I told you guys I couldn't stay away for long! I'm back with yet another chapter! (:

The Significance Series belongs to Shelly Crane.

Chapter Eight

Royce knocked on my bedroom door. I gave Nick a wide-eyed look and yanked back into my room, nearly hitting my head on the window frame. Nick flattened himself against the side of the house as I ran to my bedroom door. I grabbed the knob just as Royce started to twist it open.

"Hi," I said, smoothing a hand over my hair. I tried to erase the Oh-God-you-almost-caught-me look from my eyes as I glanced past him and into the hallway. "Where's Nolan?" I was waiting for him to tell me that he was waiting in the car, or worse, that he'd decided to take some random walk around the house, where he would find Nick just below my window. I bit down on my lip, trying to keep myself from turning to look at the guy I was destined to fall in love with.

"He's in the kitchen. What are you going to be doing today?" He asked. His eyes scanned my room, and I fought back the urge to tell him to back off. Royce was extremely overprotective. He had been when my parents were still alive, but it was worse now. It was like he thought everyone was out to get me or something. He and Nolan had backed off a bit after yesterday, and they hadn't said anything about me making Nick leave before they could meet him. But it was clear that Royce wasn't comfortable with it.

"I think I'm just going to hang out with some friends." I said. It was my summer, and I didn't have a job. I should have, because it would make it easier for Royce and Nolan. But I was the one that cleaned the house and did the grocery shopping, and the only money I spent for myself was the money I'd earned from babysitting occasionally. I wanted to ask him what else I was supposed to do, but I kept that little bit locked inside me.

"Nick?" Royce asked. He didn't exactly say it nicely. It was more with a condescending tone, one that he usually reserved for when Paul and I were supposed to be going out alone.

I wasn't going to lie to him, because if he found out otherwise he would be livid. And I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he knew something weird was up. I always told the truth when it came to who I was hanging around with. "Probably," I said offhandedly.

"Elsie, I don't like you hanging out with him. I've never even met the guy. Last night, he just left before I could even talk to him. And you've been hanging out with him every day. Give the kid a break."

"I think he wants to hang out with me as much as I wanted to hang out with him." I shot back. Was it just me, or did I really hear a hint of his chuckle in my head? I was pretty sure that he'd figured out a way to worm through my defenses. Granted, they weren't very strong, but they were still there. I tried not to smile at the thought of Nick in my head. How many guys could fairly say that they were in their girlfriends' heads? The thought of me being his girlfriend brought another wave of happiness through me. "Besides, I like him."

Royce narrowed his eyes at me. "You like him?" He wasn't asking me if I just liked Nick in general. He was asking me if I liked him, as in, did I want to date him.

"God Royce, you're such a girl," I said to diffuse the situation. What could I tell him? Yeah, I was pretty sure that I was crushing on a guy who was my imprinted soul mate? It was getting harder to just pretend that nothing was wrong with me, when I was tied down to someone for all eternity. I was hoping that sarcasm would be enough to wipe away any notion that he had about me and Nick. I wanted to run to the window and touch Nick, just so I could feel that extreme calm.

Royce rolled his eyes at me. "Whatever, but I think you should stop hanging out with this guy so much." I opened my mouth to argue with him, and he cut me off. "And if you insist on hanging out with this guy, I want to meet him. I don't care if I have to stalk you to meet the guy."

"Jesus, way to be a creeper," I told him. Another laugh from Nick. Another sly smile across my face.

Royce snorted. "I'm going to the gym. I'll be back before I go to work." The way he said it implied that he expected me to be here. I waited without saying a word, and he shook his head at me. "If you're going to leave, then there better be a note on the kitchen counter."

"Got it, bro," I said sarcastically. Royce smiled a genuine smile at me as he headed down the hallway. I heard him say something to Nolan, though I couldn't make out any words. I sighed and closed the door behind me, turning the lock. Then I rushed back to the window. Nick was still standing there. He gave me an easy smile, and I grinned back.

"You know, your brother's right," he said, gripping the edge of the sill with his fingers. I leaned forward, my arms brushing his fingertips. "I wouldn't be happy if my little sister was running around every day with a guy I haven't met."

