Watching Carmen: The Fifth Look

A/N: Edited as it was being typed in Word... I wonder... Out of all the Watching Carmen posts, I think this is my favorite.

***

Carmen was glad that Patricia, her boss, had asked her to open the library the next day, though at the time she´d been angry because she always liked spending the night at Samuel´s after one of their dates, she liked it a lot to wake up cuddled in his arms and if she had to open the place it meant she was going to have to go home.

The woman sighed. “How can you do this to me?” Carmen said under her breath as she climbed the staircase towards the library´s main entrance. She didn´t bother to turn on the lights, she knew the place by heart, she´d been working there since she majored in literature, her family had insisted for her to find what they thought was a better job but she always laughed it off, she loved the place, she wouldn´t mind getting old there.

Carmen had made her goal to read every book in the place, she chuckled as she thought this one more time as her hand caressed the back of the books, she´d left many unread books already. She walked towards the poetry section which she´s been reading; she turned on the lights of that section only and took a book at random. She looked at it. It was a Roque Dalton book, a very raw type of poetry, always talking about the social injustices… Carmen sat in front of the new painting, she stared at it for a moment.

“Are you watching me?” she huffed and started her reading. After an hour or so the lights flickered, it was midnight already. She rolled her eyes; she hated interruptions in her private time. She glanced up to the lamps of the high ceiling when she looked down to her book, she thought she saw the angel in the painting in front of her move, she squinted her eyes and got up walking to the picture. Carmen rubbed her eyes with her left hand, the book on her other hand.

“I´m hallucinating” she mumbled once she removed her hand from her eyes. She turned to go to her seat but she saw a tiny light right in front of the image of the angel, she turned to the picture again as the light grew wider, she stepped back until her back touched the table behind her, the angel from the painting got up as the light seemed to get in him, he walked straight to her stepping out of the frame, leaving empty the painting. Carmen´s eyes were wide. And all coherent thought left her brain.

The woman in front of the empty painting snapped out of her astonishment when the book she was holding hit the floor, it sounded loud for the lack of people, she flinched as I bent to pick up the book.

“Good night” I greeted handing the book; she laughed leaving me at a loss. I smiled “Is something funny?” I looked around, Navitas, invisible next to her was bending protectively around her, the angel´s eyes angry at me for showing myself to a human.

“The painting has come to life, only I could dream of that” she stressed the word I as she took the book from my hand.

“Are you dreaming?” I inquired to her back; she was walking to sit in the same brown wood chair. She sat and put her book in front of her, on the table.

“There´s no other explanation” she said dismissively

“What if it’s real?” I tilted my head; she glanced up at me from her book, huffed and shrugged.

“And now you´ll keep reading a book that if this is a dream you are not really reading and if this is real then that´s so boring compared to an angel in front of you” I reasoned as she kept her eyes on the book, she glanced at me again

“Not an angel, a painting, the author´s imagination”

“Maybe the author did see me, the angel” I said causing her to laugh.

“This is so me –she lightly hit her head with the book- I´m arguing with myself in my mind with the bits of information that Linda gave me a few weeks ago” she sighed. I chuckled because her reasoning actually made sense but also because it said that she had a vivid imagination…but also she seemed very willing to accept she was asleep very quick.

“Ok, angel of the painting –she stared at me as I smiled- let´s have a talk –she motioned to the chair right in front of her, I pulled it and sat- I have things to ask you” she narrowed her eyes

“Alright, let´s talk” I slightly bowed my head

“Ok, first, why did your painter named you Watching Carmen?”

“Because I was watching you”

“Right –she giggled- I´m not your Carmen –she made quotation marks- you´re mistaken, that picture seems pretty old, I wasn´t even born” she rolled her eyes

“I looked at you at the beach”

“You´re confused, angel. Now –she continued her questions- tell me what´s your name, if you have one”

“Caelum” I simply said, she laughed again

“Latin –she smiled- Sky, right, I sometimes am shocked at the creations of my mind, I haven´t thought of that before, Caelum –she seemed to ponder- I like it”

“And I like yours” I supplied, she rolled her eyes

“Show me your wings” she commanded. I stood up and spread a pair of wings from my back, they´re nothing like birds’ are but I guess that´s the closest reference to how they are. Carmen slowly walked to me “Turn around” she said once she was closer, she touched my back, where my wings were connected to my back.  It’s such a fascinating thing the sense of touch. My skin tingled as she inspected my wings.

“You´re like an angel” she said in awe after a while, she was now touching my forehead, my left temple, going down with two of her fingertips to end up tracing my jaw line. I closed my eyes, I wanted to feel the touch but at the same time I could still see her as clear as I was still watching the baby and an angry Navitas protecting her, it was his doing that she thought it was a dream. He´d whispered that to her in hopes that it protected her.

“I thought you said I was a product of your imagination” I said quietly, she chuckled

“You are. I made you good” she stood there just looking at me for a long while

“Who´s your author?” she asked going back to her seat. Once she sat, she crossed her arms over her chest as if daring me

“I can´t tell you that”

“Of course you can´t! –she uncrossed her arms and moved her hands as she spoke- it´s not in my brain since it´s unknown, you don´t know it either”

“Oh, I know –I place my hands on the table, across from her- This was made for you”

“Right”

“Think about it, it found you. I came down to you through the artist paintbrush”

We remained silent.

