Nova

𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

"Jason wants you to dog sit today," Aubrey said as I greeted her in the kitchen upon waking up. I quickly looked around for Hailey and didn't see her, so I assumed she was sleeping still.

"Wow," I answered, "No 'good morning'? Tough crowd." Aubrey continued to fry eggs, "I don't say good morning to people that lie to their wives and sneak around. I'd hope those kinds of people don't have a good morning." I sighed.

"You have every right to be mad at me babe," I replied, "every God-given right. But being mad won't make you feel better. I'm sorry, know that I am, but I can promise you, on me, my mother, and our marriage," Aubrey looked up as I said that last bit.

"... that nothing happened with Rico."

"Nova I know nothing happened with Rico, you texted Nick because you didn't want something to happen between you and Rico. I'm not upset because I think you cheated on me, I'm upset because you gave me the impression that you were done dealing with him, just to shut me up that night." I looked around the kitchen, arms folded.

"If I had listened to somebody's opinion of a certain someone," I said as I walked over to a chair, "I would've missed out on the greatest blessing I have ever received." Aubrey looked on but didn't look as though she was catching on. "Elaborate," she insisted. I nodded.

"Nick didn't want me talking to you. Maddie didn't want me talking to you. My mother didn't want me to talk to you. But I did, and because I took that chance, I got to know the real you. The Aubrey that wasn't obsessed with winning prom queen, being the prettiest girl in the room, or being known by everybody. The Aubrey that asked if you ate today, how your day went, how you were feeling-"

"Nova," Aubrey interrupted, "what's the point of this? What are you trying to get at?"

"Well," I started, a little surprised that Aubrey wasn't in awe of the nice things that I was saying about her. "I was thinking, isn't this whole you not wanting me to speak to Rico based off your own opinion thing a little... hypocritical?" Aubrey turned back towards the eggs that she was making for a split second.

"On who's part?" She questioned, turning off the stove and folding her arms as she turned back towards me. "Because yes, I wanted you to talk to me last year at Norwood, Nova, but I didn't force, or beg you to. So how is this hypocritical?"

"Define 'didn't force' Aubrey," I replied sarcastically, "does threatening to tell my then-boyfriend that I was secretly seeing you if I didn't hook up with you not count?" Aubrey stiffened her jaw.

"Oh yeah," she said after a moment of silence. "Use some minor, forgotten-about incident in which you may or may have not intentionally made a fool out of me from the very beginning of our senior year as an example." I huffed, "you made the conversation go there," I mumbled in a low tone as I looked down at my hands and began playing with them.

"You know Nova, actions speak louder than words," Aubrey said. "Earlier, you said I had every right to be upset with you. But yet, you seem to be finding every excuse to invalidate my feelings." I shook my head, "that's not true." Aubrey nodded, "it is, babe."

"I just- I just don't get it," I voiced, standing up and walking over to Aubrey. "I mean, I thought you would've been relieved that Rico didn't kill me or something. Instead you're mad that I lied to you."

"If a burglar were to attempt to rob somebody and was shot in the process, he'd be taken to the hospital and would get treated for it," Aubrey said, causing me to cock an eyebrow. "Okay," I replied, "I think I know that? That's common sense."

"Right," Aubrey answered. "And then when he's all better, and out of the hospital," Aubrey stopped talking for a moment and just looked at me.

"What?"

"He goes to jail," she whispered as our noses nearly touched. I backed up a little after that statement.

"So what's jail for me, Aubrey?" I asked my wife, and she shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "I honestly don't know how to think right now. All I do know is that I don't wanna deal with you. Like I said earlier, Jason needs you to dog sit for a few hours."

"Why me?" I asked.
"I volunteered you," Aubrey admitted, "go."

Nick

"Hey!" Nova greeted Jason with a hug, as I sat on the couch and watched. Nova and I seemed to be on good terms the day after the whole Rico thing, but that was before Nova knew that Aubrey was full-on pissed and ignoring her. I told Jason about Nova making it clear to me that she was pissed at me for telling Aubrey, and Jason figured that getting both Nova and I to watch Sidney, his lazy dog, would make us speak to one another again. I sure hoped so.

"Hi," I said in a low tone, as Nova looked over and quickly turned around to leave, but couldn't. Jason had blocked the door, and he was a whole lot bigger than Nova. In both height and matter.

"Why am I here if you already have somebody to watch Sidney?" Nova asked, turning back to face me. "Is this some kind of setup? I don't wanna be here with him right now Jason." Jason shrugged, "I don't think Nick can watch Sid alone," he stated, "you know he gets bored of things fast, he might get tired of my dog and let her do whatever she pleases. You're more attentive."

"So tell him to leave then," Nova demanded, and Jason shook his head. "You tell him, Nova," he said, "I've gotta go. And you can try to leave my place all you want, if I lock this door from the outside you can't open it." Jason quickly shut the door and locked it before running out of the area, stripping away any chance that Nova might've had to talk to him through the window.

"Great," Nova said in a low tone as she walked towards the couch, where I sat. I stood up.

"Can you please talk to me?" I asked as I looked down at the girl whom I consider my best friend. She was mad, for no good reason. Okay, I told Aubrey that she was at Rico's place, I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to! I thought I was helping her.

