Chapter Nine - Nobody

Caroline

"Wake up! Wake up!"

I peeked my eyes open to find Rebekah jumping around in excitement, rummaging through her closet to find the perfect outfit.

"It's Whiskers day," she squealed.

I groaned and slammed the pillow on my face to shield my eyes from the sunlight only to have Rebekah snatch it away and grin down at me.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. We have to find you a cute outfit." She rubbed her hands in excitement.

"Why?" I let out a cry.

She deadpanned, "You'll be at the kissing booth."

I thought for a moment. "Is it possible that we could switch stalls? I would love to volunteer with the games and it makes more sense for you to be at the kissing booth. As for me, I'm not even sure dudes will show up to kiss me. Let alone pay for it."

"No. There's no way we're switching, even if we could." She frowned. "And people will show up. You'll see."

"Sure." Rolling my eyes, I got out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, I stepped out in a pair of denims and a plain black t-shirt.

Rebekah scrunched her nose up in disapproval.

"What part of cute outfit did you not understand?" Her hands went up to her hips.

"Calm down, woman. I'm going to the coffee shop right now."

"Oh." She nodded. "But make sure you're back before 1 p.m."

I gave her a little salute and walked out of the dorm.

Thankfully, the coffee shop wasn't very crowded and Cathy the Cashy had her shift in the evening, hence no trouble.

Speaking of trouble, I was still furious about yesterday's events when she bumped into me on purpose, causing me to drop the coffee mug.

Unfortunately for me, the stupid manager started scolding me and before I could tell him that it wasn't my fault...Nick Sinclair cut in.

Nick Sinclair.

Just what the hell was he doing here yesterday?

And why would he pay for the loss, when the fault was mine? What was he trying to prove?

And the things that happened outside the coffee shop. Was he going to kiss me? My heart skipped a beat at the mere thought.

Shaking my head, I cleaned the counter and once my shift was over, I walked back to the dorm.

Rebekah was still standing in front of her closet, only now her hair was pulled up in a messy bun as she ran her fingers through her clothes in frustration.

"It's over," she said when she had noticed me standing at the door.

"It's all over." I could see the panic in her eyes. "I have nothing to wear."

I eyed the fancy clothes, half of them cascading out of her closet because the humongous space wasn't enough to store them all.

"It's okay, Rebs. If there's anything I can do to help—"

"You will?" Her eyes lit up.

"Uh, yeah, of course." I nodded.

She suddenly sprinted in my direction, dragged me inside the room and seated me on the edge of her bed.

"Okay. Now I'll wear the outfits I have shortlisted. Tell me which one looks the best."

I agreed and an hour later, I was sitting in the same spot and Rebekah was on her twentieth outfit or something. So much for shortlisting.

"This one's amazing too," I said.

She frowned. "If you call them all amazing, how am I going to choose?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line and before I could open my mouth to speak, she had disappeared into the bathroom to change.

She stepped out in a beautiful blue summer dress that reached her mid-thighs, flaunting her tall, sleek legs.

"All of them are amazing but this—" I stopped to smile in excitement, "—this one is the best."

"Really?" She looked down at it.

I nodded.

"Okay. I was thinking about this one too." She grinned.

"Now," she clapped her hand in excitement, "let's get you dressed up."

"Um, I think I'm good..." I trailed off because she was already picking out stuff from my wardrobe and looking for something that matched in hers.

Finally, half an hour later, I found myself wearing a cute polka dot dress that reached till my thighs, matched up with my black boots.

"Now let's get going." She walked towards the door and I followed her.

The stalls were all set up and the campus was filled with people.

"There you are." We turned around at the voice.

Liam was walking up to us with a huge goofy grin plastered on his face.

"My favourite women in the world." And then he pulled us in for a hug.

"Can't...breathe..." Rebekah muttered.

He finally let go of us and smiled at me. "Ready?"

"We'll see." I nodded and turned to Rebekah. "Are you sure we can't switch?"

"Off to the booth," she cut me off, and Liam was already dragging me in the opposite direction.

I read the banner in front of the booth.

Five dollars for a kiss.

My jaw dropped.

"Liam, no one is going to pay five dollars to kiss me, or kiss anyone for that matter. Unless I was a queen or something. That's too much."

"I beg to differ." Liam smirked in a particular direction and I followed his gaze.

Oh no!

Zach Brown, the famous football jock, tall, well-built, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, was standing first in line.

We had dated for a few months in the freshman year. I knew, from the very beginning, that it was a precarious relationship as he was popular and I was, well, I was just me.

