Chapter 11
Resplendent
.:Jay:.
When Jay had first caught the girl around the waist and peered into her amber eyes, the first word that entered his mind was 'Kai'. For a moment, it really terrified Jay, considering he really did not want to have feelings for his roommate and be one of those pathetic characters in love stories who see the person they love in literally everything! But it was after he took a look at the girl's face when he realised she looked nearly the same as the girl in Kai's photo… His sister.
For the whole night, Jay couldn't keep his eyes away from her. Creepy, yes, he knew that but he couldn't help it. There was… Something different about her. Not because she was his roommate's sister but… it was something else. There was something that singled her from the other girls.
It wasn't just her beauty. No way. Well… Yes, Nya was very, very, beautiful. Heck, even rivalling Skylor's beauty. She wasn't the typically tall skinny girl with the slim figure, big breast and big butt. No, she had broad shoulders with nicely toned arms. Her breasts were… eh, average and her butt small but there was something about it that made her really appealing to Jay.
Maybe it was the way she walked. She didn't walk like any other girl with the typical bobbing 'up' and 'down'… but Jay didn't know what exactly made her walk differently. Or maybe it was the way that she wasn't the typical girl who would fall head over heels upon seeing him or Lloyd. In fact, it was like she wanted to avoid every single guy at their academy.
Whatever she had that managed to captivate him was starting to slowly starting to drive him insane… Insane to the point that Jay had to beg Lloyd to try and ask Skylor to dance so Jay could just get a moment alone with Nya and find out what it was about her that was magnetising.
… Ugh, if Kai ever found out, he would literally skin him alive!
Buuuuuut then again, Kai made him and Lloyd promise not to talk about his sister… Nothing about not actually pursuing her when he wasn't around.
So Jay made sure not to hold Nya's hand too tightly or intimately, the last thing he would want was for her to tell Kai and then have his roommate skin him alive. But, he also noticed the way that she flinched at Cole's touch and figured that if he handled her gently, she would be more willing to dance with him.
However, as he walked to find an empty spot for them to dance in, Jay was hoping that Nya would actually… Say something. She was really quiet – almost like her brother. Nevertheless, the boy managed to find a spot and pulled her -slowly and gently- in a waltz hold.
"Ummm… Maybe this is a bad idea," she mumbled, looking down to her feet and slightly pulling her body away from his.
"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Jay asked, trying not to let panic be heard into his voice.
"What? No… It's just that… well… I've never properly danced before."
"Never danced before?" Jay gasped.
"Kind of…"
"Hey, that's okay. Just don't look down to your feet, it'll just confuse you more. Just listen to the music and let me guide you and you'll be fine."
"You've danced before?" She asked, looking up to him with amber eyes Jay had seen so many times before. Actually… It was kind of creepy how much she looked like Kai.
"Errr… My parents sort of taught me?" Jay weakly and unsurely answered before cringing at what he said. Good one. How to Lose Girls 101, say stupid stuff!
"That's cool that they've taught you that," she said quietly and looked away.
Jay immediately noticed the change in mood. Then again… It wasn't exactly happy to begin with – heck, Jay hadn't even seen her smile yet. The only time he had seen her smile… Would have been that picture Kai had. Jay wanted to ask her what was wrong… But considering they have only met tonight and that she could possibly as secretive as her brother, she probably wouldn't tell him anything.
"Ready?"
"… I guess."
With that, Jay pulled her closer to him and slowly danced with her to the music. At first, she didn't move with him. Whenever he tried directing her to go in a particular direction, she would go the other way. Luckily, after thirty seconds, she managed to get the point that when he said he would guide her, she was meant to go with it. Other than that, she had stumbled a couple times… Okay, more than a couple times. More like over ten times but each time, Jay's fast reflexes would catch her before she could face plant into the floor – much like Kai, she had horrible balance.
But over time (more like after another minute), the soft and melodious sound of the string orchestra spun around them, lifting away gravity. Jay couldn't count the amount of times Nya had squished his foot under her own; however, not wanting to worry her, he still smiled brightly as their shoes danced over the ballroom floor. Jay had also become mesmerised by the way her raven hair spun out and bounced more with each move and beat. It wasn't just her hair actually; it was her dress too. Although Nya couldn't take large steps, she moved nimbly and the end of her red dress would billow out whenever he spun them in circles.
