beautiful

chapter 3: secret date

The sun began to hide behind the trees as Fabian and I walked along the edge of the forest. I admired the stone wall, remembering when we'd used it as a hiding place from Victor. Then, I peeked over the wall to see the house towering over us. Its high roof dared to touch the blue sky, but the building no longer seemed menacing to me, as it had on my first day. The house was now…home.

More tears threatened to fall, and I tried to hold them back. I took a deep breath, which was very shaky, to my chagrin.

"Nina, what's wrong?" Fabian turned to me, his eyes filled with compassion.

"It's just…" I paused to take another deep breath, this one stronger, "This place is like a second home. And I don't wanna leave."

"I know how you feel," he said softly, stepping in front of me. He took both my hands in his.

"When I first came here," he continued, "I thought for sure I was going to be homesick. But I only got homesick when I left on break. This place is really…unique."

"In more ways than one," I added, giggling slightly at my own comment. I noticed Fabian kind of…staring at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I scrutinized him, waiting for his answer. He just shifted his gaze to lock with mine, flashing me the most beautiful smile in the world. We stood there for a moment or two; lost in each others' eyes, the sun slowly setting behind us.

"You're beautiful," he whispered to me, never breaking eye contact.

"You know, someone told me that once," I replied playfully, "He was smart…and not too bad looking himself." I winked at him, and pecked him lightly on the lips. Fabian then casually put his arm around my shoulders, and we continued walking.

However, the impending prospect of summer was still scaring me. Okay, I do still have friends back in the States. But, I feel guilty; I haven't exactly paid much attention to them since getting here. I'm not quite sure how I'll be received when I get back.

"What are you thinking about?" Fabian whispered, bringing me out of my train of thought.

"Nothing, really," I replied, smiling at him. We made our way back to the house, as dusk was nearly upon us.

I stared up at my ceiling, deep in thought. I took a deep breath, turning my head to see if Amber was asleep. She was, and I couldn't blame her. We had both been so tired. Yet, here I am, lying in my bed at two-something in the morning, not sleeping.

I sighed, half in frustration, half in boredom. The light of the moon was streaming through the window, dotting my comforter. I closed my eyes, trying to sink into a slumber. It didn't really work.

Somehow I came to the conclusion that a glass of water would help, and I soon found myself wandering down to the kitchen. I still think the house is a little creepy at night, but we've wandered around it so much at this hour that I could care less at this point.

What I didn't expect, however, was to run into Fabian.

"Fabes, you scared me," I whispered when he snuck up behind me.

"Sorry," he replied, grinning. He began rummaging through the cupboards.

"Um," I started, "What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Miss Martin," he joked, then continued, "Trudy is always making cookies and hiding them so Mick can't get to them. I'm just grabbing a few for a midnight snack."

"Can I steal one, too?"

"Go ahead."

I snatched a chocolate chip cookie from Fabian's hand after we found them. He had been raising it to his mouth, about to eat it. I giggled quietly as I tiptoed out of the kitchen to the hallway. Just when I thought he'd gotten off my trail, a pair of strong arms was lifting me away from the staircase, spinning me around a few times before setting me back down.

When Fabian turned to me, I shoved the rest of the cookie I had been eating into my mouth before he could take it back. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but I placed my finger over his lips, and then pointed upstairs. Victor was probably in his office, and wouldn't be happy if he caught us out of bed.

We heard footsteps just then, and my eyes widened. If it was Victor, we were most likely going to be stuck with bathroom duty for the next semester. Fabian saw my panicked look, and cupped my face in his hands.

"Goodnight," he whispered urgently, pecking me on the lips before soundlessly bounding back to his room. I tried to stay as light-footed as possible, and made my way both past Victor's office and back into my room without a hitch.

Yet, just when I thought I was in the clear, as soon as I shut my bedroom door behind me, Amber was facing me with her arms crossed and a look that said "oh-my-gosh-where-were-you-I-bet-you-were-totally-on-another-secret-date-with-Fabian!"

And that's exactly what she said to me.

"We were not on a secret date, Amber!" I whisper-shouted, trying to get her to quiet down. Now, I believed that I could actually get to sleep; at this point, though, Amber would never let me.

"Then what were you two doing?" she asked impatiently, cocking an eyebrow. I sighed reluctantly before explaining,

"I just went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and I found Fabian looking for cookies. That's it."

Amber paused, almost as if she knew I was leaving something out. I soon saw the wheels turning in her head.

"You two kissed, didn't you?" she gushed.

"If I say yes, will you let me go to bed?"

"Maybe."

"Then yes, we kissed."

"OHMIGOSH‼!" That's when I knew I wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

A/N: So, I'm finally back with a new chapter. I'm sorry if it seems like things are moving slowly, but I'm just trying to set the scene. I hope you enjoyed, and stick with me! I don't own HoA (unfortunately).