"Good thing you don't have a little sister," I told him. Nick laughed. Yep, I definitely wanted to be with him more than I wanted to be with Paul. I couldn't understand why I didn't see it before. Maybe it was because I was so determined to be stubborn about it. Or maybe it was because I was looking at it so hard. My mom used to say that a watched cake wouldn't bake as quickly as an un-watched cake would. I figured that the same principle applied, at least, in this situation.

I heard the front door open and close – both the muffled sound from inside the house and the slam of the door from outside. Nick glanced towards the driveway. We were silent as we waited for the car's engine to rev up. I heard Nolan say something to Royce as the car doors slammed shut. They rolled out of the driveway, and I sighed. "I'm going to go unlock the door and change. You come on in." I told him.

Nick gave me a huge smile as I pulled away from the window. I slid down the glass and locked it, dropping the curtain over the window. Then I headed towards the front door. Nick was already leaning against the wall, waiting for me. I unlocked the front door and gave him a mischievous smile. Nick stepped inside and I shut the door behind him. Royce would work out for about an hour, plus the thirty minutes it took to drive to Nolan's work, then the gym, and back home. But then again, he could cut his workout time short in hopes that he would catch me before I left. Either way, it meant that I had to shower and get dressed as quickly as I could.

"There's food in the kitchen. I've got to go shower. You be good." I told him.

"Yes, ma'am," Nick said, heading towards the kitchen where I'd directed him. I smiled at his back and hurried down the hallway.

# # #

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked me. He'd rolled up to the end of the street, a mere four houses down. We sat in his car, parked at the curb.

I glanced at him. I tried to feign that I was perfectly fine, though my stomach had dropped and my heart had picked up. It wasn't any secret that Nick knew I was panicking, but it was worth the shot, anyway. I didn't want to seem weak in away way. "Don't you want me to?"

"I do, but I don't want you to do it unless you want to." He gave me a very serious look. I forced myself to give him a smile. He looked like he was hurting deep down inside, and it was entirely my fault. And then there was that moment of happiness, because Nick was willing to let me do whatever I wanted, even if it hurt him. He really was a good guy.

"I want to," I said. I touched his hand, accepting that warm calmness that washed over me like I'd been dunked in water. We both told one another that we'd be there for the other person, that I was just going to go and fix something, and then I'd be back to see him. He told me that he'd wait for me, and the way he said it made me think that he meant longer than just the fifteen minutes or so that it would take to do this. He would wait for me forever if he had to.

I opened up the car door and flashed him a smile, though I had a feeling that it looked extremely faked. I swallowed and turned away from the car, walking down the sidewalk. I counted the houses as I moved, hoping that it would take my mind off of what I was about to do.

It didn't.

I reached the front door. I shuffled there on the stoop for a moment, looking at the creepy yard gnome that Paul's mother had absolutely loved. And then there was the "home sweet home" sign that I'd bought his mom for her birthday one year. It had been a cheap item on the clearance rack, but she'd loved it anyway. I bit down on my lip and thought about just rushing down the stairs and trying again later.

But Nick was waiting for me, and he was depending on me to get this done. I knew that he said he didn't care if I didn't do this, but I wanted to. I was not about to let fear get in the way of this. I had always tried my best to do things right when I decided for them to be done. It was part of what made me so stubborn. I took a deep breath and pressed the yellowed doorbell. I heard it ring from where I stood on the front porch, and my heart rate shot through the roof. I tried to keep from shaking, my hands becoming instantly clammy.

I was hoping that he would answer the door, but of course, that didn't work out. His mom opened up the door, and she lit up when she saw me. "Elsie! It's been such a long time since I've seen you!" She reached out to hug me, smelling faintly of cleaning supplies and the spray of her perfume. I gave her an awkward hug back. I'd always liked Mrs. White, but now there was a huge barricade between us. I mean, it wasn't like she'd been my best friend, but she was indefinitely tied to the guy that I was about to dump. "How are you?" She asked.

