Somehow, I managed to arrive late to every single one of my appointments with Riley that week. Mornings were not my thing, and I found 10 am really inconvenient.

I tried, I really tried. But this new bed engulfed me in the deepest sleeps I had ever had.

I offered to invite Riley for lunch after my session on Friday so I could apologize for messing up her schedule. She accepted, but she also gave me the option to change my therapist, so I could at least, arrive an hour later.

It was perfect.

With an hour more of sleep, a cool shower and the fact that I parked right in front the clinic, I felt pretty confident that Friday. Like everything would go smoothly for me. Just before getting inside, I took a cigarette out and lit it up beside the clinic's door. I watched people pass by as I smoke. The streets were really busy that morning. People running errands, cars, taxis and bikes filling the road. Men and women in suits talking on their phones rushing around. One or two walk of shames. One of two, because I wasn't very sure of the second one I saw. The first one was pretty clear. A girl with a tight black dress, heels in hand and smudged mascara, trying to fix her hair into a messy bun.

The guy, though, was pretty clean since he wasn't wearing make up, but his hair was all messy, his shirt was wrinkled and he walked cautiously, as if he was hiding something.

He got fucked in the ass, if you asked me.

I narrowed my eyes distractedly as I took the last puff of my cigarette. Before I could throw it out, a really blonde ponytail caught my attention. Cara was in the parking lot, closing the door of a really old red truck. It looked so old that if you closed the door with a little bit more strength than usual, the vehicle would fall apart.

The skater had that concentrated look that she had sometimes, almost as if she was angry. Her sportswear and tight ponytail always giving her that serious expression. She grabbed her bag from the backseat and took it with her. I wondered what she was keeping in there that she didn't want to leave it inside the truck.

Just before she passed me by, I startled her with my voice. "Hey."

She turned her head towards me, her eyes a little wider, watched as I stepped onto the cigarette and lowered her head a little. "Hi."

Before she could turn around and walk inside, I grabbed her by the arm. "Wait."

Quickly retracting her arm, she looked at my hand horrified, her green eyes piercing the floor in shame after noticing what she did. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you."

"It's okay. I'm sorry. It's my fault." She mumbled.

I frowned as I stared at her normally fierce expression, now looking like an scared puppy. "Uhm- I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee sometime?"

Cara then glanced up at me and narrowed her eyes, studying my expression. As if she couldn't believe I just asked that to her. "I don't like coffee." She spoke slowly.

I licked my lips, a little smile pulling up the corner of my mouth. "It doesn't have to be coffee, whatever you like to drink."

She blew out her cheeks pensively and then shook her head before taking a step back, her body already facing the door. "No."

And she walked inside.

My mouth was a little agape as I cocked my head incredulously. I was left there speechless. I had never been turned down before. A sudden sharp pain hit my chest. I let out a laugh before I rubbed it, slowly sobering up.

"Ouch."

She had really hurt my ego. It had physically hurt and I thought that was funny.

Cara, you don't know what you just did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't give it to you, that's confidential."

I watched as Riley took a sip of her water and looked at me almost offended I had asked.

"Come on, I just want her number, it's not that I asked for her medical history."

Riley shook her head and stared at me as if I was a bratty child and she was my mom. Excuse me little lady, you're three years younger than me.

"Riley, ma belle. S'il te plaît." I put on a puppy look.

"Does that normally work?" She asked taking a bite of her steak.

"What?" I frowned confused.

"Speaking French."

"Oh, you can't even imagine." I smirked.

"Yes, I can." Riley nodded in horror. "You forget I sometimes sleep at yours. For a really expensive apartment, the walls are really thin."

"Come on, Riley." I pushed a little bit more, stretching out the words. "I mean no harm. I just want a date."

"Why don't you ask her?"

I ran a hand through my hair and averted my gaze embarrassed. "She said no."

"Look, she has her reasons. Her life's a little complicated. I don't think you coming into her life would be the best for her."

Now I was the one offended. Frowning, I put a hand in my chest. "Why?"

Riley lowered her head and stared at me under her eyelashes. "Come on. Why do you want a date? You want to take her to bed. And then what?"

"Take her to bed again?" I asked innocently.

"Good try."

Hiding my bottom lip inside my mouth, I took a deep breath. "I don't care. I'm gonna get her."

"And I'll watch calmly knowing I had nothing to do with it." She smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rejection didn't make the confidence I was feeling this morning go away. I went back to my apartment and grabbed my guitar. I decided to walk to my destination instead of driving. That way, I could start feeling people's vibes. It had been a long time since I hadn't played in the streets. I used to sneak out when I was a teenager just to get into my father's nerves and set my guitar case on the floor in the busiest street of Paris, where I knew he grabbed lunch when he was working. At the beginning, he would grab my arm and get my ass out of there. At some point, he started giving up on me and let me play. He just did as if he didn't know me when he passed by.

Well, today, much to my regret, I couldn't play to make my father angry, but I could play because I enjoyed it. I really loved that feeling when I started singing and people would stop and listen. I loved how I made people stare, how confident I felt knowing I was able to change people's emotions. It was a huge ego boost to know that people appreciated my talent. I also loved how people would throw money inside the case even though I didn't need it. I liked to feel normal for a day, not that rich kid who couldn't achieve a thing without his parents.

