beautiful

chapter 12: anxiety

"Hey, Amber," I spoke into the receiver, "I don't have much time to talk, because my flight leaves in ten minutes, but—"

"Flight?" Amber screeched in reply, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Baltimore, now please, let me talk," I answered quickly, "Can you pick me up at the airport when I get there? I should be landing around 3:50 P.M. your time."

"Uh, okay, hold on a sec," I heard Amber set down the phone and talk to someone before coming back to it, "Yeah, I can pick you up. But we're heading right back here to see Nina, kay?"

I had the urge to ask her exactly what else I would be showing up in America for, but held my tongue. I just said 'thanks' before hanging up, as the flight attendant was badgering me to shut off all my electronics.

I sat back in my seat, anxious, but relieved that I would at least be able to be with Nina. My exhaustion washed over me, and I soon found myself asleep for most of the flight.

It seemed like we had landed in no time, and I double checked to make sure I had everything before getting off the plane. I had never been to America before, and the airport seemed like just an extra stress that I didn't need right now. However, once I got through customs, I found Amber.

At first, I almost didn't recognize her. She was wearing no makeup…none. This was very surprising. She also ran up and gave me a huge hug, which I wasn't expecting.

"Hi, Amber," I greeted, hugging her back. I could tell she was upset, "Why no makeup? I thought that was your livelihood!"

She laughed weakly, replying, "Every time I put it on, I'd just cry it all off afterwards. It's no use wasting all my good makeup by washing it away with my tears."

I hugged her again before we went to retrieve my luggage, and she led me to a car with someone already sitting in the driver's seat.

"Fabian," Amber began, "This is Courtney, one of Nina's best friends."

"Hi, Fabian," the redhead shook my hand after stepping out of the car, "Nina's told me all about you…I was hoping we would meet under different circumstances." I nodded my head sympathetically, agreeing with her. Amber and I hopped in the car, and we were off.

"How is she?" I asked immediately. Amber sighed.

"She's doing pretty good," she began, "She cries…a lot. And she's scared."

"I think at this point," Courtney piped up, "We're all scared."

We finally arrived at what Amber told me was Nina's Gran's house. I saw two cars in the driveway, and Courtney explained that one belonged to Nina and her Gran, and the other belonged to some of Nina's other friends that came to see her today. I got out of the car, and Amber asked me if I was going to grab my luggage.

"I can get it later," I told her, "I just wanna see Nina right now."

We stepped inside the door, which led straight to a sitting area. There were four people around the same age as Amber and I spread around in different chairs, and Nina was lying on the sofa.

"Is she asleep?" Amber asked quietly, and Nina piped up.

"No, I'm awake, Amber," she sat up, "I just—Fabian?"

"Hey, love," I quickly kneeled at her side, and she threw her arms around my neck.

"Oh my gosh, you're here," she whispered, hugging me tightly. I held her close, stroking her hair.

She pulled away from me and kissed me, catching me off guard.

"Hi," she whispered, leaning her forehead against mine.

"Hi," I whispered back, and I couldn't help but smile.

After I was introduced to everyone, we all fell into conversation. I sat on the sofa with Nina, and she leaned against me. There were two living chairs adjacent to us, and in them sat Nina's friends Jake and Julie, who were twins. Then, on a loveseat across the room, Courtney and Amber sat with Nina's friend Veronica. Nina's friend Evan stood by a bookshelf, glaring at me every so often…I wondered what exactly he had against me after knowing me for barely half an hour.

"Hello, Fabian," Nina's Gran came in from the kitchen, handing Nina a cup of tea, "I see you're here safe and sound…I wondered just exactly how long it would be before I saw you."

"I wanted to be here as soon as possible," I replied, instinctively hugging Nina's shoulders with the arm I had around her. She scooted a little bit closer in response.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Nina's Gran inquired, and I told her I had a hotel room.

"Oh, nonsense," she said, "We have plenty of room here. You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you," I replied with a smile, and Nina was happy that I would be here with her.

"So, Fabian," Courtney began, "What did you think of this past semester? Nina told us about it, but what's your take on it?"

I turned to Nina, and she gave me a look that said 'I didn't mention the mystery', so I silently obeyed.

"Well, I've been going to that school for a while now," I began, "So at first I didn't think it would be anything really special. I thought having a new student was…interesting, to say the least, but not everyone else in the house thought so…"

"Especially with Patricia dumping water on me that first day," Nina mentioned, "That wasn't very fun."

"But then I got to know Nina, and she didn't turn out to be so bad after all," I smirked looking down at her. She just raised her eyebrow, and Amber piped up.

"Oh come on," Amber said, "You two were head over heels for each other for the whole term. And it took you guys forever to finally admit it."

I think Amber brings up those kinds of things to make Nina and I blush, and well….it worked.

"See, you're both blushing," Amber pointed out, "That means I'm right!"

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated, and I dug it out of my pocket. Mick was calling me, and I made to get up, but Nina grabbed my arm.

"You can stay here to talk on the phone," she said, and I smiled before answering.

"Hey," I said, feeling a little awkward that everyone was now listening to my phone conversation.

"Hey, mate, what happened?" Mick asked, "We were supposed to hang out tonight."

"I'm sorry, I totally forgot," I apologized.

"No worries," he said, "I could just drop by your house now."

"Uh, I'm not at home," I said awkwardly.

"Well, where are you?"

"In Baltimore."

"When did you leave the country?" Mick exclaimed, and I'm sure it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Just today, actually," I answered calmly, "Look, I'm sorry I blew you off, but…something big came up."

"Is everything okay?" he asked, and I just said, "I'll explain later…look, we'll talk another time, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure, mate," I could tell Mick was worried now, but I didn't want to tell him just yet. In fact, I was kind of reluctant to tell anyone from Anubis. I bid Mick goodbye before hanging up my phone and awkwardly returning to the conversation in the room.

A/N: You guys, I'm so close to 100 reviews on this story! Please give me your feedback; this is my most popular fanfic by far :) I'm sure this is the longest chapter so far. I adore Fabian! Um, yeah, I hope you enjoyed :) Oh, and I just got a Fiction Press account; my name is the same there, too. Also, I'm working on a fanfic for "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (aka the reason for my existence)...look out for that, as well! So, yeah...I don't own House of Anubis. kthxbai.