December 4, 2016, The Sinclair House
A @Venus & @LovelyComplex Collaboration
Featuring: Natalia Belmonte & Niles Sinclair
________________________________________________________________________________
Gingerly, Niles cracked open his sisters’ bedroom door to peek and see if they were up. Carrie was out like a light so that was good. Autumn, however, had her headphones in and was deeply staring at her phone, which lit her face. Since she was laying on her stomach, she didn’t notice her brother being a creep, making sure the coast was clear.
After steadily closing the door, Niles pulled out his phone to glance at the time before shuffling to his bedroom. Once he was in his room, he placed his backpack by his desk and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Deodorant. Mouthwash. A splash of water to his face. Bending over the sink, he stared at his face, giving himself an internal pep talk to throw all the negativity out for one night.
He was tired, tired of it all. He struggled with this bullshit everyday and he felt like he was lying to himself by staying alive. If he could just say out loud he didn’t see a future for himself and that he was a rat trapped in a maze, if he could just say he wasn’t okay and that he didn’t know how to be okay, maybe, things would start feeling better.
His dad told him that he needed to make more friends and surround himself with positive energy, but where could he find that other than through Natalia? That didn’t seem good for anyone and wouldn’t that mean he was bringing down anyone he brought close? Especially her. He was a heavy weight that no one deserved to carry.
Why did he keep stressing? Why was it so easy to waste time and make excuses? He didn’t jump. That was a good sign, right? Even if it wasn’t right to put all this pressure on her, Natalia was his reason. His reason for still being here. That was something to be proud about, right? She wouldn’t forgive him if he died. Even if he didn’t see the good in his actions right now, he hoped this only meant good things for him and his best friend.
Niles knew he may never escape himself, his own monster, but he could pretend that he wasn’t falling apart, only if it meant that she was happy. If that was his only saving grace, he would cling to it, cling to her. Selfish, yes, but that’s all he had and at least it was better than pushing the one good thing he had in his life.
Taking a moment to stretch his body and crack his joints, Niles loosened himself in preparation. When he was done, he dried his face with his hand towel and went back to his room. Pulling his socks and shoes off, he tossed his socks in his laundry basket and placed his shoes in the closet. By then, his phone went off with a text message.
Instead of going to it to check, he left his room and went downstairs to the back door, attached to the sunroom that was connected to the kitchen. It was quicker to get upstairs through the backdoor. And, if Natalia actually wanted the snack he promised, they would conveniently walk through the kitchen, where there were homemade double chocolate chip cookies resting on a decorative snowflake plate, on top of the island. He and Carrie made a bunch as emotional therapy for her.
Barefoot, he made his way to the back and tacitly opened the door. When he saw his best friend, he gave her a half smile, which was the best anyone was going to get from Niles. “Hey.” He whispered, not wanting to make a sudden loud noise to alert the sister with an attitude. In his head, he did continue talking, by saying sorry for asking you to come so late, but nothing actually came out of his mouth. What he did do instead was hold the door open and gesture for her to come in.
Natalia had been in the middle of celebrating her and Mika’s third beer pong win in a row when her phone vibrated in her pocket a few times. Normally, she would've ignored the device, dismissing the whole thing as text messages from the family group chat. But a nagging feeling in her chest prompted Tal to verify who was reaching out to her instead. Frowning, she pulled out the device, and grew nervous when she saw that the notifications were from Niles.
After excusing herself for a moment, Natalia ran outside to listen to his voice-mail. Ever since his mother's death, her best friend hadn't been himself. His grief had driven him to unhealthy coping mechanisms to survive, which Nat had been unable to help with no matter how hard she tried. She worried this was one of those times.
After listening to his voice-mail, Nat was partly relieved he was safe, but was also worried sick considering how vague he had been and how the last time Niles had asked her to come by this late was when he'd gotten into that fight some weeks before. With no question that she would go assist her best friend, Tal quickly ran back to her partner in crime for the night, apologized profusely and explained to him that she needed to take care of a sudden personal issue. Fortunately, Mika didn't seem bothered by this (though maybe a little disappointed their fun had come to an end), and after exchanging numbers, the Belmonte girl caught a ride to Niles' place with one of her volleyball teammates.