I found one of the busiest streets at that time in the afternoon and placed my case on the floor, I opened it, grabbed my guitar and started playing. A little girl made her dad stop and stared at me curiously. I smiled at her and began to sing.

"Une histoire qui définit les sentiments... "

And for a few hours of my life, I forgot about everything. About who I was and where I came from. About how miserable and useless I felt sometimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up Sunday morning with a massive headache. It felt as if I had the biggest hungover but I didn't drink. I turned around on the bed and my arm hit something soft.

"Dude." I heard someone complain.

I opened one eye and frowned. "Linda?"

The dark haired girl stared at me annoyed that I woke her up. "Yes. Linda. What was that for?"

I realized then that I had hit her butt hard. She was rubbing it as she stared at me with a frown, fully naked.

All the memories from last night flew in front of my eyes. Sometimes it happened to me, I woke up really disoriented. I remember going to a party. I remember dancing, sweating against someone's body. Luca's coworker. I remember Linda's incredible ass rubbing against my crotch. I remember getting hard. I remember her noticing and smiling. I remember fucking her in a bathroom, then fucking her in our kitchen, then again in my bed. From behind. It was amazing. She was so hot and explosive. Not what I would go for normally, but I loved it for the night.

I didn't realize I was smirking until she laughed covering her eyes. "Not again, buddy."

"Why?"

"My whole body hurts. You killed me."

"I know how to help you come back to life."

The Colombian girl stared at me, this time not a bit of amusement in her dark look. Her wavy and messy hair all over my pillow. "Haven't you listened to me?"

I chuckled. "Come with me." I got up and stretched. I noticed how her eyes travelled down my torso. Surely seeing clearly for the first time my scars. She concealed it really well and let her eyes wander south, where she let them linger for a bit. I looked at her with a smirk, lowering my arms. Linda gave me a smile of her own but didn't say a thing.

I handed Linda her underwear and a T-shirt of my closet and put on some clothes. She followed me happily, glowing even. I remember her yesterday being kind of irritable. I think I made her totally forget about what was annoying her.

I made her breakfast and one of my famous revitalizing juices. We chatted and laughed in the kitchen. I sat on the counter as I watched her eat in one of the stools. I really didn't like to have breakfast.

"You know, for someone who doesn't want a relationship, you treat your guests really good." She smiled.

I took a sip of my coffee and stared at her under my eyelashes. "You're not falling in love with me, right?"

Linda snorted. "No. But I mean it. You're very thoughtful. You kept asking me last night if I was okay, if I needed anything." She cocked her head and bored her eyes into mine.

I shrugged and averted my gaze.

"Oh, look at you! You're shy." She mocked me as she got up.

"I'd like to do this again." I murmured contemplating her ass as she bent down to put the dishes into the dishwasher.

"You're not falling in love with me, right?" She mimicked, deepening her voice and putting on a weird French accent.

I rolled my eyes and jumped off the counter, handing her my cup. Just when she put it in and closed the door, she turned around and glanced down at my lips. Our faces so close I could feel her breath. Linda then looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, that'd be fun."

"Oh my god." We heard a voice from behind.

Linda turned around and we both watched as Luca ran a hand along his face, sighing deeply. He was only wearing a pair on basketball shorts, his now longer hair a little bit tousled. "You two? Seriously? I thought you were with some Latina girl you had met last night, didn't know the latina girl was you!" He pointed at Linda with an accusatory gesture.

"What is wrong with me?"

"How did you know she was Latina?"

We asked Linda and I at the same time.

"She was talking spanish at some point. And she's loud." He explained to me. He then stared at Linda, taking a few steps forward. "What is wrong with you? I don't know, you telling me you wanted to forget about guys for a while, you telling me you needed time alone because of your asshole of a boyfriend."

"Well, he didn't need to know that." Linda opened her eyes a little wider, pointing at me. I frowned at her confused. "Open relationship. It's complicated." She explained.

I nodded in understanding and walked towards the living room. They both stayed in the kitchen, talking and arguing as Luca made some breakfast.

Riley appeared just after five minutes. I knew she was here. The couple spent all the time they could together lately. I was starting to think that they'd move out together and I would have to look for an apartment of my own. Although I really doubted it, since the grey eyed girl was still in the phase of 'you've hurt me, let's go slow'. Even though they acted nothing like it. She sat down slowly beside me, not wanting to spill her cup of coffee and we both stared out the window.

"What are they arguing about?"

I shrugged. "We fucked."

She nodded amusedly. "Typical day in Nico's life."

I chuckled and we both stayed silent for a few moments. "Have you thought better of-?"

As if knowing that I was gonna ask one last time for Cara's number, she was quick to shook her head. "Nope."

I laughed. "I had to try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys!

I know it's been a long time. I'm so sorry. I had a lot going on. I'm in a weird state of my life right now. Hope you understand.

Anyway, thoughts about the chapter?

Thoughts about Cara's reaction?

Linda and Nico? Do you ship them? 🤔

Hope you liked it! Thanks so much for reading! Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments ❤️