And, after a coupe minutes, for the first time, Jay saw a smile enter Nya's lips.
.:Nya:.
Nya felt something new. At first, her body detected it as a foreign substance and was screaming at her to abort her current mission and just stop. But normally, whenever this happened, she would feel fear slither through her body, grasping its icy fingers around her throat and stab holes into her lungs to make everything so hard for her to breathe.
But no. This… feeling that Nya had felt wasn't like that. Instead, it felt like she could breathe easier. Then slowly, her body recognised it to be something she had felt once upon a time – a time when everyone she loved was by her side. This feeling that she felt, felt like it had poked invisible into her skin, allowing all the tension she had felt throughout the night to pour out. Nya felt like her steps were lighter, and she couldn't help but tilt her face backwards so she could see the twinkling lights of the chandelier from above.
… And slowly, a genuine smile popped onto her lips.
Nya honestly didn't know why she felt happy or why she was smiling. She was only dancing with Jay.
Maybe… Maybe it was the way he looked at her with that 'charming' grin he self-acclaimed. Nya had to admit, it was a little infectious. Or maybe it got to do with the fact that the last time Nya felt… safe in somebody arms were Kai's many months ago – because right now, she felt oddly safe with Jay's left hand on her hips. She had started to trust him in guiding her, trusting him to ensure she didn't trip and make a fool of herself – and if she did, he would be there to catch her.
"You'll become a pro in no time," Jay grinned from in front of her, his smiling stretching even wider… making her own smile widen.
Traitorous lips… Nya thought bitterly but she couldn't help but welcome the smile and the happiness that flooded into her. It was like a drug – hard and addictive and she didn't want it to stop no matter how many times her mind was telling her to snap out of it.
"I'm not sure about being a pro but at least I can now say I can dance… Considering I have a partner who can guide me as well as you can-" But Nya immediately clamped her lips shut as those words poured out.
Heat instantly attacked her face and she looked away from Jay, feeling stupid and embarrassed. Just who would say stuff like that right in front of the very person they were talking about? However, Nya was surprised when she heard Jay chuckle.
This wasn't just any chuckle either. This wasn't the usual nervous chuckle Jay would make after nobody would laugh at his joke. This wasn't the teasing chuckle Jay would use either whenever he and Lloyd decided to tease her for her lack of skills in certain areas of their training. Heck, this wasn't the loud laughter Jay would make whenever laughing at someone.
No. This chuckle was soft, gentle – a sound that genuinely surprised Nya that it also made her heart beat faster… But not in fear. Huh?
"No need to be embarrassed. I've made a fool out of myself many times before. It's kind of nice seeing someone else do it for once," Jay chuckled.
True… Jay does make a fool out of himself so many times… Like today when he tripped over trying to put on his pants.
"You still can't help but be embarrassed, right?" Nya curiously asked with a slight tilt of her head, no longer focusing her attention on dancing since she trusted Jay to move them.
"Yeah… True- ah!"
Nya gasped as Jay's back collided into another dancing couple, causing the boy to lose his balance… which then resulted her to lose her balance but Nya was fortunate that Jay managed to catch himself and her before they could have really made a scene for themselves on the floor.
"Ow, watch where you're going- oh, Jay?"
Nya looked up and noticed that the couple they coincidently collided into was Lloyd and Skylor… in which the latter was sending a questioning look at Nya, eyes constantly flickering between her and Jay. Nya mentally groaned, knowing she was going to get a lot of questions from Skylor soon.
"Oh, hey Lloyd, Skylor," Jay nervously chuckled, the same chuckle he would do when nobody laughed at his jokes.
"You have a habit of bumping into people, don't you?" Skylor questioned, her eyes looking Jay up and down. "First Nya, now us."
"He also bumped into a couple of other people earlier."
"Lloydddd, you don't have to tell everyone that," Jay immediately whined, making Nya wanting to fight the grin that wanted to enter her lips.
"If it makes you feel better, he's been bumping into other people when we were dancing," Skylor inputted, making the blonde splutter unintelligent words while Jay snorted.
"But in my defence, you bump into a lot more people than me," Lloyd tried justifying.
