Call Me Romantic (BxB)

Chapter 10

{ꔫ NASH ꔫ }

"Come on, Nash, please! For once, I want to go to a party!" Nova tugs at Nash's gray hoodie as he lays on his bed, not answering her begging for 10 minutes straight. There is supposed to be a big party tonight, and everyone Nash knows is going. Whenever it gets close to Christmas every year, about a month or so away, someone holds a crazy house party. Nash and Nova usually avoid it, but this year she wants to go. She never goes to parties or even any social events. She's normally coding for a game she's been excited to release. Nash has trouble with crowds and would rather spend time with Archie and Nova alone instead of going to a party with people he doesn't even know.

Although Nova doesn't go out much, that doesn't mean she's not a teenager who also wants to have fun at the end of the day. Nash knows he should go, get himself out there, and get more friends. But something always pulls him away from that stuff.

"No, too many people. My mom cursed me with anxiety." Nash replies as he lays in bed, curled up in his gray blanket like it's his shield from the outside world. Sienna has bad social anxiety, and it rubbed off on Nash when he was a little since he thought it was normal. Only when Nash got to talk with his therapist did he realize it's not so normal and mentally stable that people don't freak out in crowds as hard as others do.

Nova huffs and sits on the edge of his green twin-size bed. "Well, if something happens, I'll take you home."

"It's still a no."

"Please!!"

"no."

"Sam will be there."

Nova is pouting and blinking like she's trying to make cute faces in those cartoons. Nash looks at her with a straight face, but she knows he's annoyed under it. "All the reasons to not go. We aren't on good terms." Nash rolls over, not facing her, before touching the now half-healed bruise under his eye, feeling the stinging that follows it.


"Come on, don't you like each other now?" Nova groans.

"It's complicated."

"You hugged him at the back of a gas station. He hugged you back. He opened up to you. He apologized for what he did and said you don't need to forgive him. How is it complicated? Come on, that's like me saying I hate Archie." Nash told her everything over the phone once he got home; there was zero tmi in their friendship, and they could talk about anything. If Nova heard some drama, Nash would be the first person she'd go to. Viseversa.

Nova pushes Nash off the bed, and he yelps before thudding to the floor with his blanket half hanging off his bed. "Asshole! I get enough headaches from Sam. I don't need more!" Nash barks, and Nova laughs hard, her eyes closing as she does so. Nash smiles back; he always loves hearing his friends laugh. He tries to always keep a light mood for them. He realizes if she's willing to do this much so Nash can just go to a party with her, then maybe he should be grateful for having a good friend and just go.

"Fine, I'll go." He sighs before sitting up.

"I knew you would once I told you Sam would be there."

He flushes and looks away from her, so she won't be able to tell if there's any doubt about that. To think about having a crush on Sam again just gets him going, and not in a good way. "Let's just go, you dork." He teases back before getting up.


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{✧ NOVA ✧}

Nash is looking at a flashing light, trying to distract himself from the multiple people here. It makes his eyes hurt, but it's better for his eyes than his head because it's been hurting all week.

The first hour was fine; they danced looking stupid and even drank a bit of alcohol, but it tasted like feet, so Nash threw it away quickly. Once it got more crowded, Nash got more anxious. So Nova took him over to a random chair away from everyone. Now Nash is here, overly aware of everyone near him. Everyone who passes takes a look at him for a second, and it makes him want to just melt into the chair, pretending he's not here. That's it. He closes his eyes, pretending he's not there. It's not real, and no one is judging you, he tells himself.

Nova went to get some water for Nash; the mixture of crappy alcohol and a panic attack approaching must not feel good. She wants to help, even if it's as simple as water. Nash is still keeping his eyes shut, but he knows that stinging in his throat is what warns him the waterworks are coming. He opens his eyes, his vision blurry from tears, and finally lets the tears drop. The people passing him are still shooting him once in a while, staring longer this time as he sobs in the corner like a scared kid who lost his mom at Target. He rubs the tears away from the back of his hand as he sees Nova walking back to him with a red cup of water.

"Let's get you some air," Nova guides softly as she helps Nash out of his chair. Nash breathes heavily and feels like his head could explode. The mix of loud pop music with bodies dancing and colorful lights makes Nash feel sick and dizzy.

"I'm going to puke-the lights-" Nash warns her, feeling overstimulated.

"Oh God, okay, come on."

Nova rushes him outside to the curb and sits him down. He buries his head in his hands, trying to calm himself and his stomach down. It's better out here, though it's freezing and dark. He knew this was going to happen. Nova rubs his back and leans against him. "I'm sorry for making you come, Nash," Nova whispers.

"No, no, it's okay. I did this because I chose to; you didn't make me," he reassures her, and she just nods in understanding. "I'll go find Val, okay?" Nova then gets up, and all Nash can hear is the crunching of freezing grass as she walks away and rents the party.

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{♡ VAL ♡}

Nova pushes people out of the way, and they give her dirty looks. She doesn't care, though; she needs to find Val. Nash gets panic attacks like these whenever there are big crowds, but Nova thought tonight would be fine. Just tonight, he might be fine. How stupid she is to think that. Nova pushes a random, big guy out of the way and sees Val talking to her group of friends behind him.

"Val!" she yells and jogs over to her. Val looks over with a raised eyebrow and replies, "Oh, hey Nova, what's up?"

"Nash," Nova starts as she's out of breath from running around, "we need to go home. Nash is about to have a" Her voice trails off and looks like Val's friends, who are just staring back with not much emotion. Val's mouth tightens; she knows what's going on."Girls, I gotta go." She waves bye to her friends before she walks off with Nova. They push through the crowd, but when Val goes into her purse and doesn't see her phone, she feels her heart sink and an alarm blare in her head.

"Oh shit! I left my phone in the bathroom." Val looks around before putting a hand on Nova's shoulder and adding, "Go outside to Nash; I'll be there shortly."

Nova nods. Val quickly jogs away from Nova in the bathroom to retrieve her phone. She swings open the bathroom door without knocking and sees a guy with a girl. The girl has long black hair with a bow tied in it; she's sitting on the sink while the guy is pressing against her. When they hear the door hit the wall, they both snap their heads over to Val, and they both stare at each other in shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Val quickly apologized, covering her mouth, embarrassed. She should learn to knock. The boy staring at her is white like a ghost, and when she looks over at him, Redfish has orange fire hair, green eyes, tan skin, and is about
5 '9.

"Mark..?"

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