“I wonder if I´m cuddled on Sam´s arms” she said to herself

“What happened there was real” I informed her of her rejecting of the man

“I know” she interrupted

“And so is this”

“Go back to your painting, Caelum, you´ll be missed if you are not there once the library opens” she sighed

“I´ll keep watching you from there –I smiled- I just wanted to make a miracle for you tonight” I quoted her phrase, her eyes grew with realization as Navitas touched her forehead and she immediately fell asleep.

Watching Carmen: The Fourth Look

The baby had dimples and he smiled easily, his big round eyes were a bit red, he´d cried a little, his mom hadn´t rushed enough to feed him, her eyes were a little watery but she was comforting him with her embrace, it all made me smile a little. She tenderly rocked the baby and he fixed his bright eyes on her, his little mind was learning and engraving all his mother´s features, the sound of her voice was known to him but now he saw the tiny changes in her face, the light in her eyes that was a mirror or his own light. The new mother kissed her son´s hand and he smiled showing his mouth without a single tooth, she smiled brightly and baby talked to him.

They were waiting for the father, she was still in her maternity leave, she missed him so much and wished she could be with him as much as before, it made her uneasy but she didn´t exactly knew why, the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, it made me sad so I hugged both her and her baby with the form of a soft breeze, I went through the soft waves of her hair, it made her child smile and she forgot her uneasiness.

“You enjoy playing way too much” Fabre[i], the mother’s angel, said shaking his head

*

“I can´t stand this” Carmen didn´t even take the ring out of the box, she looked away as if the shine of the single diamond on top of the white gold band offended her.

“Why not, Carmen?” said the man still on one knee

“Stand up, Sam –Carmen urged the man and motioned to the chair he´d used just a moment before- I can´t do this” she stood up and started to walk out heading to the door, the man, Samuel, went after her, the velvet box now closed still in his hand.

“Carmen, please –he touched her shoulder- this is not a bad thing. I want to spend the rest of my life with you” upon those words she turned around

“Look –her gaze was gentle- we don´t need that to spend our life together besides how can you plan for such a long time, people change all the time…”

“My feelings for you won´t change” he interrupted with a cool confidence that made Carmen smile

“You don´t know that… I don´t want to be like the rest…”

“We´re not like the rest”

“but we are, in time you´ll want the submissive wife, the one to take care of you, the one to make a tiny person and I will expect things from you too, I will expect security from you… -she started to shake her head as if she was looking all that in front of her- I can´t have that, we will both demand something from the other and will end up feeling disappointed. I don´t want that”

“That will not happen, Carmen, I love you”

“You can’t make those promises as you can´t make miracles happen”

“I love you enough to make that promise” he took a step closer to her

“And I love you –she kissed him softly- which is why I won´t accept that” she whispered and headed out the door. Inside the house the man sighed heavily and slumped on his couch, putting his feet on the coffee table in front of it, he threw the small flower base with the single white rose he´d gotten for Carmen, the piece of pottery broke in hundred pieces as Carmen was walking fast down the street not sure where she was going.

“You´re breaking the rules” Navitas said angrily. Caelum closed his eyes with a smirk on his mouth. He was pacing the library where Carmen worked.

“I´m just going to give her a small miracle” he vanished in a tiny sparkle.

---

[i] Skillfully/skill

Double Life: Caught

I couldn´t find a better pix. I hate this one ¬¬ but it was the closer to the idea I saw in my mind ...

“Josh! Josh! Josh!” his eyes snapped open, he was curled on the bed sweating. It was still raining. “Josh…?” he heard Nichole´s voice as she turned on the light, his breathing was elaborated. “Are you ok?” she asked, he sat up, wide eyed “I think you were having a nightmare”

“I… yeah…” he agreed as he tried to calm his breath “did I wake you up?” she shook her head

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I… I think it was a memory. I was drowning –he took his hand to his neck and rubbed it- I saw this little girl from back when I was in the hospital, she said what you said, I won´t let you drown. It´s the first time I hear her voice, she always seems to be silent, I guess my brain was giving her your voice… my dream changed and it was her who was drowning, I couldn´t save her and she wasn´t even fighting to get out, she just let go, she´d save me but she´d ended up falling. I couldn´t do a thing, I stood there like a rock”

“Aw, Josh –she touched his cheek- it was just a bad dream” he closed his eyes

“Why do I always dream of her?” he asked to himself aloud

“Was she in the same room as you?” she asked remembering what Aaron had said about it

“I don´t even know, I often saw her through a glass… I don´t know what she had, she was always with needles coming out of her… sometimes our beds were only separated by the glass”

“What happened to her?”

“I don´t know… every time I was there, she was there… I wonder what happened to her after I left but grandpa never seems to want to tell me about her, he makes it seem as if it was my imagination… I know I didn´t imagine her”

“Maybe things were not good for her and that´s why he never said a thing about her?”

“I´d like to know but he said it was just my imagination, he said there was no one with me in the whole time I was there”

“Oh”

“They put me to a psychologist for that but I know she was real”

“Do you know her name?”

“No”

“What hospital were you in?”