Everything was going great but then he wanted to take our relationship to the next level. He wanted more and I wasn't ready. So we broke up. No hard feelings.

And so, what the hell was he doing here now?

"Caroline." He greeted me with a slight smirk. "Long time."

"Zach." I managed to pull on a smile.

He eyed the kissing booth behind me, the banner, and then averted his gaze to me.

"Worth it." He smiled and took a step in my direction.

I couldn't help but blush when he said that. He grabbed my face gently and leaned down.

"Locking lips in the name of volunteering?"

I heard a deep voice and looked over Zach's shoulder to find the most unexpected person walking in my direction.

A white t-shirt was covering his muscular torso, with matching black denims and a black leather jacket that looked borrowed from the devil himself. Hot.

My jaw dropped open.

"Hello, Caroline." Nick Sinclair greeted me with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Then his eyes fell on Zach, twitching for a fleeting moment.

"I believe you're her first customer," he spat.

"I guess so." Zach looked between us in confusion.

"Well, I'm gonna have to tell you to come back later."

"And you are?" Zach raised a brow.

At this, Nick let out a laugh before a callous look fell on his face, which would have easily scared me to be honest. But it didn't seem to have the same effect on Zach.

"Someone you don't wanna mess with."

Zach narrowed his eyes for a moment and I stepped in front of him.

"I'll see you in a bit."

He frowned but without further question, left us alone.

I turned to Nick furiously.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

His eyes narrowed for a moment, giving me a watch-that-tone message. But this wasn't his office where he could tell me what I was supposed to do.

"Shut this booth down or," he turned to Liam, "find another girl to make your earnings."

Liam was clearly baffled. And so was I.

Why would Nick Sinclair care if I was volunteering at a kissing booth?

"But, Mr. Sinclair, a lot of hard work went into this booth and we haven't made anything to cover the cost yet," Liam said and gave me a quick what-the-hell-is-going-on look.

I mouthed to him, later. But I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say as an explanation later.

"I see. How much are you expecting to make?"

Liam thought for a moment. "Seventy to eighty dollars, tops."

"I'll give you five hundred dollars if you shut this thing right now," He stated.

What the fuck!

I crossed my arms over my chest with a scowl. What the hell does he think of himself? Throwing money around like that?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sinclair," I intervened and he turned to me. "But this isn't charity."

"Who said anything about charity, Ms. Stewart?"

"What?" I was confused.

"You'll do what you're supposed to do." A slight smirk was forming on his lips.

I raised a brow.

"Kiss me, Caroline."

I thought my heart stopped for a moment.

Too dumbstruck to say anything, I let out a breath and gulped. Kiss me, Caroline. The words kept ringing in my ears.

"Wha...I...no," I finally blurted out.

He frowned. "Think about it."

"No."

"Five thousand dollars." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a pole casually.

At this point, I was simmering with fury.

"I said no—"

"We'll take it," Liam cut me off and I turned to him with wide eyes. You traitor!

"Liam? What the hell!"

"I'll let you two have a word," Nick said with a rather devilish smirk on his face.

Clenching my jaw in anger, I motioned for Liam to follow me.

"Why would you do that?" I snapped.

"Caroline, think about it. Five thousand dollars. We could be the stars of the carnival. No one is going to make that much and after paying the committee, we'll have our share too." I pondered over his words.

"And you never wanted to run this booth in the first place. Now all you have to do is kiss one guy and get this over with."

"That one guy happens to be my boss," I snapped.

"The boss who clearly has a thing for you. I don't see the problem."

I let out a laugh at his words. Last time I believed he had a thing for me, he made sure I knew I was nothing more than a backup.

"He doesn't have a thing for me, trust me. He's just trying to prove a point."

Liam's phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket.

"Shit. I have to be somewhere."

My eyes grew wide. "Don't you dare leave me alone here."

"I'm sorry, Care. I have to go. Just think about this, okay? I know you'll make the right decision." He disappeared in the crowd.

Slowly, I turned to the devil himself, who had a little smirk playing on his lips.

"I'm not doing it," I stated.

The smirk vanished and was replaced by a scowl.

"You were ready to kiss that tool a while ago. What's wrong with me?"

How professional of him!

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. "You're my boss."

"Temporary boss," he corrected.

"What even—"

"A few weeks from now when my assistant Penny comes back, you'll find yourself sitting in your dorm, wondering how you let something like this slip away because you wouldn't kiss your boss, who will be a nobody to you in no time."

I swallowed. For some reason, his words stirred something inside me.

Will he really be a nobody?

No wonder he thought that. Because he knows I'll be a nobody to him. I'm already a nobody.

