Fabian crept into his room and fell face down onto his bed. His insides felt all shriveled up like a raisin, or an old man. The most overwhelming feeling that came to him then was that of embarrassment. He never should have pushed things. He had probably ruined things with Nina forever.
But then- the lights in his room flashed on.
All the guys in the House were sitting in there- waiting for him.
"What do you want?" he groaned, contorting his face from the frown to his normal 'Fabian-smile.' It was hard, so he kept his face pressed down into his pillow until he could rearrange his frown fully.
"Sooo… how was it?" asked Alfie barely able to contain himself. Fabian was faintly worried that they the light in the room would draw Victor there, but he really didn't care that much.
"What?" was all Fabian could ask.
"Nina! So are you guys official?" asked Mick. Fabian could practically hear Mick's smug smile.
"What do you mean?" Fabian said, deciding to play it dumb. How embarrassing would it be to tell the guys that she turned him down?
"Come-on mate!" said Mick loud enough that even Alfie shushed him and looked worriedly at the door.
"You guys were out there for hours! You mean to tell me you guys weren't snogging the entire time?" Mick continued, this time a little quieter.
"Embarrassed?" added Jerome smirking. He loved to see Fabian squirm- that's why he insisted on being there when Fabian got back. Alfie had followed him.
"Will you guys go away?" Fabian said, irked.
"Nope," they all said much too cheerfully.
"It wasn't like that at all," said Fabian turning over on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. Before the guys could say anything else- Fabian let it out,
"She wouldn't let me kiss her,"
"She wouldn't LET you?" Said Jerome skeptically, "Who cares if she lets y-"
Jerome was interrupted by Mick and Alfie who shushed him and were demanding an explanation from Fabian.
"When I asked why, she said that I would know why," Fabian explained.
There was a lot of muttering and attempts at justification of her behavior.
"Is that all she said?" asked Mick sounding surprised.
Fabian nodded.
"Something's not right," Mick finally said.
The next morning was a Sunday.
Patricia woke early (actually just earlier than USUAL, she usually slept into well past 10:00) when she heard a knock at the door.
No one wakes Patricia up when she wants to sleep. She rolled out of bed, grabbed a notebook, opened the door, and threw it at Jerome's waiting face.
Jerome ducked.
"Not a morning person?" he asked and strolled right in as if he owned the place.
Mara came in moments later, also still in PJS, carrying a muffin and a textbook and stopped dead.
"You did NOT just wake her," she said in awe and slightly frightened. Mara cautiously looked at Patricia who she feared would fly into a fury at any moment.
"Why would you wake me?" Patricia yelled. (it was too early to all-out scream with her voice).
"I thought you would like to hear the interesting development that occurred last night," said Jerome instantly grabbing their attention.
"What?" asked Mara.
"Well, we all talked to Fabian, after Nina and Fabian came in last nig-" he began.
Patricia cut right through him, "-ohh so they guys are now having girly gossip sessions?"
Jerome ignored her, "As I was saying- long story short- it didn't work. Nothing changed between Nina and Fabian. It looks like she doesn't like him after all,"
The girls were shocked. Jerome was pleased to be the one to deliver this news.
"We are having a meeting. Now." said Patricia as she sent out a mass text. She didn't like it when plans she made didn't work.
Patricia wasn't big on 'setting people up' and all that girly jazz so she just wanted to get this over with. Why is this so difficult? she wondered.
The text was effective. Everyone (aside from Nina and Fabian of course) assembled in their room within 5 minutes.
Jerome tried to explain the story of last night again. But of course, the girls were not satisfied with his level of detail. Mick tried to explain what Fabian had said, but he gave even less detail than Jerome.
"Mick, what was his facial expression when he said it?" asked Amber.
"Was his tone of disappointment or just discouragement?" asked Mara.
"Were those his exact words?" demanded Patricia.
"I don't know!" Mick said helplessly overwhelmed.
The girls were conferring about the little details to the story as the guys watched the girls jump to conclusions.
