The Rumored Half

The Thing

                                                           CHAPTER 4

                                                         NICOLA'S POV:

Both of them were just staring at me with a dumbfounded expression and I hid a smile. Now that was satisfying. So what if I enjoyed their attention? It felt good.

 I looked at Gabe with a serious expression and asked “Is there any way to get back there without my head exploding?” He laughed, hard. I was surprised and felt something strange happen it the pit of my stomach when I heard that laugh. But I mentally shook it off, and looked at Nash, who looked a bit embarrassed.

“I probably should have made that easier for you considering it was your first time teleporting, but we needed to get away fast.” Now that I’m pretty sure was bullshit. Maybe he was telling the truth, but if I had to guess, I’d say that he wanted to get away from the teenager covered in mud. Considering the fact that Gabe was laughing louder after he heard that, I’d go with the latter.

“Where are we anyway?” I asked. “A penthouse in Chicago. This was the closest place I owned from where you lived.” I stiffened at the word ‘lived’, but the wheels in my head were turning fast. Chicago should be a 5 hour drive from the town. “Can you take me back?” I asked them “ I need to …um…take care of something.” I swallowed back the tears; I could cry all I wanted when I was alone but not now.

Gabe nodded and Nash said, “Unfortunately, I have some business to attend to.”

 “I’ll take her then,” he held out his hand and said, “Come here Nicola.”

 Before I realized it, I took a step forward and took his hand. He grabbed me by my waist and held me close, then whispered in my ear “Hold on tight,” I shivered and a tingle went down my spine. I wrapped both my arms around his waist and closed my eyes.

I took a deep a deep breath and inhaled his scent. It was his own, not some cologne, and purely masculine. For some reason, it was very comforting. The more I held onto him the more I wanted to. I almost laughed; when I was alive, I dreamed about this, about feeling something like this for a boy. This was ironic, because this wasn’t a boy, and I wasn’t alive. So, this feeling is irrelevant. Just for a little while a traitorous part of my mind whispered.

When I felt my feet left the floor, I couldn’t suppress the squeal that escaped my lips and my hands immediately tightened around him. The wind was fast but I wasn’t feeling cold, like I knew any human would. It felt weird to realize that I no longer thought myself human. I kept my eyes closed for as long as I could but then curiosity got the better of me and I opened them. I gasped and I’m pretty sure that my grip tightened to the point where a human would break a few bones. But he didn’t seem to mind and I was extremely grateful. I was actually flying! And it felt both exciting and terrifying at the same time.

 We reached our destination just before dawn and the view was breath-taking. I had never seen such a beautiful sight; the soft swirls of pink and purple, just starting to color the sky. Slowly, orange and yellow emerged basking everything in its soft light. We landed and I felt a single tear slide down my cheek. When was the last time I appreciated sunrise? Or even a sunset? I realized that Gabe was watching me with a worried expression so I blinked away the tears and smiled at him. “Gabe?” He blinked “What?” He looked taken aback. Then I realized what I called him his nick-name by mistake. “Do you mind? I generally call everyone I know with a nick-name.”

He smiled and looked back at the sunset, “I don’t mind, I was just a bit surprised. No one has ever called me by that before.”

“Well, it’s better than being called babe, let me tell you that.” I said dryly.