The Players Baby

•during• Chapter One

|Nova Kingston|

I sat on the couch Indian style, a bowl of Spaghetti O's resting firmly in my lap. I flicked through the selections on Netflix, eventually sticking to the movie that I tend to always end up watching. It's the 2011 remake of Footloose, my all-time favorite movie; besides Grease, of course.

I didn't know where Michael was. It's been over three weeks of being married to him and I tend to never know where he is. All I know is that every now and then, he'll come home a bit tipsy and upset; well, that and the fact that I'm sitting in his - our - house. It's his parents house. We figured it'd be big enough that it's like we're not even living with his parents, and it's not like we actually do get along that well. We usually just give each other a simple 'hello' before moving on with our day. There was a period where I wanted to just move back with my mom and April, it's not like it'd make a difference, but Julienne said that I just had to stay.

People at school tend to stare, whispering things about my new relationship status. Michael will give me a ride to school, as then we both head our separate ways; him with Kirstie Evans and friends, and me with Tiana and Steven.

I met Steven about a week or two ago. He never judged me for making my poor choice of getting married, and he really was a great friend. He's absolutely adorable, funny and always there for you.

So you can imagine how bad I felt when I spilt my Starbucks on him. Funny story, actually, that's how we met. I was leaving the Starbucks and he was entering and we just kind of...collided. So, he offered to buy me a new one and I gladly thanked him. He then asked if I wanted to sit down and talk with him, and I decided to be nice and agree, and ever since then we've been pretty close. He knows the basics: why I agreed to marry Michael, and what it's like with him.

I don't know how long it will be before I finally tell him about Ian and my dad. Te situation with Ian probably isn't as bad as the one with my dad was. I was never the same after that.

My phone buzzed from across the room, and I quickly moved to get it, trying my best not to spill my Spaghetti O's on myself when I got up.

I answered it.

"Hello?"

The other side of the line was silent for a moment before a voice spoke up.

"Um, is the - the p-pizza p-place?" The voice seemed panicky, but it was also eerily familiar.

"No. Who is this?" I asked. I was flat out confused.

"Uh -" The line clicked dead. I stared at my phone for a minute, looking at the phone number dozens of times before I finally noticed that I recognized it.

A few seconds later, I got a call from Travis. Travis Moore.

"Hello?"

"Nova! Hey!" He chirped.

"Oh, um, hi." My awkward reply was.

"So, I really need you right now." He spoke, urgency threading through his voice.

"For what?" I asked worriedly.

I was starting to become freaked out.

"It's Ian; he's having a breakdown and you're usually the one who could always get him to relax, and since no one here can, I need you here, November, please." He pleaded.

Travis never, like ever, used to call me November unless it was urgent (not counting when he first met me). So, this must be pretty damn important.

I sighed, "I'll be over in five."

"Thank you so much!" He hung up after that, probably trying to soothe his poor brother.

I quickly exited the house, and began my run to the Moore's house.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•

After approximately four minutes, I ended up on the front porch of their house, my breath coming out in heaves from all of the running I just did.

I rang the doorbell and only had to wait a couple of seconds until Travis opened the door and ushered me inside. I remember this place so well, I can tell you where everything is placed within a heartbeat. Im assuming their parents aren't home since there were no cars out front, but I could be wrong since they do have a garage. I would be even more frantic if they were, because they were always very...fond of me.

Travis led me to Ian's bedroom - which still looked the same - where Ian was laying on his bed muttering to himself. I nodded once at Travis, letting him know that I wanted to talk to him alone. He silently left, closing the door behind him.

"Ian," I cooed, sitting on the edge of his bed.

He quickly looked up, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on me and flashed with recognition. A grin appeared on his face.

Giving him a small smile in return, I looked him over and realized just how much I missed this boy. His fun personality, his adorable looks, his funny sense of humor, and basically everything you could name about him, I missed.

"November," he breathed out. "How are you?"

I was partially surprised that he remembers me, but then again, no one told me just how long his memory loss was for.

"I'm...okay, I guess." I ran a hand through my hair. "How're you?"

"Just dandy," he spoke blandly, like he was bored. He let out a sigh, and looked down at his lap, playing with his fingers. I heard sniffles coming from his direction.

I was hesitant to do what I did next, but regardless, I placed a hand on his shoulder firmly. He looked up and stared at my hand, eventually bringing his own hand up to trace all of the curves and bumps with his index finger. I was thinking about removing the hand, but I realized that the gesture would seem rude, so I left it there; Ian used to always trace my hands like this when we were together. Always.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He looked down at his lap. I squeezed his hand in mine, sighing. "Ian, please talk to me."

He faced me, all sorts of emotions passing through his gaze. He gave me a small smile. "It's nothing, really."

"Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" I sighed, removing my hand from his. He caught it in his once again, fiddling with my fingers.

"You were always the only one who could tell when I was lying," a smile graced his face as he muttered, "I loved that about you."

His eyes were trained on my hand, although I felt as if he were staring straight at me.

"I loved everything about you." He mumbled and then he stood up before walking out of the room, leaving me to sink in my own thoughts.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

a/n:

More of a filler chapter, so I'm sorry. I hoped you enjoyed & if you're reading this, comment what you like about this story :)

-Emily