Chapter 27

Riker’s P.O.V.

I continued to stare at the four walls of my bedroom, willing myself to try and fall asleep in order to get this day done and over with, although the pounding headache I had wasn’t helping much.  I had stayed up all last night, wallowing in my sorrow, washing it all done with a nice bottle of scotch.  I have tried everything in the book in order to at least diminish my hangover but nothing seems to be working.  On top of it all, I can’t stop thinking about everything that started this downward spiral of mine.  

I’ll admit, I have some trust issues, but can you really blame me after my last girlfriend cheated on me?  I was heartbroken and couldn’t help but keep thinking if there was something wrong I had done that led her to cheat on me.  Overall, it was the hardest thing I have ever endured.  Then here I was, happy to be in a serious relationship with someone to only have my trust I had placed in her yanked away.  I know Nicole didn’t want to tell me about her plan in setting up Rocky and Rydel and I was okay with that; I honestly couldn’t care less about whether I heard the idea from her or not.  What had bugged me was the underlying fact that she didn’t trust me at all and for two people to make it work in a relationship, there needs to be a mutual sense of trust.  

Then when that Nate kid kept calling Nicole, I just wanted to tell him off, make him aware that his ex-girlfriend had moved on but I never expected him to tell me those things.  

“Well has she told you about her little scandal over the summer last year?” Nate’s smooth voice had asked me and I knew he was dying to tell me something. 

“No,” I had replied, curious to know what it could mean, not like anything he would say would matter.  Whatever he was going to tell me happened a year ago and is buried well into the past.  

“Nicole became a prostitute in New York City last summer.  She was so desperate for money to buy herself a new car that when some guy in a club offered her money for sex, she agreed and got addicted and just kept going all summer long.”

I wanted to believe that what he was saying was just a lie spouted out in his spurt of jealousy over the fact that Nicole had moved on but the longer the words rolled around in my head, the easier they were to believe.  I knew for a fact that Nicole was hiding something from me just in the way she acted.  Sometimes she would go someplace else, lose herself in her thoughts and every time I asked, she would brush it off as nothing and refuse to elaborate further. 

And then there was the way she was around me when we were alone.  The fact that I could tell right at the beginning that she was definitely an experienced kisser.  That would be fine – I consider myself to be a pretty good kisser as well – but it was the way she would touch me that I knew she had been with other guys before.  She always knew just what to say or where to stroke her fingers to get me turned on.  Nicole was the complete opposite of an amateur.       

“I’m guessing I was right and you had no idea about any of this.  Sorry for dropping that bomb on you so quickly,” Nate sarcastically apologized.

“No thanks for telling me…bye, Nate,” I told him, aware of Nicole’s watchful eyes on me.

After I had stormed into the house I was too hurt or angry to think rationally as I reached into the back of the cabinet and withdrew the full bottle of liquor.  I took it with me to my room, not even bothering to grab a glass as I took a large swig of the fiery liquid before sitting on the edge of the bed.  I kept drinking until I was numb and the thoughts had stopped racing through my head.  I had no doubt in my mind by this point that Nate had been telling me the truth.  It was in those few seconds after I had hung up that I realized that it really doesn’t bother me to be in a relationship with someone more experienced than me.  It’s true, I haven’t really had a lot of girlfriends in my twenty-two years and that’s okay.  But the fact that Nicole gathered her experience with all different types of guys that she doesn’t even know just so she can save up some money thoroughly disgusted me.  She was that selfish that she would risk so much for what, exactly?  She had to have been aware of the risk she was taking involving herself with sleazy men she finds in a club, the chance she was taking.  She could have gotten a disease or even pregnant.  Hell, for all I know one of those things did happen, she just kept those covered up as well!

By the time morning had come around the bottle was empty and the room was spinning round and round.  I blurted out those few words to my brothers and next thing I knew they were gone.  While I was making myself coffee they all came home, giving me looks and I could tell they were walking on eggshells around me, not knowing if I would blow up or not.  I refused to talk to anyone, not caring what side of the story they may have gotten out of Nicole.  I was done with that girl and her fucking lies.  

Now, as I sat on my bed, that stupid rational consciousness of mine was trying to convince me otherwise.  I at least owe it to Nicole to hear her side of the story.  Between my family and the fact that Nicole will be living next door to me for about another two months, this isn’t going to be the easiest thing to avoid.  I stand up and grab my phone off of my dresser, my finger wavering over the messaging icon, considering what to do.  I decide to go on twitter, talk to some fans for a bit as I prolong what’s coming.  

I open the app and am shocked and overwhelmed by the number of tweets at me.  I mean, I know I usually get a lot but I’ve never seen this many!  I begin reading through the tweets and my stomach flips.  What the hell is he doing? I think.  

Rocky’s P.O.V.

“I really can’t thank you enough for meeting me, Rocky,” Alice says as she wraps her arm through mine, her hand resting on the crook of my elbow.  

“Well you didn’t leave me much choice, did you?” I say, trying to not sound too harsh but knowing that my words were sharp enough regardless of the tone I used.