“Golden Larch Medical Research Center”

“That's the name of the hospital?”

“Yeah, grandpa´s…”

“I see… Do you think you´re ready to go back to sleep?”

“I´m sorry to keep you up” he widened his eyes

“Don´t worry” she nodded to her bed, there was an open book on it

“You were reading at… he looked for the clock”

“You were only asleep for an hour”

“Aren´t you tired? What are you reading?”

“The Divine Comedy, but if you´re ready to go back to sleep, I´ll go to sleep too” he nodded and laid back on the bed, she turned off the lights and went to her bed

“Good night, Josh”

“Good night, Nichole”

As the night gets darker the smaller lights shine brighter and eyes get used to the absence of light as they try to distinguish changes. Inside of Nichole´s room the blue light of her alarm clock shined with the big numbers that read zero two one zero. The light of the numbers casted their light on the figure of the bent girl who was tying her boots. Her eyes and ears and all her senses were always alert without even trying, she´d found out that she could see and hear more than the rest of people because of Natasha and that dreadful woman who made her the effective monster that she was. She´d never been afraid of darkness, she´d nothing to be afraid of it she saw it all…

“Nichole?” the light of the clock allowed the boy sleeping in the other bed to see her

“Go back to sleep, Josh” her voice was soothing as if she was trying to make him go to sleep with that. She slipped her knife inside her boot and then stood up

“Are you going somewhere?” the boy asked still half asleep

“I´ll be back soon”

“Where are you going?”

“Can´t tell” she walked to her closet. The boy moved and lifted his head trying to reach for the lights; he turned on the bedside lamp. The lights hurt his eyes for a moment.

“You always say not to ask… someday you´ll tell me” his disheveled hair and sleepy voice made Nichole chuckled

“I pray for that day never come. Now go to sleep”

“It´s still raining”

“I have a rain coat –she put in a black rain coat with hood- I won´t get wet”

“You shouldn´t go out” she said taking that expression he had when he was about to be persistent

“On my way back do you want me to get you your uniform?”

“Mmmmh –he was starting to fall asleep again but he suddenly sat up- No! It´s ok… -she thought she saw a faint blush in his cheeks- I mean, you don´t have to” he rubbed his eyes, she chuckled and walked to his bed

“It´s ok” she said in a soft voice, she walked to the window as he laid back on the bed, she opened it carefully and went out of it, standing on the window sill and carefully closing the window again, after that she jumped off to the ground.

Double Life: Sneaking In

A/N: As promised, here it is

*** 

They ate in the car on their way back, but before that, she went back to her jeans, shirt and boots. Though Josh insisted it was dangerous to leave her in town, being it almost midnight, she laughed and made sure to be left there by telling him she´d jump out of the moving car if he didn´t listen. The face he made at the threat made her laugh some more.

“You won´t….?” he said as she got out of the car

“I want to know what you´ll do as your impression of me” she smiled with the side of her mouth

She jumped Burgeoys wall about an hour later. “What are you doing here?!” she asked half surprised half mad at the person standing there with an umbrella “I told you I was coming back today, Josh”

“It´s raining” he stated the obvious

“And you knew I was going to be drenched anyways. I like rain. You shouldn´t have come, I know you don’t like rain”

“It´s not like that” he said above a whisper

“It´s ok, I told you I don´t mind –she didn´t stand under the umbrella- now, let´s go” she started to walk but turned when he didn´t “Josh”

“When I woke up, it rained, every night –he was telling her of his accident- it sounded so much like when I was fighting in the pool, water everywhere. It reminds me too much to the sounds. I’m not supposed to remember that, but I do”

She walked back to him, lifted her hand and seemed to be about to touch his cheek but she didn´t “I won´t let you drown” she said above the sound of the rain and that seemed to snap him out of his reverie. He opened his mouth to talk “let´s go” she interrupted.

“You´ll be in trouble… your dorm supervisor must know you’re not there” she said once they started to walk and after she´d refused to use the umbrella.

“I entered, he saw me… he didn´t see me come out again”

“Josh! Oh my God! I turned you into a bad boy! –she faked a gasp- are you sure he didn´t see you?”

“Yeah”

“Ok, that´s good, makes things easier, we´re closer to my room so you´ll be staying with me tonight”

They entered through the emergency exit. They were on the first flight of stairs when she took the umbrella from him and opened it

“Cover, someone´s coming” she gave it back to him

“Nichole!” half minute later a girl said with surprise and panic in her voice

“Lex” she greeted as if she hadn´t gotten caught and was just in a classroom

“I …this…” the other girl struggled with her words

“I'm in my room sleeping. I never saw you” she said. Josh heard Lex let out a breath, relieved.

“I´ll keep your secret too” Lex said and she turned to leave.

“It´s pouring outside” Nichole told her after she´d gone down a few steps and she and Josh up a few.

“He´s got to go because of my roommate…”

“Isn´t your roommate your cousin…?”

“Yeah…but you know how Michelle is…”

“Hey… who…?” Lex started to ask

“I´m sleeping, remember?” Nic interrupted. Josh heard a smirk in her voice and the other girl chuckled.

Josh and Nichole went up the rest of the stairs quickly, she made him go in her room, and then she ran to the bathroom and came back with two towels and left. Five minutes later she came back.

