cute banner by purpleenigma
"Why'd you want to go and make me feel this way? And I don't understand what's happened, I keep saying things I never say," Voodoo Doll by 5 Seconds of Summer
Zoey Willow Hunter
"SAVE her! Please, save her! She can't leave, please!"
A strained voice woke me up. The hotel clock indicated 4:20 am. Whimpers and sobbing filled my ears, I was startled. I turned around and my eyes fell upon the source of the voice.
Nico was clutching on to the covers with all of his power. The somber lighting in the room made me doubt that he was crying, but unless there was a ghost in here, he was the only one emitting the noise.
I got to my feet and approached his sleeping body. Turning on his bed light, I observed him. Cold sweat covered his forehead. His hair was a complete disaster. His face was covered with fresh tears, which his eyes currently provided.
Remembering the day he had invaded my little island, looking sleep-deprived, I bit my lip. He was having a nightmare. "Forrest?" I said, shaking his arm as gently as I could.
His body shook even more. "You took her away from me. Fuck you! I hate you! Bring her back to me!" He wept.
"Forrest!" I exclaimed, slapping the side of his face just lightly. "Nico!"
He opened his eyes, fear written in them. Not even noticing my presence, he sat up, put his head in his hands and breathed deeply. He sniffled a couple of times and wiped his cheeks.
Should I go back to sleep now? He seems okay.
Instead of doing that, I got on my knees and put my elbows on his bed. I counted to fifty in my head, hoping that by the time I was done he would be even a bit better than he was right now.
What was terrifying me wasn't the fact that he was crying; it was that he seemed so weak.
Once I had gotten to 49, I spoke up: "Forrest?"
He raised his head and averted his eyes to me. "Go back to sleep," he commanded, his voice raspy.
"Are you okay?" I asked instead.
"No," he whispered, "Please go back to sleep."
"I'm not going to sleep if you're still like this."
"Please," he begged.
I shrugged, "I can't do that. You're either going to talk to me about it, either I'll stay by your side until you fall asleep again."
"Jesus, Zoey."
The way he spoke made me want to dig up a hole and fall in it, because his voice was coated with sadness and desperation. I was sure that this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened.
In those late minutes of the night; Nico Forrest sounded broken.
Standing up, I plopped myself in his bed, in the small space beside him.
"Was it about her?"
He chuckled sorrowfully, "Which one?"
God, I remembered that Beth had hurt him too. I had always dismissed the whole "Beth" situation. To my eyes, it was just a simple teenage heartbreak. To Nico although, it was remorseful and bitter to think about her. I had difficulty thinking that a girl had hurt him that much. He must have loved her.
He had tasted the wine of love and when he did, he got poisoned.
Twice.
"You tell me," I replied instead.
"My mum," he said quietly.
A silence settled in the room, leaving both of our thoughts jumbled and messy. I thought about how I could help him and what I could do to make him feel better.
If this was Diana or Lucy, what would I do?
There used to be a time when Lucy would get nightmares, in fifth grade. She had the biggest fear of spiders and the big, furry creatures would haunt her in her sleep. Every time I would sleep over at her house, she would wake up screaming and crying, begging for the spider/monster to spare her life.
Diana and I had helped her get over her nightmares by talking to her about anything she loved. My best friend, who had a beautiful choir voice, which was ideal for lullabies, often sang to Lucy until she fell asleep again.
Did this mean that I had to share my horrible singing voice so that Nico fell asleep?
Knowing what I had to do, I walked to my bed, pushed it until it was glued to Nico's and closed the lights. I lied down on the very end of my own bed so that I could be as close as possible to Nico.
All he needed was to feel peaceful enough to fall back asleep.
"What are you doing?" asked Nico, watching me.
I shrugged, "Sleeping."
"I mean, what are you doing, sleeping on the end of your bed? Are you dumb? You'll end up falling in the crack."
I smiled. "Okaydokay."
Once more during this night, I got up, took two pillows and my blanket and squeezed myself in the tiny space next to Nico.
He glanced at me, eyes red. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The words intended to be harsh and menacing but they just came out as weak.
"Sleeping."
"Fucking hell," he grumbled, "You're not leaving, are you?"
"Nope," I said, popping the pe in the end.
He turned his body to face me and closed his eyes.
The fatigue of waking up so early was already dawning on me. My body senses started to drift away. The thought of Nico being only centimeters away from me freaked me out, yet was strangely comforting.
"Do you mind if I get closer?"