"I'm, um, fine," I said. I forced myself to give her a smile, hoping that it was somewhat realistic. Mrs. White didn't seem to catch anything, which made me sigh in relief. I was really craving Nick's touch. I wanted to step in, break up with Paul, and step out, but I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. I was scared about what he was going to say to me, and I was worried that Nick wouldn't be able to take it, and he would come running up to the house. That definitely would cause a scene, and it wasn't something that I needed. "Is Paul around?" I asked.

"He's in his room. Go on back," Mrs. White said. She had no idea. I wondered how she would look at me if she knew that I was going in there to break up with her son, and I was doing it for another guy. There probably wouldn't be that look of happiness on her face. She'd probably be giving me a dirty look. I could practically hear the rumors going between her and her friends, now, since Mrs. White was one of those women that still gossiped like she did when she was in high school.

I thanked her and took the stairs down. Paul had a basement bedroom. It was pretty creepy, especially since there were no windows. It was all artificial light – from lamps and from his big screen TV, which I still hadn't figured out how he got down there in the first place. The basement door was just off the kitchen. I pulled it open, wondering if he would see the light from the open doorway.

Paul was sitting on a beanbag chair, with an open bag of chips beside him, controller in his hands, headset over his ears. It had a little microphone that wrapped around to the front of his mouth. He jerked with each move that he made on the TV screen, and he was talking into the microphone, laughing about something. I cleared my throat, and he didn't even look up at me. He couldn't hear me over the din of animated rifles and the scene of war that had taken residence on his TV screen. I reached out and flicked the light switch by the end of the stairs. Paul flinched, covering his eyes with one hand. He managed to hit the pause button with his eyes closed, and then he looked up at me. "Hold on, my girlfriend's here." He said into the headset. I could hear someone reply back, but I couldn't really tell what the other guy said.

"What are you doing here?" Paul asked, standing up from his beanbag chair. He cleared his throat and reached for his soda, which was sitting on the ground next to the bag of chips. He downed whatever was in it, and then raised his eyebrows at me expectantly.

"I needed to come talk to you." I said.

"Is this about that stunt you pulled at the park?" He asked.

I immediately bristled. "It wasn't a stunt. Jesus, Paul," I said, shaking my head. "You're the one that flipped out on me for hanging out with someone else."

"I did not flip out," he enunciated. "I simply asked what you were doing and who you were with. Sorry if I was suspicious. What kind of girlfriend hangs out with another guy and acts all funny after her boyfriend catches her?"

"I wasn't doing anything but looking at the clouds." I told him.

"I could see that. I didn't think anything of it until you started acting so weird," he said.

"Well I guess you don't have to worry about it anymore," I shot off without thinking. Paul stopped, empty can still clutched in his hand. I froze, too, realizing that there was a hot blush creeping up my neck. It would color my cheeks soon, an aftereffect of the frustration. We stood there, staring at each other for a while.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked after a moment of silence.

My eyes started to water. I brushed away the tears and looked up at him. "I don't think this is going to work out," I whispered.

"What won't?" Paul asked. His voice was tight, eyes staring holes into me.

"Us. We won't work out."

"You're dipping out because of one little misunderstanding?" Paul demanded. "We've never fought, and the one time you start acting strange, you're all out for breaking up with me?"

"We never fought because I made sure we didn't!" My voice broke out, no longer a quiet whisper. Mrs. White was bound to hear if she was listening in. My voice also cracked, and Paul threw the empty can into the trashcan. The guy didn't even recycle.

"What?"

"I hate the way you think you can just show up late and I'd be totally fine with it. I hate the way you take me on dates to the video game store. I hate how you think I'd want a gift card to the video game store when I don't have a game station or whatever it is." Paul opened his mouth, probably to correct me on the name of his gaming system, but I continued on. "I hate the way you argue with my best friend. I hate the way you hide away in here and play your stupid games all day. I hate the way you don't ever want to hang out with me. I hate the way you don't call me. And most of all, I hate the way you think I can just be okay, just dandy, and just stand by your side and do whatever you want to do!"

