Hour Three
Zora POV
"I left my UV light in the car!"
"Why the hell did you bring a UV light?"
"Jayden, I need it!"
"Fine! Here are the keys, be careful with my baby."
"It's just a car, Jayden" I sighed.
"It's not just a car, it's-"
"Seriously, I couldn't care less, just throw me the keys."
"Fine. What should I do?"
"Stay in Sonny's apartment."
"No, I don't even know her. It'll be weird."
"You haven't even walked through the door yet, how do you know that it's not comfortable? How do you know that it doesn't have a massaging chair?"
"I don't want to be in someone-I-don't-know's apartment in the dark on their massaging chair!"
"Fine. Just walk around, call me if you have a problem. We're gonna be bored anyway. We'll just meet up whenever we want."
"Er-ok. But be careful, in the night, there might be perverts or something."
"Yeah, yeah." She ran off like a crazy monkey. I shut Sonny's door and walked around the building. Hoping to see something interesting. And I did. When I thought I could try to fix the elevator. I definitely saw something that caught my attention. Something highly beautiful, beyond description. I couldn't help but melt right there.
(A/N continued on the previous chapter, if you haven't already caught on)
Portlyn POV
I had been so grateful to be brought home and put to bed that when my phone went off from a text message, I was about ready to kill Sonny.
Of course, it was for a good reason, so I got over it. It was about time Chad and Sonny got together.
The news that Sonny was literally trapped in the elevator with that absolutely gorgeous guy was so amazing! Leave it to Sonny to be caught in the most interesting situations.
And, okay, I will also admit that I fell back asleep for maybe ten minutes, twenty- tops. Zora woke me up when she was on her way to Sonny's. Yeah, I was never close with the randoms, but desperate situations and what had happened this morning (A/N chapter 2) changes things. So, I hopped out of bed, spent a few minutes applying my make-up, then getting my hair to cooperate. I slipped into a summer dress, pulling a cardigan over the top and hurried outside.
My drive over was longer than Tawni's or Zora's but what delayed me even more was the fact that there were trees fallen into the middle of the road- light poles and telephone poles snapped in half due to the intense storm. People were frantically trying to right them, even in these winds. I was sure that they'd give up, and wait for the storm to end.
By the time I got to Sonny's it was getting closer to two in the morning, and I was majorly frustrated. So, when I saw that my usual parking spot was taken, I was about to pitch a fit. I pulled in next to the culprit, who was still in his car, and huffed my way over to his door. I tapped on the window, causing him to jump, then he stepped outside and- oh my GOD. It was Zora. Why was she in a car?
"Hi Zora! Bye Zora!" My attention span was never good. I couldn't be bothered to concentrate for too long. I ran, to Chad's apartment to wait for him and his secret love to be saved, totally leaving behind my younger brother. But what was he to do all night? I'll let him have his fun; he'll call me if he needed anything, right?
Zora POV
I gave a confused look towards Portlyn as she ran off into the darkness and I turned around to look at the statue left behind so I could give him a telling-off for letting his sister tap at my window angrily and-oh my GOD. He was beautiful... Messy blonde hair, wise blue eyes- and I knew, right from then.
I held out my hand, instead of smacking him in the arm, like I had intended. "Zora Whitlock," I said with a smile. He grinned back at me.
"Ashton Lancaster." Ugh, too amazing. "I know who you are-heard a lot about you from Portlyn"
"Really?"
"Yeah, you must the evil, little cockroach." He laughed.
"You got that right!"
"Niiiiiice!"
"Wait, how old are you?" I asked, I didn't want to fall for a younger man again.
"Woah, random much?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm a random."
He laughed, oh dear me, what a cute laugh. "I'm 12. What about you?"
"I'm 12 in 2 months." I smiled.
"Hey, I don't know if you'll be into this but how about we play a little prank-"
"Of course I'll be into that!"
We got to know each other better and well, got along nicely. Very nicely. We hung out in between our two cars and occasionally fetching any necessities from them. Smart one, he had the spare keys to his sister's car. Yes. He was definitely my type.