Geez... And here I thought that two boys who apparently have better special awareness and balance than me wouldn't be bumping into this many people…
"Well, if you two are going to keep fighting, Nya and I are going to get drinks. Enjoy the rest of your night," the redhead announced as she stepped around from Lloyd and grabbed Nya's wrist.
"Ummm… thanks for the dance," Nya managed to say to Jay before Skylor was already dragging her away from the boys… making Nya dread for the questions that were to come.
… And Nya was right to dread for the questions because as soon as the two girls reached the drinks station, Skylor was already exploding in questions.
"You danced with Jay? I thought you weren't going to dance with anyone. And I saw you smiling too. What's with that? I don't even think I saw you smile like that before! Do you like Jay-?!"
"Skylor!" Nya gasped, immediately darting forward to cover her hands over Skylor's lips before grimacing and moving her hands back to feel the stickiness of the lipstick… Lucky for Skylor, Nya didn't smudge her makeup.
"Okay, sorry. Maybe I took it too far with that question."
"You think?" Nya skeptically asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"But you two danced. Tell me about it."
"What is there to tell? We danced. End of story."
"You wanted to full out avoid him yet the second I'm gone, you two already went into each other's arms."
"Seriously Skylor?"
"Okay, sorry. But still! What would make you dance, and with the very person you didn't want to see of all reasons?" The redhead questioned, grabbing Nya's wrists, desperate for answers.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Just like I said. I don't know. He asked, held out his hand and I stupidly took it. Done."
"No, we're not done!"
.:Jay:.
"Are you still there or have you whisked your brain to La La Land already?"
Jaya rapidly blinked when a hand quickly waved in front of his face, resulting him to look to the offender and saw Lloyd standing there, a questioning look that told him 'Talk. Now.'
"Errr, I'm still here."
"Really? Because I've realised you haven't torn your eyes from Kai's sister yet."
"I wasn't looking at Nya," Jay immediately lied, looking at his blonde friend directly in the eyes.
"You're a terrible liar."
"… Yeah… I know," Jay sighed.
"You know this isn't a good idea."
"Yeah, I know."
"I mean this is Kai's sister."
"I know, Lloyd."
"If he finds out, he's not going to be happy."
"I know."
"Heck, he may-"
"Lloyd! I get it!" Jay groaned in frustration. "But… There's just something so different about her."
"… You've really fallen head over heels for her."
"Shut up!" Jay hissed, slugging a deserving punch to Lloyd's arm then ignoring his 'ow!'. "There's really something different. I'm not joking. Haven't you noticed it?"
"I know she's different because she's our grumpy friend's sister! If you had a sister and I decided to hit on her, how would you feel?"
"Indifferent," Jay shrugged before trying to look over Lloyd's shoulder and back to the drinks station, seeing Nya frowning as Skylor was smiling brightly at her.
"Okay, but you're not Kai. He's protective of her considering he told us nothing about her."
"That's because we told him we wouldn't talk to him about her – therefore making him not talk to us about her."
"Exactly!"
"But that's before we were friends. Maybe I could ask him tonight."
"… Or you can go to training tomorrow with a black eye," Lloyd quipped.
"What do you think of Nya?" The brunette asked, ignoring Lloyd's previous commented – causing him to groan.
"I don't want to date her. That's for sure."
"No. I mean as a person. Personality wise. Upon first glance, what can you tell about her character?"
"… I don't know. She's a lot like Kai, that's for sure," Lloyd commented as he turned around to look at the two girls. "She's seems to be sullen like Kai. Doesn't really smile-"
"Exactly, doesn't really smile. Do you remember that photo we saw of Kai and Nya?"
"Yeah…?"
"They were both smiling so brightly. Yet, for the last few months we've been with Kai, he hadn't even smiled like that. In fact, he looks like a depressed version of what he was in the picture."
"What's your point, Jay?"
"And Nya doesn't smile either – but she smiled with me, Lloyd! When we were dancing, before you bumped into me-"
"No, you bumped into me!"
"Irreverent. Do you… Do you think something happened to them?" Jay curiously asked, noticing the way Nya seemed to be distressed while Skylor's expression turned serious.
"… Jay, I think you're seeing things that aren't there," Lloyd said softly, resting a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Kai and Nya are just broody siblings. That's it."
