~Nothing But A Sissy~

Nicolas watched as Dolores spun around on her feet when they walked inside the building. It was the cutest action he paid any attention to, after his sister's laughter. Her glistening brown hair blew about her and framed her round face. Her glasses were off and there was an aura of a childlike attitude as she gaped at nearly everything she saw.

Maybe Carlos was wrong about her. There was no reason to haunt her simply for being herself; cute and clumsy.

All of a sudden his thoughts were abruptly cut short as slender arms encircled his midriff and he found himself leaning into a feminine body with his nose in her hair. He tensed up but soon relaxed when he saw it was none other than Dolores. Feeling quite unsure, he wrapped his arm around her too. A little too soon, she pulled away from his hold.

"What was that for?" His eyes were filled with genuine curiosity and concern.

She smiled up at him. "For bringing me here. I always wanted to since the moment I saw the advertisement on TV but you know, with school work and everything, I couldn't. How did you even know by the way? Adelina told you?"

He willed his feet to move and soon fell into pace with her. "Why do you keep insisting she was the one who said something?"

She stared at him like he'd grown a double head. "She's my best friend, duh."

"Alright, alright. You got us." He said with a resigned sigh.

"I knew it!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "If she hadn't said a thing, I'm sure we wouldn't have gone on this date. I'm leaving."

He hastily pulled her back before she took another step. "I still would have. I just needed her help to convince you to come along. I'm sorry."

She shook her head at him before continuing the walk with him. Before long, she pointed at a game she thought to try out. The next hour was spent trying out different flavors of ice cream, chocolate cookies, playing games and laughing so hard with every chance they got.

At some point, she had opted to bowling games and he had laughed so hard at her when she skipped and tripped to the floor while trying to roll the bowling ball towards the arranged triangular group of ten pins. The ball had left it's lane and went to someone else's to knock off their pins.

She got so embarassed at the memory as he retold the story in different languages just to provoke her.

"Quit it, will you? It was a mistake and besides the ball was too heavy." She said in defence of her bruised self pride.

Another amused grin settled on his lips. "The ball is supposed to be heavy, babe. How else can gravity hold it long enough for it to roll toward the pins?"

Ignoring how the cute name made her belly flutter, she rolled her eyes and placed her straw in her mouth, muttering, "Whatever."

It was not up to five minutes that they had settled to enjoy their snacks when some blond guy walked up to their table.

"Hey." He nodded at Nicolas before turning to the girl wearing a puzzled look on her face. "Hey, beautiful. Are you both together?"

Dolores's blushed but before she could say a word in reply, Nicolas beat her to it. "We're not together like dating. We just came here together."

The guy's face brightened at the realization that there might just be a chance with her. So he did what other guys would do. He took a seat right next to her, all the while ignoring Nicolas who, by now, began to regret his fast forwardness.

"Hi, I'm Thomas. What's your name, beautiful?" He winked at her.

She let out a small laugh. "I'm Dolores. Nice to meet you, Thomas." The way his blond hair fell over his brows in a wavy pattern made her want to comb through it.

"It's my pleasure. Please call me Tommy. Everyone does."

Nicolas scoffed loudly. Such a stupid name for a stupid guy. He stopped himself long enough to wonder if it was jealousy making itself known but he discarded that theory. He had no reason to be jealous, and like he had just said, they were just out on a date not like they were together yet.

But when he saw the way her eyes were trained on the blond, he wanted to rip his face off.

'Now that's just plain 'ol jealousy.'

"What do you do in your free time? I was wondering if we could grab lunch tomorrow. Same place." He winked at her.

"Oh." She said simply as she spared Nicolas a quick glance to be sure he was listening in before replying. "That's not a prob--"

"Actually, that would be a problem. She does not have the luxury for an outing as our sibling is really ill. She needs to be there twenty four hours, seven days to take care of him. Sorry." Niclas wore a smug smile at the way her bright countenance dropped.

The blond appeared crestfallen at the news. "Oh, I'm sorry. I really am. Is it the flu or something?"

Nicolas leaned back in his seat, shaking his head in pretend sorrow. "Probably, or something worse. We're not sure yet but he's still in his 14 days isolation."