“I couldn´t leave mud prints and a water trail…” she explained going to her closet “you´ll have to do with the sweater you used last time… you´re kind of lucky that I hate small pajamas… you´ll look hilarious though… -she gave him some clothes- you take the bathroom, there´s the drier to dry your hair and whatever –she shook her head- I´ll change here” she took the umbrella from Josh. He was too quiet for her liking. The rain had gotten stronger.

“Can I come out?” Nichole heard Josh´s voice through the bathroom door

“Yeah”

“You look sexy” she teased him once he got out

“Shut up” he growled, she laughed, he got into the extra bed “I hope my roommate won´t tell I never went back”

“I doubt he would”

“Yeah, I guess …he hasn´t said a thing so far”

“He can´t say a thing if he´s not there” she said and he furrowed his eyebrows “if Lex listened to me, he´s in this building now” she turned off the lights

“Really? Lex with a freshman?”

Nichole laughed “what´s so bad about that? Besides, what if it´s not like that?”

“I doubt they´re like you and I”

“You never know”

“You never know…” he repeated

Double Life: Nowhere In Particular

A/N: one more post -3 post in two days, that´s a miracle haha

***

They got out through the same door and got in through the one they´ve exited. She chose their sits, not listening to a member of the staff that led them to the right side of the place “We got sits this way” she´d said and walked the opposite way. They sat on two available spots in the center of the place.

“There were closer seats on the right side” Josh commented

“I see my father, his wife and Natasha from here. It´d be bad if they saw us” she explained

Once the audience was clapping at the end of Camille´s performance, Nichole got up to leave, Josh followed. They were on their way to the exit when josh felt himself being pulled; they got into a room, a restroom. He looked at her with a confused expression.

“Nat is about to pass…” she seemed uncomfortable. He peeked through the door and as Nic had said she was walking her elegant walk towards the place they had been, if she hadn´t pulled them in the restroom she´d had seen them.

“How did you know it was her?”

“Her shoes are always too loud. Now let´s get out of here, this is the man´s room” she wrinkled her nose

“No, really, how did you know?” he asked as they got out of the restroom

“When you´re at home, aren’t you able to distinguish the footsteps of your brother from your dad´s?” she asked once they were walking swiftly out of the building.

“I guess –he answered finding it odd- but her steps were not audible at all” they kept walking once they got out of the ballet school

“They were for me”

“Do you have super hearing powers or something?”

“I´ve told you I´m a cat”

“Nichole…” he took hold of her hand, she glanced at their hands as she let go of his but for a couple of fingers

“I can hear you when you enter the floor of the Art Club room… right when you turn after coming up the stairs…” she spoke softly

“What?!... Wait… that means you heard what I said to Jill back in the Art room!”

“I am very glad that you lied to her… I wanted to work with you too” this she said as if it was very obvious. Josh gasped and blinked a couple of times not knowing what to say. They kept walking silently for about fifteen more minutes.

“Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular”

“Wanna eat something?”  I saw a few places and a mall when we exited your sister´s school

“I’m sorry you didn´t get to have dinner on time Today” she sounded actually sorry, which was odd. “She´s weird” Josh thought for himself

“It´s ok”

“I wouldn´t mind food but I rather not risk us getting caught if we eat near here… maybe we could go to a drive-through…”

“That´s not how I imagined the celebration of your birthday” he said moving their hands together. She chuckled

“This is my faked birthday”

“Still”

“This has been a good one” she shook her head

“You see? It should be better, we can find a nice place somewhere even if it´s not dinner time anymore” now he shook his head

“I´m sorry” she stopped walking “I won’t bother you anymore nor I will put you in danger” she said and hugged him. At first he didn´t hug back, she´d never hugged him without a reason, and the only reason had been his birthday.

“What do you mean anymore?” he´d noticed her choice of words. She briefly looked at him and then started to walk again

“I´m not going back to Burgeoys next year” she said after a while in almost a whisper

“What? Why?” he took her hand again, making her stop, at the beginning she gave him her piercing gaze that before had made him stop his enquires but this time he kept his stance. She tilted her head

“Today, I´m legally an adult…” was her answer

“I thought you said today was not your birthday”

“It´s not”

“So, you´ll be an adult until the 10^th, not today” he stated, she huffed

“No, I´ll turn 17”

“Then…why…?”

“I can´t tell you… long story…”

“I think we have time” he led her to a bench, they´ve gotten to a small park in the middle of the city, it was small enough that they could see the cars going through the street in front and at the back of it. She let out a breath

“If I tell you, I might risk your safety”

“I doubt that, how could that even be?”

“Please, just don’t ask, you don’t know who I am or the things I do, you´re in danger by just being here now”

“You always say that…” he frowned

“You won´t have to hear it anymore” she interrupted him; he thought her voice was somehow melancholic but it was pretty much the same, the change was too subtle.

“Because you´re leaving” he supplied, she nodded “does the school knows of this?”

“Only you and I know”

“Won't your family look for you?”

“I’ll hide”

“How?” he asked, she closed her eyes and didn´t answer

“Camille will miss you”

“I came to say goodbye today” she sounded hurt

“Was this goodbye too?”