When she had carefully snuck around to the back of the Sinclair home, the green-eyed girl texted Niles to announce her arrival. She didn't have to wait long for her friend to open the door and give her a greeting and a half-smile.
"Hi," Natalia replied with a smile of her own. She took a second to study Niles’ face, looking for any signs of distress and finding nothing. Mentally letting out a sigh of relief, the dark-haired girl quietly walked into the still house and stepped aside, waiting for further instructions from her best friend. "Kitchen or bedroom?" she asked him, knowing that those were the two options of places they would usually be going to whenever she snuck into his house this late.
“First,” Niles backpedaled to the kitchen with Natalia following him and grabbed the plate of sugary goodness, “Cookie?” The lights in the kitchen were dimmed and since Niles wasn’t making his way to the switch that meant he wasn’t planning on staying in this room for too long. His green eyes were soft and inviting, not necessarily unblinking but slowed. Flirtatious even.
He wasn’t the same Niles that had given Natalia an attitude hours ago when she tried one last time to drag him to the party. As he waited for her to grab a treat or not (the cookies weren’t going anywhere) he casually and curiously inquired (or perhaps it was more like probing), “So! The party. How was it? Meet any cool —” Boys “— people?”
"Oh yeah, I did!" Natalia replied brightly as she grabbed a mug from the countertop, opened the fridge and poured herself some milk. "Did you know that Big Rey’s got a white son?" she asked Niles, grabbing a cookie from the plate he was offering and taking a bite, choosing to stand beside her best friend. "I know I personally had no idea. His name's Mika, and he's a pretty fucking cool dude."
Snorting, Niles dumbfoundedly looked at Natalia, placing the plate back on the island (now that she’s taken an offering), before realizing she looked convinced, “You believe that shit? Come on, Tal. Seriously?” Whoever this Mika kid was, was lying to her face, which only showed him that his best friend had poor taste in boys.
Amused (and annoyed), Niles let out a sigh of disappointment. She trusted people too easily and this Mika kid, yeah, he didn’t like him already. Who the hell uses Big Rey as a pick up line? The fuck. Instead of waiting for her to reply, he started strolling to his bedroom upstairs. If there was one thing about Niles, his walk had an understated swagger, in a nonchalant, cool kind of way.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for his damage, he and Natalia, together, would be a really fucking cool combo. Most people didn’t notice because he chose to stay in the sidelines, purposely avoiding the limelight, which in return dragged Natalia in the shadows. When he did get noticed, he was cussin’ a teacher out or playing hooky, his seat being vacant. Yeah, he didn’t want to hear anymore (completely over it) because he knew she was going to gush about Big Rey’s “white” kid.
Nah, man.
To say that Natalia was completely surprised by Niles' reaction would be a lie. He was normally unamused and nonchalant about most things. But she couldn't deny that the upset way her best friend had reacted when she brought up Mika had thrown her for a loop. For as long as they had been friends, Nat had been the one to be jealous and possessive of her friendship with the curly-haired boy, while Niles wasn't normally bothered with her fraternizing with others. What made Mika so different from the rest of them?
Before Tal could finish savoring the last bite of her cookie, Niles had already trudged away, but not before expressing his (unwarranted) displeasure with her. "Why are you being such an asshole about this all of a sudden?" she asked him with her mouth full, abandoning her milk as she rushed down the hall and up the stairs after her friend. "You asked me about the party, so I was telling you about it. What's your deal with anything I said?"
“What? My deal? I ain’t mad, just didn’t take you to be the gullible type.” Entering his room, not looking back to see her expression, he cracked his neck before warning, “Try to keep it down, my sisters are sleeping.”
Before she heard Niles' warning about his sisters, Natalia had been ready to go off as she normally would've. But because the last thing she wanted was to bring attention to her presence in the house this late, she chose to save her reply until she was inside his bedroom with the door safely closed and locked behind her.
