"Patricia!" Fabian yelled as Victor left the room. They were all on the floor cleaning up the shattered plates according to Victor's command.
"What did you DO?" he asked. He had felt that Nina was going to say something important to him and Patricia just messed everything up!
"Hey I was just seeing if she would get jealous," Patricia defended with a shake of the head.
"Stop trying to manipulate me and Nina!" he said rubbing his temples- now he had THIS to fix.
"So do you think she likes him?" Patricia asked Mara paying Fabian absolutely no attention.
"I. Am. Standing. Right. Here." Fabian said, tempted for the first time in his life to actually 'grit' his teeth.
Mara who was more considerate of Fabian's feelings was about to quietly suggest that they take this discussion to their room where Fabian would not be disturbed- but her phone interrupted her.
She had a text from Amber. (Apparently Amber had felt that ten minutes was plenty of time for Fabian and Nina to get together. Amber was dying with curiosity to hear of everyone's surprise when everything worked out.)
Incoming Text (1) AMBER: When r u going to tell me how wonderful I am?
Mara ignored that first text, but she responded when she saw the second text that came in only seconds later:
Incoming Text (1) AMBER: Hullo? I fixed everything! Fabian and Nina are together now- rite?
Mara shushed everyone as she immediately called Amber after reading the last text. They all looked questioningly at her. She put the cell on speakerphone when Amber picked up on the second ring.
"Amber! What do you mean that you fixed everything between Nina and Fabian?" asked Mara, cutting straight to the chase.
"Do I have to explain everything?" Amber said as they listened to her sigh from across the line.
"Just tell us!" yelled Patricia, who was becoming more and more ticked off by the second.
"Nina thought that Fabian and Patricia liked each other so she said she couldn't like Fabian. But, since I am so BRILLIANT- I figured out and set her straight on that crazy idea- and she said she would tell Fabian that she liked him. So, how'd it go?"
Upon hearing that Nina liked him Fabian felt a smile instantly grow on his face. It was as if all as it should be- oh wait. Except for the fact that Patricia kissed him and ruined everything!
Fabian snapped his head up at Patricia, "See? This is what meddling does!"
"Hullo?" Amber called from the phone.
Patricia clicked END CALL-and faced Fabian.
"Minor setback," Patricia said methodically shaking it off, "I knew she liked you!" she said triumphantly.
"Then why'd you kiss me?" said Fabian, still unhappy at Patricia for going against her word.
Fabian was going to argue some more, but he decided it would be best to just walk away and find Nina.
This was just too much drama for him. The House just put too much Uncertainty in the air. Everyone in the House had done so much manipulating and confused the fact so much that he needed to turn that Uncertainty into some grounded form of fact. The only way to do that was to go to Nina and just talk.
He wanted to be certain that Nina liked him, because he couldn't trust that even that was true. For now he would just be uncertain on everything and do everything in his power to not get his hopes up again.
He walked out of the House and across the grounds. As he was walking he saw a purple flower that has sprung up in the garden after the big rain the last night. He picked it and looked at it as he walked.
After crossing the grounds several times over, he decided to check back at the Anubis House for Nina. On his way, he saw that someone was sitting on the pavilion that backed up to the House.
He would have recognized that long brown hair anywhere- It was Nina! She was facing away from him. Fabian walked loudly towards her so that she wouldn't be surprised by his sudden appearance.
As he approached her, she didn't turn towards him.
Fabian tugged at his collar. He had some explaining to do.
"Nina?" he said. He saw Nina's head bob after a minute. It was barely a twitch, but he took that as permission to move on and start his talking.
"I want you to know that I don't like Patricia. I never have. I've always liked you. I like you so much that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. And… And…" Fabian stopped. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He had never told a girl how he felt, and he thought that he was doing a pretty poor job.
He wished he could have a second chance and reword everything perfectly. He wished he could be like one of those dashing young Englishmen who could sweep Nina off her feet with just a few words, but Nina didn't even turn around to look at him.
He guessed that she may be mad at him. It was unlike Nina to be this cryptic or unforgiving but he was sensitive and asked her, "Should I just go now?"
Still she said nothing. He took this as his cue to leave.
He set down the purple flower on the ledge of the pavilion. He hoped she might pick it up later. He lightly set his hand to rest on the rail next to the flower and heard a distinct "click."
