Disclaimer: Amber and Alfie still haven't finished their plan yet! ARGH! I mean come on, Eddie, Jerome, Patricia, and I have finished our plans –after a slight disagreement over if we should all plan together or not (we decided not) –so can't Amber and Alfie just hurry up? Seriously! Sorry about my ranting. I don't own House of Anubis, but until I beat the crap outta Amber and Alfie for being so slow, enjoy Chapter twenty-one: You Like Me?

Chapter twenty-one: You Like Me?

A loud, earsplitting scream came from behind us. I jumped, looking around frantically trying to figure out who screamed. But when I looked at Fabian, he hadn't reacted at all.

"Did you hear someone scream?" I asked slowly, not really wanting to hear the answer I was sure I was going to get.

"No . . . did you?"

I nodded my head dejectedly. "Yeah. Great, I knew I shouldn't have eaten those cookies."

"I thought you'd only had one," Fabian said, confused.

"Well, I had one when you told me to, but after I gave out the rest there were a few left and . . . yeah. So now I'm hallucinating even worse than normal."

Fabian wrapped an arm around my shoulders, hugging me close. After a few minutes we got up and made our way back into the house. Amber was waiting on us with a huge smile on her expectant face.

"Fabian! Did you tell her?" she demanded, bouncing on the tips of her toes. "Well? Did you?"

"Tell me what?" I asked, looking at Fabian. But before Fabian could say anything, Amber hit him on the arm.

"You didn't tell her?!" she hissed. "Rutter, I told you to tell her while you were outside!"

"I was going to, but she had a –a problem," Fabian stuttered over the word problem, making me sigh.

"Just call it what it was," I said. "It was a hallucination. I thought I heard someone scream."

Amber pulled me out of Fabian's grasp and scooped me up in a hug. "It'll be okay," she murmured. "You'll be fine."

"What's wrong?" I heard Mara ask from behind me. Amber immediately let me go and faced the bookish girl.

"Um, Nina fell down! I was being a good friend and giving her a hug," Amber lied. I had to bite down a smile; she was getting to be as bad a liar as I was.

Mara looked like she didn't believe her, but let it slide. Maybe she had to do homework, maybe she had to go see Mick. I didn't know, nor did I really care at that moment. I was just glad she didn't pry. Once Mara was gone, Amber turned back to me.

"So, I'll leave you two alone so Fabian can tell you what he should've told you about ten minutes ago," she said, taking small steps backward. "I'll see you two afterwards. Tell me what happens!"

Then Amber walked out of the main corridor, leaving Fabian and I stunned. Well, I amended after glancing at Fabian, I was stunned. Fabian was nervous. Why was he so nervous?

"Well this is awkward," I commented.

"You have no idea," Aria said, walking into the room. "Come on, Nina, you know what he's going to say."

I actually had no freakin idea, but I wasn't going to say that. Besides, I wasn't about to talk to her.

"Nina?" Fabian asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Hey, I thought you blacked out on me."

I shook my head, clearing the few remaining tendrils of thought from my mind. "No, I'm fine."

"Aria?"

"Mm hm," I mumbled. When I glanced up, I saw said redhead smirking at me.

"Nina? Nina, ignore her. Just because she's there, doesn't mean she has control over you," Fabian said slowly. "Make her go away. You can do it."

"No I can't," I said softly. "I can't make her go away. Fabian, what am I going to do?"

"Give me your phone," he said suddenly.

"What?" That so wasn't what I had expected him to say.

"Give me your cell phone," Fabian said again. I handed him the phone and watched as he scrolled through my contacts until he came to a name that I was seriously hoping he wouldn't call. Dr. Jenks. Within second, Fabian had the doctor on the phone.

"Hello, Dr. Jenks? This is Fabian, a close friend of Nina Martin. I was wondering if it would be okay for me to come with Nina tomorrow. Mmm hmm, yes ma'am, of course. Yes, I'll tell her. No, you don't have to worry about me getting in the way. Alright. Thank you, Dr. Jenks. See you tomorrow."