"Gullible?!" Natalia repeated loudly as soon as she'd locked the door, turning to Niles with a look of disbelief. "What do you mean, gullible?! You don't know this guy! For all you know, Big Rey fucked a white girl back in the day and he had this kid with her! That doesn't make me gullible!"
Yeah, she was really doing this right now. He didn’t call her over to talk. The whole ‘party’ question was a courtesy thing. In a smooth, swift movement, he covered her mouth and pushed her up against the door, “You really trying to get us in trouble, huh?”
Ever the defiant Belmonte, Natalia merely glared at Niles and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really care about what trouble they could or could not get into, as long as he heard everything she had to say loud and clear.
“I said what I said,” Niles muttered, still not freeing her. He wasn’t one to express himself well in words. He looked at her, visibly conflicted, and knew the moment he pulled away, she would give him shit, and Autumn was likely going to pry. Whatever. If his dad found out, he’d deal with that later.
Freeing her, he backed away and rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Do what you want.” It didn’t help that he smelt the cologne right off her body, already assuming exactly what she did.
Being friends with Niles for as long as she had meant that Natalia could tell when something deeper than what he was expressing was bothering him. He had plenty of tells if you knew where to look-- like right now, when he abruptly ended conversations for seemingly no reason. Tonight seemed to be one of these occasions that he was troubled by something, and Tal mentally kicked herself for not asking about it sooner and jumping in to gush about other things instead. How stupid and selfish could she be?
With this now in mind, Natalia's demeanor softened significantly with concern. "Niles? Are you okay?" she asked him gently as she closed the distance between them but making sure to still give him his space.
“No.” He honestly admitted, but was quick to add, “But, that’s on me. Shitty night, it’s fine.”
"No, it's not fine." she quickly interjected, taking his hand and guiding the both of them to sit on his bed, still keeping her hand locked with his. "What's wrong, Skittles? What's going on? What can I do to make your night any less shitty than it already has been? You know you're my best friend in the whole entire world, right? I can't have my best friend ever be sad or upset on my watch."
As always, Niles diverted from answering. It would take him at least a night or two to tell her any of the facts of his night. She knew him long enough to at least have an idea of what might’ve happened. This wouldn’t be the first time he hit an all time low and displayed it through short tempered responses. Though, the last time he had a bloody face to show for his grief and eventually, she did find out he got in a fight where he was outnumbered, that almost got him killed. “This.”
Grasping her head, holding onto her hair with his free hand, he roughly pulled her into his lips. Unlike any other kiss he’s ever given her, this one was more out of desperation, steeped in heat and passion. He was tired of dancing around this game with her. He needed a distraction and he needed to feel something that wasn’t just pain.
Sure, tonight of all nights he felt extremely vulnerable, but that only brought out the animalistic side in him. His primal senses were going off, which only made him want her more. No longer playing it coy, he forced his tongue into her mouth, releasing her hand and laying her on her back, with his body hovering over hers. It didn’t take long until they both fell into a nice rhythm with one another, with Natalia locking the fingers of both hands into his curly hair and matching his level of passion and intensity.
Obviously, this wasn’t their first make out session. It was just the first rough, intimate, and extremely lustful one. Well, his kisses were all filled with lust. He was a horny teen after all, however, he was good at holding himself back. Not tonight! Tonight, he went out of his way to make his intentions glaringly obvious, making sure to watch her body language and feel her body in all the places that made her shiver... When he was ready, he released her to breathe and asked, “Can we?”
Even under the circumstances of being dizzy and drunk with lust and desire, Natalia knew that there was no coming back from the path they were about to embark on if she consented for them to move forward. Since the summertime, a mutual curiosity had led her and Niles to start exploring each other's bodies and pushing the boundaries of physical affection with one another. It had started off with a few shy kisses here and there that had increased with intensity, their actions growing bolder with each week that passed until they had reached third base. Mentions of the homerun had been made here and there, with both of them agreeing that it wouldn't happen until they were both ready.
