A/N: at the end
***
“Nini!” the woman at the counter of the
bakery where Nichole took Josh greeted the girl
“Hi, Annie” the girl smiled back
“I hadn´t seen you in a while. How was
vacation?”
“It was ok, how´ve you been?”
“The kids, the kids, Nini” she rolled
her eyes “they should be like you, but you know they´ve missed their aunt Nini”
the woman winked
“I´ve missed them too” she took an
envelope out of her backpack and handed it to Annie, the woman saw its contents
“Nini, I can´t take this”
“Yes, you can and you will. Ash always
talked of taking them there” she smiled, that seemed to change the woman´s mind,
her gaze was tender
“Aww thank you. Did you come to visit him?”
“I think I will, yeah…”
“You know you don´t have to…” there was
sadness in her voice
“I like keeping his memory” the girl had
a soft smile
“So, you’re taking the usual?”
“I want one more this time and cookies.
Do you want anything else from here?” she asked Josh who was looking around.
Annie noticed him
“Oh, I’m sorry –she said- I didn´t know
you were with Nichole. I am Annie Cooper” she shook his hand
“Joshua Arlington” he smiled “it´s nice
to meet you”
“School friend?” Annie asked Nichole
“Yes, we hiked from there today”
“Oh… so you’re corrupting him?”
“Annie, you offend me! –Nichole touched
her heart- but… very much so” she smirked, Annie laughed
“When I came to leave these guys –Josh
lifted the birds’ cage that they had just picked up- I saw a park, we could free
them there or in the woods if you like”
“Let´s go to the park” she said at once
“You´ve spent quite a while in here”
Josh commented as she led him between a couple of trees to a partially hidden
set of swings
“Mhhh…These swings stopped being used when
a thunder struck those trees during a rainy night, well, two rainy nights,
since it happened twice. People got superstitious and these are always empty”
she explained as she sat on one
“Not always empty, Nini, you´re stealing
our hangout place”
“Aren´t you supposed to be at college,
Iz?” she rolled her eyes
“You´re
totally bringing the rich kids to our place, Nini” the tall young man walking
towards them spoke, completely ignoring Nichole´s first comment
“This is a public place, Iz” Nichole
raised her eyebrow
“This is our hang out place, Nini, he´s
not approved”
“I am totally bored by now, Iz, so I’m
not even going to answer that. I´ll pretend I didn´t even listen”
“Oooooh” the other boys with him
hollered, Josh lips twitched up a fraction
“So you gonna ignore me, Nini?”
“Pete, what are you guys doing here?” she
turned her attention to a smiling brunette
“We´re visiting, we went by Annie´s she
told us you were around, we thought you came to see him”
“I
think I will”
“To say goodbye?” Iz glanced at Josh.
Nichole laughed as she rolled her eyes
“Iz, Pete, Charlie, this is my friend
Joshua Arlington. Josh, these are friends of a friend…” she motioned to the
boys
“Ouch! That hurt, Nini” Charlie spoke
“My friends would not Judge my other
friends based on the money their parents make” she raised an eyebrow, the three
boys seemed taken aback
“Sorry, man” Pete shook Josh´s hand
followed by the other two
“Yeah, sorry, Just getting a little over
protective of Nini” Iz offered
“It´s fine, Josh said. Nichole snorted
“Funny, Iz, you´re well aware I can
defend myself”
“Nini, you´re like our little sister…”
Charlie intervened before Iz could talk.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” she rolled her
eyes but there was a smile tugging at her lips before silence settled in
“We´ll go now but say hello for us” Pete
dug in his pocket and gave her something and so did the rest
“I will” she took it
“Nice to meet you Joshua” they nodded
and started to walk away
“Don´t get lost, Nini” Iz turned and
walked backwards as he spoke
“Nini” Josh started once they were gone
“Yup”
“You have lots of friends in here” he commented
without looking at her.
“You could say that…”
“They seem to know you”
“Don´t like that you´re not my only
friend?” she raised both eyebrows, he stared blankly at her “wow, mad you is coming
out”
“Nic…”
“They´ve known me, sort of, for a while…
I used to come a lot here”
“Why did you stop? You know, having
friends here and all?” he asked already guessing it had to do with the friend
she´d been talking about and that person everybody asked her if she was
visiting.
