Your Crying Shoulder

Nica POV

After a long walk on the beach I decided to go back. I called Meg several times but she didn't answer. I also went back to the bar we went to, but I can't find them. So I decided to go to our room and when I open the door, I heard someone talking.

"I don't want to feel this pain again Meg. I wanted to be free. I'm tired of crying."

Who's that? Nate? I slowly approached the bed and saw my sister and Nate sitting on the floor while drinking. What happened here, why is she crying?

"Just cry until you feel relieved, I'll be right here Nate. You always have me."

After that, Nate cried. The sound of her crying was the only noise that filled the room.

I decided to just text my sister and informed her that I'll be sleeping in Nate's room tonight, because I don't want to disturbed them. She replied right away so I go to Nate's room. When I open the door Nate's Dior Sauvage perfume welcomes me. As I laid down on bed, I immediately took my phone and went to Nate's Instagram account.

She rarely takes selfies. I reach the bottom of it and saw her picture with that girl again. Is this her? The one she's crazy about? I check her profile and stalked carefully because I might accidentally like the photo. That will be as embarrassing as hell. Scroll...scroll. I saw a picture of a stem of white rose with the caption of "It reminds me of you N". The other picture is a bouquet of White Roses and the caption is "You're that risk I failed to take". Their love story is so sad. Could it be right person wrong time? I was busy stalking pat's IG account when Aira called.

OTP

"Bes how are you? And how's your sister's best friend?"

"Well I'm fine but Nate is not."

"Aww. What happened to baby Nate?"

"What the hell is baby Nate? Stop it Aira. Going back, I saw Nate crying."

"What??! As in she cried? Didn't expect that our baby Nate is so soft."

"I said stop with the baby thing Aira she's 4 years older than us for god sake. There's another thing that happened actually. Ah, I met a guy we kissed and then I stop him."

"Why? Why did you stop? It's an opportunity bes to remove Nate in your mind."

"I don't know bes. This time I really don't know and I don't understand myself as well. As a matter of fact, I stalked the girl that she's with in the picture. I don't know why I'm into her personal things."

"Ah yeah the feline-eye girl? She's pretty in fairness, they look good together actually. So what have you found out when you stalked?"

"I saw two pictures of White Roses and the captions are, "It reminds me of you N" and "You're that risk I failed to take".

"That's a pity. The captions are heartbreaking. Did your sister tell you anything about Nate's life, especially her love life?"

"My sister just told me how they met and how they become best friend, that was it. Nothing about Nate's personal life."

"I see. All I can say is if you're really interested with Nate, I think there's nothing wrong with asking your sister. You can ask her simple question, those type of question that your sister will not wonder why you're curious about her best friend."

"Okay. I plan to do that actually. Thank you so much bes for listening. And I'm really sorry to bother you."

"No worries bes, just make sure you will introduce me to Nate in the future." I laughed at what she said.

"Yes of course. Thank you again. Love you!"

***

I woke up when my sister calls me and asking me to go back to our room. When I entered the room, the bottles were gone it looks like Meg already clean the place while Nate is sleeping. I noticed a white flower on the bedside table, it could be Nate's. I'm glad she's sleeping soundly, I lean on her to look at her face closely, I admire her long lashes and pinkish lips. Little by little I didn't realize that my face was getting closer to hers. Few more inches and our lips will touch.

Oh shit here we go again.

"Nica, let's go first---", I fell from my seat when my sister came suddenly.

"What are you doing my baby sister?" she asked me with her teasing smile.

"Ah I'm just. I was just looking for my earrings, I think they fell out. But it's okay, it's okay I found them. What were you saying?"

"I said let's eat first, then let's just take out a food for Nate." I agreed and we went out and left a note for Nate just in case she wakes up. We are now in the restaurant and waiting for our order. I think this is the perfect time to ask my sister.

"Sis, I have a question." I hesitated at first. "About Nate, I didn't mean to but last night I heard you and Nate and she's crying. May I know what happened?"

"Ah. It's just about this girl that she can't move on from." My sister answer shortly while scrolling at her phone.

"I see. Do you know why they didn't end up together?" Still trying not to make myself obvious.

"As far as I remember, they're both young by then. That time Pat still can't accept the fact that she's into girls, that feeling is new to her, they were in high school. That's why she and Nate can't be in a relationship."

"That's really sad. Now I understand why Nate cried that way. The girl is kind of unfair though. But you said high school right? Why Nate is still affected? It's been years. A decade maybe."

"Because it didn't end there, they had communication until college. Nate only stopped pursuing Pat when she went to the states. And unfortunately she's back."

"So that explains it. But still sis it's been a while, doesn't Nate want to move on, she's the only who's suffering. Why don't she date and meet new people?"

"Nica, you can't just say to your feelings hey I don't want to feel the pain anymore, hey I don't want to cry anymore. I don't care about her anymore. And then in one snap it will be all gone? It doesn't work that way sis. Sometimes people live along with the pain. Why? Because they don't have a choice. There are kind of pain that no matter how you wanted to get rid of it, run from it, no matter how tired you are of feeling it, it will stay there in your heart. And that's the kind of pain Nate has been going through ever since Pat left."

I was silent and think about what my sister says. I don't know if it's just that I haven't felt that way that's why I can't imagine how painful it is or how to handle it. All I know is that I feel pain when Nate cries.

Meg and I returned to the room with the food and hang over soup for Nate. When we arrived, Nate had finished packing since we will go home later. My sister and I do the same while Nate is eating. We put our things in the car so we can have more time later on.

Once done we go to a souvenir shop and bought some thing for mom and dad. We got tired wandering around and decide to eat some snacks before leaving the beach. It's just me and Nate in the table since Meg is talking to someone over the phone. So I guess this is a good opportunity to talk to her about last night.

"Nate?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Nate I hope you don't find me nosy. It just happened that I heard you and Meg talking last night. I saw you crying as well. I- I just wanted to say that if in case my sister is not available to comfort you. Ahmmmm. I'm here. You can cry... I can be your crying shoulder."

I looked at her eyes to show her my sincerity and smile. She smiles back and she leans closer to me, my heart beats louder and faster and I wish she never noticed. She slowly kissed my forehead. Gentle... sweet kiss.

"Thanks Nica."