Double Life: The other version of the story

“Shouldn´t you eat dessert after dinner?” Aaron inquired when Nic ate some of her cheesecake

“You are talking to me about following rules?” she lifted both her eyebrows

“Ok, Ok. Hey! I haven´t seen you in the pool lately” he´d been meaning to tell her that.

“I know”

“You don´t go anymore…?”

“I do”

“So, you´ve been avoiding me” he said in a playful manner

“Yes”

“Ouch! That hurt” he put a hand over his chest faking pain “That annoying I was the other day?”

“More”

“You could at least have pretended to give it some thought!” he said and she made a face as if she was thinking something

“You were more annoying than what you think” she smirked and he laughed

“Naaah, you just know I swim faster”

“Right” she huffed

“Prove me wrong”

“I don´t need to, I know the result” she said with confidence

“You are just afraid to lose, you know I’d win, I have a medal to prove it”

“Ah, so you won that day”

“Yup”

“Well done –she smiled a small smile- Too bad that Maggie and Josh didn´t see you win”

“Ah… yeah.. that´s ok” he glanced away briefly

“What is it?” she furrowed her eyebrows

“Nothing”

“It doesn´t sound like nothing” she looked into his eyes and he looked to a side briefly. “It must have been horrible for you” she said in a gentle voice, his eyes looked hers with confusion “He thinks you started swimming to be prepared if it happened again” she said softly

“Did he tell you that?” He said with a dumbfounded expression. She nodded. He gasped. “I can´t believe it! He´s never told that to anyone”

“I sort of guessed it”

“How?”

“You went to all events together, didn´t you? Except that one…”

“Was it that noticeable?” Aaron´s voice was worried, she shook her head and smiled “Good” he sighed and her smile grew. He blinked. “You´re smiling!”

“I am”

“Do you mind that of him?” he asked after a minute of silence

“No, I just think it must have been a terrible experience for all of you”

“It was, we all thought he had died –Aaron whispered- I found him and shouted for mom… when she saw him she got in, our baby sitter took me in to the house. I remember her calling an ambulance then to my father wherever he was and then to our grandpa, he´s a doctor” Aaron closed his eyes as if remembering was painful.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that when you were so little” she said in a gentle voice

“It´s a miracle he´s alive” he smiled, she tilted her head a little “the paramedics from the ambulance said he was already dead, she couldn´t take it and called grandpa and they hurried over to the hospital where he worked. We didn´t get to see him after over a month, I was the last one to see him. Mom cried everyday… but we were all happy that she was alive”

“A miracle, indeed”

“yeah… that´s why I don´t want to upset him more than I have… when we were little he had nightmares after that accident and he didn´t want to go back to the hospital but he had to…”

“He was afraid of the hospital; I can see why he had nightmares of it”

“His nightmares were about some sick girl, his roommate I guess, he said that she cried a lot and that she never talked to him, he was afraid she didn´t like him. He was strange kid” Aaron shook his head. She smiled a little at the way Aaron talked of his brother.

“Weren’t you afraid when you started swimming?”

“I was and so was mom but I thought I had to do it and it came handy”

“How come?”

“Someone pushed him in the lake at some summer camp we went once” he said angry

“That´s awful”

“It was” his features contorted a little, the memory made him mad all over again

“Did you hit them?”

“I did”

“Did they get punished?”

“Expelled, just like me, and our parents sued that moron´s parents”

“Really?”

“Yeah… well, our grandpa did” he said and she lifted both eyebrows

“He´s like that, no one can mess with him”

“Seems like you got his fighting nature” she teased

“He´ll be mad if I get expelled again”

“You seem to be more concern about him than about your parents”

“I am worried about them too but he´ll give me the lecture of my life again –he rolled his eyes- and then he´ll lecture my dad for sending us here since it didn´t help and then I´ll get an extra lecture besides the punishment…” he sighed

“You should think about the lectures before hitting someone” he sighed again

“Let me walk you to your dorm” Aaron offered when she got up to leave

“No need to”

“Nichole…”

“Don´t follow me unless you want more bruises” she said in a serious tone but smirked after, he chuckled “Why would the fight start?” she asked before leaving

“Eh… a senior got dumped…”

“You stole someone´s girlfriend?” she sounded annoyed

“I didn´t! he hit before asking!”

“So you don´t know her?” she lifted an eyebrow and he glanced away “You do”

“She´s in the swimming team… but I didn´t know she had a boyfriend”

“Ok.. Later, Aaron” she turned to leave, he got up “I wasn´t joking about the bruises” she walked away gracefully as he shook his head.

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A/N: this gotta be a new record! Three Double Life updates in two days! and I still have more to type... ha! Stupid slow internet connection doesn´t want me posting with pictures today...