Forevermore

Nico wonders if her friends know her at all, scratch that, she wonders if Alex knows her at all. 

Alex decided that he, Nico, and Gert all needed to make more friends, Nico argued that everyone they knew had a dog shit personality. So now she’s here, on a Sunday, at a party, with kids from another school. Well, mostly kids from another school, there was Karolina Dean, one of the popular girls. What Nico found amusing was that Karolina, the alleged “perfect girl”, was currently getting shit faced. Nico stood in the corner of some idiot’s house, nursing a cup of cheap alcohol Gert gave her. Karolina was dancing with two guys, Nico thinks their names are Brandon and Lucus, though she’s not sure. “Nic, stop sulking and get over here!” Gert frowned, “If I have to listen to Alex’s nerd talk, so do you.” Gert continued, dragging Nico over to Alex, who was clearly drunk.

Nico glanced back to Karolina, or where Karolina should have been, she was gone, and so was Lukus and Brandon. She looked around, a group of guys who looked much too old to be in high school, two girls dancing, some guy flirting with a girl, no Karolina. “Yeah, I’ll be back…” Nico mumbled, waving her hand half heartedly at her friends while jogging away into the crowd, “Guess she really hates nerd talk.” Nico heard Gert say as she departed. Nico checked downstairs first, 30 minutes, then upstairs, 10 minutes, she saw Lucus and Brandon leaving a room laughing, she ran at them, she grabbed a handful of Brandon’s shirt, “Where the fuck is Karolina?” “Shit, what is she your girlfriend?” Brandon chuckled, then Nico noticed his belt was undone, “What did you do to her?” Nico growled, pulling him closer, his breath reeked of cheap liquor. “Nothing she didn’t ask for.” Brandon whispered, his eyes were lidded, she pushed him away with a frown. “She’s in there you dyke.” Lukus laughed, pointing behind him and pulling Brandon downstairs. 

Nico barged into the room, there, on a dirty mattress, laid Karolina. Her hair was sprawled out like a halo around her head, her jean skirt was thrown on the ground next to her shirt and flannel. Nico rushed to put Karolina’s clothes back on, first the skirt, then the shirt, she picked up the flannel and tied it around the girl’s waist.

Nico pulled out her phone and texted “sos, upstairs” to Gert before sitting down next to Karolina. Nico heard running outside of the room, followed by a door opening, then another, and finally the door to the room Nico was in slammed open. “I just saw 5 dicks trying to find you, what’s your issue?” Gert asked, her gaze landing on Karolina’s sleeping form. “I need your help carrying her, she needs to get home.” Nico replied, leaving out the detail that Gert had already pieced together. “Got it.” Gert walked up to the two of them and lifted one of Karolina’s arms around her head, Nico did the same to the other arm. 

Nico and Gert made it out of the house, they called an uber, “Do we even know where she lives?” Gert asked, “Shit, no we do not.” Nico hummed, her thumb halting its movement, she had been texting Alex explaining that she was going home early. “Take her home.” Gert said, readjusting her hold on Karolina, “What?” Nico asked, “Well, we don’t know where she lives and my parents would ask questions.” Gert reasoned. Nico glanced at the girl in question, “Yeah, sure, I was gonna go home after this anyway.” Nico gave a small shrug.

Once Nico made it home she saw that both her parents were home, Amy too. “Fuck.” Nico mumbled to herself, that made life a bit more difficult. Karolina was very slowly gaining consciousness, she was able to walk, though she had to lean heavily on Nico. As they made it inside Nico was extra careful to be quiet, she made it to her room and laid Karolina down on her bed. Nico took off her own shoes, then Karolina’s. Nico went to her dresser, picked out an oversized t-shirt and some shorts, then went to the bathroom to get changed. 

When she came out her mother was standing in her bedroom doorway, Tina glanced from Nico to Karolina, “So, what happened?” Tina asked, eyes settling on Nico. “She needed help.” Nico shrugged, she walked past Tina and into her room, Karolina was more conscious than she was before, good, Nico thought. 

Tina huffed and walked away, Nico approached Karolina cautiously, “Karolina, are you awake?” Nico asked softly. Karolina mumbled something unintelligible and carefully opened her eyes, “Hey.” Nico hummed, she was careful not to touch Karolina in any way. “Where am I?” Karolina asked, fear tangled in her sleepy voice, “Hey, it’s ok, you’re at my house, I wasn’t sure where you lived and I didn’t want to leave you passed out at the party so I took you here.” Nico explained, stepping away from Karolina to give her space. 

Karolina sat up, she was becoming more alert by the second, “Ok.” Karolina said slowly, like she was processing the situation. “H… How did I pass out?” Karolina asked, glancing up at Nico, Nico slowly and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed. “Well, you seemed to be drinking a lot.” Nico shrugged, she didn’t know Karolina’s life but she did have eyes, Karolina had been drinking for some time before Nico saw her. “No, Lukus and Brandon may have gotten me drinks but they were only soda.” Karolina looked frantic, “It’s ok, I believe you.” Nico whispered in a soothing tone, “Do you want to head home?” Nico asked, worried she had stepped too far in taking Karolina to her house. 

Karolina watched her carefully, “No, my mom’s probably pissed at me, is it ok if I stay here?” Karolina looked so small, like she thought Nico would kick her out then and there. “Yeah, of course, do you want to take a shower, get changed? Anything you need?” Nico asked, walking over to her dresser, “Uh, a shower and a change of clothes sounds good.” Karolina nodded, eyes trailing over Nico. Nico looked through her clothes and settled on a t-shirt she had stolen from Amy and some sweatpants her dad gave her claiming they were too small for him. “Here, sorry if they don’t fit.” Nico said, handing the clothes to Karolina and walking her over to the bathroom. 

“Anything in there is fair game.” Nico murmured and quickly fled to the safety of her room. Nico slumped down on her bed with a huff, what the fuck was wrong with her, she was helping out some poor girl who was probably just raped and Nico’s dumb ass was now fostering a crush on her, Nico was ripped out of her emotional term oil by said poor girl. “Hey.” Nico greeted, “Hey.” Karolina smiled, Karolina plopped down next to Nico on the bed, “So, am I welcome to stay here for the night?” Karolina’s eyes met with Nico‘s, Nico didn’t even register the question for a minute , “Oh! Yeah, I can sleep on the couch and you can sleep on my bed if you want.” Nico knew she sounded nervous, she couldn’t bring herself to care when Karolina laughed at Nico’s scared demeanor, “How about we both sleep on your bed.” Karolina said in a conspiratorial whisper. Nico sputtered, “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to invade your space.” Nico fidgeted with her hands.  “I’m sure, besides, you don’t seem like a killer or anything, despite the kidnapping.” Karolina replied, Nico’s eyes went wide, “I am so sorry for that, if I could have woken you up then-“ Karolina cut her off, “It’s fine, let’s sleep?” Nico stared at Karolina for a second before nodding, “Yeah, let’s go to sleep.”