"Since we're talking about future inhibitions..." I managed to pull on a smile, trying my best to conceal my faltering demeanour.

"You're an asshole," I said.

He frowned.

"Let me remind you that I'm still your boss—"

Without letting him finish, I pushed myself in his direction and kissed him.

He didn't respond at first and I thought I had acted too quickly, but only a second later his arm wrapped around my waist and he lifted me up.

Heated lips kissed me back with an intense fervour and I would be lying if I said he wasn't a good kisser.

Since the past few days, I'd imagined kissing him and this, actually kissing him, was nothing like that. It was better. Like a blast of passion thrown in my face.

A shiver ran down my spine when he tangled his fingers in my hair and pulled at the strands gently, making a distraction to dominate the kiss as his tongue slipped inside my mouth.

I bit down on his tongue, not too hard but just enough to make him hiss in pain and end the kiss.

Now we were both staring at each other, breathless. Me with a straight face while his face was a mix of surprise and amusement.

"There," I said.

I couldn't help but look at his lips, still being able to feel the warmth of them on mine.

Snap out of it, Caroline!

Without another word, I turned around and disappeared somewhere in the crowd, going as far away from him as I could.

Soon, I found myself standing at the games stall. Rebekah looked up at me.

"Ohh, raunchy." She smirked. "Looks like somebody's back from a hot make-out session." I touched my swollen lips.

"I saw Zach going towards the kissing booth a while ago. Aw, look at you blushing, my lovestruck weirdo. Tell me, did the old spark reignite?"

I shook my head.

Her lips pulled up into a frown as something seemed to have dawned on her.

"Caroline." She raised a brow. "Please tell me you just made out with Zach or some guy from our college."

"No."

"Then some guy from another college? Or even an old man with his grandkids at the damn carnival? Oh for the love of God!"

I stayed quiet.

"Nick Sinclair?"

I nodded.

She blinked at me and then sighed.

"Damn you, Nicholas Sullivan-Sinclair." She rolled her eyes.

"Is that his full name?" I raised a brow.

"That's what you're worried about right now?"

"I'm not worried about anything. That kiss. It didn't mean anything." At least, not to him. "And he's paying five thousand dollars for it. So it's a win-win for us."

"Wait. Five freaking what?" She gasped.

"Hey." I turned around to the voice. It was Liam.

"How did it go?" he asked me.

"It went like it was supposed to and now I'll be in the dorm."

"Wait, I'm a little lost," Rebekah said.

"So am I," Liam added.

"Fill in the blanks, you two. I'm off."

With that, I went straight to the dorm, changed into some comfortable pajamas and spent the rest of the day in the bed, watching YouTube videos and eating that sucker's expensive chocolates.

True to his word, they were really sweet. I may actually get a sugar rush.

In the evening, the door was swung open and Rebekah and Liam barged inside with packets of chips, pizza boxes and some soft drinks.

"We filled in the blanks..." Liam started to say while climbing on Rebekah's bed and kicking his shoes on the floor. "And we have deduced that he is in love with you." He smirked.

"His words, not mine," Rebekah stated while getting on my bed.

"I'll pass on that conversation. Now that." I pointed to the snack. "What are we celebrating?"

"Five thousand dollars." Rebekah clapped her hands and I chuckled.

"Oh, and I just transferred your share to your account," Liam said.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"Oh no. Thank you, Care. Our stall was a huge success. People will be talking about it for days."

And I will be thinking about it for days.

But I shouldn't. Because I knew that eventually, that kiss would be nothing more than a distant memory.

After all, me and him will soon be nobody to each other.

"Earth to Caroline." Rebekah snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"Thinking about him already?" Liam chuckled.

I threw my pillow in his face.

"Oh. I'll take that as a yes." He burst out laughing.

"Come on, Care. You've been eerily quiet after that incident. Admit it," Rebekah said.

"Admit what?" I asked.

"That it meant something to you."

I bit my lip. "Maybe, maybe not."

Liam spoke up again, "I'll take that as a yes."

"You're lucky I'm out of pillows here." I smiled in a sarcastic manner.

"Right." He winked and got up to fetch the boxes of pizza.

"Now, come on," he said. "These pizzas aren't gonna eat themselves."

"That would be a horrible sight." Rebekah scrunched her nose up.

He deadpanned, "yeah," but finally blinked and brought the boxes to my bed.

I devoured the pizza and after we watched a movie, Liam left our dorm.

Sleep didn't come easily that night. I kept tossing and turning and when I finally slipped into slumber, I dreamt about that kiss.

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