On Sunday morning Nichole opened her eyes
before the sun came out, she lay on the bed watching the ceiling and listening
to the birds singing. A small smile tugged at her lips. She stayed there for a
long while.
“You´re following me Ash” she whispered to
herself reaching for one of her books, she opened it where a blue feather was,
she brushed her finger on it then she put it back. She got up, wore the jeans
she´d wore the day before and a sweater, she didn´t want another member of the
Arlington´s family to see the green and yellow bruised.
She had enough experience in getting in and out
of places that no one listened when she went down and in the kitchen to drink
some water, after that she went out towards the bird´s cage, the dog started to
bark as she stepped the grass.
“Shhhh, easy” a voice that Nichole recognized
said
“An early riser, huh?” the boy said
“Mhh”
“Couldn´t sleep?”
“No, I just woke up. Do you get up this early?”
“Yeah, my bedroom is that one –Aaron pointed to
the window that faced that side of the yard- so I hear Paisley´s whining when
he wants to go out”
“Oh”
“Why are you coming out here?”
“I came to see the birds”
“So, you did like his gift” Aaron chuckled
“Yeah, he´s peculiar when giving gifts” she had
a small smile, Aaron´s eyes were observing her
“Wanna go for a walk with me and Paisley?” he
smiled, she shrugged and walked with him at a slow pace and mostly silent, the
dog occasionally tugged his owner towards a tree or a door to sniff.
“Thanks for the watch” Aaron said, she´d sent
him a Christmas present too.
“You´re welcome”
“Sarah was mad at you” he spoke again after a
while. She raised both her eyebrows
“What did I do to her?”
“When Josh took you with him she took it as if
you were the cause of him not talking to her” he shook his head
“Wow… so I am guilty of that…” Nichole laughed
humorlessly
“Yeah, she´s got a problem to remember the
things she´s done”
“You seemed fine with her” the streets were
empty, Aaron shook his head
“I tolerate her for Josh… he´s pretty loyal and
respectful, he didn´t want me to bad mouth her even after she´d bad mouthed him”
“He seemed pretty mad the other night… What
changed?”
“You” Aaron looked at her with a smug
expression on his face
“Right” she rolled her eyes, he chuckled
“He tried to talk with her but she never wanted
to listen…”
They sat in one of the benches of the park
where they had arrived. Aaron unleashed the dog and it went running around the
park.
“I´m going to go swimming at Helen and Bill´s
this afternoon, you can come” Aaron broke the silence once again
“Ok”
“Are you going?”
“No”
“But you said ok”
“To let you know I had heard you”
“Why not to come? You like swimming”
“I don´t like swimsuits”
“Don´t wear any”
“You´d love that, wouldn´t you?”
“Indeed”
“Not happening. Ever” her voice sounded bored,
he chuckled
“Come on! Some swimming wouldn´t hurt you or
are you still afraid that I´ll win?”
“You´re not being convincing in the least”
“What do I have to do for you to go?”
“Are you leaving your brother behind ´cause I assume
you´re not taking him to swim?”
“No, of course not”
“So you want to take me with you while he stays
behind?” she had raised eyebrows, Aaron gasped
“That´s not what I said”
“It was”
“No, I just wanted you to join us in the
swimming”
“What´s with you and trying to take me to
places?” she raised an eyebrow
“I just want to be friends”
“Why? You didn´t seem to want to be my friend
before?”
“I was mad at you”
“You have a crooked nose now” she smirked
“I do not!” he touched his nose
“Yeah, you do”
“No, I don´t and don’t try to make me mad at
you!”
“I´m just stating the obvious” she had a
mischievous grin
“No, you just don´t want to be my friend”
“You still didn´t answer why you changed your
opinion of me; you seemed to be into the gossips”
“Well… they´re pretty crazy but you had just
broken my nose and then you did it to Brighton and you never leave your gloves
or that bandage on your hand… You´re the best student but everybody knows you
miss school when you want to…”
“See, you got no reason to want to be friends
with me. You shouldn´t” she said as if she was giving a piece of advice
“Josh seems pretty fond of you. I trust his judgment”
he smiled with the corner of his mouth she chuckled
“You didn´t seem to trust in it before…”
“I might disagree with him but I always trust
his judgment”
“Do you think he´ll want me to go swimming with
you in who knows whose pool?” she asked with curiosity but there was an
underlying tone of teasing. His eyes grew a little.
“Would you mind if he didn´t want?”
“Would you?”
“Well, yeah… he´s my brother”
“Then, shouldn´t you stop trying to get me in
pools and in less clothing?”
“Would he mind you being in less clothing?”
“As you and most guys, I doubt that´d be a
problem”
“Then why would you bring that up?”
“Is your brother my friend?” she asked and he
furrowed his eyebrows
“I don´t know, is he?” he tilted his head a
little and she laughed
“I asked first”
“I guess he is… You really care about him,
don´t you?”
“Shouldn´t I?”
“Do you like him?”
“Yeah, otherwise I wouldn´t talk to him even
less stay at his house”
“You know what I meant”
“No, not really” she looked at him and he
stared at her, she had an expression of innocence, he blinked a couple of times
“How do you manage that?”
