Summer Before Her (Completed)

23- I Wonder What Happened.

Novak's POV

I sat comfortably on the floor of my humble little place replaying the interaction with Kirsten, again and again. Something was wrong, maybe its why she has been lying and not running. Something was amiss, I had to figure it out and if I couldn't, there's no harm in asking, right?

"Daydreaming about her again?" Seth asked walking in.

"Nah, just homework," I said.

"suree, you can lie all you want or you can tell me what's bothering ya and I can help you out. Brother to brother" he replied, winking.

The next few minutes, I delved into everything that happened, a complete rundown of events, gave him the entire picture.

"Her pet died or something, mate. You are safe" he said with an air of importance.

"You are hilarious," I said with a straight face.

"Seriously mate, look for the little hints, whatever part of her behaviour changed the most, that's what happened,"  He said concluding the talk with his seemingly important bit of advice.

And then, as usual, Seth and I sat down to discuss further business, before drinking ourselves to sleep.

This was how routine my days were, mundane and monotonous. Kirsten happened to be the only variable, the only thing that changed the tone of the day.

**

I once again made it to cafeteria a little earlier than others, from my vantage point I could see Fred walk in and make his way to the bench full of his football buddies. Odd.

Shouldn't he be sitting with Kirsten and Natalie and glaring at me? White Knighting? Very Odd. Or maybe he just didn't want to pick a fight.

Natalie and Kirsten walked in through the swinging doors next and upon making eye contact with her, my lips curled into a subconscious smile, she smiled in response, he puffy lips stretching out across her mouth, leaving her front tooth on display.

They took a seat opposite to me and for once I felt nervous, this was an interview position, were they going to grill me?

"Hey," Kirsten said, breaking the silence.

Soon Natalie and she were engaged in chatter as they—for the lack of a better word—chomped on their salads.

I was all for eating clean but how could one eat greens every single day? I sure as hell couldn't survive on something that wasn't meat, Maybe its the Arab upbringing, or maybe I am just as unhealthy as it gets.

I silently sat there, nibbling away at my sandwich as I watched them talk about everything.

Her cheeks had a splatter of freckles, eyes matching the colour of mine, a speck of dressing decorated the left cheek next to her puffy pink lips.

Natalie's hand reached forward to wipe the dressing off, In that moment I noticed that Kirsten reflexively pulled backwards, her hands flying out in front of her holding Natalie at arm's length. Natalie's surprise flickered across her face between she pulled her hand down and tucked them by her side pretending she didn't notice her reaction.

Something was truly off, this was an exaggerated physical reaction to something so minor.

"Hey, Why isn't Fred sitting with us?" I asked interrupting their flow.

"I think its because he hates you" responded Natalie a little too quickly, almost as if it was rehearsed.

"Ah," I said, dismissing the topic. Kirsten was stuffing salad into her mouth with a little too much concentration. This was odd.

"Do you have a pet?" I asked Kirsten, my body changing posture to one of determination.

"No, Why do you ask?" she said giggling.

"Because I kidnap puppies, Kirsten" I responded.

"I knew it, you puppy snatcher" Talia chimed in.

There goes Seth's theory.

I had a theory and I needed to confirm it.

"I have to be somewhere, see you guys around" I announced, leaving my seat and walking past Kirsten.

I walked a few steps, a few steps more, turned around swiftly and lightly placed my hand on Kirsten's shoulder, remarking "Hey, what about the project work?"  while observing her reaction.

And there it was, the over-exaggerated physical reaction, the way she pulled her self away from my touch.
So it was confirmed something definitely had happened and Fred was somehow involved, given her reaction to when we spoke about him.

"yes, we have to do that, let's schedule it for today evening" she responded.

"Your place?" I questioned.

"No, No, um... My parents aren't home, can we be at the library or cafe?"

Oh.

"Oh, where are your parents?" I prodded, despite being aware that I shouldn't.

Curiosity just drove me crazy and I was so close to connecting all the dots, I had to know.

"Um... They went to my brother's football tournament yesterday, they should be back tonight"

Oh. So they have been gone for a day.

"Nice..." I responded awkwardly, happy with the information I had gathered.

I began walking away again, my eyes fell on Fred, he was nervously looking at me as it seemed like I was approaching him. Why was he nervous?
And then suddenly everything made sense, all the dots connected and I was livid.

I don't know the details of what had happened, but I hope it's not what I suspect happened.

Shaking with rage, I could barely contain myself as I returned back to my seat and looked at Kirsten

"Please tell me it's not what I think happened" she gave me one look and burst into tears.

Natalie looked at me bewildered and mouthed "What the fuck, dude?"

What am I supposed to make of this? Why did I suddenly feel capable of murder?

A few deep breathes from me and sniffles from her later, I asked: "Can we talk?"

"Why?" she asked, her eyes still cast at the table.

"Please" I begged, not knowing and not being there for her felt like being burned alive.

"Can I smoke?" she asked.

Oh.

"Okay," I responded, she got up and walked ahead.

Talia watched me still with the bewildered look on her face.
"You hurt her and I will saw your balls off," she said, threateningly baring her teeth.

"Oh no, don't worry about that, but you and I might need to saw someone else's balls off," I remarked, quite seriously before walking off, catching up with Kirsten's pace.

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End of Chapter 23.

New day. New chapter.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

Until tomorrow
Elle