Suddenly he heard the piercing noise of wood moving and a "WHOOSH!" He was barely able to process what then happened in front of him. He watched the center of the pavilion give way and Nina fall right through the center.
He immediately jumped back from the pavilion and yelled "Nina!"
When he moved away, he felt a wooden switch move beneath his hand and realized what he had done. That switch he had rested his hand on was what opened the secret spot that Nina had fallen through.
He couldn't help it, but the first thought that came to mind was that of great irony.
Of course! he thought in the back of his mind, the one girl that I actually like- and I accidentally get her thrown down a creepy hole that appears in the center of a normal looking Pavilion. Figures.
He called to her again as he approached the hole, worried. Although the wood looked rather stable it cracked when he took a step further.
He toppled right in. Thankfully it wasn't a far drop. He was even more thankful that he didn't fall right on top of Nina.
When the dusty air cleared, he saw Nina lying next to him. He immediately sat up in alarm.
"Nina! Are you ok?" he asked hesitantly putting an arm on her shoulder.
"Yah," she said with a slight groan. "My ankle hurts."
Fabian wanted to check it out but Nina wouldn't let him.
"Are you still really mad at me? " Fabian asked nervously.
"What are you talking about?" asked Nina who was now distracted from her hurting ankle. She suddenly noticed how close they both were as she could do nothing but look him straight in the eye. She was able to find refuge from looking in his eyes by folding up her ear bud wires.
"Wait! Were you just listening to your music player?" asked Fabian suddenly.
"Yah," she replied, "But all of a sudden the floor opened beneath me- and here we are," she explained.
Fabian started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" she asked trying not to smile.
Fabian explained that he had been trying to talk to her earlier and just had a one sided conversation so he thought she was ignoring him. Nina laughed at this. Then with seriousness, Fabian explained how he was responsible for their being stuck because he accidentally clicked the switch.
"That's odd," Nina commented, "I thought only the necklace opened passages and clues of the House."
They glanced around and saw that they had landed in a dark claustrophobic corridor. There was a hallway with a low lying ceiling right in front of them.
Water dripped from somewhere and it was oddly cold down there.
"Should we look around?" asked an always curious Nina.
"Are you able to with your ankle?" asked Fabian.
In response Nina cockily stood up but her ankle wouldn't support her. She started to fall but Fabian caught her in his arms.
Nina tried to move away from him and stand on her own. She felt guilty letting Fabian hold her when he had just seen Patricia possessively kiss him less than an hour ago.
Fabian didn't let go of her.
"I can walk fine Fabian," she said trying to assure him of her capability of walking.
"Nina," he said and she turned to look into his eyes- a move she instantly regretted. He held her there and began to speak.
"I don't like Patricia. She kissed me earlier because she wanted to provoke you into saying that you liked me. Nina- I like you," he said emphasizing the 'you'.
"But you and Patricia have had all these moments… and I thought…" but she trailed off lamely.
Nina had convinced herself of something that she was utterly uncertain of. She wanted to refuse to believe that she had that much uncertainty about how Fabian felt about her, but apparently it was true.
"I thought you liked her," Nina said softly looking up at him. She felt she owed him an explanation. "I thought you BOTH liked each other and I didn't want to get in the way,"
"The other night—" Fabian began. But he suddenly stopped when they both heard footsteps.
Fabian saw Nina's eyes grow wide and he noticed how she no longer was limp in his arms- but clutching him in alarm.
As the steps good louder and closer, they realized that they needed to hide from whoever—or whatever was coming towards them. Because whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Thank you for the reviews- the time you take in making a thoughtful review makes me the happier than you can imagine. The last chapter will come out later this week. Reviews help me go faster (as always!)
In response to a few reviews:
Yes I agree! They are impulsive-crazy-unpredictable teenagers. I want to strangle half of them for their stupidity, but they DO create an interesting group to write about. Without their meddling- there would be no story.
Ohsostrange: I want to tell you that before I got that review from you (which more kind than my humble story deserved)- I thought that I had invented the word 'butt.' I am the only one I know who uses that word, so it fascinates me to find another person who calls people that. And yes, I will use all flames to warm my hot chocolate :)