The chatting got so loud that no one heard the quiet knock at the door. When no one responded, the door quietly opened.
Alfie quickly turned around and everyone likewise turned automatically. The room instantly went silent when they saw Fabian was standing there with his arms crossed.
"What exactly are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.
Everyone quickly said, "Nothing!" but Fabian stood in the doorway unmoving.
"I heard my name," he stated simply, "I want to know why you are talking about me,"
That was so typically Fabian. Unwavering and always seeking the truth. This was the boy they all loved and cared for as a brother and a friend. So after staring at each other for a tense moment they told him what they were up to.
"You're kidding," was all he could say as he sat dumbfounded sliding down the doorframe into a sitting position.
"Guys- why would you do something like that?" Fabian asked. They had never seen him so upset.
"We want to help!" said Amber.
"So you're saying, that even with you all trying to pair us up—Nina still won't go out with me? So you've been sneakily trying to convince Nina to go out with me this entire time? AND- you found out from a game of Truth-or-Dare that Nina doesn't like me and you TOLD me to ask her out anyway?" They had never seen Fabian like this. He didn't yell but they could hear the betrayal seeping out of the cracks in his voice.
"We didn't know about the game of Truth-or-Dare until after we talked to you," Mick said feebly trying to defend the group.
"But that just PROVES that we were all thinking the same thing and you guys would be great together," said Patricia strongly glaring back at him. She felt angry. She was trying to do something nice and here Fabian was all upset about it.
Fabian took a deep breath, "Even Jerome?" he asked.
"What?" asked Jerome as the entire room turned towards him.
"You thought that Nina liked me? And you wanted to help?" Fabian challenged.
"Uh," Jerome was initially doing this because it involved lots of gossip-slash-'undercover'-work BUT lately and mostly because Patricia was so invested in this little project.
"Sure," Jerome replied stoically.
"Now I'm convinced," said Fabian rolling his eyes.
"Talk to us," commanded Amber, "we think something is weird about the way Nina rejected you last night."
Fabian's face burned red with extreme embarrassment.
Mara chimed in and tried to steer the conversation towards the actual problem solving.
"So she gave you no reason?" Mara asked.
"No. She said I would know why," replied Fabian who was still red. He didn't like talking about this as a group, it embarrassed him. He didn't like thinking that he needed help to get Nina to like him. It was pathetic.
"So she has no boyfriend. She's not a homosexual. Fabian hasn't done anything bad to annoy or anger her. She doesn't like anyone right now… does she?" asked Mara.
"She might like someone else!" said all the girls snapping their fingers.
"Let's talk to her!" said Amber jumping up.
"Woah Woah Woah!" said Fabian blocking the doorway.
He crossed his arms and everyone automatically sat back down.
"Let's set some ground rules shall we?" started Fabian. As the others started to protest he added, "I think you owe me that much after setting my clothes on fire and locking us out in the rain."
Mara and Mick hung their heads at the mention of the clothes. How'd he know about that? they wondered.
"Fine," conceded Patricia.
"I don't mind if you find out about what she meant by "I would know why." But, honestly- It's probably because she doesn't like me. It's fine." He said trying to sound indifference. "But- do not interfere anymore," continued Fabian.
"But-" said Amber.
"Do not interfere," said Fabian.
Everyone nodded quietly, surprised at Fabian's assertiveness. The boys left, led by Fabian. And the girls quietly left the room to find Nina to find once and for all why she rejected Fabian.
It's finally up! I apologize for the delay. This chapter had to be put in as a proper transition- although it is mostly dialogue- I felt it was necessary to get the this in there at some point. No worries though, next chapter is intended to have more Fabina :)
Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter- I wish I could respond to each one right now- but I'm just going to cut to the chase and continue to write the next chapter. I appreciate you all for taking the time to write something back about my story- I took each to heart and truly considered them while writing this chapter.
The next chapter will come up tomorrow (or sooner if I get enough reviews to push me to move faster!)