Paul stared at me, open-mouthed. "There are plenty of things that I don't like about you," he said. "But I'm not the one breaking up with you about it." I didn't say anything, still fuming, and in shock at the relief I felt about telling Paul all the things that I couldn't stand about him. When I didn't answer, he said, "So that's it then? We're over?"

"We're over." I said, turning on my heel.

I had just put a foot up on the stairs when Paul said, "Is this about that guy, too?"

I turned to look at him. I was debating telling him the truth. Not the part about how we were soul mates, but about the part where I intended to date him. I took a deep breath. "I don't know," I told him. It wasn't exactly a lie, because I wasn't sure if I would end up with Nick, though it definitely looked like I was.

Paul shook his head at me. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," he said, turning back to the TV. I fought to hold a sob in my throat. He didn't even care that I'd broken up with him, not really. He just turned around and went right back to doing what he had been before I'd walked in. I didn't bother to hit the lights as I headed up the stairs. I left his door open and flew past the kitchen. Mrs. White called out to me as I left, but I hurried out the front door and down the steps, flying down the sidewalk.

I could see Nick's car from Paul's front yard. I could see Nick scrambling to get out of the car. He left his door open, managing to reach the back of the car just as I reached him. I slammed into him, my arms going around him as I let my tears go. I didn't cry. I tried my best not to cry in front of anyone, but Nick had already seen me crying once, and now he was going to see me really sob.

I didn't think that he needed to hang around and watch me cry over a different guy. It had just hurt so bad that he didn't care that I was leaving him. It was like I was just a past time, just something to waste time with until it got old and the new model came out.

"I don't care if I have to watch you cry over some other guy. You're my responsibility, Elsie. You belong to me." Instead of being annoyed that he was laying claim over me, I was overjoyed. I was a stubborn, down-to-earth woman of the twenty-first century. I could take care of myself. But I still loved to hear him say that he wanted to take care of me.

And then I realized something else. "You can hear me?"

"You weren't trying to send something to me?" He asked.

"I wasn't purposely trying," I managed to say around my sniffles.

Nick smiled, leaned down to kiss my temple, and said, "Maybe we're going to be able to talk in our minds now, since you cut him loose."

I sniffled, barking out a laugh that was halfway between a giggle and a sob. Nick's arms tightened around me, and I clutched the front of his shirt in my fist. I could feel our heartbeats together in his chest, and it sent shivers all the way down to my toes. I wanted to lean into him, wanted to kiss him, but I didn't want our first kiss to be the result of me freaking out over a different guy. I wanted it to just be the two of us, just because I wanted to.

Nick led me to the passenger side of the car. He opened the door and let me sit down. He closed the door behind me and walked around the front of the car to climb in on his side. I took a deep breath, trying to force myself to calm down. Nick reached over and put a hand on the side of my neck. I let out a deep breath. I was so worked up that his touch didn't calm me right away, which made my heartbeat pick up a little more. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my forehead. I closed my eyes tightly and sighed when he managed to break through the freak-out walls that I'd unconsciously put up.

# # #

Royce and Nolan had gone to dinner. Nolan had texted me, saying that they were picking up Chinese and wanted to know if I wanted any. That meant that nobody was home, and it was safe for Nick and I to sit and talk.

I sat sideways in the car seat, looking over at Nick as he flicked through his CD's. He was quizzing me on music, to see if I liked the same things as him. It was surprising, the amount of things that we had in common. He flicked another CD and started laughing when he saw it. "I remember this," he said, running a finger over the edge of the CD.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning forward to get a better look. That put my face right next to his. I was so affected by his proximity that I couldn't even focus enough to read the title of the CD. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He was giving me a sly look, and I caught the image of him taking my face in his hands and kissing me. It had to be something from him, because it wasn't my thought. It warmed me all the way to my toes, knowing that I could read his mind, and knowing that he really did want to kiss me.

"Do you remember the first day we saw each other?" He asked, slowly closing the CD case.

"Yeah," I said, but it came out all breathy and damsel-in-distress like. I blinked, trying to gather control of my feelings.

