Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Strange Energy

I woke up in my bed, a little confused, as I'd remembered falling asleep on the couch...on Nick. My eyes widened a little as I turned to my left to see Nick, asleep and without a shirt, which was a little odd, but I wasn't going to bother freaking out about it, because, hey...it's just Nick.

I glanced at a clock to see it was about 10 in the morning and I let out a loud yawn as I sat up and stretched my arms above my head. This caused Nick to stir a little and eventually wake up. He turned to me and squinted, his eyes barely adjusting to the light.

"Good morning," I greeted him with a smile. "...your hair looks fantastic."

His lips twitched into a smirk. "Thanks, I know." he said in that husky kind of voice guys usually have after waking up. He sat up and tried to flatten his hair a little, but to no avail. "I think I might need a haircut soon."

"Nick...I don't remember walking to bed."

"You didn't." he chuckled. "Man, you were out cold! I had to carry you. I didn't wanna bother you, but I just couldn't sleep sitting sitting up."

I gasped, my eyes widening. "How did you manage that?! You're a twig!"

"Hey! I've got guns." He retorted and lifted a skinny arm up to flex, causing me to giggle uncontrollably.

"Sure, sure..." I trailed off, soon finding myself absentmindedly staring at Nick for a little too long. Noticing his piercing blue eyes staring right back at me made snap out of whatever the hell I was thinking about and awkwardly clear my throat. "Well, uhh...let's see if the others are up? Breakfast?"

Nick looked like he'd been snapped out of a thought too. "Oh! Yeah...cool." He jumped out of bed and quickly pulled a shirt over his head, then following me out of the room.

"Hey Jade," Nick said, scrutinising his reflection in a the spoon I'd used to stir my tea.

I took a sip, my eyes narrowing on him. "Yeah?"

"...can you cut hair?"

"Yeah, but I'm not good at it." I shrugged.

"Do you think you could just cut a little length off the bottom? I'm heading into mullet territory here." he laughed, tugging on the long parts of his hair.

"I could try, but if you end up looking like you escaped a mental hospital, it's not my fault." I said as I grabbed some scissors out of a drawer. I dragged a chair into the kitchen and Nick sat down, sparking up a cigarette.

"What's going on in here?" Fab asked, prancing into the kitchen.

I snipped at some hair. "I run a barber shop now, apparently."

"Ooh, can I try?"

"Fuck off, Fabrizio!" Nick threateningly pointed a spoon at him.

Fab raised his hands in defeat. "Jeez, fine!" He rummaged through the cupboards for a bit and sighed frustratingly. "Please tell me you have an idea for breakfast."

Nick grabbed a box of cereal off the counter and threw it at him.

Fab glanced at it displeasingly. "Ugh...it'll have to do, I guess."

"This isn't a bed and breakfast, Fabrizio." I said. "I can't make you a luxurious breakfast every morning!" I snipped off a little more of Nick's hair, messing it up slightly with my hand to see if it looked okay. "That looks pretty decent, if I do say so myself."

"Thank you." Nick exhaled some smoke, kissed me on the cheek and went off to go study his reflection in the bathroom.

"So vain." I whispered to myself with a laugh.

Fab sat himself on the counter with his bowl of cereal. "So...you and Nick, huh?"

I almost spat a mouthful of my tea out in shock of what he'd just said. "Excuse me?!"

"You guys were gettin' quite cozy last night!"

I stopped to actually think about it for a second, before I realised how stupid I was being and I snapped. "Shut the fuck up, Fab! I refuse to date anyone in our inner circle ever again. It fucks shit up, man. And even if he wasn't in our group, I wouldn't ever date Nick, so like...shut up!" I looked down at the floor. "Never ever. Nope? Not happening...no. No..? Definitely not!"

"Sure..." he looked at me knowingly. He looked like he was gonna pry further, but shook it off. "What about Julian, though? He's in our little group, is he not?"

"He's...different." I sighed. "Like, something in me just can't let him go. I swear it's a curse or some shit!"

"Maybe you just haven't ever bothered fancying someone else?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fab, need I remind you of the time we were together?"

Fab shook his head profusely. "No, no, no!"

"See, I've tried with other people. I just always go back to him for some reason." I sipped my tea with a frown. "Quite frankly, it's not fair! We clearly aren't good for eachother."

Fab muttered through a mouthful of cereal, "The world is a cruel place..."

"It sure is."

The phone started to ring as I finished off my tea and I groaned. "Can you get that? I need to go change."

"Mhm." Fab picked the phone up off the wall. "Hello?"

I walked into my room and quickly stripped down to my underwear. Of course, Nick had to walk in at this point.

"I left my shoes in h-" he gasped once he caught sight of me. "Fuck, sorry!"

"It's okay, dude! I'm not naked." I continued to search my room for a particular shirt.

Nick kept staring. "Yeah, but you're...like-"

"What?" I turned around to see him biting down on his bottom lip, but I chose not to think anything of it as I pulled on some jeans.

"Nevermind." he said, awkwardly clearing his throat. "I'll just...get my shoes now."

"You do that." I caught sight of my shirt and brushed past Nick to grab it. He seemed to tense up a little when I touched him, but then shrugged and picked up his shoes. There was suddenly some sort of strange energy between us. I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what it was, but I knew it felt weird—not bad or anything, just...slightly odd.

I pulled on my shirt and turned around to see Nick tugging on his sneakers. "Any plans for today?"