She reached for the bag Annie had given
her when they left the bakery and took out an envelope, opened it, sorted the
contents and passed him a picture, in it, a younger Nichole with the 3 guys and
another one in soccer uniforms were smiling. She gave him another of the
unknown guy and for some reason it seemed familiar.
“I have the weird feeling that I´ve seen
this picture before” Josh furrowed his eyebrows
“That´s probably because you have” she
said and he looked at her with questioning eyes “right where I met your twin,
in that library hallway there´s a picture, a version of this one” she pointed
to the picture of the unknown boy alone
“You made it, it´s the same person” he
said to himself
“Yeah, I made it and Mike made sure to
put it in the library, your picture is there this year too”
“Really?” he widened his eyes
“Yeah, I can see you don´t go to the
library much” she chuckled “you should go see it”
“I will! –he smiled happily- mmmm so…”
he lifted the picture a little
“Annie Cooper was his aunt –she started
softly frowning a little for a second- Pete, Iz and Charlie were his friends
since they were kids, they were in the school soccer team, in that picture I had
gone to cheer, sort of, on them for the final game of the season or something I
wasn´t at all interested in –she laughed quietly-. He had befriended me somehow,
I guess it was his ability to know when to talk and when to stay quiet, -she smiled
and seemed almost happy to be talking of this person- like me, he loved the
woods, he showed me this place and told me the legends... He borrowed me his
friends and family –her voice broke a little-. The guys gave me this –she showed
him three shiny pennies- because I Just quoted his words to Iz about the not
being friends with him over discriminating based on money… they had this story
about a penny that reminded them of it, I don´t know, I think a couple of girls
from Burgeoys had thrown them a penny as a way to look down on them so… I don´t
know he was a little crazy sometimes”
“So…he… Iz got jealous on behalf of…”
“Yeah” she shook her head. She showed him
another picture. He was sure he´d seen that one. It was the boy sitting in the middle
of a road, raised eyebrow, a tiny smile
“This picture is in Mike´s office” he
said pondering
“There are some more in the drawers –she
said- Mike had me doing human figure a lot back then, he was always glad to
help”
“He sounds like a nice guy”
“He was, he was amazing, Ashley would´ve
been a great man –she closed her eyes as if in pain- and… I think I want to ask
you a favor for him”
“Ashley?” Josh eyes were a little wide.
Nichole laughed
“The doctors told his mom she was having
a girl and when she died of childbirth his grandma named him that anyway…
Though, he never let anyone call him anything but Ash”
“Oh… a favor you said?”
“Yeah… I want to give him one of your
birds because they are special to me and I want to let it free where he is now”
“They are your birds; you can do what
you want….”
“Would it be weird for you to go to the
graveyard…?” it was very strange to see her unsure like that
“I´d like to meet your… friend” Josh smiled
“Thank you, Josh” she reached for his
hand
**
They entered in a graveyard that looked more
like a garden with flowers and trees everywhere, it was all very green.
“Should we have brought flowers?” he
asked
“That´s what the cupcakes are for” they
walked silently until Nichole stopped. She reached into the box of cupcakes and
put it on the stone that said
“Ashley Cooper.
He was loved,
He was happy,
He is within our hearts”
“Goodbye,
Mr. Cooper” Nichole said and kept walking further into the graveyard where more
trees were. She stopped in front of an old stone
“Benjamin and Lola Cooper.
Beloved parents and
grandparents”
“Hey
Ash” Nichole whispered and sat Indian style in front of the stone “Ash, this is
my friend Joshua. Josh –she looked up to him- Ashley is in here…”
“But…?”
Josh looked back at the tomb with Ashley’s name
“Ah,
yeah… that´s actually his grandpa´s name –she pointed to the stone in front of
her- he always said that when he died he wanted to be close to Ben and Lola,
his grandparents, so when it happened… I made sure he got his wish even though…
there´s not supposed to be one more person in this one”
“Oh…
how…?”