"I just don't understand why you would do that without asking me," Nova said, folding her arms. "You've seen Aubrey yourself, you know she's hard-headed and won't let go of something until she wants to" I shrugged, "eh," I said sarcastically, "haven't noticed that until now." Nova rolled her eyes.

"Whatever Nick," she spat and I quickly got back into my serious character again. "Nova, you were in danger. You think I'm gonna sit here, waste time, and think about whether or not to call your spouse?" I questioned, "I'm sorry. This is such a stupid thing to lose a friendship over, especially given that you can see that I truly had pure intentions." Nova shook her head, "You were at the club when Rico approached us," she replied, "you knew Aubrey had her panties in a twist about this whole ordeal. You were trying to sabotage me, Nick."

"Why would I do that?" I asked, and Nova shrugged. "I don't know," she replied, "why would you tell Aubrey that I'm at that dude's place? You tell me." I threw my hands in the air in frustration and began pacing. "I told Aubrey because I love you!" I damn near yelled. Nova didn't do much more than simply look at me. I shook my head and sat on the arm of the couch, while she still stood up.

"I love you more than you will ever know Nova," I admitted. "And if there is anybody on this earth that loves you as much as I do, it's Aubrey. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I wanted the two people who loved you the most, there when you needed them the most. I'm sorry that I thought I was doing the right thing."

I shook my head as tears welled up in my eyes, remembering the absolute worry that rushed through me when Nova texted Lewis, Jason, and me about potentially never getting back to us again. Nova still wasn't saying a word, but I could feel her eyes burning through me. I was too paranoid to look up, so I kept my concentration on the floor.

"God forbid, something serious had happened to you. Let's say you were gravely injured and on the brink of death. Aubrey would've eventually been at peace, maybe years, or decades from now, knowing that she at least got to see and hold you in your final moments." A tear rolled down my face as I said that last sentence, because I truly, truly feared for Nova's life a few short days ago. She doesn't even know the fucking half of it.

"Say something," I begged my best friend in a whisper, still refusing to look up at her. "Please."

I heard Nova's steps move closer to me, and eventually felt her body touching mine as she sat beside me. "I love you too," she whispered as her breath warmed up my face a little. I could tell she had a mint or two before coming here.

I finally grew some balls to look over at her and was met with a smile. "Thank you for understanding," I said, "I was hoping you would." Nova nodded, though slowly, and her eyes never left my lips. I couldn't tell what that meant, or what she was thinking, but the tension was high and confusing. I had assumed that she wanted to do something that she knew was wrong, and forbidden, but didn't wanna take the lead. So I did.

I leaned in and kissed Nova, with little to no emotion. I pulled back a quick second later, I guess waiting to see how she was gonna respond. She didn't say anything or even look me in the eyes. She continued to stare at my lips.

"I wanna do that again," I admitted, "but I can't tell what you're feeling by your facial expression." Nova still didn't meet her eyes with mine, but she did lick her lips before she spoke. "What made you kiss me?"

"I don't know," I replied, with our faces still really close. "You were staring at my lips, and I swear it felt like you were inching closer to me by the second. I guess I assumed that maybe, you wanted me to do that." Nova's lips slowly curved up into a soft smile as I spoke, "So what changed?"

"I-I don't know? You didn't really seem receptive." Finally, there was more than just an emotion coming from Nova's lips. Her brows furrowed down.

"How wasn't I receptive?" she asked. I shrugged, "you didn't pull me back in when I pulled away," I voiced, and she finally broke contact with my lips to look around the room. "Doesn't mean I wasn't receptive. Maybe it means I feel guilty."

"So you don't wanna do this?" I asked, and Nova shook her head. "I didn't say that."

"So what are you saying then?" I asked, confused. Nova looked me in the eyes. "It's not cheating if I didn't initiate and equally participate, right?"

"No," I replied, "I guess. But that's also borderline rape. I'm not raping you." Nova shook her head. "We aren't gonna think of it that way, because rape requires resistance of some sort. I'm not gonna resist, I'm just not aiding you in whatever you wanna do to me." I nodded, "oh," I said, "I think I get it."

"So please Nick," Nova continued, "do something to me before I start to feel wrong about this and chicken out. Hurry."

I didn't even have time to process what was going on, but could I? Nova was apparently a time bomb with no set time, and it was only a matter of time before she stood up, said "fuck this" and left. Through a window because Jason's door is weird.

I gently pushed Nova's body down so that her back was lying flat on the couch. It was odd positioning because her legs were still hanging off. "Actually," I said, pulling Nova up by the arms so that she was sitting up again. "You're gonna ride."

Nova smiled, "your call."

"Take off your skirt," I demanded, but Nova shook her head. "I can't abet you," she replied, "you gotta do the work all on your own." I chuckled, "Fine."

I decided to keep my pants on, in case something was coming, but just took out my dick through the zipper hole. Nova looked around, acting like some innocent girl who has no idea of whatever bombshell is about to drop on her in those schoolgirl porn videos.

I pulled Nova closer to me, lifting her by her ass a little so that I could get her body up, then got her on top of me. Thankfully, all I had to do was move her panties to the side, given she was wearing a skimpy jean skirt.

I felt down on Nova as I kissed her neck, making sure she was wet before just putting it in, and boy was she. She chuckled, as did I, and looked down as I lifted her once more, putting her right on.

She let out a really deep sigh.