My instant thought was the Christmas song, where the lyrics went: "I ought to say no, no, no. Mind if I move in closer?" It was my favorite Christmas song; Baby It's Cold Outside.
"Sure," I answered, before thinking.
Our bodies were touching now. His feet against mine, his torso against my stomach, I felt my cheeks get red. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. He was only wearing sweat pants. At least he wasn't clad in boxers.
"Zoey?" He said, after a moment had passed.
"Yeah?"
He kept on calling me by my first name and to be completely honest, it made me all jittery.
"Thanks," he whispered.
"You're welcome."
"Beth used to do the same thing. She would come against me and sleep next to me for the rest of the night."
"I'm not Beth," I protested.
He stiffened, "I know that."
I wished him a goodnight and tried to go back to sleep. The idea of him comparing me to Beth shouldn't have hurt or annoyed me that much. But it did. I hated the fact that everything always came back to Beth, even though she broke his already broken heart.
"Nico?"
"Hm?"
"I hate her for hurting you."
"You care, Zorro?"
Deep down, I was aware that moments like this weren't going to happen again. Tomorrow I would go back to throwing friendly insults at him and he would act stupid. I would talk to Levi and Walters, he would insult Levi and be nice around Walters. We faded back to our usual backgrounds.
"I do."
I hoped he knew that I meant it in a friendly way. I wasn't sure if I had meant it in a completely friendly way, though. So much had happened during the last month, enough to question if our friendship was purely platonic.
"Do you care?" I asked.
He didn't answer for a bit, so I assumed he had fallen asleep. My surroundings started to fade out and I began to slowly fall asleep as well.
"I do," I vaguely heard him say, "More than I should."
-
That morning, I had woken up alone in bed. Nico was up and out of the room, to my knowing.
My phone had been ringing nonstop for the past five minutes and I had been hoping that putting the pillow over my head would miraculously make it stop.
I picked up, not bothering to check who was calling. My head was too groggy to read.
"Hello?"
"ZOEY! OH MY GOD! FINALLY!" screamed Diana in my ear.
I instinctively held the phone away from my ear, cringing. "Stop screaming, please."
"Oh! Sorry," she giggled. Diana never did so, which was strange. "I just have to tell you something."
"This better be good," I grumbled.
"Joel asked me out. Last night," she started to ramble, "We were out by the lake and we were sitting on the rocks. So, he took out a cupcake. A cupcake, Zoey! Not a freaking rose, a cupcake! He's just that romantic, to buy me something I can eat and be happy about! Then he asked me to be his girlfriend and I kissed him!"
I couldn't help but break into the biggest smile at my best friend's excitement. Finally, Joel had mustered the courage to ask her to be his. He had been crushing on her for over a year now.
Smiling, I allowed Diana gush, or in her language fan girl over her boyfriend. I could imagine her, all red with excitement and joy. Thirty minutes of her rambling had passed and I was still in bed.
After saying our goodbyes, I had gotten dressed and headed downstairs, hoping that the breakfast buffet was still open.
The room was full; mostly of the mail men and women. Jeanine sat on one of the tables, surrounded by two kids and an older man. Walters sat in front of her, chewing onto a waffle while intently listening to Bea, his wife, speak to him. Nico sat beside him, staring at his breakfast in silence.
"Good morning!" I exclaimed cheerfully, taking a seat next to Nico. His eyes flickered to me and he turned away instantly.
Mumbled replies were heard. Jeanine, Bea and I chatted about how Walters looked so much healthier ever since his start to travel around the world. Jeanine's husband, Jim, and her two daughters munched on croissants. Gina, the eldest of her daughters, never got along with me, even though she was only a year younger than I was. Iris, her sister, and I were occasionally talkative together.
I grabbed a cheese filled croissant and the second my mouth and it were acquainted, I felt like I had died and flew to heaven. The cheese melted in my mouth and the buttery smoothness of the croissant did wonders to my mood.
"Stop moaning," said Nico, "You're freaking me out."
I stuck my tongue out at him, "I can't help it. I'm having a foodgasm."
"Ew," said Gina, one of Jeanine's daughters. "You're gross."
"How exactly am I gross?" I replied, swallowing the rest of my bite.
"You said foodgasm, that's loser talk. You made me lose my appetite."
Jeanine looked at her daughter and nudged her. Walters raised an eyebrow and continued eating. Iris rolled her eyes at her obnoxiously annoying sister.
"Only a loser recognizes a loser, darling," I retorted, the use of the pet name visibly upsetting her. "But, I'm not a loser. I'm simply too cool for you."
