Double Life: Broken Hearted

A/N: what would be of DL without the a/n?! nothing, not without one of my still in Nic mode comments. Anyway, this was not going to even make it to the story and then it was going to be for later but I think it might explain some of Nic´s behavior? idk 

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Nichole had her back against a tree, her eyes closed, music sounding in her ears. She felt like she could drift to sleep. On her right side she heard movement despite the sound of the music drumming in her ears. Two feet had stopped, the person had been quietly humming.

“You make a perfect prey, kitten” the person said after a while.

“That only works when the prey´s unaware. You were singing and then you bent to take three drinks of water, only when you looked up you saw me” the girl said not opening her eyes. There was a moment of silence.

“You´re good, kitten” there was no reply from Nichole after that.

“I thought I wouldn´t see you again” the silence was broken

“Same here” the girl answered

“Yet, a week later, here we are… So, what´s your name?” his tone was pleasant. She didn´t answer. The person chuckled. “Smart girl, you shouldn´t talk to strangers, huh? They teach you well in your fancy school… Ok, I´m Ash, now I´m not a stranger anymore, you can tell me your name”

“Ash?” she glanced him

“Ashley” he sighed

“Isn´t that a girl´s name?”

“And no one disappoints in asking that –he sounded as if had been expecting it- Doctors told mom she was having a girl. She liked that name and grandma just couldn´t change my name when mom passed away of child birth” he explained with a small frown

“I´m sorry”

“It´s ok, she left me with a cool name”

“It´s not so cool, my stepsister´s name´s Ashley”

“Her name just became cool because I have it but if you call me other than Ash I´ll have to attack you” he narrowed his eyes playfully at her, she smiled with the side of her mouth

“Ashley –she pointed her finger to him- Nic –she pointed her thumb to her- and if you ever call me Nicky you´ll die” she smirked and he smiled. A soft breeze blew making the trees sing and letting the sun light go through them, making interesting patters in the leaves-covered ground.

“Ash” Nichole murmured again. She was drenched in cold rain. She felt like crossing the river, it was dangerous and stupid but for some reason Ash had always come from the other side of the river and he had always crossed over it to go to her, she wanted to go to him.

“Nichole, you crazy little kitten, go back, I don’t want you discovered and expelled. “You have to be safe” he’d said once taking both her hands and kissing them. She´d been weary of this but his lips only touched the fabric. Ash never asked questions, he only wanted what she allowed herself to give to him.

Still under the rain, Nichole spun around and started to walk back to Burgeoys, talking long steps, all the way remembering Ash´s concerned eyes when she was suddenly mad and not talking, or the few times she´d been hurt with no apparent reason or the days were it was obvious that she´d not slept.

“I don’t know what´s going on but please, kitten, stay safe” he brushed her bangs out of her eyes and she´d closed her eyes slightly leaning away from his touch. By this time they had been friends for more than a year. What they shared the most was silence and their liking for the woods.

Nichole went up her window and straight to her bathroom. She got under the shower, warm water caressed her skin.

“I´m going away next year” Ash had said to her, she´d been lying on his bed. A sudden pang tugged at her heart

“Ok” she chocked the word out

“I´ll miss you, kitten” he said above a whisper. She sat up and searched with her eyes for her shoes “Will you miss me?” he asked knowing she was going to leave without a word. Slowly she nodded a couple of times; he leaned closer to kiss her temple. She was focusing very hard in keeping her feelings at bay. Ash was going away and she was going to be all alone again.

“I want to stay… but my uncle wouldn´t let me be on my own –he said frustrated yet he leaned again to kiss her cheek tenderly- I want us to stay in touch, like this…” he breathed on her cheek and planted another kiss just as she turned her face to see him causing him to touch her lips with his. Her breath was caught but he smiled against her and when he moved away he still had a smile on his lips, a smile that lit up his whole face. She was staring at him.

“Do you want to stay in touch… like this?” Ash leaned in closer to her

“I…-it was the first time Ash had seen her hesitate- I…yeah…” her words were swallowed by Ash´s lips on hers. She furrowed her eyebrows, fear running through her veins.

“Ash…” she whispered once he left her lips, he only went back to touch his lips against hers and she wanted to push him away like she´d done many times before but Ash was all  tenderness and though she didn´t say it, she was going to miss him dearly and even though he didn´t know she only pushed him so that he could stay close but she did want to be closer and being this closer allowed her to hear the silent air coming out of his nose. She felt the slow change in his body, blood rushing everywhere making his skin warmer. Nichole took her hand and put it on his chest and his breath spiked as he took a moment to breath. The hand she kept on his chest felt the quick thump of his heart. His eyes fluttered open for a second, taking her staring eyes before closing the gap between them.

Nichole paid close attention to all that was Ash and then as she heard him and felt him she noticed her own skin getting hotter, her heart going faster and now she was not only noticing all that he was but she was all about Ash, with a hand over his chest, the other around his neck and her lips following his rhythm. Ash, Ash, Ash her heart seemed to beat his name until a sharp pain went through her heart, she and Ash winced at the same time, she pushed him away panicking because she knew all too well what was happening.

Ash became paler as he clutched his shirt over his shirt, he seemed breathless and for Nichole it all became slow motion.

“No, Ash!” she cried out when he faltered and fell backwards on the pillows, his lips pale, his eyes tightly closed. Nichole called the emergency number, it had been the one and only time she used her cellphone to herself. She tried to do CPR but the mouth to mouth part could make it worst but she knew what was happening, her touch was lethal and depending on the exposure to her hands death came more or less fast but it always came.

“I´m sorry Ash” she mumbled sobbing. Her hands still had gloves but she had lost it. At first when she´d find out she was a monster all her skin had been lethal and then only her hands but the monster had decided to come out on full force taking another beloved from her life. She brushed his hair to a side, like when he´d seen her for the first time, he looked like a deer… a stream of tears wanted to come out of her.

When Nichole heard the ambulance close, she left from the back door, Ashley lived on his own once his grandmother died, he’d stayed there on his own but his uncle didn´t like it and he was taking him away but before that the monster had taken his life and he´d withered away.

Natasha had gone to her upon the usage of the cellphone. The woman found a way to make it so Ashley was buried in the small town´s cemetery and she made it so Nichole was able to attend to the funeral. She´d taken wild flowers picked from the woods like he´d done many times before, presenting her a single wild flower along with a smile but he wouldn´t do it anymore.

The morning caught Nichole after a long sleepless night; the vision of Ashley´s languid body lying on the bed assaulted her whenever she tried to close her eyes.