“You´d
be surprised at what people do for large amounts of money”
“Ah”
“Yeah…
no one else knows though… so….”
“My mouth´s
closed”
“I
thought so” she smiled
“Ashley´s
epitaph is nice” he sat next to Nichole
“Ash
–she winked- Annie asked me to write it”
“It´s
beautiful”
“I
didn´t deserve it” she said after a moment in silence
“I’m
sure you did. You did a good job”
“He
would´ve liked you” she chuckled
“It’s
good to know. I can see he´s really important”
“He
is” she leaned forward slightly
“Were
you and him…?” He´d been watching her
face attentively
“I…
-she smiled a little- yeah” she breathed out and he stared, she laughed “You´re
thinking of the rumors, right?”
“A well-kept
secret” he said shaking his head
“Hardly
anybody knows me but they kinda knew him, I don´t know where do the rumors come
from …maybe it just has to do with him not belonging to Burgeoys”
“They
knew him at school?”
“Yeah…
well, not in the beginning, you see… I took him to Burgeoys, he went to one of
the parent´s weekends. Most pictures he´d helped me with were presented then.
Your good friend, Michelle was a jerk as usual on how he didn´t belong but he
was above that and in turn he took me to one of his school dances so he made me
wear a dress more or less willingly …”
“He
was something then… I thought you didn´t like those things” his eyebrows
furrowed upwards
“I
don´t but I had fun… first and only time I had fun at a party”
“I’m
glad about your good times and I’m sorry that he´s gone… I can only imagine how
much you must miss him” his head was slightly tilted to a side as he spoke
“Yeah…
I miss him a lot” she sighed
“What…
happened to him?” he asked softly
“I
happened to him” she said in a small broken voice, lips upturned. It felt like
a blow for the boy, she´d been giving him so much information at once and now
it was all over again like the time when she made the big old tree die just by
touching it…
“Ah,
Nichole…” he tried to hug her but she put her hand on his chest
“He
cared for me and I killed him… nothing good comes from being close to me” her
voice had taken somewhat a different disposition, clinical, as if it was part
of a speech. He wondered if she pushing him away showing him where he could
end. He stared at her cold eyes; she was a totally different person, she was
the girl that told him not to follow her on the stone wall.
“My …
life has been saved twice by being close to you” he broke the silence between
them
“That´s
arguable… that could´ve been avoided if you hadn´t been close”
“I’m
not going anywhere”
“You´re
stupid as well” her eyes pierced into his, he sighed.
“I’m
sure he was happy to be with you –he tried another approach- and I’m sure he´d
do it again even if he knew he´d end there” he said, she snorted
“If I
had known or had been smarter I would´ve run from him and the pain of losing him”
Nichole´s voice was barely audible
“The
spent time was worth it and all you´ve told me tells me it´s true”
“I´d
still trade it for his life” she said and stared at Ashley´s grave. Josh looked
at her
“It´d
be his choice too…” he said softly, she didn’t reply
“Do
you want me to give you a moment alone?” he asked after a while of silence
“No,
I brought you here to meet him and to let the birds free, here if you don´t mind”
she showed him a smile, one that didn´t reach her eyes
“I
told you I don´t mind. Which one do you want to let go first?”
“I
want you to free the green one –she smiled with the side of her mouth, he smiled
back- I´ll let go the yellow one, so the first will be the blue one”
Josh
opened the cage; carefully, she took the blue bird and put it on the stone that
marked Ashley´s resting place, on the other side of where the cupcake was.
Instead of flying away, the bird hopped towards the bread and pecked it. She
started to laugh; Josh smiled at the sight of her. She took out her cellphone
to take a picture but as she was about to do it, the bird flied away, she slumped
her shoulders
“They
can be tracked… -Josh informed her- so you can always know where they are” she
looked at him
“Really?”
“Yeah”
he replied to a smiling Nichole
“I
like that… Let´s free the others somewhere else” she decided suddenly when he
was about to open the cage again.
****
A/N
agh! I had two images for this one! and a lot of tittles "friends and family", "memories", "visit" and even "Ashley" I´lll put the other image here.