It seemed tonight was the moment they had been waiting for. All the signs were pointing out that Niles was ready: the way he kissed her, touched her, in all of his verbal and non-verbal queues.
But what about Natalia?
Niles wouldn't have to wait long to hear her answer.
"Yes," the girl replied breathlessly, locking her determined green eyes with his as she sealed the future of their fates together.
“Good.” was all he whispered back before the two got lost in the moment as one.
After steadily closing the door, Niles pulled out his phone to glance at the time before shuffling to his bedroom. Once he was in his room, he placed his backpack by his desk and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Deodorant. Mouthwash. A splash of water to his face. Bending over the sink, he stared at his face, giving himself an internal pep talk to throw all the negativity out for one night.
He was tired, tired of it all. He struggled with this bullshit everyday and he felt like he was lying to himself by staying alive. If he could just say out loud he didn’t see a future for himself and that he was a rat trapped in a maze, if he could just say he wasn’t okay and that he didn’t know how to be okay, maybe, things would start feeling better.
His dad told him that he needed to make more friends and surround himself with positive energy, but where could he find that other than through Natalia? That didn’t seem good for anyone and wouldn’t that mean he was bringing down anyone he brought close? Especially her. He was a heavy weight that no one deserved to carry.
Why did he keep stressing? Why was it so easy to waste time and make excuses? He didn’t jump. That was a good sign, right? Even if it wasn’t right to put all this pressure on her, Natalia was his reason. His reason for still being here. That was something to be proud about, right? She wouldn’t forgive him if he died. Even if he didn’t see the good in his actions right now, he hoped this only meant good things for him and his best friend.
Niles knew he may never escape himself, his own monster, but he could pretend that he wasn’t falling apart, only if it meant that she was happy. If that was his only saving grace, he would cling to it, cling to her. Selfish, yes, but that’s all he had and at least it was better than pushing the one good thing he had in his life.
Taking a moment to stretch his body and crack his joints, Niles loosened himself in preparation. When he was done, he dried his face with his hand towel and went back to his room. Pulling his socks and shoes off, he tossed his socks in his laundry basket and placed his shoes in the closet. By then, his phone went off with a text message.
Instead of going to it to check, he left his room and went downstairs to the back door, attached to the sunroom that was connected to the kitchen. It was quicker to get upstairs through the backdoor. And, if Natalia actually wanted the snack he promised, they would conveniently walk through the kitchen, where there were homemade double chocolate chip cookies resting on a decorative snowflake plate, on top of the island. He and Carrie made a bunch as emotional therapy for her.
Barefoot, he made his way to the back and tacitly opened the door. When he saw his best friend, he gave her a half smile, which was the best anyone was going to get from Niles. “Hey.” He whispered, not wanting to make a sudden loud noise to alert the sister with an attitude. In his head, he did continue talking, by saying sorry for asking you to come so late, but nothing actually came out of his mouth. What he did do instead was hold the door open and gesture for her to come in.
Natalia had been in the middle of celebrating her and Mika’s third beer pong win in a row when her phone vibrated in her pocket a few times. Normally, she would've ignored the device, dismissing the whole thing as text messages from the family group chat. But a nagging feeling in her chest prompted Tal to verify who was reaching out to her instead. Frowning, she pulled out the device, and grew nervous when she saw that the notifications were from Niles.
After excusing herself for a moment, Natalia ran outside to listen to his voice-mail. Ever since his mother's death, her best friend hadn't been himself. His grief had driven him to unhealthy coping mechanisms to survive, which Nat had been unable to help with no matter how hard she tried. She worried this was one of those times.
After listening to his voice-mail, Nat was partly relieved he was safe, but was also worried sick considering how vague he had been and how the last time Niles had asked her to come by this late was when he'd gotten into that fight some weeks before. With no question that she would go assist her best friend, Tal quickly ran back to her partner in crime for the night, apologized profusely and explained to him that she needed to take care of a sudden personal issue. Fortunately, Mika didn't seem bothered by this (though maybe a little disappointed their fun had come to an end), and after exchanging numbers, the Belmonte girl caught a ride to Niles' place with one of her volleyball teammates.
