enne: Here's your chapter 7. Sorry for the wait :x


Chapter 7: Nick

Claus and Ninten did a spit-take. "Ex-boyfriend?!"

"Ex-boyfriend...?" I mouthed. It was a shock to me, too. I couldn't even make a sound.

"Y-Yeah, ex," Ness answered to the other two.

"So how've you been?" asked the boy named Nick.

"Oh, doing pretty well," Ness answered. "I didn't expect to see you here, though."

"Oh yeah, about that..." Nick scratched the back of his head, "I just moved back here a few days ago. I wanted to see you again but I was still busy moving in."

"Well, here I am now!" Ness exclaimed.

Suddenly, Nick tackled Ness with a hug. I lost my appetitie for my milkshake. But more importantly, a part of my heart broke.

Claus and Ninten eyed the both of them cautiously. Ness looked back at me and tried to gently push Nick off.

"Um, Nick," Ness began. "I...um..."

"What? Aren't you happy to see your boyfriend?" Nick questioned.

"Actually...I have a new boyfriend now," Ness explained.

Nick back off and put his hands on his hips. "Oh, I see...who is he? One of these guys?"

Ness nodded and patted my head. "This is Lucas."

Nick grinned. "Nice to meet you, Lucas."

It wasn't noticeable to everyone else, but I could hear a very faint tone of spite as Nick spoke to me. I could tell because it had that familiar disgust as the girl from years ago had.

"Nice to meet you too," I calmly replied.

"So, mind if I sit with y'all?" Without waiting for an answer, he took a chair from an empty table and settled in with us.

"Sure, go ahead," Ninten answered.

"I'm gonna go get a new drink—oh wait, do you need a new one too Nick?"

"Nah, I'm fine, thanks anyways Nessie."

A little devil inside me made me regret why I couldn't think of calling Ness that before.

"All right, be right back." Ness went into the store and left the four of us alone.

Awkward silence began to settle in, in the midst of Ninten loudly sipping his drink. I did have some questions about Ness' and Nick's relationship, so I broke the ice.

"So, how did you and Ness meet?" I asked him.

"Oh, Ness and I go way back. Like, five years, I think, back when we were both in 7th grade. At first we were classmates, but I accidentally made a move on him, and eventually we were into each other."

"What do you mean, 'accidentally'?" Claus asked.

Nick blushed and scratched his cheek. "I, uh, well...tripped one time, he caught me and I kissed him spontaneously as a reaction."

Little by little my mind was going insane by how cliché his story was going.

"Oh, so you were Ness' first kiss!" Ninten said.

Be quiet, Ninten.

"Yeah, well, I thought we were going to be a couple until some stupid bitch broke Ness and myself up. She threatened to make our lives miserable if I didn't move away. I didn't want that to happen to Ness so I moved for his sake." Nick sighed.

"Is that 'stupid bitch' Leila?" Claus asked.

"You know Leila?" Claus nodded. "Leila Trevett?" He nodded again.

"Yeah, he was trying to break Ness and Lucas up. But we got her good."

"You did?!" Nick exclaimed. "How?"

"We stopped her father from using his power to help Leila blackmail Ness," Claus answered. "Then we caught her father trying to kill my boyfriend here," Claus put his arm around Ninten, who smiled giddly, "and then we also caught her being a prostitute with some guy from Threed."

"Damn," Nick commented. "So what are they doing now?"

"Beats me, and who cares?" Claus responded.

"I think Leila's father should still be in jail for say...fourteen more years," Ninten stated. "As for Leila—last I heard she's trying to make a living in Ellay."

"Isn't that where all those gangs hang around with all of those stripper clubs?" Claus asked. "How is she making a living—oh..."

"Yep, back to her prostitution business, I guess," Ninten told.

"What a slut," Nick scoffed.

Just in time, Ness came out of the shop with a new drink in hand. He sat down between Nick and I, putting an arm around my back, making me feel comfortable.

"So, what'd I miss?" Ness asked, setting his drink down.

"Just talking about Leila," Ninten answered.

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about her?" responded Ness.

"Well, Nick asked."

"Yeah, sorry," he apologized. "Must have been a hard time for you guys."

"It was, but she's gone for good and that's all that matters. Don't care about how she's doing right now."