“No, I planned to say goodbye to you the day of the art project due date”

“Was I going to know that was goodbye?” he asked to a closed-eyed Nichole, she shook her head. He pulled her close into some kind of hug, she stiffed “it´s ok, you´re wearing your gloves” he reassured her, she seemed to relax a little “wait one more year” he asked as she laid her head on his shoulder

“You don´t know what that implies for me…” she ended up saying it in a small voice, Josh wondered if she was crying

“You seem to like school, and the Art room and the forest and…”

“You –she supplied- you´re one good thing in there” she had a soft voice now. He smiled and squeezed her shoulders gently

“If you just leave… I´ll miss you… I know you´ll make it so no one knows where you are”

“Yeah…”

“Just stay, please, let´s graduate together with the other people in our class… Many things can change in a year, maybe things will get better… you´ll have more time to plan…”

“I don´t know, Josh”

“Just think about it, please…”

Double Life: Pinky Promise

A/N: Don´t you love double posts?? I adore them and oh! miracle!! I´m double posting the first day of 2013! 

***

Exactly fifteen minutes later Joshua was entering the small restaurant, she was sat on the same table as last time, once she saw him she got up grabbed, her messenger bag and walked to him, they met halfway. She was wearing her usual black jeans and dark shirt with a grey tank-top and boots. Josh felt he was too dressy with his black slacks and dark blue button down shirt.

 She got in the SUV quickly after he opened the door; she gave him a half smile with an eyebrow arched.  Once inside, she gave the driver the address.

After about half hour she leaned to Josh’s ear and whispered “is your driver trustworthy?” The boy opened his mouth but wasn´t sure how to respond, he was confident the guy wouldn´t say a thing about what they were doing, he´d done that much for his brother but it was Nichole, so he didn´t know what she really meant, she didn´t seem to trust a single soul.

“You see -she continued when he didn´t answer- this is not the attire I´ll b wearing for my little sister’s very expensive ballet school… I doubt they´d let me in like this so I´m going to change here.”

 Josh gasped, she chuckled “he´s not trustworthy” he whispered, “not for that” he added. She smiled to conceal a laugh.

“Ok, great to know, now you´ll be a gentleman and will stand in front of the rear mirror in the next turn since from there it´s only straight row –she was still leaned close to him speaking  almost in a whisper for only josh to hear- he seems to  like to watch thought it a lot, to us, so … this will look strange but I really could care less, so when I tell you will cover the mirror to protect my virtue” she laughed quietly at her last words, she´d changed her clothes in the car with drivers  a lot of times but for the look on Josh’s face he had never seen a girl changing her clothes like that. She started to untie the laces of her shoes

“Why didn´t you change in the restaurant?” he leaned closer to her 

She didn´t answer but took off her shoes, her shirt, leaving only her top, and her socks and then the car turned.  She nodded and then she touched Josh’s hand since he was busy looking ahead, she found him amusing. After about ten minutes she touched his back and first he peeked, she chuckled, he sat back in his place

“I need your help” she said in a tone above a whisper, he got closer “this has never happened before… I´ve been fumbling with this stupid zipper for five minutes but it seems it´s stuck...” she turned her back to him, it was halfway up, he had to pull it down a little to make it go up, his hands were cold.

“Thank you” she faced him and then took a pair of black satin high heels with a black rose on the front out of her bag “Natasha would kill me if she knew I folded this dress like I did.” She commented to more to herself than to Josh. He looked at her black strapless,  knee-length chiffon dress, it was fitted on her chest and the rest flowed down, it had tiny beads on the chest area with patterns that he didn´t want to discover, “it´d look like staring” he thought to himself

“Like what you see?” she asked with an amused toned, “you look very nice too”, she smiled and moved to the farther side of the car closer to the door, he was going to ask about that but then she started to remove her gloves, her right hand first then she slip in a silk black glove then she did the same with the other, she tossed the old ones in her bag, finally she bent and took something from her boot. Josh noticed it was the dagger he’d seen the other day 

“Look away, boy” there was a laugh in her tone as she slip it inside her dress skirt on her right side  “You carry that… there” he asked surprised

“Bad boy, you didn´t look away” she said pretending to be mad

“I didn´t mean to…”

“Right” she interrupted

“No, I….”

She laughed “this is why I couldn´t do this back at the restaurant” she got closer to him “I can’t afford to be noticed” she whispered to his ear

“I think that you fail in that…” he stated, she stared at him for a moment. He was silent for a long while after that.

“wow! look what a look at a girl´s thigh do to you” she teased

“Nichole… that is not true at all”

She stared at him and started to laugh causing him to laugh too.

The rest of the ride they talked a little and then fell into comfortable silence and then they talked a little more, most of their talk was made in whispers so her head ended up being on his shoulder.

“I can leave this here, right?” Nichole asked about her bag when they arrived

“Yeah –he said to her- I´ll call you when we leave” Josh instructed the driver, the man nodded as they got off. As she had said, they arrived late, there was no one in the tickets booth but them and the ones taking the tickets, she handed both tickets and started to walk to the doors of the auditorium but instead of getting in she turned to the left

“Where are we going?” Josh asked as they went through an exit door, before exiting she dropped a pen she´d taken with her so that the door wouldn´t completely close. They were out the place again

“I want to see my sister first” they turned behind the building until they found another door she pulled it and it opened

“How did you know it was going to be open? Josh asked

“My psychic powers told me it would be” she chuckled. She was very smiley, Josh noted but she had gotten the same way the other times when she talked or was with her sister. “It´s  the presentation today, it´s always open in presentation days”

“How did you know?”

