Chapter 47- Iris

‘Noah, you need to go back to bed sweetie, it’s way past your bedtime,’ I motioned to her bedroom as I took off Austin’s jacket.
‘But I wanna know about the date,’ she whined.
I smiled and kissed her forehead, ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow.’ Yawning, she walked back to her room. As soon as I heard her door shut I turned my attention to Nick, who was standing next to the coffee table with his hands in his pockets. ‘What the hell was that for?’
‘What are you talking about?’ he frowned.
‘You can’t just go waking up five year olds just cuz you don’t want me to kiss him!’ I hissed under my breath, pointing towards Noah. ‘Do you know how tired she’s going to be in the morning?’
All he did was shrug his shoulders.
I rolled my eyes and stalked to my room. ‘Ugh, you’re ridiculous!’
‘Why are you acting out all of the sudden?’ he followed me.
‘I am not acting out. You’re the one who woke my little sister up cuz you were jealous.’
‘He’s a f*****g a*****e,’ replied Nick after he shut the door.
‘Really?’ I got up in his face. ‘As far as I know he’s done nothing but help me. You’re the one who keeps getting into fights with my brother. Where is he anyways?’
‘He’s spending the night at Raven’s house.’ He put his hands in his pockets and walked around the room, avoiding eye contact.
‘Is he okay? Like did he cool down about the whole thing?’ I was worried about what had happened while I was gone.
‘I don’t know. They both came back and went straight to his room to pack his bag and stuff.’
‘Oh…’ I planned on talking Eli about what’s going to happen. I didn’t even know what was going to happen yet. With the guys in my life or the child. What if Eli really did make me get rid of it? I didn’t want to kill a living thing, especially a baby.
‘I thought we were going to wait until your brother was okay with us dating?’
I looked away, rubbing my fingers through my hair. ‘Nick.. I don’t wanna talk about this right now…’
I didn’t but I knew I had to tell him something so he wouldn’t be left in the dark. He didn’t deserve that. ‘You’re just gonna stop this where it is? We have no chance together at all?’
He looked so sad, it made me wanna grab him and never let him go. ‘It’s just that… I don’t know.. You know Eli’s feelings are never going to pass for me and he’s always going to hate you. What am I supposed to do? If I tell him that I love you, he’s going to kill me-‘
‘He’s not going to kill you! We can go, we can run away!’ He motioned towards the door dramatically.
‘And leave Noah?! With Eli. Really? No, he would kill me. But… he has no problem with Austin-‘
Nick flung his hand behind his head and turned around. ‘I’m not hearing this. I’m not hearing this. Why?!’ He punched the door, causing me to jump. ‘Why, Alice?! Why him and not me?!’
‘He hasn’t hit my brother first off!’
‘I was doing it to f*****g protect you! You can’t just expect me to watch as he puts his hands on you and Noah!’
‘You don’t have to hurt him! That’s your problem, you don’t know when to hold back. He’s always going to have issues, that’s the way he is.’
He stared at me for a moment, ‘You’re saying that you’d rather be with Austin because your brother wouldn’t get as mad?’
‘It’s not just that,’ I pleaded.
He held up his hand, ‘I’m not dealing with this.’
As he walked out, I caught up with him, ‘Please, Nick. Give me a chance to explain.’ I grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him back, causing him to slam against the wall. ‘You’ve gotta understand!’
‘I’m not going to be able to understand no matter what you say, Alice! You know I love you! You know it! And you purposely ripped it out!’
‘I love you, Nick,’ I cried, tears brimming my eyes. ‘Please, I want you to know why I’m choosing him.’ Instead of answering back, he picked me up, moved me out of the way and continued down the hall. ‘Nick!’ I hollered.
The front door slammed shut and I felt like my world officially had officially ended.