"Amber, can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Fabian as he poked his head in the doorway of her and Nina's room. The girls were rummaging through Nina's wardrobe trying to find something for her to wear on her date with Fabian that evening. They were only going to the movies but Amber, being Amber, wanted her best friend to look amazing.
"Sure," said Amber slowly, unsure of what was going on. The look on Nina's face showed that she too was confused. Nevertheless, Amber stood up and followed Fabian down the hall so no one would hear them.
Once they were away from any unwelcome ears, Fabian started talking. "Next week is exactly one year since Nina and I started dating," he whispered.
"I know," interrupted Amber a little too loudly, "A whole year of Fabina." She was practically squealing with excitement.
Fabian put his finger to his lips, signaling Amber to be quieter. "Anyway," he continued, "I want to get her something special."
"Say no more," Fabian was interrupted by Amber yet again, "You need me to help you pick out the perfect gift."
Fabian nodded. "So you'll do it?"
"Of course, I'm always up for helping out Fabina."
"Thank you so much Amber!" exclaimed Fabian.
"No problem. We can go shopping tomorrow after school." Fabian nodded and the two went their separate ways.
The Next Day
"Amber we've been here for nearly three hours. Can we please take a break?" Fabian pleaded. Sure he wanted to find the perfect gift for Nina but he was tired of walking around the mall.
"Fine," Amber sighed. "Let's go sit on that bench over there." She pointed to a bench that sat right next to a fountain. They were barely there for a second, however, before Amber spotted a sign in the window of the jewelry store and made a beeline for it, dragging Fabian behind her.
"Look!" she exclaimed, "They're having a sale on thumb rings!"
"Um, yay?" Fabian questioned as he struggled to see the significance of this.
"They're all the rage this year." Amber continued to ramble on and on about thumb rings for who knows how long. Finally, sensing Fabian's bored expression, she added, "I bet Nina would love one."
This caught Fabian's interest. "Oh my gosh, Amber, that's perfect!"
The next half an hour or so was spent picking out the best thumb ring for Nina. Fabian decided on a simple silver band with delicate swirls engraved in the surface. After gaining Amber's approval, on both the design and the size, he paid for it and the two made their way back to Anubis House.
A Week Later
Nina was sitting next to Amber on the couch in the living room when Fabian walked up to her. "Nina, I have something I'd like to show you."
"What is it?"
"Just trust me," he answered as he placed a blindfold over her eyes and began to lead her to his surprise. After several minutes and two flights of stairs Nina was allowed to remove the blindfold. When she did, she found that she was standing in the attic. A blanket had been spread out on the floor and next to it, stood a picnic basket.
"What's going on?" asked Nina, a smile appearing on her face.
"I just thought it might be nice to surprise you with a date in the very place where our relationship started."
"This couldn't possibly have anything to do with our one year anniversary, could it?" Nina teased.
"You, Nina Martin," Fabian teased back, "Are very clever."
They then sat down and proceeded to enjoy themselves. When Fabian felt that the moment was right, he took Nina's gift out from where it was hidden at the bottom of the picnic basket. "What's that?" asked Nina.
"Just a little something I picked up at the mall," he answered, smiling as he handed it to her.
She took the small box and opened it. "It's beautiful. I've wanted a thumb ring for a while now."
"I knew you'd like it!" squealed a voice neither Fabian nor Nina were expecting.
"Amber," shouted Fabian, "What are you doing and how long have you been there?"
"I just got here," she quickly defended herself. "I came to warn you that it's almost ten o'clock and Victor's, well you know how Victor gets."
"It's been that long already?" he questioned. Amber nodded. "Well we better go to our rooms," he said, turning towards Nina.
"Yeah, and we better hurry so we get there before that pin hits the floor," she joked. The teenagers laughed and went downstairs to their rooms.
A few minutes later, the girls were sitting on their beds across the room from each other. "So you really like the ring?" asked Amber, eager as always to discuss all things Fabina.
Nina nodded. "It's beautiful."
"Have you tried it on yet?"
"No, I…" she was about to explain how she hadn't had enough time.
"Well," said Amber, "What are you waiting for?" She motioned for the girl to try it on now.
Nina did as she was told. "Uh oh," she said, the smile disappearing from her face, "It doesn't fit. I can't get it on."
"What?" asked Amber incredulously. "That's impossible. You should be the same size as me." Her friend looked at her weirdly so she added, "We have the same size fingers so it's only logical that we have the same size thumbs too."