It was a trip to post this one... a lot of change and many bits about Ash didn´t make it, which was kinda sad but it didn´t fit....
well, I hope it was good... I think I feel kinda bad about Josh... she can be too much, even for me I guess lol
the other pix -which is better?
You felt bad for Josh?! I felt terrible for him. He really is a good person just experiencing all of that. I felt sad that he was getting ignored a lot of the time :/
ReplyDeleteI felt kinda like how he must have felt here. Like an outsider looking in on this whole other world. It was like I wasn't reading it but literally watching these things happening. I thought that feeling was very cool.
And even though its to Josh's disadvantage I did like that Nic had a place she could "belong" to. She has so many doors closed in her face its almost cry worthy that she has a place that she can go(if it wouldn't make her sad staying too long of course) to live normally.
I find it funny that they didn't think it weird that Nic is rich too. Lol she definitely acts rich.
One of my favorite parts(and it probably doesn't seem important, I don't know) was when she was saying all the places her art hung because of Mike. I think it's really great how he can bring out a side of her that others don't see. It something that makes me sense what a good teacher he is because he'd have to be really convincing to get her to create so many images and to leave them up where everyone including her can see them. That's a nice, understated relationship she and him have. Very interesting. It makes me wonder what he did to make her do as he wants in such a personal way...? Hmm...
I have to comment on the adorable-ness of your language! You said that "a thunder"(awww) struck the tree but thunder doesn't strike. Thunder is the rumbling noise above/inside the clouds. Lightening strikes down to the earth in a flash of light.
Okay I promise I'm not being a jerk with that comment!!! Don't hate me. In fact don't hate me for this second either >_< when they released the first bird you said "flied" and in that context "flew" works better because I don't think "flied" is a word....? Ok I'm done! Don't hate me okay! >_<
Anyway, when I was first reading the beginning I thought I'd be mad at Nic in this one but it turns out she's too cute so I didn't get mad at her. I actually think of her like her dad in this one(with a theory I have about him which is probably wrong but I guess I'll see one day). She could never be the cruel heartless monster he is of course. I just think she's dealing with this situation in a(as Josh thought here) clinical way. She needs to let herself know that it's okay and it's not her fault that she was born with that skin. It's okay for her to want a life. She can't be alone forever with only that horrible Nat as her company. That's like torture! She doesn't deserve that!
But anyway I wasn't mad at her. I liked that she let herself live in a memory even though it was sad. She was very pretty(that word of the day again) here.
It was VERY sad when she wanted to release some birds there. I liked how Josh handled it though. He didn't like it(so it seemed) but he went along with it because he always knows how to remove himself from a situation and put someone else first. He should be my son!!!!!! Ugh! I'd be proud to have him as a son!
ReplyDeleteBut then when they were actually releasing the birds and what she was saying when they got to the grave I was like "oh... This works" lol so thank you for not letting that sinking heart feeling I had continue. Sigh.
It's hard because I love them both but I feel so sad that Josh is an outsider. But then I feel even more bad that THIS is Nic's life and she's been doing it alone for like ever! >_< and those stupid adults in her life could care less that she's just a baby and what all these "missions" could be(and is!) doing to her mental stability! Grrrrrrrrrrr......
Ash was hot though! In a uniform *drools* what girl can resist a man in uniform?! Yum. He was a people person! Which only made him hotter! And oh! He went into the school!? That's what he was doing there. I remember her saying in passing that her been there but I didn't know he spoke to people. That's interesting. Common living him surrounded by princes and princesses! Lol
I like the first picture more for the post but the bottom one is spot on for Nic in this one. So either one works here.
As for the title I like it. I would have used "Here Lies..." But either of the ones you would have picked(minus visiting) would have worked. I don't know what it is about "Visiting" but it doesn't seem powerful enough for how Nic let herself go a little here and all the sides of her Josh got to see in one place.... Okay I'm done being all talkative and such
I really like seeing Nic open up even momentarily. She can be very soldier like and when she can be girl like its pleasing and sweet and it instantly makes the feeling of the post a different one than when she's well trained Nic.