“I once had a presentation here”

“You do ballet?”

“No, I was four and father wanted me to do it. I panicked the day of the presentation and the teacher took me out here for me to calm down. I quit it after that” she shook her head “all I had to do was to be the rabbit… that day ended a possible amazing career as an actress or ballerina” he chuckled this time.

They went backstage to the changing rooms where the kids were, there was only a teacher in the changing room where Camille was, she had not seen them, they were still in the dark area. Nichole whistle one particular whistling and Camille started to look around, she whistled again and this time the little girl seemed to try to follow the sound, she whistled one more time and the little girl seemed to tell something to her teacher and then when the teacher said something she shook her head, she walked the opposite direction from where Josh and Nichole were, when the teacher look away busy with other girls, Camille turned to the other side and went behind  some clothes and props the little girls walked to where the whistling had been made but stopped halfway, Nic whistled one more time and this time the little girl smiled and ran to where the sound was.

“Nic!” Camille hugged her sister “you came!” her little voice was exited

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything” the little girl seemed to notice Josh “do you remember Joshua, Camille? Nic motioned to him

“Hello, Joshua” the little girl said in a way so similar to Nichole that he was sure in a few years the girl would sound like her older sister. He smiled

“Hello” he he handed her a rose “I know your presentation´s not done yet but I’m sure you´ll be amazing” Josh smiled as the little girl took the rose and smiled a bright smile

“Thank you, Joshua”

 “You’re welcome” he said, Nichole was smiling

“You look so beautiful, baby” she complimented her sister

“You too, Nic, I had never seen you in a dress” Nic seemed somehow bashful

“Yes you have, you just don’t remember Mii” she pouted and bent over she had been carrying a black bag. “I brought you something… Are these old she pointed to the girl’s ballet shoes?”

“Nope, they’re new. This is the first time I’ll use them”

“Good –Nichole took out of her bag another pair of ballet shoes- would you mind wearing this pair?” the little girl immediately sat on the floor and started to untie  the ribbons of her shoes

“These are a shade darker than these ones –Nic pointed to the pair her little sister had been wearing before- but not enough for people to notice it, ok?”

The little girl changed shoes with the help of Nichole, they seemed so happy even doing those menial thing

“Thank you, Nic and thank you for coming to see me” the little girl said with a smile  “you too” she said to josh “thank you for coming to see me”

“You’re welcome” said Josh

“Now, baby, your time to go out is almost here. I have to go now”

“Are you saying good bye?” the little girl seemed about to cry

“Please, baby don’t cry. I didn´t come all the way here to make you cry”  the little girl seemed to stop

“Won’t I see you at the end for you to tell me how I did it?”

“I’m sorry baby but father doesn’t know I’m here and you know how mad he gets when he doesn’t know I’ve come to places …” the girl nodded seeming sad

“But that´s why Josh gave you the rose now and as he said I know you’ll do amazing out there. I’m here just for you, ok?” the little girl nodded “now I need you to promise me to not tell anybody that you saw me or Josh tonight, ok? I don’t want to cause troubles to father or your mom and sisters, ok?”

“They’re not even here!” the girl pouted

“Who? Father?”

“No! he is here and mom –Camille said as if that was obvious- but  Ash and Jess… they said this was too boring for them to come… they said all I had to do was turn around and that was not ballet” her voice was hurt. Nichole frowned.

“They don’t know better, baby, they´re just jealous of you”

“That said mom too”

“Well, listen to your mom in this. So…this is our secret” Nichole said, her sister held out her pinky finger, Nichole smiled “Ok- pinky promise they said- please, don’t try to see me in the crow, ok? I’ll leave as soon as you finish your part, ok?

“yes” the little girl said “but, hey, we have to promise with Joshua too”

“Ok, baby” Nichole chuckled

Camille and Joshua did the same “Now you too” Camille said, making them do the same

“See you baby” the sisters hugged

“No! Tell me to break a leg for luck” the little girl demanded

“You don’t need luck Mii, you’re that good” Nic winked, the little girl giggled “Bye” she said again “love you always Mii”

“Love you always, Nic”

“Bye” said josh and the little girl gave him a hug too

“Thanks for the flower”

Double Life: Fake Birthday

This was so beautiful. When I saw it, it´s like what I imagine Nic would do.

A/N: First post of the year! This is how I want the days of this year to be, with a lot of inspiration and many, many things to read and write. 

A lot happened in this one... I wonder if it´s good...

***

“ok, guys” the art teacher said to the ones gathered in the art club room “I´ve called all you here –the art club had two groups- we have twelve days for the school year to be over so today i´m giving you the final project assignment, that as you know gives you credit in one of the listed subjects and also gives you an extra in your academic resume for college since next year is the last for many of you –he passed slips of papers with instructions- Ok, you´re going to be paired up with someone and, wait –he said when a murmur started- you will be, from your particular form of art, showing your vision of who that person is, which means you´ll have to know the other, something that you´ve already done. I´m going to be nice and let you pick your partner but –he stressed the last word- you have do that after the class is over, preferably when you left the Art´s building –he grinned- the due date is December 10^th. Any questions?”