"Good morning," said a familiar voice, sitting to my side.
Levi gave me a big smile, keeping his eyes glued onto me. I discreetly, or so I hoped, checked him out. He was no longer wearing the beanie, so his soft hair was properly combed. He wore a dark blue Tommy Hilfiger's polo shirt.
"Hey," I replied, automatically.
"'Sup, Liam," said Nico loudly.
Levi gave him a subtle glare, "It's Levi."
"Pardon me, Lava."
I turned to Nico and hit his shoulder as hardly as I could. He didn't even flinch, just averted his gaze away. Walters sparked a conversation with him, trying to ease the evident tension.
"Levi, is it?" said Gina, before introducing herself. Levi answered politely, before looking at me once more. Iris stifled a laugh at the lack of attention Levi had towards Gina. The latter turned red and hit her sister with her elbow.
A girl named Paris was loudly arguing with a short, dark skinned man. Gray hairs took over his head and a pink handkerchief stood out in his suit. She stomped her foot on the ground, bobbing her perfect coiffure.
"I remember her older sister," shuddered Walters, "She was as bossy as this one. Her name was a city too, though I can't remember what."
Small comments like this caused the breakfast to soon end. The mail activities began. In the Tipton hall, there were four big sections of activities and games.
There was the Deliver Me Fast game, which consisted of running back and forth as fast as possible and deliver the most mail. Associate Me was an activity where we had to match up the beginning and the end of torn fake letters. Fix Me Up was my favorite, one where a mailbox was torn apart and you had to fix it as fast as possible. Light Me was a game which was basically a competition to sort out the most mail in alphabetical order.
As there were several places by game, the games were already full. Most of the mail deliverers brought their family with them; therefore their kids were mainly the ones participating. Some older people played these games with the most pleasure, like Walters and Jeanine.
I followed Walters to the Associate Me section. Bea leaned against the wall and smiled at him lovingly. Nico and Levi were with me, though I had expected them to leave and scatter off to their own games.
I was in line behind Walters and I spoke to him about everything. I missed that old man so much, it almost hurt. He used to be someone I would see every morning for several summers. The impact of our friendship never really hit me as much as when he left. All that mattered was his happiness.
"So, why do you deliver mail with Nico if you two don't get along?" whispered Levi, pulling me closer.
"We get along. Who told you that?"
"I—um, I just assumed, I guess. I think he secretly has a crush on you."
I snorted, "Forrest? Please. When we first met, we hated each other."
"Really?" laughed Levi, causing my stomach to go crazy. "I bet he still likes you. Not as much as I do, though."
Dear mind, please, por favor, s'il te plait: don't be hallucinating this.
"Leo, please, advance. Several people are behind you in the line, if you haven't noticed," said Nico snottily, ahead of us. We walked further, my heart still beating like crazy.
I didn't completely have a crush on Levi, that was certain.
Yet, he was cute, dorky and good with words. I found myself comparing him to Nico. They were complete opposites.
I stayed silent, looking ahead. I didn't want to tell Levi how I felt, because my feelings for him were still undecided. I wasn't the kind of girl whom fell into the arms of whoever confessed feelings for her.
Walters put on his reading glasses and sorted the torn pieces of letters faster than everyone else. I clapped loudly when he was done. His chest puffed and he smiled widely. A bag of candy was given to him as soon as he was done, announcing him as the winner.
Nico was up; he seemed cockily prepared to win. He seemed confused in the beginning and was behind everyone else. After a few minutes, he caught up and was announced as second place winner, which he didn't seem too happy about.
"You're up," said Levi, speaking for the first time ever since his revelation.
"I like you too," I said, before going up, "I just don't believe in complete crush at first sight."
Sitting on the chair, I looked at the letters in front of me. This was easy; I had been doing this for a while now. I faintly heard Levi cheer me on and Nico grunt something about a Lucas being a pain where the sun didn't shine.
-
Standing in front of the Fix Me Up section, this was the moment where I had to choose a partner to fix the mailbox up with. Walters and Jeanine were out, since they both complained about a sore back—I was doubting Walters' excuse, because he winked at me when he walked away. That man was up to something; I just had to find out what exactly.
Nico rarely commented about anything today, only criticizing Levi and getting his name wrong every time he spoke to him. Levi had corrected him more than ten times, yet Nico was determined to get his name wrong every single time.
I liked to think that Nico had been refraining from being mean to me today because of what happened last night. I helped him, so he would appreciate my wonderful presence more—insert sarcastic laugh.