"But the photo-"
"Is just a photo. People smile and pose for photos," the blonde continued. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions when it comes to people… Especially if you're insulating something terrible to one of our friends."
"But I'm not jumping to conclusions," Jay insisted but his friend just shook his head.
"You're jumping to conclusions based on little evidence."
Jay immediately wanted to tell Lloyd that he was wrong, that there was a lot of evidence like Kai's old nightmare habits, how he would dodge questions Jay would ask about home, how he would never take off his shirt – maybe he didn't just have scars from blacksmithing and fighting. Maybe something else. But it was the nightmare habits that was Jay's strongest evidence.
However… Jay couldn't bring himself to tell Lloyd that. If there was anything that Jay had really learnt about Kai was that he hated showing weakness. He would push himself even beyond breaking point in training or even when he was clearly hurting after a harsh training session, he would try to be tough. Jay knew it was hard enough for Kai to even admit to anything about the nightmares… heck, to even allow Jay to see it in the first place – but Jay knew that Kai wouldn't want Lloyd to know…
"… Maybe you're right," Jay muttered quietly.
"Because I am. Look, if something bad was really happening-"
"Happened."
"Fine, if something bad had really happened, then we would have noticed it with a lot of other things. He doesn't cut himself or do any self-harm, does he?"
"Of course not!" Jay gasped.
"Then that's how we know. Stop looking into something that doesn't exist."
Jay sighed, looking away from the two girls and down to his hands where he could remember the feeling of Nya's hips in his left hand and her hand in his right. He knew something wasn't right… He knew that something was going on with both siblings and could possibly be still going on – otherwise if it happened ages ago, surely the two would have finally loosen up, right?
The boy looked back to the girls, seeing Skylor settle on hands on Nya's shoulder – the said girl looking more and more distressed. Jay wanted nothing more than to see that sweet smile on her lips again.
.:Nya:.
"So why did you accept his hand?"
"I don't know, Skylor. I'd just stupidly accepted it. Now can you drop it?"
"No, I won't. You do know why you accepted Jay to a dance."
"I don't."
"You do but you're in denial. I think… I think you actually have a crush on Jay."
Those last seven words repeated like a broken record player in Nya's head over, and over, and over again.
You actually have a crush on Jay.
It made her stomach churn so violently; it made nausea clawed at her throat. It took nearly every fibre of Nya's body to make sure she didn't project her dinner onto Skylor who only looked at her with a small excited grin.
Have a crush… on Jay? But it was absurd! Jay was her roommate-
Your attractively handsome and sometimes funny roommate.
-her teammate, her mentor and one of her friends. She couldn't have a crush on him. Plus, why would she be attracted to him of all people? Sure he was attractive but there was always more to the person then their looks. To Nya, she valued personality and traits. What other aspects did she find appealing in Jay? His humour was sometimes funny, sometimes annoying and sometimes cringe-worthy.
Did Nya like funny guys? Yeah, she guessed she does. After all, humour and happiness happened to distract her mind from her gruelling past. She guessed she also liked how Jay was quite creative and inventive… How he always tried to stay positive and look at things from another angle or perspective-
"Skylor to Nya, you still in there?"
Nya rapidly blinked when a hand waved in front of her face, immediately distracting Nya from her traitorous thoughts. Her amber eyes then glared at the assaulter.
"I. Do. Not. Have. A. Crush. On. Jay." Nya stated firmly.
"You were smiling with him. You barely smile at all. And I mean a genuine smile."
"It's called acting," the raven-haired girl lied.
"Yeah, right," Skylor muttered, rolling her eyes. "Look, if you'd enjoyed yourself, you should go and ask him to dance again-"
"Skylor, no-"
"Nya, you can keep lying to me all you want about not feeling a single thing for Jay but you can't keep lying to yourself. Just go."
"Y-You have to go!"
"N-No! I'm not leaving you!"
"Just go! I promise to catch up!"
"Nya? What's wrong?"
"N-No. You promised… Y-You promised! I-I can't… Now without y-you."
"Then trust me when I say I'll catch up. Now go!"
"Nya!"
.:Skylor:.
"Nya? What's wrong?"
Something was wrong. The redhead immediately knew that when she had worriedly spotted her friend's face suddenly losing all colour. She knew that when Nya's eyes, which were glaring seconds ago, suddenly wide with fear. Then, Skylor could just barely hear the irregular and panic short breaths coming from the shorter girl, accompanied with frantic rises and falls of her chest.
