The Wallflower Ch. 09

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Nicholas has had enough.
11.7k words
4.78
16.6k
16

Part 9 of the 11 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 07/04/2014
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//Hey Everyone. Some of ya'll are wondering when I will finish the series or how many chapters are left. I honestly don't know how many chapters are left. As I said, it's in novel format. So at least 20 or so more chapters full of secrets, thrills...and maybe kills ;P One thing I know for sure is that I want to finish this story by April 2016, so I can send it off to publishing. So...that's at least 2 chapters a month >_<. A challenge I am willing to take. So here's the next chapter. Comment/Rate/Email. I read every last one of them. Enjoy :D Happy Fourth of July! :D//

'What am I going to do?'

As usual the never ending questions clouded Lily's mind. A stream of frustration flew from her mouth. Lily had decided to take a walk outside during her break. Usually, she'd eat in the break room, but the room was stifling and cramped. Adding in the heat of her furiousness just added more to her blazing rage.

At the moment, she didn't know what pissed her off more. Brandon's fake ass apology, being set up to look like a cold hearted bitch, or Vanessa believing that asshole over her.

Or maybe it was the fucking kiss.

Lily bit down on her tongue till she could taste blood to calm her queasy stomach at the thought. They were just supposed to be friends. What had Brandon done in a week or two to get closer to Vanessa? Whatever he did, it caused his plans to accelerate exponentially.

It had been two weeks since Vanessa and her had gotten into it about Brandon. After that, Vanessa had just stopped talking to her. Lily would try her best to at least greet her, talk to her... hell, even work with her. But every time she tried to do anything that involved any interaction with Vanessa, Vanessa would give her a glance. A glance that would go straight through her. As if she didn't exist. As though she were invisible.

And then she would walk away.

But as the days went on, Vanessa could no longer ignore her existence. The see though glances turned into annoyed eye rolls. Into a disgusted wrinkled nose. And then into a black hatred that surrounded her lie a dense, ominous fog. To say she was different would be an understatement.

How was it possible that everyone Brandon came in contact with, he turned them into something hateful, and no one had a clue that they had been changed for the worst?

'You can not place all the blame on him,' she thought as she looked down at her wrists. Her wrists had return to its natural dark brown color. The marks were finally gone. Faded away by time. With it went Brandon's proof of guilt. Lily breathed out another labored sigh. 'What's wrong with me? Of course I'm losing her. She has Brandon in her ear, probably telling her how much of a bitch I am.'

A loud buzzing noise drew her out of her thoughts. Lily looked towards the source of the sound to find the tattooed Rosie the Riveter winking back at her. How the crap did she get here? Somehow her body took over and brought her to the steps of the alternatively styled tattoo parlor. Her body hadn't just brought her there, but it had actually stopped her right outside the door Lily shrugged before opening the door. Why not? It's not like she had any other friends at the moment.

The loud buzzing of tattoo machines whirled about her while people talked amongst themselves. People had gotten so used to seeing her at that point that they no longer stopped and stared at her. Of course there was one set of eyes that never failed to give her the evil eye when she came in. But Lily was either too tired or too used to her hostility.

"Hey, kid!" the tattooed receptionist greeted with a big smile on his face. Lily's own face lit up a little when seeing him. The jovial man's warm personality was infectious.

She went over to the reception table and lazily leaned her hear into her hand as she looked at the receptionist. Inside of her, she found enough energy to muster up a smile. "Is it some kind of thing for tattoo artists to give people nicknames?"

"Only to people we like, hon," he said giving her a wink. "Since we are on the subject of names, name's Sal." He stood up and reached out his hand to shake hers. Lily had to crane her neck backwards just to look at him. He had to be just shy of seven feet! She knew he had to be tall by how tall he already looked while sitting down, but she wouldn't have guessed he was this tall!

Lily stuck out her hand and shook it while still gawking at him. His skin was naturally dark tan color and some qualities of his face gave him away as being Arabic. Like everyone else in the parlor, he had a mosaic of colorful tattoos flowing from the neck down. He had a sleeveless Jack Daniels shirt that helped show case the tattoos on his arm and on his torso. What shocked her the most was how ripped this guy was! Every muscle and fiber of him screamed strength! She noticed that his chest was beginning to rumble. Lily looked up at him and noticed his mouth was twisted up, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Nicholas told me about your staring habit," he chuckled as he sat back in his seat.

