One Cup of Sugar || Sasha x Niccolo

53 - her.

AN: HELLO AGAIN!!!! Back to back updates!! I got so excited thinking about this chapter that I literally shut myself into my room and wrote this in less than 24 hours!

I will give no warning at all, hehe!

- J <3
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Nic's POV:

One thing about Sasha...she can be absolutely clueless if you pull something sketchy off in a calm manner. It's one of the many things I've picked up about her within the time I've gotten to know her.

I know, this makes me look bad. I'm not intentionally hiding things from her. I would never do that to her because I know she'd never do the same to me. She's too good for that...and she's terrible at hiding things.

I take a deep breath as I hear the bedroom door close behind her. I need to start being more careful or she's going to start catching on to me. The last thing I need is for her to figure everything out before I can figure out how I should explain it. I need to start playing it cool.

How could I though? It's not every day that she comes home and starts asking me questions that get me paranoid. I didn't expect something so serious out of her and it cost me.

Hell...the fucking question startled me enough to drop a damn glass. I don't know how she didn't immediately question how out of character that was for me, but I'm glad she didn't.

I look over at the sketchbook, placing my hands on the counter in front of me. The coolness of the marble in my palms contrasted with how warm I was feeling right now. It wouldn't surprise me if I was running a fever with how startled I just got. I dropped my head, taking a deep breath as soon as I could tell she couldn't hear me.

Truth be told...

I know exactly who took her sketchbook. I've known exactly who it was since we got back home.

I will admit, at first, I thought it was just some stupid kid or drunk. I thought her anxiety had just taken over all logic in her brain and was convincing her that there was something up. It was typical of her though, but I didn't mind it. I hate that I even doubted her like that. Her anxiety always knows, unfortunately.

How'd this happen and how'd I hide all of this from her?

The moment we got home I checked the mailbox because I knew we probably had an annoying amount of mail. It was my first attempt to be productive so neither of us could get into a post-trip slump. What I found was two folded pieces of paper in there and nothing else.

Two of Sasha's sketches of me. The one she did of me in the car and the one she did our first time at the spot I showed her. I didn't have time to react before Sasha was calling for me from the front door and wondered where I had gone. I had to quickly stuff them both in my pocket to avoid suspicion. She didn't notice and greeted me with a soft smile as I got back into the house.

"No mail, what a shock," I shrugged, softly smiling in return.

"Good thing, probably," She laughed, immediately dismissing it like it hadn't even happened.

Later that night I had to hide the sketches in the room where she couldn't find them and just hope she'd never find them.

However, I've been lying to her. I knew exactly what was going on. Someone was out to get me...and now targeting Sasha. There are only two people in this world who know that I live in Marley. There are only two people who hate me enough to pull something like this.

Connie and Jean.

We ended on terrible terms. Terms were so bad that I was forced to live with my parents in Marley for a while. This house used to belong to my parents, and they let me buy it from them with...her.