9

Nicholas can almost feel Richard's heartbeat — that's how visibly worked up the lad is. Though Nick is not sure how at ease he feels with this. He's all in for helping his friends; after all, Rich is one of his closest friends, but still there's a limit to his comfort when it comes to discussing emotions. It may be, he thinks, because he's always running away from his own.

"I mean," Richard gulps, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Does she like me? I don't mean to sound obnoxious, you know? Or like a lovesick puppy but..."

Suddenly Richard stops rambling mid-way, catching onto the word he's just used. Both guys look up, wrenched away from their separate bubbles. Rich's eyes widen a fraction furthermore, his pupils dilating.

"Rich, mate," Nicholas begins cautiously. "You've only known Keithia for about a—"

"A week. I know," Richard says. His gaze skitters along the length of the tent's floor, never managing to quite settle down.

"And-and she's a bit... strange."

"I know."

"And she's also—"

"I know," Richard says, forcefully, finally looking up to meet Nick's eyes. "I'm not as oblivious and unheeding as you all take me to be."

Knowing Richard to be mild-mannered, Nicholas finds himself taken aback by his friend's sudden outburst. So it takes him a couple of seconds to gather about his wits as he rubs his hands down his arms. "Well then," he picks through his words carefully, trying not to aggravate the bespectacled guy furthermore, "You'll just have to wait, I guess." Nicholas nods his head to himself. "Yeah. You're smart, you know." When Richard laughs at this, Nick goes on, "So you'll manage to get through this. Just give it time. Give her time and see how things work themselves out."

"Right, of course." Richard nods to himself before laughing unexpectedly as if the sentiment has taken him by surprise. Nicholas smiles too — if nothing else, then at least, he thinks, he has managed to ease away some of his friend's worries. And that's good enough, for now.

Bidding Richard a good night's sleep, Nick steps out of the tent. His fingers habitually reach up to zip his jumper till the neckline before he stuffs his hands in his pockets. The weather hasn't gotten any better at nights considering how it keeps on raining every now and then before sundown. And neither has his surprise lessened any bit at seeing Keithia braving the cold and the critters as she sleeps away on the hard ground, every night.

Nicholas had long since given up on trying to decode the strange girl, instead choosing to just rely on his observing skills for explaining her behaviour. But then earlier in the day Stella had asked Keithia why the ethereal blonde continues to sleep outside, and Nick had found his interest renewed. Especially after how Keithia had skilfully avoided the question, as she always had before, too, with all such other queries.

Now, Nicholas shakes his head in half parts confusion, half parts mirth. He reaches for the blankets laid out by Keithia's head before proceeding to spread them over her — another habit he seems to have picked up. Just then, as his hand is a couple of inches away from her body, he hears her speak. Not to him, no, but more so in the category of sleep-talking. He freezes, his hand in mid-air, his posture bent over and rigid.

"They must-must not find out... they mustn't... they won't," she mumbles in her sleep, her voice barely audible, but of course Nicholas hears it. It's as if every other voice ceases to exist around him, every other stimuli slotting itself somewhere far off in the background, allowing him to focus on Keithia's words alone.

Suddenly she turns on her side, still asleep, though this causes Nick to stumble back and fall on the ground as he bites down on his tongue to keep from yelping.

"I'm just helping them... hum-humans... I-I'm just helping..." she says. A soft snore escapes her lips, and she falls back asleep.

Nicholas is left staring at the girl with wide and troubled eyes. He gulps and then blinks, breathing hard. A couple of moments pass by before he gathers himself up and swiftly walks away, heading for the isolated clearing he'd spotted earlier on.

What the bloody hell was that, he finds himself wondering.

Nick hadn't thought that the strange girl could get any stranger, but then she just did.

Now he's left wading through the trees, searching for his spot while his mind rages on with thoughts.

It's only when he finds the partially familiar tree which he'd marked earlier, and then he steps out into a small clearing, that his mind gives him a break. He breathes heavily, dragging in a deep breath and telling himself to calm the fuck down. It is okay, he thinks. She was just having a weird dream, is all. Nothing else.

Nothing else there at all, he repeats to himself with more force.

Nicholas then sits down on the ground, crisscrossing his legs. He places his elbows on his thighs, holding his head in his hands with his back hunched over. The late night breeze brushes up against the exposed skin on his neck, sending goose bumps all the way down his spine, flushing his cheeks and his ears.

It'll all be okay, he repeats again, louder this time, actually whispering the words so as to ascertain their meaning. A moment later he realises — while simultaneously noticing that Valeria hasn't come out to see him tonight — that it's not just Keithia he's reassuring himself about. It's also Richard and Stella and of course, Valeria and how suddenly she's gone quiet on him, and also his future which he has been blatantly ignoring lately. It's all of this together, and none of it at all. Because he's alone again, and he has the time to sort the mess inside his head out properly.

Or so he thinks.

A couple of minutes pass, or may be an hour has passed, and Nicholas starts to get agitated. For once the air is too cold for him, the ground too wet, the sky too obscured by clouds, the mosquitoes and bugs too loud. For once, he finds himself wanting to not be alone. For the first time, he realises that he's actually missing Valeria's presence...

It doesn't take long before a frown forms on his face. Soon, he's standing up, brushing off the dirt from his jeans before beginning to make his way back to the camp. He's still frowning, though he's not quite sure as to the reason why. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so guys this marks off the official middle of the story. We're just past 10k words here and TTT won't be much longer than 20k.

So yeah. We're half way done with the story.
What are your theories and expectations for the remaining half? Any guesses? Any ships? xD

Sending loads of love and well-wishes your way.

-zainab