Lily's face was on fire in embarrassment from being caught staring...again.

"And he told me how cute you look when you get caught." He gave her a playful grin as he looked to be doing some busy work at his desk.

"I'm sorry, you're just..."

"Huge?" Sal said with a small smirk.

"Well...Yeah," Lily admitted, giving up with trying to be obtuse about it.

"My body's not the only thing huge about me." He stuck his tongue out at her while Lily exaggerated a sigh from the cliché joke.

"That joke is so old and lame."

"Really? Usually girls will gladly play along with me."

"Well not me," Lily positioned herself back on the desk before continuing to say anymore. "Living with Nicholas twenty-four hours a day has made me immune to all sex jokes. Both cheesy and creative. I guess you could say he's like my birth control."

'With the Spirit on his side, in more ways than one.'

"Oh well, a guy could try. So what's up with you? Nick forget his lunch again?"

"Nah, just came in to talk."

"Should I get you a drink to down your sorrows in while you talk?"

Lily gave him a small smirk. "What sorrows?"

Sal took his eyes away from his work long enough to give her a knowing look. "You came into a tattoo parlor to talk. Need I say more?"

Pouting her lips slightly, Lily thought of a million different reasons why else would she be here. Only one possibility came up. "Maybe I wanted to hang out with Nicholas."

Sal let out a snort before going back to work. "Hon, I'm his friend and even I can only deal with him at small periods of time." Taking a quick look over his shoulder at the artists at work before turning back to her, Sal leaned towards her to whisper only loud enough for her to hear. "And between you and me, you'd have to be depressed if you came here just to talk with that she devil over there glaring you down."

He checked behind him again. Lily's own eyes drifted back and saw Anna Belle sitting in her chair glaring back at her. "She really has it in for me," Lily said softly.

"Well yeah. You're the only chick she hasn't managed to scare off. Plus, according to her, you live in the same room with him." Sal's hazel eyes looked back at Lily as if asking if it was true or not.

'Nosy.'

"Yeah we do. But nothing happens." Lily could taste how rotten that lie was. Even Sal looked at her like he wouldn't believe that lie if Mother Theresa came back from the dead and said it herself. "Well, anymore. It wasn't even that bad. You know how Nicholas is."

"Just make sure crazy over there doesn't catch wind of it."

"Why doesn't she go get someone else?" Lily exasperated. "I mean they're not even together."

Sal chuckled as he was looking at the computer screen. "It sounds as if you want him."

"I do not!" Lily said a little too loudly, causing some people to stop their conversation to look at her. "We're just friends," she whispered in a lower voice. "My very annoying immature friend, but still he's just a friend. I'm just saying why doesn't she go and get someone else. It's not like she's not pretty enough."

Sal only shrugged as he typed something into the computer. "Beats me. I'm just glad I'm not the target of her affections." He turned in his chair and popped his aching bones. "I swear for some women, I think they are only pretty to cover up all the crazy."

"Then why does he mess around with her? Even Mrs. Yates doesn't understand why he fucks with her."

Sal only just gave her a small shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"For someone who gossips so much, one would think you would have more answers," Lily said with a playful pout.

"Says the gossiping to the gossiper," Sal said with a smirk.

"Touché."

Sal circled around in his seat to look at the artists again before turning back to her. "If you want to go talk to Nicholas, you can go do it now. He just finished his last client for today. He's in front with the rest of the artists today." Lily looked behind him and saw Nick laying on his back with the chair pulled all the way back.

"Ok. Thanks." Lily picked up her purse. "It was nice talking to you, Sal."

As Lily began to walk away, Sal stopped her and asked, "Hey Lily, why does Nicholas call you cowgirl?"

'That nasty ass bastard!' Lily thought as images of kneeing Nicholas flashed in her mind.

"I'll tell you later, Sal," Lily said as she began to hurry behind him, towards the tattoo parlor.

"But-"

"Later!" Lily called behind her. She looked back at Sal, catching a glimpse of a knowing smile on his face. If he knew Nicholas as well as he says he does...well hell, even if he was just an acquaintance, it would be easy to figure out that Nicholas was an endless flirt.

