing, no man to keep company, no friends I wanna spend time with. All I have is a bed calling my name, and I can't wait until I meet it and can lie down on it. So I raced home, threw on my pajamas, and went happily to sleep.

......

I was rudely woken up to the sound of the doorbell and some banging. I waited to see if the person would give up and go away. After some time, the ringing and the banging stopped, so I smiled to myself and happily went back to sleep.

Until it got interrupted again with a sudden flooding of light as someone switched on my bedroom light.

I got so scared I screamed and jumped up in bed, staring wide-eyed at the intruder.

I sighed in relief, clutching my chest as my heart banged against it as I saw that it was just Simon. A very annoyed looking Simon, I thought as I eyed him, striding towards the foot of my bed and standing there with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face.

I gulped as I remembered I had actually ignored his call this afternoon while I was in the cafe. And it was probably him who had been ringing the doorbell just now.

I shrieked as Simon suddenly bent down, grabbed the end of my quilt, and wripped it off me. He came over as I tried to escape from the other side of the bed, grabbing my legs, pulling me towards him. I was pulled unceremoniously by my arms and hoisted on his shoulders as he carried me out of my room, kicking and screaming for him to put me down.

He carried me downstairs without a word and dumped me on my sofa and plopped down next to me while I tried sitting up and looking everywhere.

"What are you looking for?" He asked, still looking very annoyed with me.

"Your other half." I replied automatically before I could stop myself. I stopped looking around and turned to face him as he stared back at me, looking confused. "You know, half of you is missing." I told him innocently, making him more confused. "The one attached to you nowadays, twenty-four seven." I said, grinning at him mischievously, earning me a smack on my face with a pillow.

I groan in pain as the wind gets knocked out of me. I lay down to recover, eyeing him as he gave me a satisfied smirk.

"What are you doing here anyway," I whined. "I thought Ally would keep you occupied tonight so I can sleep. You know Ally is doing a bad job of being your girlfriend." I told him. Shrieking again as he lifted another pillow, aiming at me.

"I am here because it's my last day as a free man." He told me as he lowered the pillow glaring at me.

"If it's your last day as a free man, why aren't you out in a club, checking out all the girls you rejected for that one girl you are going to be married to for the rest of your life." I asked him, raising one of my fingers for effect. He gently slapped it away, rolling his eyes.

Damn this guy was completely smitten by this girl, I thought as I grinned at him proudly, as he didn't seem the least bit scared. My boy was all grown up.

"Cause I would rather spend my last night with my best friend, wherever she wants to be. And it seems that pajamas at home watching a movie is the best I can have from her, so here I am," he said, shrugging.

"Awwwn, you're the sweetest, bestest best friend ever. You sacrificed looking at beautiful girls in skimpy dresses for me?" I asked him, pinching his cheeks. He pulled my hands off and pushed me away from him.

"Who said I won't be looking at girls in skimpy dresses tonight." He said as he took the remote scrolling through Netflix looking through movies that had cringe worthy covers on them.

I grapped the remote mumbling, " No way in hell I am watching those movies with you!" He laughed seeing my red face and allowed me to select a movie. I selected a random one, getting myself comfy in the sofa to watch it when the bell rang.

Simon sprang off the sofa, making me give him a confused look. "Pizza," he said, replying to my unspoken question. I gave him an in love look, to which he rolled his eyes, grinning as he went.

It doesn't matter how depressed I feel. Food, I can not live without. Food is my first love, I thought as the smell of pizza made my mouth water as Simon came back in, carrying the pizza and sodas, placing them on the coffee table.

I forgot about the movie as I immediately opened the pizza and dug in. With a chuckle, Simon played the movie and took a slice of pizza, sitting back to watch the movie.

After the first movie was done and so was the pizza, I sat there with my head resting on Simon's shoulder watching a quite depressing movie about two people who fell in love but could never be together. It was bringing my mood completely down, as the excitement of eating pizza weared down, and the feeling of loneliness engulfed me.

"Simon?" I called him getting a quiet "mmmhmm," in reply.

"Do you think I should just forget about Gabriel?" I asked him, hearing him sigh. I knew he wasn't concentrating on the movie anymore, so I continued. "Danny keeps asking me out. He is a good guy, right?" I asked softly.

"Yeah," he replied. I knew Simon had checked him out as soon as Danny had moved in. Simon is like an overprotective brother at times like that. For which I am grateful. I live alone. It's nice to know someone is watching over me.

"So you think I should give him a chance?" I asked.

Simon sighed again. "Do you think you can be happy with Danny?" He asked softly as he laid his head on mine.

"I donno. I can try, right? I mean, it's been six months. Isn't that long enough to decide that Gabriel doesn't want me and try to move on. I am not getting younger. I also want to start a life, a family. Don't I deserve one, too?" I asked sadly.

Simon lifted his head, pulling me in his arms, giving me a big brotherly hug. "Ofcause you do. I can't think of someone more deserving than you to have someone falling in love with and start a family with."

I snuggled up into him, finding comfort in being buried into his warm sweater. We didn't talk again as we resumed watching the movie.

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