Portlyn POV
I waited in Chad's apartment for a bit. I got bored. So I went down to the 5th floor. Nothing. Down to the 4th floor I go. Nothing. Down to the 3rd floor I run. Nothing. Gasp, Breathe, Breathe. Walk down the staircase between the 3rd floor and the 2nd floor. Bump! There he was.
"Ow! Oh hi Nico!"Ugh,too cute. "Hi Port! I'm sorry," he continued. "I'd like to talk, but Sonny is trapped inside the elevator, I got a voicemail from her."
"I know! Chad is too!" I chirped, not wanting to leave him. "They're in there together, Sonny and Chad." He grinned at me as we walked down the hallway towards the Foley's place. We were told that the fire hall was sending some people over, along with the power plant. First they had to clear the roads and the lines as much as they could, to prevent any more accidents.
"Also, two of your friends went up to stay in Sonny's place. We'll give them a call when the fire department gets here. So, you two can head on up there as well, I have their phone numbers." We thanked her, and then chatted the entire way up the stairs. Basically, I was flirting. Nico was too, only he was better at it- being as sexy as he was. (A/N personally, I don't think that. But Portlyn likes him, so that's obviously what she'll believe)
"I should probably check Sonny's place," Nico said seriously. "Tawni might be there."
"Oh OK."
He looked at me, "You can come if you want, you'll be alone in here." I nodded and smiled at him.
We walked a few meters to Sonny's place.
Using the key behind the gap in Sonny's letterbox, he walked in pushing me in as well and whipping out my cell phone's backlight as a makeshift flashlight. "Tawni?" he called into the dark room. "Are you here?" Walking around this room in the dark was starting to freak me out. It had always been a fear of mine, and I'd been doing okay so far, but I needed to know if there were people in here, and I needed more lights, before I seriously started to panic. Nico stayed quiet the whole time, like he was observing something.
"TAWNI." A yelp after my shriek, Tawni jumped from the couch, launching herself off of the broad chest she had been resting on.
"HELP!" she started screaming, and then the gigantic specimen of a man jumped up as well, knocking into the coffee table and sending numerous candles flying over the floor. (He wasn't that big, but I exaggerate a lot, years of acting on a drama does that to you) Nico jumped, but grabbed on to me, keeping me steady as Tawni and whoever else it was screamed for a few moments, then calmed themselves.
There was complete silence.
And then I giggled. And then I couldn't stop. Nico broke out into a fit of laughter and the two on the floor in front of us just stared awkwardly until we gained control of ourselves, tears bursting in our eyes. Tawni stood up and glared at me, but I could tell she was curious as to what I was doing with Nico. "Nice to see you, Portlyn," Tawni muttered, reaching for a box of matches to start lighting the many candles on the table.
"Portlyn, Nico, this is Jayden," she said, holding her hand out towards her cute friend who wasn't as cute as Nico but was still fairly cute. (A/N Not true! Jayden is a major hottie, Portlyn's just being blind). I shook hands with a bright smile before grabbing some matches myself and getting to work. The sun was nowhere to be seen, today was especially dark, cloudy and stormy.
"Portlyn, may I have a conference with you in the bathroom?" Tawni asked, lighting up the last of the candles. I smiled at her and turned to look at Nico who was talking to Jayden, before following Tawni down the small hallway. The door was slammed shut behind me and I was pinned against the counter.
"What exactly are you doing with him? I thought you didn't like the Randoms?" she hissed. I quirked an eyebrow. I'm guessing Nico is the 'him' she was referring to.
"I like you guys. I might say the same thing to you! What were you doing with that guy!" I jabbed a finger at her and crossed my arms, waiting for whatever witty comment she had. Instead, I was surprised to find Sonny's signature technique make an appearance as Tawni blushed a light pink. I gasped dramatically, hands in front of the mouth and everything.
"You like him!" I exclaimed, as though it were the end of the world. Tawni hung her head and nodded.
"He is amazing," she drawled. "And he's a beefcake. And he's cute. It's amazing how perfect we could be together. I just need him to ask me out. And possibly get more sleep." I tsked her.
"There will be plenty of time for sleeping once Sonny and Chad are free. Have you tried to call her lately?" Tawni blushed again and opened the door, walking out to the guys in the living room.
