Crossroads → Nicholas Scratch [CAOS]

vii. a welcome distraction

"The 'friend' that you keep sneaking out of the house with?"

Although the smirk on his lips confirmed that he wasn't threatening, Dani couldn't stop her heart from hammering against her ribs. Calum knowing about it wasn't a big deal to her, but the thought that he had so easily found out made her shift in her spot. She couldn't imagine how easy it could be for her father to find out too. "What are you talking about?" Her initial instinct was to furrow her eyebrows in confusion, hoping that somehow that would lead her brother to think he had been imagining everything. She knew he was too smart to think that, though.

"You do realize I live here, not at college– and definitely not under a rock, right? I was home half the time you disappeared."

"And you never told dad?" As annoying as Calum was, she wasn't surprised' he would never intentionally get her in trouble.

"I'm just that great." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"And you're clearly just as modest as you are great." She laughed. "So... can I go hang out with him?" She clasped her hands together and blinked several times pleadingly.

"I thought you wanted to watch your cheesy movies without any distractions," he teased, raising his eyebrows and folding his arms over his chest. Dani rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from her brother. "Yeah, go ahead. Dad's home at six though, so don't stay out too long."

With a wide grin, Dani thanked her brother before hurrying upstairs. Again, she was confused by how the rate of her heartbeat increased instead of decreasing when her brother agreed to let her go outside with Nick. Despite finding difficulty in finding the right outfit to wear and in taming her hair, she had rushed herself enough to be walking back down the stairs within ten minutes. As she walked down the stairs, she bit her tongue to subdue the fluttering in the bit of her stomach when she saw Nick waiting patiently at the bottom. Her glossed lips curled into a smile as he pulled the front door open, letting her walk out first before following behind.

"So how come Nicholas Scratch decided to actually use my door instead of my window for once?" she asked before the silence between them as they walked could become awkward.

"Did you want me to hit your hand with a stone again?" They both laughed at his comment. The smile on her face wasn't very long-lasting when she noticed Nick's lips had formed a thin line and he was back to staring at the floor. She didn't want to pry, knowing that all Nick wanted was company and that if she tried digging deep into what was bothering him, he'd more than likely brush it off, make a joke, and act like it was nothing. She sucked in a deep breath and playfully bumped Nick with her shoulder as she spoke, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, why?" He brushed it off, checking the first thing off Dani's mental list of 'what Nicholas Scratch would do if I asked him what was wrong'. When Nick noticed the way Dani raised an eyebrow, completely unconvinced, he chuckled lightly and shook his head. "It's not a big deal..." Shrugging, he sighed before elaborating. "I'm starting to realize that I have to part ways with someone who's been like family to me ever since my parents passed away..." He looked to the right, making it impossible for Dani to see his face.

"How come?"

"She's sort of going down a dark path, I guess... not letting me carry on with my life with the people I want to be around." He sighed, turning his face to look straight ahead.

"That sucks, Nick. I'm sorry," Dani said, trying to reach Nick's eyes but still, he refused to look at the worried girl who walked alongside him.

"It's not a big deal." Again, Nick shook it off like it was irrelevant. "I need to get my mind off it anyway."

She brushed her long hair over her shoulders and proceeded her walk with Nick in silence as she tried to think of different ways she could ask Nicholas to the carnival she had been wanting to bring up. Sabrina had told her all about the Greendale carnival that was hosted once a year and how magical it was. Clearing her throat, the nervous girl stuffed her restless hands into her cardigan pockets. "So, um, have you heard about that carnival thing that's opening up this Friday?" She spoke, instantly clenching her fists and cringing at how shaky her voice sounded. She hadn't even gotten to the part she was supposed to be nervous while saying, so why did she feel as anxious as she would have if she were standing on a translucent, glass bridge that was six thousand feet off the ground? Nick shook his head and continued to watch Dani who's attention was still focused on the oh-so-interesting bland, grey cement floor. "Well, there's going to be one. There's rides and games and snacks..." Dani continued. She couldn't tell if Nick's obliviousness towards the fact that she was indirectly inviting him to come with her was genuine or not. Not wanting to deal with the humiliation of rejection, she pursed her lips and decided not to proceed. When Dani briefly glanced up at Nick after a few moments, she noticed the expression on his face was his common, playfully supercilious one; eyebrows raised, a smug smirk, and his honey-brown irises solidly focused on Dani. She would have rolled her eyes at the fact that this was the face Nick made when the teasing was going to begin, but she was too happy about how his mood had visibly been lifted, so she chuckled and decided to play along.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Loner Girl?"

"You are so annoying, Nicholas."

"Are you?" he repeated, the smug smile still fresh on his lips. Dani looked away, afraid that the redness on her cheeks and the size of her embarrassed smile would give her away. "You know, people usually ask the person they like out with a simple, 'will you go out with me?' but I'll take it."

"What's to say I like you?" She held her chin up and shrugged, giving him a playful look of indifference.

"So you weren't asking me out then?" he asked expectantly, making a big show of false bewildered.

"You know exactly what I was asking, Nick." She squeezed the bridge of her nose as if to ward off a headache that the tall boy was causing her.

"And you know exactly what my answer is." He laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders. "I'd love to go out on a date with you, Dani." Dani's eyes darted quickly from Nick to straight ahead, not being able to help the animated grin that made its way on her face and continued to grow wider and wider with every second that passed. Although Nick's continuous teasing and laughing caused the already embarrassed rosiness of her cheeks to flush and redden more, the smile on her face remained and the butterflies in her stomach continued to flutter.

_____ ♔_____

→ author's note

sorry for the wait but i hope you liked this! i'm so excited to get farther into this story! i have quite a bit planned and hopefully there'll be a sequel coming a while after this book is completed! i have also entered this book into the 2019 wattys so i'm super excited!

also, note that i rewrote every chapter into third-person narrative, so i'm sorry if there's been any confusion!

votes, comments and follows are more than appreciated and again, i hope you liked this chapter and enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!