Double Life: Moon Light II

A/N: This one has a lot of dialog which is why it took a few pages in Word but I think it´s kinda short but it feels like a lot´s going on in a way. I didn´t read it again, let´s hope for the best in terms of me making mistakes and all that good stuff I do ha -oh, yeah, I included the last few lines of the prior post,  a letter didn´t appear in the other post... 

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“One that has saved my life more than once and doesn´t even let me fall… very scary, indeed” he chuckled and it made her grin. Maybe I´m just trying to make amends she thought. After a while of walking they were getting closer to the stream Nichole had heard.

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“This was kind of far” Josh commented finally listening to the sound of water and some frogs

“Are you tired? Let´s sit down” she sat down with her back against a tree; they were close enough for her to see the water but not enough for her to touch it or for him to fall in it. He sat next to her. They sat in silence only listening to the water going down and the loud silence surrounding them. Another moment went by and suddenly Josh felt her stiff next to him and then he saw the light of her phone that disappeared when she put it on her ear. She didn´t say a thing.

“Oh, Rox” she said later with surprise in her tone

“No, no, don´t worry I was up. What´s wrong, Rox? Is Vincent giving you a hard time?” there was silence while the other person talked, it was so silent that Josh could hear the girl’s voice but it was so soft that he couldn´t make up what she was saying

“Rox, I´m sorry… I… I´ll go back the day after tomorrow if not tomorrow” her voice had remorse mixed with disappointment

“Don´t worry. I´m fine –no, they all healed well –yeah, actually, I´ve been having a lot of fun” there was a tinge of excitement in her voice

“Yeah, good night, Rox” the girl sighed and put her phone back in her pocket. Silence fell over Josh and Nichole, only the water sounds interrupting it.

“We could go back if you want” Nichole broke the silence between them

“Do you want to go back?”

“Not really but …I don´t know…it´s ok if you´re sleepy…” she sighed almost inaudibly

“I´m pondering if it´d be ok to ask you about …?”

“Rox?” she offered

“Yeah”

“She´s the girl I met where I was”

“The one with the inhaler and the guy who hit you?”

“Yeah”

“So Vincent is the jerk who hit you?” he said with clipped words, she chuckled

“That´s him, yeah”

“Are you going back there? Why?”

“mmmm… I´ve pretty much escaped from there…”

“To come here? Will you get in trouble?” he sounded worried

“No, I think I won´t get in trouble… Someone owed me a favor and this is what I asked for”

“You should´ve told me”

“Why? It´d made no difference”

“I would´ve tried to make your vacation better”

“I am already having a great vacation” she said with humor as she took his hand in both of hers

“Don´t go back there…”

“I have to, that favor only last a couple of days… Rox´s having a bad time with the other kids there because now Vincent will go easy on her and I still have a few things to learn”

“What things?”

“To shoot” she said bluntly

“To shoot?”

“Yeah”

“Why do you need that?”

“Why not to learn it? I could hunt many ducks if I knew how to” she joked, she saw him narrow his eyes to her

“It didn´t sound like a nice place…”

“It wasn´t”

“You don´t have to go”

“I do”

“Why?”

“Let´s just say that my father requires it”

“Why would a father let his daughter get hit by some jerk?” he sounded mad

“Hey, hey, it´s ok –she squeezed his hand- I´m used to it”

“To get hit?”

“No. To training… it´s been a long, long while since anybody hit me like that but as you heard it healed nicely”

“Did… did your father hit you?” he sounded worried

“No –she sighed- it´s like you and karate, during training you get hit, don´t you?”

“Yeah, but the instructor doesn´t aim to hurt me”

“But you still sometimes get hurt”

“You were not going to have a vacation at all… you weren´t going home at all… that´s not fair, that has to change”

“Thank you”

“Why, Nichole, last time I saw your step-sisters they didn´t seem to be put through the things you´re put through, why you?” he said with an annoyed tone, she didn´t answer

“I could ask dad to talk to your father…” his tone was back to his usual kind voice

“No! no, no, please don´t do that. I have told you, you shouldn´t even know who my father is…”

“But Nichole…”

“No, Joshua, listen to me, that´d make things worse, please listen to me…” she sounded pleading, he didn´t say a thing for a while

“That’s why you wanted to leave from school, right? You were going to run away” he stated. She sighed

“Nichole” Josh whispered with compassion as he pulled her against his chest, she stiffed and then relaxed a little. “Please, let me help you”

“Josh… if you knew…” she started and he was about to ask but he felt his shirt damped. She was shedding tears. He held her close, feeling useless and with many more questions. They stayed that way for a long time, she didn´t move and they didn´t talk more. He wondered what she meant by all those times she´d made remarks of something she was that´d apparently made him feel different about her. He wondered if she knew how she had those things that were unbelievable and above all he wondered how a father could do what her father did to her…

“I will be going tomorrow in the afternoon” she pulled away from him, he said nothing but his eyes were gentle. “I´ve had a great time with you and your family” she smiled her half-smile but he didn´t see it.

“I´ve had a great time too” he grinned and squeezed her hand in his. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he rested his head over hers too. They stayed like that for a long while.

“I thought you wanted to get closer to the river” he said once they stood up to leave

“It´s ok”

“Why did you want to see it? Were you going to swim in it?” he raised his eyebrow

“Perhaps”

“Really? It must be cold!”

“Cold water´s good for the skin care” she snickered

“oh… You could get in …now…” he stopped, she laughed

“I´m not doing skinny dipping with you here” she elbowed him

“What?”

“Do you see me with extra clothing here?”

“Oh…I…”

“Are you imagining it?” she teased

“No!” he said and she laughed

“Let´s go –she pulled him by his hand- I don´t need to get in this water, the sun will be out when we get back in our tents as it is, no need to make your family worry about our little adventure” they started to walk back home as the birds started to sing their morning songs.