AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At first, she read over the note in confusion as to what it might have been referring to but then, as she broke away from the haze of sleepiness more, it suddenly hit her.
The note was left for her by her companion last night. Horror and shock washed over her as she realized what she had done in her drunken stupor last night, as her eyes wildly raked the room for signs of her sins – her clothing was strewn about all across the room.
She had slept with one of the strippers last night. The mere realization of it made her sick to her stomach, as she scrambled out of bed to go to the bathroom. Once inside, she kneeled on the floor and retched out the contents of her stomach in the porcelain bowl.
She felt pathetic – her hangover had made her head feel like as though it would explode any second but even more than that, she felt an ever growing sense of guilt forming inside of her.
Last night, she had only intended to have a little fun with the entertainers. She had never intended for things to do this far, but there was no denying it now. She knew she had done the deed and there was nothing that could be done about it.
Slowly, she got up from her place on the bathroom floor and went back to the room. She careful avoided looking at her own reflection in the mirror as she was afraid she might see someone she did not want to.
Slowly, she grabbed her phone that was hanging on the lower edge of the bed and unlocked it.
She had new messages from Nick:
Nick: Hey. Just wanted to see how you are. We haven’t spoken in a few days and I miss you. Love you, be back soon.
Reading the message made her heart twist – yesterday, she had been so eagerly waiting for this very message but today when she finally received it, she felt her insides turn out and an overwhelming sense of guilt take over her. She did not understand the enormity of her actions. She had done the exact thing she had told Nick not to.
Finally, when it became too hard to breathe in that room, she decided she needed to make her departure. She could not keep it in her anymore – she had to go see Nick now and she had to come clean.
Tiptoeing with her bag, she hastily threw on some clothes and then noticed her girlfriends were still passed out on the sofa outside. Biting her lip, she shot them one last look. They would have to forgive her for leaving without her but this was urgent.
--
Hannah had gone straight to the airport from the hotel and took the first flight back home. Now, as she stepped out of her cab onto the familiar cobbled street she knew led to home, she had to take in a deep breath to calm herself.
She tried to remind herself of Nick and how he would understand – he would have to, for they were going to get married soon. Bracing herself, she headed straight in.
Nick heard the door close and came out to see who it was. His initial shock only lasted a second though as he quickly recovered and raced forward to wrap Hannah into a hug.
“You’re back early,” he said to her as she buried her head down in his shoulder.
She nodded, closing her eyes to enjoy the familiar warmth of his presence around her, “Yeah, I,” she said before racking her brains for the right words to say, “I had to see you.”
“I am so glad you’re back,” he said, still not loosening his grip onto her, “I missed you so much.”
“I need to talk to you!” they said to each other at the same time but Nick was quicker as he took her hand and decided to go first.
“Listen, I know we sort of left off on a bad edge the last time I saw you,” he started, “and I want you to know that I am sorry – I had time to think it over and now I realize that I really should have asked you before giving Samantha the permission to do that.”
Hannah just stared back to him, unable to speak.
“I should have understood where you were coming from instead or arguing with you,” Nick lamented, “but listen to me, I need you to know one thing – she is not the love of my life, you are. I chose you and I will continue to choose you every single day of my life. Please know that, nothing happened between us,” he said sincerely.
Hearing these words broke Hannah’s heart as tears started to appear and pour down her cheeks. She felt as though she had been stabbed in the heart with a knife – Nick was here being so sweet to her and she had gone off on him behind his back. She felt disgusted by herself but she could not bring herself to say the words out loud to him.
Nick, however, felt that this was in response to his speech and just hugged her tighter, whispering words of love in her ear.
On the surface, everything seemed to have gotten back to normal in their life but inside, Hannah felt as though she was breaking apart by the weight of her secret.
--
“Why did you run off that day?” Hayley asked her best friend a few days later over coffee. Her and Kim had woken up to find Hannah nowhere in sight.
Hannah pursed her lips and looked back at her, “I just,” she did not know whether to tell her the entire details of the night, “I just had to see Nick.”
“Oh you guys made up again?” she asked.