Talking about said flirt, Nicholas was lounging in a black leather chair while he talked to some skinny chick who was bent over slightly to show him the tits that didn't match the rest of her body. She laughed obsessively at his obvious cheesy flirtations and managed somehow to make her tits jump like bouncing bowling balls. Lily wouldn't have cared if her laughing wasn't so high pitched and ear bleeding. It just made Lily want to smother her with a pillow to just make it stop, Lord have mercy! What is Nicholas's deal with picking up shallow chicks?

Lily looked to the side of her eyes to see if Anna Belle's glare had taken the heat off of her and directed it at this chick. No such luck. It was still directed in the center of Lily's back like a bulls eye. Lily guessed that Anna Belle knew out of the two of them, who was the greater threat. She could easily take care of Ms. Everything-Is-Funny, but Lily was a whole different matter.

"Hey there cowgirl!" Nicholas yelled, breaking her out of her thoughts. He sat up in his chair and imitated swinging a lasso while adding on a loud yee-haw for good measure. Ms. Funny openly glared at her, seeing that she was no longer the main focus of his attention.

'Ok, I've been given the evil eye three times today. Anyone else wanna glare at me?' Lily thought to herself sarcastically while Nicholas continued on with his shenanigans. Which reminded her...

Lily grabbed Nicholas by his hair and yanked on it hard, causing Nicholas to stop and wince in pain. "By the way, for someone who is older than me, you do more gossiping than a teenage girl in high school. I swear this place is like a smaller version of it."

Nicholas only stuck his tongue out at her playfully and said, "We try." Nicholas reached inside his pocket and pulled out a bag of weed and a roll of paper. "What else do you expect us to do?. We're in here for hours trying to do Leonardo Da Vinci work on people's skin. We have nothing else to do but talk and listen."

Lily rolled her eyes. She finally noticed that Ms. Funny went somewhere else. Lily only shrugged. She must have gotten the picture that Nicholas wasn't going to give her any more attention anytime soon. Coming back to the conversation with Nicholas, "But do you really have to bring me up in the conversation?"

Nicholas glanced up at her as he rolled his blunt. "Hey, I didn't bring you up. People started asking about the girl who brings me my lunch. 'Cuz Lily, you gotta admit. You stick out like a sore thumb. You have the girl next door look. Innocent. Pure. Good. Looks as if she hasn't done anything wrong in her life. Hell, you dress appropriately all the time. If I didn't live with you, I wouldn't know what kinda body you're hiding underneath all those clothes-"

"Nicholas!" Lily's face was so hot that she felt like at any moment it would burst into flames.

He only gave her a shrug, completely unashamed. "I'm just sayin' you're different. Of course they're gonna talk about the good little girl who comes in here. I don't even do much of the gossiping." Nicholas continued to make more blunts before saying. "Now that I'm thinking about it Ms. Cowgirl, how would you just now be learning about the gossiping here unless you've been gossiping?"

Nicholas's devious smirk grew while Lily just gave him a grimacing pout. "This isn't about me."

"Of course it isn't." He tucked a few blunt behind his ear. He kept one in his hand as he got up and stretched. "Hey, it's time for my lunch break. Where you want to go?"

"Well...can we go to your hideout?"

Nicholas stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. His lazy carefree gray eyes had turned into a blustery storm with lightening flashing in his eyes. Lily wanted to look away and cringe, but somehow she managed to stand up straight and look him dad in the eyes.

"Why do you want to go there," he said with a voice as cold as stone.

"I just want to get out of here is all."

"Lily I don't think that's a good idea." He gave her a stern expression that told her that he wasn't considering if it was a good idea or not. He wasn't going.

"I just wanted to go somewhere and talk is all," Lily began to plead. She didn't know what it was about that place, but she just needed to be there.

"No, Lily." With that, he began to walk back to the break room. Lily followed after him, oblivious to the audience watching them.

"Nicholas –"

"I said no." He grabbed his lunch and turned around so fast that Lily couldn't stop herself from slamming face first into his chest. His arm shot out grabbed her by her shoulder to steady her. Once she was steadied, he held her shoulders more firmly. He leaned his head downwards so she could look him straight in his eyes. "Trust me, Lily. Whatever you want to talk about, we can talk about it at home. Just not there."

"Why? What is it that you're keeping from me, Nicholas?" Lily said, trying to shrug off his hold on her shoulders.

"Lily, for your own safety, I will not take you there."