“What?” her face remained the same
“Have a smirk on your face one second and then
be the picture of innocence…” he was observing her, the girl narrowed her eyes
marginally. The twins were good at noticing
“I am the picture of innocence” she had a
mischievous smirk on her face, it amused her that the twins were the only ones
that made her somehow enjoy the abilities of the monster
“You’re trying to make me forget the question,
don´t you?”
“Why do you seem to believe I live my life
plotting?”
“So you and my brother are together?”
“No… I´m together with you now”
“You deflecting my question is a good indicator
of the answer”
“You may take it as you want”
She stood up and Aaron called the dog, the
started to walk back. The park had started to get occupied by people doing
exercise
“I saw what you painted for him” Aaron spoke
again
“Mh”
“You´re good at painting and you seem to like
him” he said and she chuckled
“I asked him about the one you sent to our mom”
“Ah”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No, he saw it and he wanted it”
“Where did he see it?” he asked she looked at
him with an ‘are you kidding me?’ look on her face
“You do know he´s in the Art Club just like me,
don´t you?”
“I saw the other paintings you did of him”
“Ok”
“They were like he is the only thing you see…”
“Did you listen to his part of the project?”
“Yeah”
“Then you know what the whole thing was about. It´s
getting annoying that you keep going on and on about the nature of the
relationship between me and your brother”
“I wouldn´t go on and on if you just told me”
“I only have three things to tell you, Aaron,
one, I don´t have to tell you anything, two, you can go and pester your brother
about it and finally, you seem to just want to listen to what you think things
are, you are not listening, are you trying to get involved with me or
something?”
“You know the answer of that”
“No, I don´t, one day you hate me, the next you
ask me out, then you seem to want your twin and I involved, then you start
acting tolerable and now you´re just plain annoying”
“I… just want to know”
“Your brother and I are just friends and if you
ask me about it one more time I´ll have to shut you up!”
“How will you shut me up?” he smirked
“You still have a nose; I can make good use of
it”
“Ha-ha as if I´d let that happen again”
“I bet I can do it again”
“No, you couldn´t”
“I can always make you faint too”
“How would you do that?”
“A magician never reveals her secrets” she
winked, he chuckled
“I was distracted that time at the library,
there´s no way you could cause me any harm”
“Keep believing that”
“Pffft you do know I´m in the karate club,
don´t you?” he used the same tone she´d used before
“No, I didn´t” she mocked gasped “But that
won´t serve you against me” she said with a smug disposition
“If you weren´t a girl I´d fight you right here
and now”
“Right in front of the door of your house?” she
raised an eyebrow
“No, mom would be very mad if she saw me
fighting her guest and Josh would kill me if I attempted anything against his
girlfriend” his tone seemed to voice a challenge
“Then you´d be dead by now if that was true”
she entered the house
“And you say I am annoying” he passed next to
her to go leave the dog in the yard
“You are the picture of it” she poked her
tongue out as she started to go up the stairs
Awwww Nic/Aaron flirting is so great(sorry Josh, ignore it)! They are so cute.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Nic here though. Aaron is so mixed up when it comes to her. He's either mad at her, trying to date her despite Josh might I add or trying to push her and Josh together. He's a mess(not in the jerk way or maybe he is but that's not the way I mean it here. More like he's mixed up). I honestly think he doesn't even know what's going on with himself. He's a good brother but he's also thinking of what he wants too... maybe. I have a few thoughts about his behavior in posts like this. It's crazy how he's on the sidelines but he makes me think so much and so many things.
Nic is so good at being vague and she's so smug but I have to say I love the fact that the twins can read her expressions and her tones. It's that weird feeling like how someone is super strong and you want to see what the person who will take them down would be like... You know that feeling of want?! I love Nic though so don't doubt that ahahaha
I love these two together. It's kind of effortless and that's so freaky considering how they argue and bicker and even flirt. It's really interesting, their relationship is and it's one of my favorites in the story because it doesn't get much attention but it "feels" like it should be important. I like that. And I like them.
I really like Aaron in this one too. He was showing his Josh side with all the questions he asked but unlike Josh he knows when to stop asking a certain type of question and switch to another. I think he's more adept to dealing with girls than Josh but that's just an observation I've made so I don't know... It's the things I've seen with the way Josh is with girls I think. Anyway I liked Aaron here because he all over the map but it felt sincere and honest, which why I can't hate him or dislike him I think.
Oh I liked that part when they talked about swimming at the friends house and how that meant leaving Josh. I LOVED that Nic saw it that way immediately, even before arguing about not wanting to go. It was so special and she in all her wisdom doesn't even notice that reactions like that and they way they are at school are what feed peoples thoughts that they are something more than what they are. And the funny thing about that is that she says it to Josh all the time(that how they are feed gossip) but I don't think she actually KNOWS what they present to the world the way she thinks she does. That's so wonderfully naive of her. So cute!!!
Well done. You have me thinking so much about this one in ways I didn't think I would.