Sam swallowed the lump in her throat. “Erica.” She said hoarsely.
Nick heard the tone of Sam’s voice and risked a glance at her, not sure what to expect. She was probably wondering why the hell Erica showed up at his apartment and at this hour to boot. Hell, he was wondering himself why she was at his door. He didn’t suppose this looked very well, and had no fucking idea how to get himself out of this one. Sam didn’t look in his direction. Her eyes were firmly planted on Erica and he wasn’t sure what to make of the expression on her face. It wasn’t an expression of shock, but rather of pain, it was as if she knew of Nick’s involvement with Erica. He shook away that thought quickly, knowing that the revelation could ruin everything for them just when they were getting somewhere. He reached behind him and rubbed his neck, feeling the tension in his body. He directed his eyes towards Erica.
“What are you doing here?” Nick asked, his voice full of agitation.
Erica snapped out of her stare down with Sam and looked back and forth between the two. “I’m sorry am I interrupting the two of you?” She said already knowing her answer. She wasn’t all that surprised that Nick would be here with Sam, in fact, she would have expected it, they were a force to be reckoned with, and she had always known that.
“Yeah, you…” Nick was cut off.
“No you’re not.” Sam shook her head and turned around to grab her stuff. Nick grabbed her arm, and turned her around abruptly.
“What’re you doing, Sam?” He kept his hold on her arm. She tried to pull her arm free but his hold was too tight.
“Let me go.” She said flatly. The eyes that were so full of hope when she had arrived were dull and lackluster now. Nick watched the walls slowly build around her, the walls he had only moments ago broke through.
“No!” He shouted and then closed his eyes, trying to reign himself in. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I can come back another time.” Erica said from the doorway.
Nick turned around, his arm still holding Sam’s. “Yeah, why don’t you do that, or better yet don’t come back at all.” He spat and then turned back to face Sam. She wouldn’t even look at him, her eyes firmly planted on the floor.
Erica’s eyes widened at the harshness of Nick’s words, but then she turned her attention to Sam when she heard her speak.
“I’d like to know why you’re here Erica.” Sam said and lifted her eyes to her old friend’s. She wondered if either of them would admit the truth to her.
“Well, I work for Nick’s dad in Seattle.” Erica said and thought her answer was as safe as could be.
Sam nodded and pulled her arm free with a vigor neither she nor Nick expected. “I see, so then you and Nick worked together when he was in Seattle?” She said as she stepped closer towards Erica.
“I had left California and I bumped into Nick one day.” She looked down at her hands that she suddenly didn’t know what to do with and began to fidget.
“Right you conveniently left California when I decided to visit you.” Sam stated the anger in her veins boiling. When you keep something bottled in for so long, when it finally surfaces you become an ugly person only out for the truth. “And then what?” She snapped back impatiently.
Nick stepped between them and intervened. “And then she applied for a job at my father’s firm. End of story.” He sighed and looked at Erica with a warning glance.
Sam smiled sarcastically and her eyes darted back and forth between them, a fire raging inside of them. “Tell me, how’d the interview process go?”
“Stop it Sam.” Nick demanded. He knew her better than she thought he did, he knew she was fishing for something. What he couldn’t understand was why? Again, it was as if she knew.
“Why? It seems like an interesting tale.” Sam said with her voice full of sarcasm.
Nick looked at her skeptically for a moment and his mind wandered back to that day in the garage when Luke told him about her trip to Seattle. He grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “You came to Seattle, Luke told me!”
“I think I should go.” Erica said softly.
Sam kept her eyes firmly planted on Nick’s, she didn’t say a word. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Cry because in an instant her heart had gone from whole, to broken into a million pieces. Laugh because she allowed it to happen. She wanted to scream because she was na?ve enough to believe that Seattle was in the past, but now it stood right in front of them.
“Yes.” She said softly, almost a whisper, as if she had been defeated.
“Why?” Nick asked simply but one simple word questioned a million different things. Why hadn’t she come to him? Why didn’t he know until years later that she had been there? Why was she so mad now? Why did he fear that he had just lost her all over again?