Duluth / A Keeper of the Lost Cities Fanfiction

Duluth / 14

Pain. Sophie was sure that a kiss was not supposed to be this painful. Even though her kiss with Dex was awkward and unnecessarily... bumpy, it didn't hurt like this one did. 

It wasn't Nick, he had clearly had much much more practice than Sophie had.  A part of Sophie really wanted to enjoy it, to kiss him back. 

It was Sophie's head. 

The constant stinging and jabbing and pounding in her head had turned into a tsunami, and forced Sophie to pull back from Nick's embrace a second after the flash went off. 

Nick didn't look hurt, he looked... scared? 

"Sophie, I'm..." Sophie didn't hear the rest of the sentence as she stumbled out the booth. The music was louder, and drove Sophie to muffle a grunt and slam her hands over her ears. She wanted to focus, to find where the pain was coming from. If it was coming from her repressed abilities and skills. 

She shoved her way through the dancing and grinding crowd to find the door, occasionally tripping over her damned heels. Away from the music. Away from the noise. Away from whatever was making her head hurt. Nick. 

She finally slammed through the doors and passed the admissions booth. Away from the music. She needed to be alone. Alone. Alone. She finally passed into a mostly-empty hallway and slammed into one of the lockers, sliding to the ground. The couple she had interrupted in the middle of a make-out session grumbled but made their way back to gym. 

The bass of the music could still be heard, but at least there were no kids screaming along to the music. At least there were no people in general. 

"Sophie?" 

Sophie scrubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, probably smudging her eyeliner before looking up to find Nick standing there, with his hands shoved into his pockets and his shoulders tensed. 

"Nick, you don't have to say anything-" 

"No, Sophie, I do." Nick slid down the lockers besides her, still keeping a respectable distance between the two. "I swear, my mom's given me the 'consent' talk, but I was just in the moment- not that that's an excuse or anything- and I just thought it would be really cool to have our first kiss on a picture.  Like, to look back at, because Sophie I really  like you. And if I've messed everything up between us, I'm sorry-" 

Sophie slammed her hands against the ground, trying to draw pain away from her head. "Nick, just shut up for a second."  She appreciated his apology and his sensitivity, but she just needed a moment of silence. Thankfully, Nick complied. 

Sophie let herself count to fifty-four before answering. The tsunami had settled a bit, still lingering but giving Sophie back a clear mind. "Nick," she said slowly. "I'm not mad at you for kissing me." 

"You're not?" 

Sophie turned to face him, keeping her legs tucked underneath her. "Nick, I'm not feeling well. My head... It wasn't the kiss that made me leave. I'm sorry." 

Nick let out a sigh. "You don't have any reason to be sorry. Are you sick? Are you ok?" 

Sophie attempted to tug out an eyelash, but only mascara came off into her hands. "I'm not the person you think I am." 

Nick's expression kept getting more confused. "I'm not sure I follow." 

"Sophie? Are you ok?" 

Sophie snapped her gaze over Nick's shoulder. She scrambled off the ground quickly. 

"Fitz? What are you doing here?" 

Fitz stalked closer and pointed at Nick. "Who is he? Who are you?"