When she had carefully snuck around to the back of the Sinclair home, the green-eyed girl texted Niles to announce her arrival. She didn't have to wait long for her friend to open the door and give her a greeting and a half-smile.
"Hi," Natalia replied with a smile of her own. She took a second to study Niles’ face, looking for any signs of distress and finding nothing. Mentally letting out a sigh of relief, the dark-haired girl quietly walked into the still house and stepped aside, waiting for further instructions from her best friend. "Kitchen or bedroom?" she asked him, knowing that those were the two options of places they would usually be going to whenever she snuck into his house this late.
“First,” Niles backpedaled to the kitchen with Natalia following him and grabbed the plate of sugary goodness, “Cookie?” The lights in the kitchen were dimmed and since Niles wasn’t making his way to the switch that meant he wasn’t planning on staying in this room for too long. His green eyes were soft and inviting, not necessarily unblinking but slowed. Flirtatious even.
He wasn’t the same Niles that had given Natalia an attitude hours ago when she tried one last time to drag him to the party. As he waited for her to grab a treat or not (the cookies weren’t going anywhere) he casually and curiously inquired (or perhaps it was more like probing), “So! The party. How was it? Meet any cool —” Boys “— people?”
"Oh yeah, I did!" Natalia replied brightly as she grabbed a mug from the countertop, opened the fridge and poured herself some milk. "Did you know that Big Rey’s got a white son?" she asked Niles, grabbing a cookie from the plate he was offering and taking a bite, choosing to stand beside her best friend. "I know I personally had no idea. His name's Mika, and he's a pretty fucking cool dude."
Snorting, Niles dumbfoundedly looked at Natalia, placing the plate back on the island (now that she’s taken an offering), before realizing she looked convinced, “You believe that shit? Come on, Tal. Seriously?” Whoever this Mika kid was, was lying to her face, which only showed him that his best friend had poor taste in boys.
Amused (and annoyed), Niles let out a sigh of disappointment. She trusted people too easily and this Mika kid, yeah, he didn’t like him already. Who the hell uses Big Rey as a pick up line? The fuck. Instead of waiting for her to reply, he started strolling to his bedroom upstairs. If there was one thing about Niles, his walk had an understated swagger, in a nonchalant, cool kind of way.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for his damage, he and Natalia, together, would be a really fucking cool combo. Most people didn’t notice because he chose to stay in the sidelines, purposely avoiding the limelight, which in return dragged Natalia in the shadows. When he did get noticed, he was cussin’ a teacher out or playing hooky, his seat being vacant. Yeah, he didn’t want to hear anymore (completely over it) because he knew she was going to gush about Big Rey’s “white” kid.
Nah, man.
To say that Natalia was completely surprised by Niles' reaction would be a lie. He was normally unamused and nonchalant about most things. But she couldn't deny that the upset way her best friend had reacted when she brought up Mika had thrown her for a loop. For as long as they had been friends, Nat had been the one to be jealous and possessive of her friendship with the curly-haired boy, while Niles wasn't normally bothered with her fraternizing with others. What made Mika so different from the rest of them?
Before Tal could finish savoring the last bite of her cookie, Niles had already trudged away, but not before expressing his (unwarranted) displeasure with her. "Why are you being such an asshole about this all of a sudden?" she asked him with her mouth full, abandoning her milk as she rushed down the hall and up the stairs after her friend. "You asked me about the party, so I was telling you about it. What's your deal with anything I said?"
“What? My deal? I ain’t mad, just didn’t take you to be the gullible type.” Entering his room, not looking back to see her expression, he cracked his neck before warning, “Try to keep it down, my sisters are sleeping.”
Before she heard Niles' warning about his sisters, Natalia had been ready to go off as she normally would've. But because the last thing she wanted was to bring attention to her presence in the house this late, she chose to save her reply until she was inside his bedroom with the door safely closed and locked behind her.