“no? ok, you know where to find me if you get any –he said- now, the ones that are not in this group, you´re free to go, but remember you can join someone from the other group” the students started to leave and the ones in that day´s group settled in their usual places. After giving instructions to the rest of the group, Mike called the guys that played and/or sang to discuss ideas for their end of the course presentation.

“Mike, it´s time already, isn´t it?” Maya asked at the time that the class was about to finish.

“it had to be you, right?” The man playfully rolled his eyes

“well –she made the word sound longer- is it or not?” she poked her tongue

“yes, Maya, yes” she shook his head after he looked at his watch. The boys got up to put away their musical instruments.

Nichole was closer to the windows, opposite to the door, the cabinets of the instruments were in the middle of the room, on the right side. Jonah was walking towards Nic, like he was just aiming to look out the window, she glanced him.

“You´ll be with me, right?” Maya grabbed Jonah´s arm

“Uh…”he looked over at Nichole, she looked up with a small almost imperceptible smile and tugged her hair behind her ear, he noticed she was wearing the gloves he´d given her, then she looked back at her canvas as if she´d not noticed a thing.

“Jo!” Maya tugged at his arm

“Yeah.. sure, Maya”

“Yay! Let´s go. We have a lot to talk about” she walked him to the door and out after she said goodbye to the group, the rest of the students started to talk among them, they were close to the door, their backpacks on their shoulders. Josh and Bryan remained talking with Mike longer than the rest.

Nichole was still nowhere near to finishing the drawing she was doing, she was making a big drawing. Josh walked towards the window close to where Nic’s work space was. He was stopped by Jill, she told him something; at some point he looked at Nichole´s way, she met his eyes briefly.

When Jill stopped talking he leaned down a bit, Jill was smaller than him, he talked close to her ear, for a second she seemed to stiffen and when he stood up straight she glanced down for a second and then quickly waved good bye. Jill walked to the group on the farther side of the room, she said something, Bryan hugged her with one arm and then looked at her saying something, she half smiled and nodded. The group started to exit, Nichole noticed Bryan had his arm on Jill´s shoulder before a familiar figure covered them.

“Staying here?” Josh pulled a stool closer to where she was. He sat next to her, she nodded. “What are you doing?” he asked, she stopped her drawing for a moment and turned her face to him raising both her eyebrows, lightly tilting her down, he shook his head. On her canvas there was the drawing of a ballerina. On the window sill there was a small wooden model.

“Do you like ballet?”

“No, not really, but Mii will be doing ballet tonight at her school´s show”

“Students are not allowed here after the class is over” Mike said already on the door

“Close your eyes, Mike, no student is here” Nichole said playfully

“Those are the rules, Nic” he said firmly but then he huffed

“I can go out for you to be at ease but you know I´ll come back”

“You´re not alone today” he looked at Josh who widened his eyes at the bluntness of his statement

“I promise it´ll be as if I was. We won´t cause you trouble, this one here –she pointed to Josh- is a goody-two-shoes” she winked at the boy

“I´m closing my eyes” Mike said already closing the door

“Go away” Nichole said playfully

“So you are going” he stated returning to their previous conversation

“Yeah”

“That´s nice”

“I guess”

“You guess?”

“Mmmh… You never know when it´s about Natasha and her promises”

“Do you think she´ll do something…?” he asked, Nichole pursed her mouth for a second

“I don´t know, she gave me two tickets and promised to send someone for me to go but then she told you my birthday was the same day even after she told you to leave me alone… -Josh stared at her- nothing´s simple in my life, Josh” she let out a tiny almost inaudible sigh

“I wish I could help… -Josh´s eyes portrayed the sentiment yet they were calmed and deep- …to make you feel better”

Nichole arched an eyebrow “I´m fine, Josh… Jill on the other hand –she smiled with the side of her mouth- she seemed sad. What did you do to her?”

The boy´s eyes widened for a second “you just said I was a goody-two-shoes and now you make it sound as if I´m a bad person” he shook his head lightly

“I don´t know, you seemed to be displaying all your charming self, like a peacock –she laughed a little at that- you reminded me of your brother”

“Like my brother?”

“Yup, being all charming” she kept doing her drawing

“You think he´s charming” he made it sound like a questions but he was stating it

“No, he´s a good looking idiot with zero charming effects for me but it seems to be a lot for other girls… I just had never seen it in you” she looked straight at him

“Oh –he smiled a crocked smile- charming, huh?”

She laughed “I´m immune –she winked- but Jill…” She shook her head. He sighed looking slightly up to the ceiling. “You rejected her, didn´t you?”

“I just told her I´m going to work in the project with you”

“But I haven´t said I want that” she raised an eyebrow

“Everybody else has a partner already”

“I could easily make any of them to work with me”

“You wouldn´t do that, you´re too good for that” his green eyes had a light in them that gave his looks a playful disposition

“Right… let´s say I´m good –she made air quotation marks- I could ask Mike to let me work on my own… I´d offer to do my impression on all of you. I´d do many times more of the work he assigned”

“Would you do that?”