"Wow," teased Nina, "Amber Millington used logic?" This earned her a 'this is serious' look so she stopped talking.
"Let me see," said Amber as she moved over to Nina's bed. Once again, Nina tried to put the ring on and once again it was too small. When Amber took a closer look at her friend's hand she was shocked at what she saw. "What's wrong with your thumb? Look at it!" she exclaimed.
"Nina looked down at her hand. Everything seemed perfectly normal to her. "It looks fine to me," she said. "It's the same as the other one."
"No, a normal thumb looks like this." Amber held hers up for Nina to see.
"Woah, it's so long and skinny."
"No, yours is just freakishly short and fat. No offense but it's kind of gross."
"What makes you think I'm the freak? Maybe you're the one with deformed thumbs," Nina pointed out.
"I doubt it."
"Well tomorrow we'll see what everyone else's thumbs look like, okay?" Amber nodded and with that the girls went to sleep.
The next morning, as everyone sat around the table enjoying breakfast, Amber asked, "What do your thumbs look like?"
This sounded a bit odd to most of them and their confusion showed on their faces, so Nina added, "Amber thinks my thumbs look weird and she wants to see if I'm the freak or if she is."
After taking a close look at every thumb in Anubis House, Amber finally said something. "Yep, Nina's the weird one."
"They aren't that different," Nina said defensively.
"Well," said Jerome, "Can we see them? That way we can determine for ourselves whether or not you're a freak."
Nina sighed as she held her thumbs out for the others to see. Within a few moments the room was filled with gasps and hushed comments. However, when Mara saw them, a look of recognition appeared on her face.
"I think I've read about something like this before," she said. Before anyone could react the girl was headed for her room. She returned a few minutes later with her laptop. After opening a new internet window, she typed something in the search bar. Once she found what she was looking for she said, "It's a condition call Brachydactyly Type D, or BDD, and it's genetic. Look at this picture." The thumb in the picture was exactly the same as the ones on Nina's hands, short with a bulbous tip and a short yet wide nail.
"So they aren't the result of a tragic accident or injury or anything?" asked Jerome.
"No," answered Nina, "I was born like this."
"Wow," said Alfie, "That's awkward."
"Awkward?"
"Yeah, don't they make it difficult to do stuff?"
"No, not at all," explained Nina. "They work just like normal thumbs."
"Actually," said Mara still reading from the internet, "Some other people with BDD say that they have trouble bowling because their thumbs don't fit in the ball."
"So there are other people with awkward thumbs?" asked Alfie.
"Yes," said Mara, "About one in one thousand people have them. For some people, like Nina, both thumbs are like this while others have one normal thumb and one clubbed thumb as some people call it. You'll never guess which celebrity has them."
"Who?"
"Megan Fox."
Amber's eyes widened at this. "What? Really?"
"Yeah there's an article here titled 'Megan Fox's Toe Thumbs'. I guess some people call them toe thumbs since they kind of do look like toes."
Just then Amber lightly pushed Mara out of the way so she could read the article. "These people are saying awful things about her. They're saying she isn't perfect just because her thumbs are different."
"What's going on in here? Shouldn't you be on your way to school by now?" No one had noticed Victor enter the room and they all jumped at the sound of his voice.
After they had left the house and made their way partially down the road, Fabian placed his hand on Nina's shoulder. "Can we talk for a minute?" he asked.
They distanced themselves from the rest of their housemates before Nina said, "I'm so sorry Fabian, but the ring doesn't fit. You know, because of my fat thumbs."
"That's just what I wanted to talk about," There was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. It was as if Mother Nature could sense the mood of the situation because, almost out of nowhere, it started to rain.
"Is something wrong?"
"I'm sorry Nina, but you and me, we shouldn't be together. Us getting back together, it was all a big mistake."
Hearing this hurt, bad. "This is because of my thumbs?" By this point the rain had progressed to a steady downpour.
Fabian nodded. "Yes, I can't stand the sight of them and I don't want that trait being passed to my children. So it's best if we break up now instead of dragging it out." He took one last look at her before walking away, leaving her there, crying in the rain.
A/N: For those of you that are wondering, yes Brachydactyly Type D is a real thing and yes Megan Fox does have it. I tried to keep the story as factual as possible so most of the stuff I said about BDD is true. And just so you know, I am not trying to make fun of these thumbs nor do I believe people with them should be treated differently and/or rejected because of it. It makes them unique and they should embrace that. Also, I am a huge fan of Fabina and I realize Fabian was way out of character at the end but it had to happen for the story to work. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
