Nicole clicked her tongue.

That accurately surmised the mood on both sides; we weren’t happy to see him, and nobody was particularly enthused about our arrival. Serena tugged on the back of my sleeve and nodded in the general area of the couch. I rotated slightly to face her and scrunched up my face at the unspoken request. What did she expect me to do about any of this? She had tossed an already volatile Nicole into the fire with only the subtlest of warnings. There were too many chefs in this kitchen, and everybody had come to a different conclusion about what the photography club room was to be used for.

“Did you swing by for a yearbook photo?” Luke smiled, unfazed by the otherwise nervous energy brimming around him. What else should I have expected of Mr. Popular, though? “It’s lucky the weather today's so nice since March is supposed to be cold and wet I hear.”

Serena further buried herself in my back, pinching my tricep in her cowardice. The sharp pain washed over me, and I grunted and shook the girl off. Apparently, that was enough to satisfy him as an answer if his smile widening was anything to go by.

“Aubrey”–at his call the girl tried to meld into the disheveled couch, laying flat and likely praying that she would miraculously develop a tan camouflage–“get over here, so we can get a picture of your club.”

“I’m fine. We can take another one later.”

Ever the diplomat, wasn’t she? Except, I glanced to my left, there was no compromise that Nicole would be willing to accept.

She clicked her tongue once more. “The hell you are.”

Her steady footfall passed the other onlookers behind the table and rapidly approached the ragged couch. Aubrey bolted upward, looking like she was deciding between fight and flight. While I couldn’t imagine this coming to blows with her involved, I did worry that deciding to barricade the door with my body would end poorly. I took a step to the side–my unofficial shadow mimicked the action–and waited for her to make a move. If she ran, we’d have to play detective again tomorrow to find her, and then hope she’d listen to our perspective. The issue was that I wasn’t certain how much longer Nicole was willing to play Watson to our Sherlock.

How did I get myself surrounded by such stubborn girls?

Aubrey did not bolt. She gingerly rose to her feet and stood before Nicole. They stared at each other in a way that made it clear the rest of us were lost to them. Whatever message passed between them, Aubrey broke off and her gaze dropped to the side. She strode forward in a clear attempt to get past Nicole, but she was having none of it. Snatching Aubrey’s wrist, Nicole pulled her closer as her other hand came to rest on her shoulder. It might have looked like a scene of passionate lovers had Nicole’s eyes not been chips of ice.

“We need to talk.”

The frosty gaze held Aubrey in place when her wrist was released. She leaned in and muttered something that only Nicole would be privy to. The girl mulled the statement over before nodding and retracing her path toward the doors. Aubrey slunk behind her, whispering a greeting to the two of us in passing. I wasn’t sure how I replied, more focused on the commanding presence of Nicole. She pushed open the door halfway, stopping to address the group behind her.

“We’re leaving. Sorry for disturbing your activities.“ She twisted her face into something that might have been misconstrued as a grin under the poor lighting. “It was nice seeing you, Abby.”

“Stop by when you get a chance. We should get you a photo before the teachers decide to do it themselves.”

“Will do.”

And with that, she and Aubrey exited the club room. The members recovered from the interruption quickly enough, returning to critiquing the framing of each other’s works. The shutter speed, ISO, and aperture were beyond my basic understanding of cameras, yet I had other things to mull over anyway.

Should we follow them? The answer that came to me was a resounding ‘no.’ I worried about the two of them alone, but it would be more difficult to openly discuss what they needed to with the two of us hanging around. At the very least, we could leave this godforsaken room.

“Let’s grab something to eat, Serena.”

I could feel her forehead bash into my back in what I assumed was agreement.

“You’re leaving already?” Luke asked, tone boisterous and friendly.

Snubbed or not, you couldn’t say the guy didn’t have manners.

“We are. Wouldn’t want to disturb you more than we already have.”

“No problem,” he claimed, although I doubted everyone else would have agreed. “See you around.”

I threw up a back-handed wave for anyone who cared and pushed out of the oversized storage closet. The further we walked down the hallway, the further Serena detached herself from me until eventually, she matched my pace.

“I had no idea Luke was part of the photography club,” I said, hoping she’d get my hint of annoyance.

“He’s not,” she claimed. “It sounded like he came by to help Abby with something. I figured there was like a one percent chance of him showing up at the most.”

“It’s a shame you won’t study statistics until next year and correct this glaring flaw.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Well, whatever. I’ll treat you to something from the vending machine.”

I laughed at the weak cheer she let out.

◇ Aubrey’s Interlude ◇

The club room hadn’t changed, other than drawn back curtains allowing the stream of sunlight to pour in. Of course, it hadn’t in such a short amount of time. That was silly to even think, but it was easier to preoccupy myself with anything other than her hard gaze. It probed and prodded at me like she was trying to uncover the truth hidden just beneath. I had always found her eyes to be pretty, but right now they frightened me.

“You told me at the con that you weren’t sure how you felt about Grant, but that was a lie.”

I almost believed she was asking me a question. It had that rising inflection at the end, yet it was undoubtedly a statement. A statement that I had to answer.

“I knew you liked him.”

She clasped her hands together tightly. “And what does that have to do with anything?”

“I didn’t want to get in the way.”

Her eyes went from icy to pure steel. “Because you didn’t think I had a chance if you were an option?”

How could I possibly respond to that? I found myself resisting the urge to fidget in my seat. It wasn’t anything like that. He had revealed that he had feelings for both of us, so I wanted to remove myself from the picture until he understood it was Nicole whom he liked. Was that wrong of me?

“I didn’t want to ruin everything between us.”

She barked a visceral laugh. “So we could argue and fight for Luke, but somehow this is different?”

“Things have changed,” I argued.

“But that ego of yours never does.”

“It’s not about ego!” My heart hammered in my chest, furious at not being able to express to her about my desire. “I was afraid of losing the only people I could open up to.”

“Then why not tell me this earlier? Why not talk to him? You could have even gone to that stupid midget.” She clenched her jaw together tightly, arms crossed under her chest. “No, of course, you had it handled. Just keep running away because that won’t make people hate you. God that pisses me off, how you always think you know best!”

“I do know best! I know you’ll leave!”

My shouts seemed to reverberate off the walls. Eerily calm, Nicole pushed up from the table, and the chair screeched on the floor. In the next instance, she swung her hand back. It was such a fluid motion, and I knew she was going to strike me. I braced myself the best I could and shut my eyes.

There was no pain, only the coolness of her palm and her thumb stroking my cheek. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

I sniffled quietly. “I am.”

“If this is what rips us apart, then what we had never mattered in the first place.”

“But what if it does?” I asked, placing my hand over hers. “This means something to me.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, it won’t because we won’t let it.”

How long she stood over me caressing my face, I wasn’t sure. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours. And once the last of the rays of the sun disappeared, she moved away.

“Let’s have a chat at my place.”

“Sure.”

LonMair399

Close to 200 readers! How exciting, so thank you everyone. Just wanted to shoutout my Patreon as well: got the $1 tier going for anyone interested in reading a couple of chapters ahead of this and my next story, which will be updated fully late tonight/morning. Hope you enjoy, and I will see everyone back on Wednesday with the next installment!