Of Stalking and Tomatoes

Chapter 8

"I am scared of beans."

All heads turned to Ivan, blinking at him as he coyly looked at the group. Nyx could see Aaron slowly shaking his head.

"You said penguins last time." Aaron said.

"Well, yes, I was scared of penguins," Ivan answered, "But I ate lots of beans last year and it scared me so I say beans."

Aaron had a look of disbelief as he shook his head and waved his arms, "So are you saying that you ate penguins the year before last?!"

"Aaron!" Rose grabbed Aaron's shoulder as she tried to stop laughing.

"That's what he said!"

Laughter echoed in the theatre as Aaron started trying to justify his 'Ivan ate penguins' theory. No one believed him, of course, and Nyx was sure he was joking. Ivan was laughing beside Aaron, shaking his head.

Why were they talking about this? Oh right, they were playing twenty questions. But with a twist. Rose had a jar of questions written on torn paper. She would draw one from the jar and everyone has to answer it. No one can skip or pass and anyone can answer at any time as long as everyone gets to answer. It's a simple icebreaker game of getting to know each other.

"You guys are fucking stupid." Ren laughed beside Nyx as she watched Aaron go into hysterics about Ivan the penguin-eater.

He had been trying not to look at her after what happened backstage. What happened there was terrifying. He didn't know his brain could function like that. Could make someone think that way towards another. Could make Ren so...irresistible. Nyx was scared. Not only because it was the first time he ever had this kind of experience but because he didn't know what he can do with them. If Jul hadn't called out to him at the time, what could he have done? What would he have done to her? She was half-awake, vulnerable and barely reacting to anything around her and with her being so small, he knew that it would've been easy for him to just push her down and—

"Nyx."

Jul's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned to him. Jul was looking at him, eyes narrowed.

"You okay, man?" Jul asked.

No.

He nodded, "I'm fine. Just a little tired, I guess."

The game continued with everyone taking turns telling the group what they feared.

"Renny! You haven't answered." Erzè said as the group turned to Ren.

She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, slouching, a relaxed posture for her, and was playing with her pen, twirling it around like a miniature baton. She looked at the group and started biting on the cap of the pen. Another thinking habit, Nyx assumed. After a few seconds, she placed the pen down and just stared off. Nyx could see the swirl of emotions in her eyes as her brows creased and straightened with ever change. Hints of fear, sorrow, doubt, and regret went through her auburn eyes. Or so Nyx believed. He's been looking at her eyes, observing her, ever since they've met and he would like to assume that he knew how to read Ren's auburn eyes by now. But he doubted that he saw all those in her eyes. If he did, then he wouldn't want to see them again. Ever.

Ren smiled to the group as she answered, "The sound of gunshots."

There was a moment of silence as if someone dropped a surprise on them. Nyx was sure they could hear a pin drop in this silence. He looked around as the group stared at Ren, eyes wide and surprised.

"Well," Rodney broke the silence, "with how much you got hit during our paint ball game, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Hey!" Ren threw her pen at him and it hit him on the forehead.

The laughter went on again with most of the group recounting the times when they hit Ren. She hid behind a tree, crouched down the grass, hid behind the sandbags but they still got her. And with what they've been saying, Nyx found out that Ren was a very bad shot. Not to mention that she lacked enough stamina to run after or away from other people.

"Next question!" Ren said as she crossed her arms and pouted.

The game went on for hours and before anyone noticed, the sun was already setting. If it wasn't for Jul scrambling out while apologizing and saying something about groceries and getting killed, the game would've continued. Everyone packed up for the day and went off. Rose and Aaron shared a car, considering they were siblings, that wasn't surprising. Ivan can walk to his place with it being so close and all. So he walked after hugging everyone. And Nyx's hunch proved to be right; Ivan was soft and huggable. The others have their own cars so they drove off in different directions leaving Nyx. Jul was his ride and the idiot forgot about it. There was a train station nearby that can take him close to home and maybe from there he'll just call Fonsi to pick him up. It was still a long walk and the sky wasn't doing him any favors. Dark clouds were starting to set in.

"You walking?" Ren asked and Nyx jumped in surprise.

He wasn't expecting Ren to still be there. He thought she rode with the others.

"Uh...Jul was my ride so..." he replied.

She nodded in understanding, "Train?" she asked and he nodded, "I'm heading there too. Let's go."

Nyx watched as Ren lead the way to the station. She had her headphones dangling on her neck as the wires ran towards her left pocket. Nyx could hear music coming out of it.

"I think you have your music on." He said.

"Oh shit." She said.

Ren scrambled to her pocket and brought out an old iPod model. She swiped it and tapped on it, eventually silencing the device. She placed it back in her pocket.

"I keep forgetting about that." She said the turned to him with another of those bright smiles, "Thanks."

He nodded back a welcome and the walked. The silence was killing him. He wanted to talk but he didn't know what. It was audition day all over again. He could see Ren fiddling around with the wires of her headphones, probably tempted to put them on. Nyx didn't like that. He wanted to hit himself.

"So Nyx..." Ren started, "you mentioned a brother, last time?"

Nyx blinked. He couldn't believe that she actually remembered that brief conversation. It was stupid air filler really. He just didn't know what to add to the conversation that time.

"Yeah." He replied, "Fonsi. The one month older brother."

Ren chuckled, "Someone seemed pissed off."

"I followed your advice and called him hermano. He's been chasing me around the house ever since, asking me to call him that again."

There was a suppressed snicker and Nyx was tempted to look. He did. Ren had the back of her hand over her mouth, trying and failing to suppress laughter. Her eyes creased in the corners as she laughed. Nyx always welcomed this look from her. It was bright, warm and gets him through each day.

"So...uh...remind me how old you guys are again." Ren said after coughing out her laugh.

"Physically? Twenty five."

"Mentally?"

"I'd say Fonsi's six."

Amusement danced in Ren's eyes, "You'd be five then."

"Hey!"

Ren sprinted towards the station and Nyx followed her. The supposed long walk wasn't long enough as they reached the station. It wasn't much later that they found that they were riding the same train, giving Nyx more time to get to know her. But, unfortunately, trains are extremely fast. It didn't take long to get to their stop and had to go separate ways. Nyx sighed in defeat as he brought out his phone. At least there was one thing he wouldn't deny; he enjoyed his time with Ren. And the more he knew about her, the more he felt himself falling.