"Zorro," said Nico, "Let's fix this mailbox together."
At the exact same moment, Levi had said: "Want to do it with me?"
Nico just cocked an eyebrow and stared at me expectantly. He was mentally convincing me to do it with him, I could see it in his eyes.
"Levi, why don't I meet you after this? We could get lunch together," I said, giving him a soft smile.
He nodded, walking away. The corners of Nico's lips lifted just a little, I wasn't sure if he was smirking or smiling.
"You chose me over Louis," he said.
"Don't feel too special."
The wait was over, and we were up to fix the red mailbox. Two other groups were beside us, staring at their mailboxes cryptically. I grabbed the toolbox and opened it, handing a screw driver to Nico.
The pieces of the mailbox were all ready to be screwed together, you just had to figure out where to place the pieces. Nico and I separated our responsibility and started to work.
"Joel asked Diana out," I announced, screwing a nail in the back of the mail box itself. Nico looked up for an instant and smiled.
"Finally," he said. "If I heard I want to grab her and kiss the daylights out of her another time from him, I would have given him a black eye."
Underneath that tough exterior, he was happy for him.
"Do you like Larry?"
I let out a laugh, "Levi, Forrest. Not Lewis, Lawrence, Louis, Lara, Lava or whatever names you've been calling him."
"I don't care enough to actually learn his name," he declared, finishing up the stand for the mailbox. "Answer the question, Hunter."
"Eh," I said, "He's cute, funny and dorky. Why wouldn't I like him?"
Nico's eyes met mine and he sighed. The simple beauty he held was astounding. He was graceful, in a manly way. The way he had fixed up the stand was captivating. I stood up and put the box on the stand. They connected instantly. The mailbox was perfect, nothing new. We were the first to be done.
A bag of Hershey kisses were handed to us. I stuffed half of them in Nico's jeans. He chuckled at my awkwardness and the way I took out my hand fast.
"I'm going to go eat," I stated.
He nodded, "Okay. I'll stay here. Have fun with Leslie."
"I will."
There was a pang in my heart as I walked away form him. I pushed the feeling away, trying to feel excitement towards seeing Levi again. The emotion was forced, but I had to make it seem natural.
I found Levi sitting by the lunch buffet, twiddling a napkin in his hands. He was twisting it and folding it. A beautiful paper swan was formed, I admired his talent. He noticed my presence and smiled.
"That's freaking awesome!" I said, sitting in front of him.
He waved me off modestly. Handing me a plate, he ushered to the endless sandwiches and food. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and mango juice. He took a wrap with weird substances inside.
"What's in your sandwich?" I asked curiously.
"Hummus," he said, "And a whole bunch of lettuce and tomato."
After a second, he added: "I'm a vegetarian."
Why, oh why, does he have to have more qualities with time? This was creating a struggle causing me to be more attracted to him.
"Origami and vegetarian? Damn boy," I said, munching on my food, which was perfect by the way.
"What does a nosey pepper do?" said Levi, "Get jalapeño business."
The mango juice I was currently drinking threatened to come out. The joke wasn't actually that hilarious, but I felt like laughing. The hope and anxiety in his voice as he said the joke made him seem adorable.
I swallowed with difficulty, and then laughed at his joke. My stomach clenched at the effect but I continued to laugh. Levi joined in, blushing at the way his lame joke had made me laugh.
"I can't—breathe—" I managed, setting my glass of juice and plate on the buffet table.
Levi finished laughing, "Neither can I. My stomach muscles hurt now."
"Would a kiss make it better?" I said, taking out the bag of Hershey kisses in my bag.
His eyes widened and he extended a hand, "Yes, please." He leaned over and I gave him three of the chocolates.
I heard a crash and looked up, copying everyone's reactions. The waiters rushed towards the source and I heard murmurs. They were enough to let me know what was happening. I hoped that their talk wasn't true.
"I'll go check if everything's okay," I got on my feet, walking to a hall that turned right where Levi and I were sitting.
There was a broken mirror, a bloody hand and an angry Nico.
-
HEY SORRY GUYS Science is really shitty and studying for it stresses me out and sigh—school sucks.
So I guess; irregular updates from now on.
ps. The one shot competition is still open, go submit your story if you haven't!
ppss. Relativity media asked me and several other writers to write a short story for the Wattpad page of The Best of Me, a book by Nicholas Sparks (about to become a movie.) So check their page out!
my favorite part was the first part, yours? Why do you think Nico punched the mirror?
this isn't edited, so don't hate me if there are errors!
love,yas