Sweeter Than Romance

Chapter 6: Weird set-up

*Nicholas*

I covered my ears as the girl continued shouting for the past minutes. Damn, can she at least calm down for a bit?

“ Y-You! What the Hell!? Why did you kidnap me?” she squinted her eyes and pointed her finger towards me.

“ If you have stopped shouting earlier then perhaps things would be easier.”

“Tell me WHAT?!”

Ughh, there she goes again with her shouting. I swear I would totally break someone’s neck to save my ears.

“ Dawwg, Calm down would you?”

“ Yeaahh. Give Nicky some time to explain, Please?”

She faltered for a bit but went on mumbling some incomprehensible things.

“Calm down? How could I? And.. and... he’s the mysterious guy.” She whispered the last part but I’m pretty sure I heard it just fine.

“ Okay.. I know you’re baffled by all of this.” I cleared my throat before I continued speaking. “ But before I explain everything, I think it’s fair that we introduce ourselves. Well, I assume you already know me. So what about you? What’s your name?”

“ Her name’s Lianne. “ B1 or shall I say Ben chimed in after I spoke.

“ Her full name is Lianne Emily Clarkson.. at least that’s what her I.D. states. “ added Brent or B2 afterwards.

“Okayyy... Then where do you live, Lianne? “

“ I think she lives down the street. Right, dawg? “ Said Ben as he glanced at Brent.

“ Yeah. She was close to walking down towards an apartment when we saw her and abducted her.” Answered Brent with a thoughtful expression.

“ Why are you the ones answering my question?” I faced the guys with a slightly irritated expression.

“ Cuz Dawg, I’m sure she’s still traumatized with today’s scenario.”

“ And why would you casually ask your hostage with these questions? Who the hell does that?”

“ Well thank you for your opinion but just so you know, I didn’t request for it and I will absolutely appreciate it if you stop butting in the conversation.” I said with my arms crossed.

“ But we’re in the same room.”

“ So we can’t help it if we join and plus, we have ears.”

“ Wow, I’m so dumb why haven’t I thought about that.“ I said with mock surprise as the guys snickered. “ Well then. Maybe you should go to the other room. And oh, perhaps you should wear headphones or whatever so you won’t overhear anything.” I finished with a roll of my eyes.

“ Ummmmm..... I’m still here you know.”

We stopped our banter and turned our heads to the source of the voice.

“ Oh Dawg, sorry. We completely forgot you there.”

“ Yeah Nicholas is being a brat so our apologies.”

Lianne just released a sigh and turned her gaze at me.

“ I’m sure you have many questions. Okay, shoot.”

“ Are you gay?”

Wow. After all the things that happened today, I can’t believe that would be her first question. Isn’t it obvious enough?

“ What do you think? “ I retorted in sarcasm.

“ I just wanna hear it personally from you.” She said with a scoff. “ I wanna confirm if it was indeed you whom I saw making out with soccer face in the alley.”

“ OMG! You made out with someone! Why aren’t we informed?

“ Nicholas you slut! You have a long explanation to do.”

“ Will you guys stop butting in? Goodness!” They didn’t listen and just went on asking Lianne for the details.

“ So dawwg, How and when did this happen?”

“ It was past 10 at that time and I’m on my way after my shift at the café. Well, I heard noises in an alley so I searched for it and that’s when I noticed them.”

“ Ohhh didn’t know you could be so daring Nicky.” Said Brent as he released a smirk.

I mentally groaned and hoped for this situation to end. And the bad thing is that this Lianne girl won’t stop her blabbering mouth.

“ I didn’t recognize him at first. It was dark and the only face I could see was Soccer face. He was wearing a hoodie and that’s my only sign of him.

“Nicholas was wearing a hoodie?”

“ Yeah. He always comes at the café wearing one. That’s what my co-workers said and honestly, I find it kinda strange so I searched for him and booom. It led me to this situation.” Lianne said as she looked at me with accusing eyes.

“ Why do you wear a hoodie, Nicky? Are you like in an undercover or something?”

“ Yeah. And with matching shades too. “ added Lianne with a scoff.

“ Giiirl, that’s creepy as fuck.”

“ Excuse me? No one told you to stalk me and if you have kept your curiosity to yourself, then you wouldn’t arrive at this situation.” I replied back in a slightly, pissed-tone.

“Well excuse me too! But if you have done a good job at being discreet and perhaps wore your hoodie at a different café, then you wouldn’t be exposed!”

“ It was fine until you showed up! Which reminds me, if you were a worker at that café then you were probably slacking off since I haven’t seen your face regularly.”

“ Wha- This is not about my Job! This is about you being mysterious and weird!”

“ Huh. I’m pretty sure this is about your curiosity and If I’m being weird, then you are weirder because you wasted your time stalking a stranger.”

“ Woah woah woah. Let’s all chill, dawgs. Calm yourselves.”

“ This is getting fun.” Brent said with a chuckle.

I ignored them and released a heavy sigh.

“ As I said. If it wasn’t for your curiosity, then we shouldn’t have resorted to kidnapping you.”

“ Oh wow. Is this actually a kidnapping scenario? What a Genius.” Lianne said in mock sarcasm.

“ Well Miss Smarty Pants, you said it yourself!”

A call interrupted our banter and I temporarily turned away from this Lianne girl. God, she is worse than Xavier and she is soo annoying that I could literally imagine putting a duct tape over her mouth.

*Lianne*

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and looked up at the caller name on the screen.