Skylor didn't know what had happened. One moment, she was relaying the possibility of Nya potentially having a crush on Jay and the next moment, Nya seemed to be having a panic attack. How did mentioning a crush suddenly cause a panic attack, Skylor would never know but she knew one thing for certain: she had to snap her friend out of it and fast.
"Nya!" Skylor exclaimed, as she immediately placed her hands on the girl's shoulder, hoping to ground her to reality instead of whatever she was seeing. "Come on, snap out of it."
But the raven-haired girl didn't. Instead, she seemed to be panicking much worse. Skylor knew if she didn't snap Nya out of it, she was going to draw a lot of attention – attention that Skylor knew her friend would hate. So, Skylor quickly grabbed Nya's wrist and pulled her through the crowd and out of the ballroom. The redhead would frequently look over her shoulder to keep an eye on Nya, to make sure she wasn't spiralling down dangerously into her panic attack.
Once the two were alone in the empty hall that led to the ballroom, Skylor gently pressed the stunned girl to the wall, not wanting her to fall or lose balance. Then, she grasped Nya's face in her hands and forced her face to stare at hers.
"Nya, listen to me. Listen to my voice, okay?" Skylor urged as her fingers strummed against the girl's pale skin. "Whatever you're seeing, it's in the past. Whatever you're scared of or whatever your sick uncle is doing to you, he can't do it to you again."
Once those words exited Skylor's lips, she'd desperately hoped that Nya would calm down… but she didn't. Instead, it probably took a minute more of coaxing and comforting words from Skylor until her friend finally started to calm down… but not without the tears.
Skylor felt sadness ebb at her chest as Nya's eyes dripped with tears. Moment by moment, they fell; the salty drops cutting through the makeup. It was pure instinct that made Skylor rush forward and gather the broken girl into her arms.
"Shhhh, it's okay," Skylor murmured, rubbing her hands up and down the girl's tense back in hopes of comforting her.
However, Nya immediately pushed herself away from Skylor. Grey eyes watched as the girl hurriedly wiped her tears away, smudging the makeup. Then, the redhead could hear her muttering words to herself, words that she couldn't hear.
"… Sorry," Nya eventually whispered with clarity although voice still raw with emotion. "I-I didn't mean to freak out on you."
"No, it's okay. I promise," Skylor reassured her before hesitantly resting a hand on Nya's shoulder. "Let's end the night early. How does that sound to you?"
"… That sounds really good."
SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I had a surprise exam and a 50% weighted assignment thrown at me so both of them took my attention and made their way to the top of my priority list… As well as work. I've been working for more than 16 hours each week since I have last posted. I mean, yay, I'm getting more money but I'm just finding myself exhausted. Anyway, my assignment is due tomorrow, when I got another shift, but I needed a break from it so here I am updating.
ANYWAY, massive thanks to everyone who has reviewed! This story has surpassed 100 reviews within ten chapter – it's honestly amazing! I love you all and for your support – again, it's amazing! Massive thanks to: Natalie Singe, Beatitude Girl, unknown, Guest, RandomDragon2.0, JSNI, MortalNinja, EchoIsACutie, Joel, Cerenda, Hoppy854 for favouriting, Jaell and my silent readers!
EchoIsACutie: Do I think I'll ever upload those other fanfictions? No, I probably won't haha. They're really personal to me since I've cooperated something that has happened into my life – the goods and the bad and just place it into retrospective to the show/movie/book I was writing for.
Cerenda: You and me both! xD I'm pretty awkward in dances. I'm someone who loves to hug but other than that, hates being touched haha. So a crowd of bodies is definitely not my cup of tea (which reminds me, after I update this, I need to refill my cup).
Once again, thank you everyone for supporting me. And again again, I'm happy to receive any harsh criticism – they won't hurt me, they just tell me what I need to improve on so I can make this story enjoyable for everyone! Unfortunately, I'll be updating in two weeks' time since I'm working 8 hours next weekend and got to sit two 3 hour exams next Sunday T.T
But I'll see you all in two weeks where I have finally decided to have mercy on you all and give you an actual insight of what happened to Kai! Until then, xoxo – ZaneLoverfan88