Misstaken ✓ | #Wattys2019

15. i t ' s y o u

"Dude, you have horrible timing." Nick grunted, getting on his feet.

"What? I saw your car, and I thought like any other normal person, you were just getting takeaway. Who even makes out in broad daylight outside a Chick-fil-a, anyway?" Hunter said defensively. He crouched and began to pick up his fallen nuggets.

I blubbered instantly to serve as a distraction. "Food can be significantly contaminated by even brief exposure to a tarmac inoculated with E. coli. Although, I'm sure contamination works differently when you're talking about chicken nuggets..."

Nick grinned at my words. I couldn't help myself; we're talking about food — the love of my life — here!

"Ah, my girlfriend." Nick ruffled my hair gently.

"Wait, so you know the imposter isn't Zara? I'm relieved."

"And how do you know?" Nick narrowed his eyes at Hunter.

Hunter took a sip of his Starbucks and mumbled something that sounded like, "Last year I saw photos of the real Zara on your phone."

Nick was mortified. "It wasn't my lock screen picture. How do you know what's my password?"

Hunter started laughing. "Dude, it's so easy. It's —"

Before he could say it, Nick covered his mouth. They both wrestled each other while laughing, looking both like children. I couldn't help but laugh. The doppelgängers were hilarious to watch.

Once they were done being a nuisance to the public, Hunter chuckled and turned to me. "I'm just thankful that you make my brother happy. I've never seen him smile this widely in such a long time."

I smiled and extended my hand. "I'm glad to hear that. Allow me to introduce myself to you properly. I'm Emma Trinket."

Hunter shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Emma." He looked between me and Nick. "Now, should I leave you two..?"

"Forget it, it's too late." Nick sighed.

Nick's disappointed state was awfully funny. I winked, "No, it's not. Get in loser, let's go shopping."

***

Armed with Jamba Juice is one hand, we scouted for decent clothes for me to wear. What I had on was cute, but it served as pajamas for last night.

He guided me to the more expensive section. "I would suggest Chanel and the likes, but it's too much isn't it?"

"Definitely too much." I wasn't entirely used to the fact that my newfound boyfriend was wealthy. It didn't matter to me when we first started out, but now I was beginning to realize the implications. Did it mean I had to attend fancy events where people dressed to the nines? And gossip together with snobby socialites?

I decided now I just wanted to kick back in a sweater and sweatpants. Preferably together with Nick.

I looked over and happened to meet his gaze. His sideways wink was so radiant, I wanted to melt inside. I knew he would never force me to morph into one of those socialites if I didn't want it. 

I ushered him into a Zumies instead. Pretty decent, in my opinion. A hoodie and skinny jeans later, we were hunting for a movie theatre.

"That's all?" He asked curiously.

I nodded. "I'm just not the type to string you along shopping if you aren't having fun. Besides, our movie date last night was ruined by —" I flushed instantly at the thought of what happened. "I mean, we should salvage it and watch another movie instead."

His finger traced the bottom of my chin, and tilted it up. Tempting. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"We can always relive what happened then. Tell me, what did happen? I need to refresh my memory."

I was tempted to respond to his touch, until I took a look around. People were looking, drawn by his charm. It was too much for me.

"Movie."

He tried again, "I have a private movie theatre at home. We could watch there."

No. Not now, it'll drive me crazy.

"Well, we can go watch the new Spider-man, which has yet to come out online."

Everything seemed normal. We were on a date, with him buying tickets as I insisted on paying for the popcorn. Except for the fact that a lot of people were glancing at how close we were, the proximity of our touches.

Nicholas Sheldon was well-known, but at least he wasn't so much of a celebrity that people were throwing themselves forward to get a photo of him. Still, even the ones who didn't know him couldn't help but look. Who wouldn't, honestly? That guy looked like a trillion bucks.

However, I noticed they were glancing at me too. Probably assessing what kind of person his girlfriend was.

"On second thought, maybe we should have gone to Chanel." I whispered to him. "Everyone's looking, probably because I look like so mundane right now."

"Are you kidding?" Nick said it, a little louder which took me by surprise. "They're staring because you have to be most beautiful girl they've ever seen."

I rolled my eyes and scowled. "You don't even know how I look like —"

"He's right. You are the most beautiful girl anyone's ever seen, aren't you?" Someone said behind. It sounded like a joke, but he had said it in sullen seriousness.

So much for meeting people we knew here and there. I turned around. "Yuri? What are you doing here?"

Yuri didn't say anything. But slowly, he turned to face Nick. I knew Yuri. For a second there was a ghost of a look on his face, before being quickly replaced by a casual smile.

From the look on his face, it seemed as if they had known each other. I glanced at Nick, who didn't seem to show much recognition. Even if he hadn't been able to recognize Yuri, I did say his name, and it wasn't all that common.

Something didn't feel very right. I looked between the two of them, and it looked... as if they had some sort of bad blood —

"And who do we have here?"