"No, I haven't, I went to sleep actually. Should we call her now?" My stomach growled loudly, and I pushed a hand into it as I walked to open up the fridge.
"I guess we can- put her on speaker phone... Tawn?"
"Yeah?"
"Why is the refrigerator empty...?" I turned around and Jayden had a guilty look on his face while Nico laughed softly.
"I was really hungry- I'm going to buy Sonny all of her groceries once she gets out, don't worry!" I giggled lightly and watched Tawni punch in Sonny's number. I tried my hardest, not to let my eyes wander to Nico's beautifully messy eyes and his uber cute smile, but it didn't work too well. He caught me, and rather than awkwardly look away, he stared right back, smiling at me.
"I'm hungry..." I mumbled.
"I'll go raid Chad's place," Nico announced cheerfully. "Come with, Jayden," he added, jabbing him in the arm. Not sure if that was going to go down well with Chad once he got out.
I watched them as they both left, "The key's under the mat!" I called- and once the door closed, Tawni and I sighed. They'd become friends quite quick, I wonder how Chad's gonna react when he finds out people he secretly liked (but pretended to hate) went in his apartment. Just like Jayden and Nico were, I suddenly felt really close with Tawni. Maybe it was the conversation in the bathroom, I don't know, but Tawni wasn't as bad as I thought she was-even if she did think that I needed to exfoliate.
"He's the one Tawni," I murmured, sitting next to her as she rang Sonny. "I can tell. He's it." Tawni smirked at me.
"I believe you," she decided. Then, there was a click and some rustling.
"Hello?" Sonny croaked. "Tawni? Are you here yet?"
"We are at your apartment, Portlyn is here too."
"Oh, good. What's happening, can I get out soon?"
I sighed. "The power plant and the fire department are on their way over," I told her. "They need to clear out the roads, but they should be here soon. Are you holding up alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was sleeping for a while, you guys woke me up...Chad?" I stifled a giggle.
"How's Chad doing?" Tawni asked slyly. I could almost hear Sonny's eyes roll.
"He's great, you just woke him up, too," her hand went over the receiver. "How are you feeling?" We could hear him say something, and Sonny laughed lightly. Tawni shot me a look before we stared back at the phone.
"Sonny? Don't leave us hanging!" There was silence... for a long time. "Sonny?" I asked again. Then, I heard rustling, quick and fast, and Sonny started hyperventilating.
"Oh, God, I just kissed him..." she mumbled into the phone, trying to be as quiet as she could.
"WHAT?" Tawni and I shrieked. We stared at each other with our mouths hanging open, but we were both still smiling so much.
I could hear Sonny crying softly, and I started to feel bad for her. She must be so worked up after the night she's been through. Poor darling. "Sonny, it's okay. They're on their way here; we'll call you as soon as they get in. Just hang on for a little longer, okay?"
"Okay," she sobbed, sounding like a small child, so sad and pathetic. "Just please get me out." I nodded, even if she couldn't see.
"I will honey, we're all waiting for you! I made friends with Chad's friends-"
"Like me! Well, it's only me but yeah."I cut in when Tawni was trying to speak.
"-so don't embarrass yourself too much." Tawni continued. Sonny laughed lightly and mumbled another okay before we hung up on her.
"Okay!" a voice exclaimed loudly. "We come bearing gifts." I looked up, and there was Jayden, an arm filled with food. Nico was carrying a basket full of food as well, along with a flashlight. Thankfully, the sun was rising, even through the clouds, so eventually we'd be able to see.
"What are we making?" Tawni asked, walking directly up to Jayden (I took note of that). Nico caught my eye and looked between the two of them and myself, almost asking if I thought they were hooking up. I grinned and nodded, before walking up to him.
"Bacon," Jayden mumbled. "Eggs... I brought the fixings for breakfast, pretty much..." Tawni and I nodded, grabbed as much food as we could and walked into Sonny's spacious kitchen, digging around with the aid of some candles for all the pots and pans. I pulled out a frilly pink apron and threw it at Tawni, it was one that Sonny liked to hide, and funnily enough, there was a gigantic 'Sonny is the best' embroidered on to it. She wrinkled her nose at me, but I ignored her and pulled a 'Kiss the Cook' apron over my head.