-Ashley-

“ Umm. Hello-“

-Lianne! OMG! It’s a goodthingyou’vepickedup where are you?!-

“ Ashley, I can’t understand what you are saying. Please speak a little slower.”

-Goodness! We’ve been looking for you all over-

There was a shuffle in the background and Ashley’s voice was replaced by another one.

-LIANNE EMILY CLARKSON! You’ve got some explaining to do woman!-

I recognized the voice as Jace’s and I placed the phone a little farther from my ear.

“ Well hello to you too, Jace.”

-Don’t ‘hello’ me. What happened to you?-

“ Okay dude. You and Ashley should chill because I’m fine.”

- Where are you though? Your mom was worried and we had to lie and save your ass. We were about to call the police because we thought you were kidnapped or something.-

When the word ‘Kidnapped’ was mentioned, I unconsciously glanced at Nicholas and he seems to be pondering on something. Ben and Brent on the other hand, gave me pleading looks.

- Helllo? You still there?-

“ Oh right. Thanks for covering up for me. And please tell mom that I have some things to do.”

-Seriously, Lianne. You’re being mysterious. Which reminds me, we have some information which will surely pique your interest. It’s about the Mysterious Hooded Guy, as what you call him, and you won’t believe what we found out. -

Shit. Jace and Ashley already knew about Nicholas’ identity? But I’m pretty sure they didn’t find out about his sexuality.. yet.

“ Oh.. ughhh. Cool. Look, Jace. I gotta go. I’ll just call you and Ashley later, okay?”

-Wow. I’m surprised you aren’t excited about this. I was pretty sure this will make you go home in an instant. Anyways, Bye.-

Ashley’s voice can also be heard at the background. I slipped my phone back at my pocket and turned towards Ben.

“ Dawwgg, Thank you for not snitching on us.”

“Yeah. Otherwise we would end up in jail and that would be unfashionable.” Brent said with an awkward chuckle.

“Well... I’m not really sure what to call this situation either.” I replied and scratched the back of my neck.

"Hey Nicholas. Umm.. my friends kinda figured out that you were the customer wearing the hoodie.”

Nicholas faced me and just shrugged his shoulders.

“ I met your boss so I’m sure he told them about me.” He took small steps until he came face to face with me. Come to think if it, this is the closest distance we had and I can observe his facial features up close.

“Gray.. Like a storm.” I thought as I stared at his eyes. “ Thick eyebrows and a sharp nose.. He’s undeniably good looking so why did he become gay?”

“ But I’m sure you’re the only one who knew about my sexuality. And mind you, the first one to discover about my secret.” He eyed me up and down and I can’t help but wonder on what he was thinking.

“ And because of that, we need to do something about it.” He faced away from me and started walking away.

“ What do you mean?”

“Ben, Brent. We’re leaving. Make sure you take care of the place.” Nicholas said without responding to my question.

“ Sure, dawg. Leave it to us.”

“ Hey! What do you mean we are leaving?” I asked with my arms crossed.

He glanced at me sideways and rolled his eyes.

“ What? Do you prefer to move and live here permanently?”

“ No thanks. But we can have our separate ways and go home separately.” I reasoned out even though I didn’t have the slightest clue on how to get home.

Nicholas smirked and gave me a predatory stare. I must admit, I feel slightly intimidated.

“ What made you think that I’ll just let you go after what you discovered about me? Yes, we are leaving but YOU are coming with me.”

“ What? Are you crazy!” I shouted but he didn’t care and just walked out. Ben approached me with an apologizing look.

“Dawg.. I know this whole ordeal is crazy and we are realllly sorry. But if it helps, we can assure you that Nicholas is a good person and will probably not take advantage of you.. for obvious reasons.” He chuckled at the last part and I also chuckled in return.

“ He may seem snobbish and bitchy at first but he’s got a good heart if you can cope up with his craziness.” Added Brent.

“ We’re pretty sure that you don’t have any idea on how to go home since it’s your first time in this place. That’s why, it’s probably best if you go with Nicholas or else you’ll get lost. You can’t fool us girl.”

“Hey! At least I have some self decency and independence to look after myself!” I tried to say this seriously but it was no use and we all broke into laughter.

“Woooww, this. Is. So. Weird.” Said Ben between fits of laughter.

“ Totally.”

Honestly, I didn’t imagine that I’ll be laughing with my girly captors and have a casual conversation with them. But then again, I am Lianne Emily Clarkson. And my life is full of Weird things going on.

“ But on a serious note dawwg. Thank you.” Ben said and I can see the sincerity in his eyes. “ For keeping your cool and for not judging us.”

“ I’m pretty sure that Nicholas’ secret is indeed a great shock. And I hope that you maintain it a secret to protect him and stuff.”

Well, It’s not like I’ll be telling his secret to anyone soon and I understand why he kept it hidden for months or years. Maybe to Ashley and Jace since I trust them and they are also open minded about this topic.

“ So before we say Goodbye, Here’s our number Dawg.” Ben handed me a piece of paper containing his and Brent’s number. “Call us if you have time so we can have some chit chat.”

“ Thanks. You guys are cool.” They hugged me one last time and escorted me to the main door.

“ Byee Dawg and goodluck.”

“ Just make sure you won’t get lost in Nicholas’ house.” Said Brent with a wink.

I shrugged off their comments and just waved goodbye at them. The sound of a car honk can be heard and I turned my head towards the source. Nicholas was sitting at the passenger seat with an impatient look on his face. I hastily walked forward with slight nervousness. Oh well.. here goes nothing.

-Chapter End-