The boy who was initially leaning toward Dolores drew back from her in repulsion. "That means you could have the disease too. I can't believe I've been sitting really close and speaking with you."

Meanwhile, Dolores hung her mouth open in shock as she stared at Nicolas. The guy moved back his chair to avoid any part of him bumping into her. With great haste, he hightailed it out of there.

Nicolas squinted his eyes in annoyance at the guy. Just who did the guy think he was to intrude in their conversation?

He returned his gaze back to Dolores whose eyebrows were drawn together in a big frown. If looks could kill, hers would have first peeled off the skin from his bones before finally killing him.

"What was that supposed to mean?" She growled after seconds of sitting mute and have an internal fit of rage.

He reached forward to grab his drink. "I was doing you a favor. By the way, I brought you here so we could talk, me and you, not flirt with some dumbo." He took a large gulp of the cool liquid on the table in front of him.

She crossed her hand as she leaned back in her seat. "I'm here now. Talk to me."

He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her but ignored anyway. When she repeated it, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Her eyes sat unwavering on his face as he was wishing for while 'Tommy' was flirting with her. Just then, his phone rang and he quickly reached for it.

"I'll be with you in a minute." He raised his phone in her view feeling too grateful to the caller for the diversion at the right moment.

When he stepped some feet away from earshot, he looked at the screen. It was Carlos. He sighed feeling exasperated. This was the twentieth time this week that he had gotten a call from the pestering boy. He had assigned a task to be done and had compensated for it as was his usual thing. Carlos never liked to owe on a job but also never got himself involved whenever any of the guys were caught.

"What do you want again, Carlos?" Nicolas asked with a cold tone after he had swiped the green button to receive the call and was not within earshot.

"Nick, Nick. Enjoying your date?" His snarky voice filtered out of the phone's speaker.

"That's none of your business." He hissed in anger. He looked around him for any suspicious person that could be watching him from the shadows. Most people were milling about, talking about something, having fun and no face kept him on the toes of his feet.

"Whatever you say. Just get the job done. Tonight."

He swiveled his head to where Dolores sat, unsuspecting, casting a downward look to her drink. As if she felt his gaze, she raised her head and their eyes met. He sent a small wink causing her face to brighten up in a smile. All of a sudden, images of his father and his sister flashed through his mind. He thought of the heartbreak that would come upon them if he ever got arrested some day in the future. Thoughts of how his sister always vouched for him filled his head. He couldn't betray them. He forced his attention back to the call he was having.

"Look here, Carly. Let's cut this shit already. I've tolerated your stupid ass for so long and this is the end of it. Now, pay attention to this; I no longer want to do your dirty laundry." His voice was filled with menace and hate for the monster that Carlos was.

Silence echoed for a while before sudden laughter from Carlos sent him into a shock. "You've gotta be kidding me. It's one of those jokes, right? Why don't you consider auditioning for a stand up comedy, you're doing so great. I think you would be able to FOOT YOUR BILLS." He yelled toward the end.

Nicolas didn't seem deterred by the threat. "Yeah, right. I applied for one yesterday and guess what? I got in. So maybe, I'll be able to put in a little bit of laughter in your miserable, sadistic life. I don't wanna see you near me or Dolores. Not in school, not anywhere."

A low chuckle vibrated in his ear. "I see. So tell me, you got caught in the love web? I told you. I told the guys you were nothing but a little sissy. You can't seem to do anything right. Pity I paid you already so you either do the job or I get it done for you. Oh, and tell Dolores her blue top looked sexy. I wonder what I'd do to her if I were you."

Before Nicolas got a word in, he had already hung up. "WTF! " He exclaimed loudly instead.

'Stupid asshole.'

His heart began pounding hard within his chest in panic and fear of the unknown. With quick strides, he got to where Dolores was sitting. The brunette looked up at his scowling face.

"We gotta go." He growled.

~~~{•}~~~

Omg I really don't know what to expect with Carlos in the picture. It started out as a perfect night but now it's about to be ruined.
I hate when things don't go as planned or something out of the blues happens.
Let me know your thoughts, guys.

~~Chignature~~