Lily's body began to grow hot in anger. What was his problem?! She just had to deal with more of Brandon's bullshit today with that whole apology stunt. Then she finds out her best friend is turning on her for that douchebag! All she wanted to do was talk! Like friends are supposed to! She had talked to him there weeks ago. What was so dangerous about going to that clearing with him today? What really ticked her off, though, was he wouldn't tell her why he couldn't take her.

"You are so full of shit, Nicholas!" Lily yelled at him, knocking his hand from her shoulder.

"How am I full of shit, Lily?" he asked, taken aback by her newfound rage.

"You told me all that shit about how you're my friend and how you will tell me what I needed to hear!" Lily didn't understand why, but her fury began to turn into tears building up in the corner of her eyes before sliding down her face. "I simply ask you to take me to the clearing and you go ape shit on me and tell me we can't go. I ask you why and you only tell me that it's for my best interest that we don't go. If you were my friend you would tell me why!"

"Isn't what I'm telling you the same shit you tell Vanessa?"

The room went completely quiet as they stared at one another. Lily stared back at him, unbelieving of what he just said to her. Nicholas stared back at her without any remorse of what he had just said.

"You want me to be real with you, Lily? Fine." He stepped towards her and held onto the edge of the table behind her, lowering his gray eyes in full storm. He was too close. No matter where Lily looked, she couldn't escape his stormy eyes. She wouldn't be able to escape the cold hard truth he was about to expel.

" 'Don't listen to him, Vanessa' ,'He's lying to you, Vanesssa', 'Stay away from him, Vanessa'. Don't your very words sound similar to mine?" His voice was even and cool. Almost peaceful if the malice of his words were not apparent. "You know what the difference between you and me is? I say that shit to actually help you. Not to cover my own ass. Don't you ever think that the reason you never told her is because you're afraid." His voice began to turn bitter and the storm in his eyes became darker till it was almost like black.

"Afraid that you have to relive every painful moment of living to be his victim. To be his punching bag. To be his entertainment. Because believe me, sick bastards like him love to have a woman they can play with and fuck with at their leisure. You swear up and down that you want to get away from him. Honey, to do that, you gotta start telling the truth and reliving every painful memory that goes along with it. Just like I have to."

He expelled a breath before leaning away from her. "You can say a lot of things about me, but don't you ever tell me I am full of shit." He stood back from her and leaned against the counter top while he put a blunt to his lips and lit it. The papers glowing fire grew as he closed his eyes and took a drag. As the fire in the paper dimmed as lids of his eyes opened. What was found in them was a violent lightning storm flashing and cracking with fire and dark gray smoke. There was no warmth or peace in his soul. Only a silent rage.

Lily continued to look at him until his fiery eyes were doused and blurred by the tears overflowing like rain. She was at first confused by the appearance of her tears, but succumbed to the gradual crush weight of his words. And the truth was that she was still afraid. So afraid.

She tried her best to wipe the tears out of her eyes, but all that did was make the tears fall even faster.

'STOP IT! STOP CRYING, FOR GOD'S SAKE!' she screamed in her head, but that only made them fall like pelting rain on her cheeks. She tried to move away but found that her body was crushed by her inner despair. Lily stood there soaked like a woman standing out in the rain.

Lily's eyes were forced open as she felt something that felt as soft as cotton but hard like granite crushing her face. She raised her hands to push it away, but it stayed firm. "Dry your face," she heard Nicholas's voice rumble from his chest. "Don't want anymore gossip about you going around." Lily felt his warm arms wrap around her. The fire of his skin warmed her skin and spread throughout her body. Her tears were dried from his heat, neutralizing her body to just lay against his chest for a moment.

Once she was done, she stood back from him and rubbed her red rimmed eyes. She looked up at Nicholas to find that his hard eyes were still dark with gray smoke, but the storm had passed from his eyes. Without a word, he picked up his sack lunch and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the building.

As they walked out into the work area, Lily noticed most of the people were staring at them, but more importantly, they stared at their conjoined hands. She looked up at Nicholas and saw that he wasn't the least bit bothered by the stares. He just scratched his head and looked straight ahead.

Nicholas stopped at Sal's desk for a moment. He put his lunch bag down and took one of his blunts from behind his ear and put it between his lips. "Hey, Sal. I'm taking my break. I'll be back in an hour."