How To Ruin A City

Chapter Twelve

Nic

I stormed towards my office after getting Ghost in a healing pod. TVAH could thank Coldfront for inventing those things. It was a shame Dark Skies and Night had retired. If only Cyanide had retired too, but no. They had to go an reinvent themselves after the second chemical spill.

I opened the door and stepped inside to find that the annoying pest known as Riptide was waiting inside, an anxious expression evident even on his masked face.

His eyes widened when he saw me. "I'm so sorry I didn't make it in time for the fight-"

"It's fine," I interrupted. "I've got a lot of paperwork. I even scheduled time for a nap in a healing pod later so can you leave?"

"Catalina was worried about you."

I froze.

"She was actually going to skip school, go home and suit up, then come and help you out," Riptide continued. "But I told her not to because you wouldn't have wanted her to."

She cares about me that much? That's...

I cleared my throat. "You're right, I wouldn't have wanted her to. Thanks."

Riptide nodded. "Are you guys a thing? I never figured out if you two were dating or not."

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Me neither. I have no clue what we are."

Riptide took a seat on my lounge chair. "Really?"

"Really."

"But you two seem so..."

I sighed in annoyance. "Yeah, I know what we seem like. We've kissed a few times and I like her. She likes me. We might or might not be dating. I'm not really sure, all I know is how I feel about her."

"Whipped?"

I scowled. "No. Well, maybe."

"Then how do you feel about her?"

I gritted my teeth and snapped, "What's it to you? I don't want to talk about my feelings with you standing right there."

"We have time to kill and I'm sure you don't want to fill out that report."

I sighed again. "Catalina is...I don't even know how to put it. She gets on my last nerve some of the time, but I'm always the happiest I've ever been when I'm around her. I haven't felt like this since my dad...you know. She's just amazing. I could trust her with my life, except she's kind of irresponsible sometimes, so I take that back. But we don't keep secrets from each other. I really like her and I'm glad she's my friend. I don't want to lose that if we end up dating and break up."

Riptide suddenly frowned. "What happens when your little deal stops working out, then?"

"I don't know," I said honestly.

He regarded me in silence for a moment before finally saying, "I'll tell it to you straight, Nic. Your agreement with Catalina won't work out in the long run. How long do you honestly expect this to go on for? It's going to go down in flames and somebody will end up getting hurt. One day you're going to have to choose. It's being a hero or it's her."