"I know you're worried that I don't care for you like you care about me." I raised my eyebrow at him, and he reached out and tapped my forehead. "Even if you don't admit it out loud, I can get the hint of things, too," he said, a sly smile spreading across his face. "My point is… I can show you."

"What?"

"I didn't tell you about the memory transfer," He said. "It's sort of… well, only two significants can do it with each other." He reached out and touched my neck, pulling me forward. My heart rate spiked, but that's because I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he pressed his forehead to mine. Surprisingly, I liked the contact. He closed his eyes, and I closed mine.

Colors whirled around in my head. It didn't take me long to realize where we were. The video game store, where I'd first seen him. My heart caught in my throat as I opened the door. Well, it wasn't really me, it was him. It was so weird to see things through his point of view – the way his hand, much larger than my own, reached out for the door. The way Paul and Martin, two complete strangers, didn't catch his attention the way he one girl in the entire store had. She had dark blonde hair, curled and pretty, falling over her shoulders. A blue draping top, dark skinny jeans, and an old purse that looked like it was about to break any moment.

Me.

I watched as Nick thought about how pretty she was, and he hadn't even seen her face yet. And then when she turned to look at the open door, he caught sight of her eyes. I was surprised that instead of just the dark brown I saw whenever I looked in the mirror, he saw a deep pool of chocolate, smooth and enticing. He tried to turn his back to the girl, just to get her out of his head. But she was like a beacon of warmth, a constant connection across a store. He wondered if this was what Caleb and Kyle had talked about, the instant thought that a girl was absolutely beautiful. But that didn't mean that she was his soul mate. It didn't prove anything.

He wished. He wished so hard that he could find someone that was absolutely, one hundred percent perfect for him. He wished that it was the girl, because she was beautiful, and even from a distance, he could tell that she was warm and kind, but she also had a sort of spunk to her. He could tell just by the way she raised her eyebrows at the store clerk, and the way she picked through the games with clear annoyance.

He decided to walk close to her, see if there was any sort of pull. He'd never felt anything like this before, but could the imprints really be coming back? Could that really mean that he would imprint with someone? Just as he passed, the straps of her purse broke. She lunged for the bag, but the contents of it spilled out anyway. Immediately, he got down to help her. He just happened to reach for the notebook at the same time she did, and when he did, there was cooling warmth that rushed through him. Images, unseen and blurry to me, passed through his head. And then there was a burst of joy, that the one girl he thought was the most beautiful thing in the world was his.

Nick pulled back a little bit, and my mind cleared of the image. I gasped the moment the connection was broken. "That was your memory?" I asked. He stayed close, our breath mingling in the air between us. I was sure that his windows were going to start fogging up from our breath.

Nick nodded, his forehead almost bumping into mine. "Yeah," he said. "Memory transfer exists so we can get multiple views on what happened in the past. But it's also useful to show you how much you mean to me." A flirty, mischievous smile crossed his lips.

It pulled at my heartstrings. It made me want to lean in and kiss him. I started to fight the notion, but then I realized… I wasn't tied down to a boyfriend anymore. I was free to do whatever I wanted without consulting someone to see if it was okay. And it also meant that I was free to kiss whoever I wanted.

I'd had the idea that I needed to wait, that I needed to get to know him better. But when I'd met Paul, I pecked him on the lips on the first date, and I'd known him less than I knew Nick now. And Nick… well, I was destined to be with him after all. And the funny thing was that it didn't bother me to belong to him, like it did when Paul called me "his girl." I wanted to be Nick's, because he was mine.

Nick must've caught my decision in my mind, because he sucked in a breath. Lights flashed as car pulled onto the street, but it didn't matter. I leaned in a little more, our noses brushing against each other. I didn't think anything about the lights I'd seen until the entire car shook with the force of someone hitting the hood. I glanced up, and caught the sight of my eldest brother, staring into the window, his eyes narrowed and his mouth down-turned.

"What the heck, Elsie?"

Muahaha. (: Cliffhanger! If you're lucky, I'll update either tomorrow or Monday. (Which will honestly probably happen, but don't hold me to it.)

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