beautiful

chapter 7: catching up

After dusk fell, we all gathered around a bonfire Jake had set up earlier. I took a minute to analyze my friends. Evan's face looked a little stressed, but I marked that up to school. The year had been hard on all of us. Courtney had a certain glow about her, and I couldn't quite place it; however, it wasn't a bad thing that she seemed happy. Jake and Veronica were getting a little cozy, and I observed Julie trying to cozy up to Evan, who wasn't exactly reciprocating.

"So Nina," Julie began, giving up on Evan for now, "What's England like?"

"It's beautiful," I replied immediately, "I didn't get to see much of the country, but the school was in the countryside, so it was really scenic. I miss it already…"

"That's not the only thing you miss," Courtney teased, and I blushed.

"Ooh! Tell us about your boyfriend!" Julie gushed, and Veronica nodded in agreement. At the word boyfriend, I thought I saw Evan wince a little. Then again, it's hard to tell by firelight.

"Um, okay," I bashfully complied, and began, "His name's Fabian—"

"Fabian," Courtney teased once more, and I laughed as I said, "Would you stop?" She just laughed in response, and I continued.

"Fabian is…" I had difficultly trying to find a place to start, "Well, he was kind of my first friend. My roommate Patricia didn't like me very much, and she actually ended up switching rooms to get away from me. Anyway, the first time Gran called me, I was crying, and Fabian came to see if I was okay. He's so sweet. We were just kinda friends from there."

"Okay, but how does that make him your boyfriend?" Veronica asked.

"I'm getting there," I replied, "We had an End of Term Prom, and he asked me to be his date. I said yes, of course, and…"

"And…?" Julie and Veronica repeated excitedly, while Courtney just sat back because she had already heard the story.

"My friend Amber," I smiled saying her name, and shook my head at her…Amber-ness, "She named Fabian and I Prom King and Queen. She made us dance on stage, and…well, I kissed him."

A chorus of "Aww" and "Oh my gosh!" echoed from the girls, while Jake laughed and Evan grimaced. Why did he do that?

"What are your other friends like?" Evan asked, and he seemed genuinely interested. Before I could answer, however, my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I said, realizing I forgot to check the name before I answered.

"Hi, Nina‼" Amber's voice rang from the other end.

"Hey, Amber! Um, isn't it, like, really early over there?"

"It's only like, 3 am, but I couldn't sleep and I realized that I haven't talked to you since you left and I wanna know how things are going in America and how you and Fabian are doing and—"

"Amber, slow down," I laughed, trying to break her out of her ramble, "Right now I'm at the beach with my friends. We were actually just talking about all of you guys."

"Oh, really? That's cool! So what are your American friends like?"

"Amber, maybe you should go to bed? I can call you tomorrow and tell you all about them."

"Okay…" She trailed off, yawning, "Goodnight, Nina! I'll talk to you tomorrow! Well, today, technically. But tomorrow for you."

"Bye, Amber," I laughed once more before hanging up the phone.

"That was Amber," I explained to my friends, "She was my roommate for most of the semester, and she's great, but a little hyperactive at times."

After describing everyone else from Anubis House to my friends gathered around the fire, I stifled a yawn of my own.

"Getting tired?" Evan smirked, and I nodded in agreement.

"I can walk you home," he offered, and I accepted.

I looped my arm in Evan's as we strolled down the empty street. The street lights cast a yellow glow over the sidewalk, but the bright moon lit most of our way.

"So how serious is this thing with you and…Fabian?" Evan asked, avoiding my gaze.

"We're gonna see where it takes us," I responded, "Why?"

"Just curious," Evan replied half-heartedly.

"Are you jealous?" I teased, and when he heard me laugh, he chuckled along.

"I'm just looking out for you," Evan answered sincerely, and I rested my head on his arm. I was really tired.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, noticing my pace had slowed.

"Just really tired," I reassured him, "Probably still jetlagged."

He just nodded absentmindedly, his thoughts seeming to travel elsewhere. I just gazed ahead of me at the moon, my feet moving almost automatically.

"Nina?" Evan's voice snapped me out of my daze.

"Yeah?" I replied, sounding clueless.

"We're here," he smirked, pointing to the door of Gran's house.

"Oh," I replied, laughing at my own clumsiness, "Night, Ev."

"Goodnight," Evan bid me farewell as he watched me walk up the steps and into the house. Once I got inside, I looked out the window and waved to him. He waved back halfheartedly, and walked away with his hands in his pockets. I was worried about him, but realized there was nothing I could do at this point. Maybe we'd deal with it tomorrow. But right now, I was thinking about the warm, welcoming bed waiting for me upstairs.

A/N: I love this chapter. I feel it's a little short (it probably isn't), but I love it. Get used to Nina's American friends, because you'll be seeing them for a while now. I'm going to try and introduce them more in-depth, one by one, if I can. I honestly pulled the names out of thin air, but I hope I mold them into something interesting. Don't worry; we'll hear from the Anubis kids, as well. All in good time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter; I've been itching to write it and hope it delivers. I plan to update every ten days (after this update), as I've been writing ahead and storing every chapter in my Doc Manager. Is three new chapters a month enough? Let me know! I don't own House of Anubis, but I do own the soon-to-be lovable American OC's. kthxbai :)