I felt a pair of lips at my cheek and when I looked, Jayden was grinning goofily at me, winking before going to stand by Tawni who gave me a high five. I laughed, breaking some eggs into a dish.
"Port," Tawni called out, and I turned my head quickly to see what she wanted.
And I kissed Nico.
Holy mother of all things that are good and lovely and amazing and, I KISSED HIM, in this world.
He had been leaning in to kiss my cheek, but Tawni, the sly dog, made me turn my head. I promise, I wouldn't have turned it anyway- I didn't even know he was there!
The nice thing was, neither of us broke away. When we did, my eyes opened very slowly, and met with his. We hadn't broken away at all, we'd just let go of each others' lips. He wasn't moving, just staring at me. I watched his lips curls into a smile, and realised that mine were mirroring his.
"Sorry," he muttered. I wrinkled my nose playfully.
"No hard feelings," I said. "The apron owns all. It must be obeyed." Nico laughed heartily with me and I turned back to my bowl, picking up some more ingredients for the pancakes. I heard Jayden attempting to explain the proper technique for cooking bacon, and Tawni scoffed, telling him quite simply that he was an idiot. A cute one, though.
"Oh, jeez!" I heard Nico exclaim, and then I felt milk, all over my sleeve. My mouth dropped open, and I looked up at him slowly, carefully. He looked terrified, and truly sorry, the measuring cup and carton of milk suspended in mid air from where he'd frozen. I had my own measuring cup as well, filled with pre-sifted white flour. Which, promptly found its way in his face.
"Oops," I said innocently, scooping out another cup, dumping it into the mix.
He looked like a ghost as he carefully put down the milk. His eyes were closed and his lips pursed inwards, it was seriously caked on to him, there had been a lot. He blew out through his nostrils, which sent two tiny puffs of smoke into the air. And then, he shook his head, violently, leaning in towards me.
My scream caused Jayden and Tawni to jump, looking at us strangely. I was dusted in flour, all over my shirt and my black hair and Nico was just grinning beautifully as he wiped his face in a cup towel. I glared at him and wiped myself off with the apron, barely catching the look that Tawni shot. I pulled out a whisk and violently began beating my batter.
There was a soft touch on my arm and I looked up to see Nico watching me with the kindest, most cautious eyes I had ever seen. My face softened, I relaxed entirely, just because he wanted it so. When he smiled, I smiled. And when he leaned in to me, I leaned in to him.
Who knew Nico could be such a romantic?
OK guys, Nico is a little OOC but I needed him to be romantic to get them moving along. Because to be honest, I'm not really into Nico and Portlyn as couple so the sooner they were done and dusted the better, we could get onto the juicy parts. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow or the day after. Most likely it will be what happened in the elevator *hint hint*.
Sorry for the late update, my e-mail was being funny. For some reason, even though I enabled my alerts I wasn't getting any alerts or reviews. But when I started reminiscing the good old days I decided I had to read some Life with Derek fanfics, after I went online and watched ALL the episodes (the fanfics were mostly terrible because I am against the idea of step-siblings becoming interested in each other. There are very few alternate Universe ones where they aren't family). I decided to manually go and check my alerts and realised that there were 2010 updates. So now, I've decided to post this (because apparently I had already written it and forgot to post it). I had honestly been stupid enough to believe that people had lost interest and stopped writing. So I stopped updating as well, I thought there would be no one to read it. Yeah, I alert every story I read. That's why there's no way I can catch up with everything.
I will manually go and check my reviews and reply to you guys and do you know how I can get e-mails from fanfic again? Sorry for reviewers that reviewed months after I stopped coming on this site because now I don't know who I had replied to and who I hadn't. It's this thing I have to reply to everyone, I can't stand when people just count how many reviews they get and not even show appreciation to the reviewer. (Yeah, I have this thing about reviewing everything I read as well and only about half of the authors actually reply).
Sorry if this A/N is confused you, just ignore it.
But can I just say...
I'M GLAD TO BE BACK BABY!
