The Luna's Nerd

~Chapter 3~

I hurry downstairs smoothing my shirt and rolling up my sleeves. Titus is hauling cans of beer onto the party table. Great. Another one of Titus' parties. I normally don't attend because it's just drunk and sweaty teenagers grinding against one another and Titus making out with every girl he can see. That isn't anything I want to be apart of or think about. "Hey little bro." Titus ruffles my hair like I'm 10 years old. "Just hanging the party favors-" He steals a glance at the beer and laughs, "And booze, ya' know?" He jabs my side with his elbow and I glare at him silently. "What's up with you?" He raises an eyebrow.

I shrug, "Nothing." Titus did most of the talking in our relationship. He told me I was really talkative before the accident but I hate when he talks about things I don't remember especially because all of it was caused by the crash. It always makes me feel bitter and want to spit on the graves of my own parents. How could they have crashed the car? Died? Left me- left us?

"Anyway." Titus drags out which breaks me out of my thoughts. "I was thinking you could dress up and let loose at my party tonight. It's a halloween costume party." He shrugs.

"I don't know." I frown slightly. Titus knows I'm not the wild party animal like he is. Sometimes I know Titus wishes I would be like him, but I know he's more relieved I'm who I am and I actually focus on school and don't act like a complete jerk like most of his close friends. Someone like Aaron. That guy I despise a lot. He wants to be buddy-buddy with me, but I can't stand his good guy act. To me, he's Satan dressed as an angel.

"I invited Nicole and Rose yesterday. I'm sure they'll show up." Titus adds slyly. I feel my face heat up like a flame and I turn toward the door where the cool draft makes me feel more comfortable. What is it about her? "I'd say Nicki and I are hitting it off pretty well. Being 17 really does change a girl." I turn to Titus who has a slightly dreamy look in his eyes. It's the kind of fake-acting dreamy you'd see on television.

"We need to go to school." I grumble feeling slightly jealous. I have every right to. Titus is closer to Nicole than I can ever be. Not that I necessarily want to be close to her. A friend is all I'm asking for- Well, more like desperate for. Titus scowls at the mention of school but grabs his jacket otherwise and tosses his keys in the air only to catch them as they fall down.

~•••~

I open my locker and stuff my books I don't need into it. I'm trying harder to focus in class so my mind won't wander off to things like... Nicole. She is always on my mind for some reason, and now it's like I can't get her out of my life. I don't want her to go away, but I do want to figure out her motive and why she wants to be my friend so desperately. Maybe her brothers Cole and Nick have something to do with it. I've seen they're as protective over her as Titus is over me. I can understand why she'd want a friend like me in her life, and I'm probably someone her brothers don't see as "using her for my own selfish reasons." Now that I see the highly possible reason it seems to make sense to me.

"Hey, Ty!" A familiar voice calls. I look down the hall to see Nicki running down the hall to me with my jacket waving around in her hand. She looks so frantic I found it adorable.

"Hey Nicki." I greet, unable to stop the small grin from crossing my face as I watch her bend over her knees and catch her breath.

"You forgot," She pants, "your jacket." I politely grab it as she hands it over.

"Oh, uh, Th-Thanks." I pull it over myself and suddenly I want to hide from the world. I thought I scared off my stutter. I feel like I can understand Nicole and her wanting a friend. Maybe this friendship won't be really bad afterall.

"Hey, um, Ty?" Nicki asks waving her hand in my face. I blink a few times to pull myself together. "Are you by any chance going to your brother's party?" She asks nervously biting her lip and I can't help but stare at them.

I turn away so that she won't think I'm weird thinking about how pretty she is. How awkward and tingly she makes me feel. "I-I don't know." I almost whisper. "Are you?" I retaliate gazing at her lovely eyes. It's hard for me to see their color. They look brown at times. Sometimes grey as the clouds in the sky, or even as black as the darkest night.

"Yeah," She laughs and I swear it's so melodic. She's pretty and strong and so... familiar. I feel like I know her. "Rose is making me." She rolls her eyes playfully and the mention of Rose actually begging Nicole to go to Titus' party makes me grin.

"Ty! We gotta go!" My older brother's voice broke the perfect moment between us and I face reality. This is only a temporary thing. I wave at Nicole, but I still can't help but grin at her because she's doing the same to me. I run a hand through my hair and Titus jogs up to us both. He nods his head to the school doors. "Go ahead. I need to talk to Nicki."

Of course he does.

I walk away, but make sure to walk slowly so it appears as if I'm out of hearing sight. I've always felt like I can hear a lot better than the average person. I can't really hear what Titus first says because he's talking lowly. By the way it sounds he seems a bit irritated. "Titus, he's my friend. Plus, I was just giving him his jacket! Gosh." Nicki hisses at him and I feel proud that she's defending our friendship instead of running away and ignoring me.

"Why did you have his jacket in the first place?" Titus growls louder. There's a pause of silence between them and I grow anxious to hear what Titus and Nicole have to say. "Exactly, Nicki. Why are you so suddenly interested in my brother?" He adds after her silent response.

"I-I don't know." She sighs almost with disappointment.

"Fine, Nicki, but promise me that you will never bring trouble to Ty. Promise me you'll never tell him about us." My stomach falls and I feel as if I'm at the height of a roller coaster and I'm plummeting to the ground at full speed.

"I promise." Nicki replies, but it's so silent. Almost a whisper. But, I hear it.

~Author's Note~

Trying my very best to avoid these notes. If you haven't noticed, I'm attempting to write in present tense, unlike past in most of my books. I want to be able to write out of my comfort zone and help myself grow. There will be mistakes and you're welcome to point them out. Sometimes I get so many comments it's hard to go through them all with so many notifications, but I try my best. Please excuse/correct any past or grammar/spelling mistakes in a respectful manner :)