Fabian ended the call before handing me back my phone. I couldn't even form a complete thought as I realized what Fabian had just done. He was coming with me tomorrow to see my therapist. That thought snapped me out of my state. I hit Fabian on the shoulder.

"What were you thinking?!" I demanded angrily. "Now I have to take you to see my freaking therapist?! You're not helping! I can't believe I actually thought that I liked you and could trust you!"

As I tried to calm down, I realized what I had just said. Oh crap. I told Fabian I liked him. I cannot believe I had just done that. Now he was probably going to leave and tell everyone how ignorant I was and maybe even tell them how insane I was. I had just started to turn around and walk off when I felt someone grab my hand.

I looked up to see Fabian smiling at me, a soft look in his eyes. What was he doing? Fabian pulled me close and wrapped me in his arms. At first I wasn't sure what he was doing, and then I realized he was giving me a hug. Why was he hugging me? I tried to push away, and Fabian obviously got the memo because he let me go.

"You like me?" he asked, that joyful smile still plastered on his face.

"Well . . . yeah, I do. And I know you only see me as a friend, probably not even that, and it's okay. I know how I am, and I know that you deserve better than the resident freak." I started to turn and leave before Fabian said the one thing I thought I would never heard come from anyone when talking to me.

"I like you too."

"You what?" Needless to say, I was a bit surprised.

"Nina, I wouldn't go on a fake date with anyone I didn't actually like. Why do you think I asked you on the date?" Fabian questioned, a smile still on his face.

"Because you pitied me?" I tried.

Fabian shook his head. "No, Nina. I don't pity you. You're brave and strong and beautiful. Everyone should wish they could be like you. Heck, I wish I was half as great as you. Then I'd be epic," Fabian tried to joke. It did make me smile a bit.

"Fabian, you've got it backwards," I protested. "You're brave to stick with me. You're stronger than I could ever be. I'm not going to say you're beautiful because that would just be weird, but I will say you're handsome. If I was half as great as you, I'd be amazing."

"You are amazing," Fabian countered.

We tried to one up each other with our compliments while downplaying ourselves until I eventually got fed up with it. This was getting us nowhere.

"Okay, so we're both pretty awesome," I decided. "But you seriously like me? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Nina if I had told you that I liked you before you were ready to hear it, you would've ran the other way and never spoke to me again. I know you," he explained. I had to admit he was right. "But why didn't you tell me that you like me?"

"Well, I thought you only thought I was a friend. I'm still not caught up on this whole dating thing yet, but I think that if one friend tells the other friend that they like them and the other doesn't return those feelings, then the friendship would get a bit awkward," I said in a rush.

"I guess we're both at fault," he determined. "But since we both like each other, I have a very important question for you."

"Go on," I prompted when Fabian hesitated.

"Okay. Um, Nina, since we both like each other and everything, would you be interested in possibly . . . being my girlfriend?" Fabian tried with a nervous smile.

I was stunned into silence. Fabian wanted me to be his girlfriend?! Why? I mean, I knew he just told me he liked me, but liking someone is a whole lot different than wanting to go out with them. Fabian took my silence the wrong way and started to leave.

"Wait!" I said, making him freeze in his tracks. "I was just surprised. Yes. I'll go out with you."

Fabian's small smile grew into a huge, joyous one. With a happy laugh, he grabbed me in another hug. I laughed too. I finally had a boyfriend, and he liked me for who I was, not who I pretended to be.

Fabian and I stood there in the corridor, held in each other's arms, for what felt like forever and no time at all. Our relationship might've started out with a huge secret in our way, but now there was nothing between us. I smiled to myself. This was perfect.

Okay, so that was really short and really random. I apologize for that. But hey, Fabina is finally a reality! YES! Next chapter Fabian gets to meet Dr. Jenks. Hey, random question –Do you guys know the name of the song whose lyrics are as follows: And I don't want the world to see me. I just don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. Pretty please tell me? Thanks for reading!

~C