Nick chuckled. "So, how'd you two get together?" he asked, referring to us.

"Oh, well..." Ness pulled me closer to him, "I fell in love with Luke after I bumped into him one day at school. Though I couldn't talk to him that much after because Paula was chasing me."

Despite the time we've spent together, he never told me that he fell in love with me at first sight. I guess that meant we were meant for each other. Thinking like that made me feel giddy.

"...so after that, we kissed and officially became a couple," Ness finished explaining.

"Well, that's quite a story," Nick commented. "You both do make a cute couple."

"And Luke's the cutest guy ever," Ness said out loud. I blushed deeply.

"Aw, cuter than me?" Nick pouted.

"Oh, don't bring that up on me!" Ness reacted.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." They both laughed together. "So, what are you guys going to do now?"

"Well, we're done with classes today and finished lunch. I don't think there's much for us to do next."

"Clausy and I got homework to do, so we're gonna get going." Ninten stood up and dumped his empty drink in a nearby trash can. "We'll see you guys later!" Claus followed his actions and waved at us.

"See you guys later," he said. "Take care, Lucas."

"Bye, Claus," I replied. As they left, Nick looked back and forth between us.

"You know, you and him look really similar," he told.

"That's because they're twin brothers," Ness explained.

"Oh, wow," Nick said, surprised. "So, Ness..."

They conversed, and they went on and on about how their daily lives were, and then they were remembering events from when they were friends back in middle school. They had casual, easy going chatter with occasional giggles. Nick was enjoying it too much, I could tell.

I couldn't really stand him much more. He looked too happy seeing Ness, and I guess Ness was too. I shouldn't be feeling like this, but I was having thoughts about Ness leaving me and going back to Nick. Could it happen? Yes, maybe. Would it happen? No, Ness wouldn't just abandon me like that. Maybe I'm just too jealous and taking this too seriously. I know for sure Ness loves me, and has a place in his heart only for me.

Ness finished his drink and sighed heavily. "I think it's about time we go, I actually got homework to do."

"Oh, hey that's fine. I still need to go home and unpack some more."

"Are you going to attend college here?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, probably soon. Who knows, maybe I'll be in your class." He winked at us.

"That'll be fun," Ness commented. He turned to me. "All right, I gotta head to the restroom first. I'll be right back, okay?"

I nodded, "Okay."

Nick waved. "Well, I gotta get going, so see ya later."

"Take care, Nick!" Ness ran off to find a restroom. Meanwhile, Nick was still here, staring at me.

"W-What?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Just admiring how cute you are."

"Huh?" I sounded. He what?

He chuckled and then stood. "See you again someday, Lucas." He turned around and took his leave.

I sat there, stunned. Was he trying to hit on me? How could he—doesn't he want to get back with Ness? Or, is he interested in me...?

I didn't find an answer in time. Ness came back from using a store restroom, ready to leave. "So, Nick left already?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he did."

"All right, well, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I am." I threw away my drink and held hands with Ness back to the car. Then, he drove us back to his home.

As I sat in the car, I was deep in thought about Nick. I wasn't in love with him for anything, but he was definitely a mysterious guy. I kept questioning every word he said, and every action he did up until he left. I never found an answer to the questions I made. I wanted to know for certain if he liked Ness or me, or if he was just playing a joke on us. But there was no way to tell for now.

"Luke?" Ness called. "Something wrong?"

At that moment I realized we were back home, and Ness opened my side of the car door to check on me.

"Oh, sorry, just kind of spaced out," I told him.

"You know, you were pretty quiet while Nick was with us." Ness held my hand gently. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

The question couldn't be avoided. Eventually I had to be honest with him anyways.

"Do you still like Nick?" I asked him.

"Well, yeah, he's a good guy," he answered. "I haven't seen him do anything that made me dislike him."

"I see..." I mumbled.

Then, Ness smiled, and kissed my lips. After pulling away, he caressed my cheek. "Don't worry, I'm not going to fall in love with Nick or anything. I love you, and only you."

I blushed, then grinned happily. I gripped the front of my shirt, holding onto my necklace. His words made me feel much better. "I love you too."

Ness patted my head. "Come on, you haven't had much to eat, right? I'll make you an omelet."

I stepped out of the car and held onto his arm. "Okay."