“I would” she went back to her canvas, he looked to a side. They stayed silent, after a while she put away her pencils. He started to get up; she touched her shoulders making him sit again.

“I wanted to work with you too, I´m actually very interested in hearing what you´ll do to show how you perceive me” she half smiled, he looked at her

“Let´s go” he took one of her hands as he got up; she took her messenger bag from the nearest table. They exited the room.

“I don´t want us to discuss about what we will be doing, ok? I want it to be solely our own vision”

“You don’t want spoilers?”

“I want to see the final product”

“What if I want a sneak peek of your thoughts of me?”

“I can tell you my thoughts of you any day but you are not going to see my project before it’s finished”

“Come on…Nichole…”

The buzz of her phone and she stifling and letting go of his hand interrupted what Josh was going to say. She kept walking but her relaxed aura had immediately changed. She held the phone to her ear.

“I knew you were not going to keep your word” she said after hearing for a while, her tone was not angry; it was civil but really cold. “I don´t need to hear your excuses, Natasha” she continued and hung up clearly upset, she closed her eyes tightly and breathed in once, when she opened her eyes again she seemed to have taken her usual demeanor, her eyes seemed to be frozen chocolate, like one emotionless doll, she kept walking, her back straight, her head held high and her steps confident.

“Is everything ok?” Josh asked

“It is” she smiled her rehearsed smile

“That´s something that I need to include in my composition” he absently commented, she furrowed her brow slightly “that smile of yours, it´s pretty but not real, the real one can pass inadvertent if your eyes are not on you” he explained. She narrowed her eyes as she fought a smile

“You should know better than to get so friendly with darkness”

“The sun´s still shining”

“There are still shadows everywhere, monsters creep slow to get to you” she whispered

“I got a flashlight” he took out of his pocket the flashlight she´d given him

“You´re too persistent for your own good… and mine”

“What did Ms. Strassberg tell you?” he asked, she looked at him for a long while “it´s none of my business but I want to know” he said when she didn´t answer

“You shouldn´t play with fire, boy”

“What is it, fire or darkness? They´re opposite, you know”

“You’re very bold today. I wonder if you´re still on peacock mode” she smirked and he looked away and heard her chuckled a little. They kept walking into the orchard.

“She said that she didn´t got me permission to go out, meaning no one will be picking me up to go to Mii´s presentation… it´s too far for me to take the bus and you know taxis take too long to come here… I´d never be on time…” she was walking slow but had to stop suddenly when she felt Josh´s arms around her in a hug, her arms were dangling at her sides.

“I´ll take you” he said when he let go “I´ll call the driver to pick us up” he took his cellphone out of his pants pocket. She stopped him

“I told you she didn´t got me the permission to get out” she shook her head

“Come on, you´ve never been one to need that to go out of Burgeoys”

“True” she slightly nodded

“So, there´s no problem. I´ll take you”

Nichole smiled a warm smile; her eyes were soft and warm. “You can´t take me, Josh”

“Nic, please don´t start with that, you want to go and I want to help you with that”

“Look… I really don´t want to put you in danger and whoever is driving…” They were still standing in the same spot.

“Now you´re just making up excuses” he was about to dial as they started walking again “take this as a fake birthday gift for a faked birthday” he smiled, she narrowed her eyes letting out a breath

“It´s more for practical reasons this time” she said, Josh furrowed his eyebrows “that you guys haven´t gone out home during the weekends tells me that your house is over two hours-drive… I´d never get on time” her voice was her usual tone but at the end there was a tinge of sadness

“Grandpa has someone to drive us around that lives in this area, all I have to do is to call him”

“Again, I doubt the guards at the gate will let me go out… and you, you don´t have permission”

“Grandpa can get me one, Aaron asks for that all the time”

“You seem to like your charming ways too much” she smiled at him stopping on the end or the orchard that sided the girl’s dorm. He dialed.

“Hey, grandpa” he smiled into the receiver “yeah, I´m fine –he listened for a while- yeah, he´s ok, too –he listened again- mmm… well. I do want to ask you something… Do you think you could send me the car as soon as possible? –he chuckled at what the older man said- well, today´s the birthday of a friend and I´d like to take her somewhere… -he listened some more- ok, yes, I´ll tell you later, thank you grandpa”

“Ok, we´re good to go” he grinned to Nichole. She shook her head but ended up smiling too.

“I´ll be on the restaurant where we had lunch the other day. I’d like it if you could wear dark clothes. We’ll meet in twenty minutes.”

 He nodded and then she jumped to the wall and grabbed the climbing fig on it. She’d practically jumped high enough to grab the ledge on the wall that marked the first and second floor of the building, this was the first time he´d seen her do that. His eyes had twice their normal size. “that only happened in movies” he said to himself, she seemed to sense him staring she turned around, it was still clear enough for him to see her well, she motioned her hand for him to leave, he gasped thinking she´d fall, she smirked and motioned her hand again, reluctantly, he started to leave taking the path that was closer to his dorm, he tuned to look again but she was nowhere to be seen, he ran this time.