“Now don’t be like that!” Alice pouts as we continue walking down the boardwalk.  “You made the right choice going on this date with me.  I promise you.”

I nod and fight the urge to roll my eyes.  I had taken Elizabeth’s advice and talked to Mary about all of this before deciding to meet up with Alice.  I told Mary my side of the story regarding Alice and about her little deal she tried to make with me.  When I asked her if it was okay if I went on the date or not, she seemed slightly confused, asking me why her say would matter.  I told her that I really liked her and didn’t want to ruin anything between us considering how we had left each other after our date.  That was when her face broke out into a grin and she laughed, telling me she knew exactly why I was asking her permission, she was just curious as to what my response would be.  I joined in laughing and she sent me on my way, leaving me with a kiss that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about all night.

We were both hoping that whatever Alice decided to say about our little (fake) date would distract the R5 family, leaving me and Mary to our privacy as we started to date.  None of us were huge believers in discussing our relationships online to our fans, wanting to keep some parts of our life private.  Alice was the only exception and I was glad to see that as soon as our date had begun, Alice stole the chance to snipe a picture of me and tweet about our date.  

Alice and I continued to walk along until we found a little food stand selling snow cones.  I bought one for each of us and we sat up on the railing while eating.  Alice did most of the talking while I replied with little nods, pretending to listen as she shared all about what she’s been doing in her life since I dumped her.  My mind started to wander back to Mary and the way she had stopped me just as I was walking out of Rachel’s house.  She had called after me, telling me to wait as she walked up to me.  She looked up at me, her face full of a mixture of emotions.  Uneasiness and fear as to what Alice might do.  Admiration and joy at what I had told her earlier.  Without another word, she stood on her tip toes and brought her lips up to meet mine, her hands wrapping around my neck as they tangled with my hair.  I grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to me, enjoying the moment as all questions and worries left my mind.  I really hated having to be the one to pull away and break the kiss but now I’m even more eager to get this date over with so I can kiss Mary again, which definitely isn’t helping this date speed along any faster.  

“So what do you say, Rocky?  Sound like a plan?” Alice suddenly asks me.  

“Uh…sure,” I hesitantly agree to whatever Alice had just said, not wanting to get caught ignoring her.  

“Yay!” she squeals as she jumps off of the railing, dragging me with her and leading me towards the Ferris wheel at the end of the pier.  We climb into one of the small bucket-like seats and then the wheel begins to move, climbing higher and higher into the sky.  Once we have reached the top the wheel comes to a jolting stop.  I lean over the edge to see an elderly couple making their way up the walkway to go for a ride.  

“Isn’t this so romantic?” Alice sighs, leaning her head on my shoulder.  I want to shout at her that it is the complete opposite of romantic and it’s all because of her but I keep my cool as I simply agree before looking out at the horizon, seeing the occasional blinking light from a boat passing along in the dark water.  

“Do you mind if we take a picture together?” Alice asks as we continue to wait for the wheel to beginning spinning again.  

“Uhh…no, I guess not,” I comply as she grabs her phone out of her pocket and puts it in front of our faces.  She leans closer to me, slightly titling her face towards mine and positions the phone so it’s just right and presses the button…nine times.  

“I want to make sure I got a perfect one,” she explains, scrolling through the pictures and I watch as she deletes all but one.  “Can we take just one more?” she asks me.  “Some of them were blurry.”

“Fine,” I sigh, no longer caring if I sound like this date is torturous.  The wheel gives a sudden lurch as it begins to move again and because of its extremely slow pace, Alice feels it’s okay to take pictures on a spinning wheel.  This time she positions herself so that she’s almost completely facing me while I just stare at myself on her phone.  Just as her finger presses the button, I feel her lips press against my cheek.  I pull back, surprised that she would kiss me at all but then again, she did have her camera capture the moment that will just add fuel to her fame in the social networking world.  

“Sorry,” she apologizes without even a drop of sincerity.

“It’s okay,” I tell her, “just don’t try it again.”  She nods and surprisingly, the last hour of our night goes along without any more couple-related acts.  Just after 10:30, we climb into Alice’s car so that she can drive me home, considering she was the one who picked me up since she wanted to keep it a secret as to where it is we were going.  

“Well, good night Alice,” I say as the car comes to a stop in front of my house, ready to leave her behind and hope that the date went over well enough for her to finally leave me alone.  I open the door and get out of the car before she can say anything and am halfway across the front lawn when I hear her car door slam.  I groan to myself as I hear her whiny little voice yet again.  

“Rocky, wait!” she says and jogs up to me, stopping right in front of me after I had turned around to see what it is she could possibly want.  “I just wanted to say thank you, very much, for tonight.  I knew you didn’t have to agree to go on this date with me but I really appreciate that you choose to do it,” Alice finishes by wrapping her arms around me in a hug.  I return the hug, not wanting to seem like a jackass, and pull apart from her a moment later, my arms dropping to my sides while hers are still placed lightly near my ribs.  

“I’ll see you around, Alice,” I tell her, grabbing her hands so that she can let go off me and in that second a string of curses run through my mind as Alice leans up in one swift move and kisses me, right on the lips.