"Gullible?!" Natalia repeated loudly as soon as she'd locked the door, turning to Niles with a look of disbelief. "What do you mean, gullible?! You don't know this guy! For all you know, Big Rey fucked a white girl back in the day and he had this kid with her! That doesn't make me gullible!"
Yeah, she was really doing this right now. He didn’t call her over to talk. The whole ‘party’ question was a courtesy thing. In a smooth, swift movement, he covered her mouth and pushed her up against the door, “You really trying to get us in trouble, huh?”
Ever the defiant Belmonte, Natalia merely glared at Niles and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really care about what trouble they could or could not get into, as long as he heard everything she had to say loud and clear.
“I said what I said,” Niles muttered, still not freeing her. He wasn’t one to express himself well in words. He looked at her, visibly conflicted, and knew the moment he pulled away, she would give him shit, and Autumn was likely going to pry. Whatever. If his dad found out, he’d deal with that later.
Freeing her, he backed away and rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Do what you want.” It didn’t help that he smelt the cologne right off her body, already assuming exactly what she did.
Being friends with Niles for as long as she had meant that Natalia could tell when something deeper than what he was expressing was bothering him. He had plenty of tells if you knew where to look-- like right now, when he abruptly ended conversations for seemingly no reason. Tonight seemed to be one of these occasions that he was troubled by something, and Tal mentally kicked herself for not asking about it sooner and jumping in to gush about other things instead. How stupid and selfish could she be?
With this now in mind, Natalia's demeanor softened significantly with concern. "Niles? Are you okay?" she asked him gently as she closed the distance between them but making sure to still give him his space.
“No.” He honestly admitted, but was quick to add, “But, that’s on me. Shitty night, it’s fine.”
"No, it's not fine." she quickly interjected, taking his hand and guiding the both of them to sit on his bed, still keeping her hand locked with his. "What's wrong, Skittles? What's going on? What can I do to make your night any less shitty than it already has been? You know you're my best friend in the whole entire world, right? I can't have my best friend ever be sad or upset on my watch."
As always, Niles diverted from answering. It would take him at least a night or two to tell her any of the facts of his night. She knew him long enough to at least have an idea of what might’ve happened. This wouldn’t be the first time he hit an all time low and displayed it through short tempered responses. Though, the last time he had a bloody face to show for his grief and eventually, she did find out he got in a fight where he was outnumbered, that almost got him killed. “This.”
Grasping her head, holding onto her hair with his free hand, he roughly pulled her into his lips. Unlike any other kiss he’s ever given her, this one was more out of desperation, steeped in heat and passion. He was tired of dancing around this game with her. He needed a distraction and he needed to feel something that wasn’t just pain.
Sure, tonight of all nights he felt extremely vulnerable, but that only brought out the animalistic side in him. His primal senses were going off, which only made him want her more. No longer playing it coy, he forced his tongue into her mouth, releasing her hand and laying her on her back, with his body hovering over hers. It didn’t take long until they both fell into a nice rhythm with one another, with Natalia locking the fingers of both hands into his curly hair and matching his level of passion and intensity.
Obviously, this wasn’t their first make out session. It was just the first rough, intimate, and extremely lustful one. Well, his kisses were all filled with lust. He was a horny teen after all, however, he was good at holding himself back. Not tonight! Tonight, he went out of his way to make his intentions glaringly obvious, making sure to watch her body language and feel her body in all the places that made her shiver... When he was ready, he released her to breathe and asked, “Can we?”
Even under the circumstances of being dizzy and drunk with lust and desire, Natalia knew that there was no coming back from the path they were about to embark on if she consented for them to move forward. Since the summertime, a mutual curiosity had led her and Niles to start exploring each other's bodies and pushing the boundaries of physical affection with one another. It had started off with a few shy kisses here and there that had increased with intensity, their actions growing bolder with each week that passed until they had reached third base. Mentions of the homerun had been made here and there, with both of them agreeing that it wouldn't happen until they were both ready.
It seemed tonight was the moment they had been waiting for. All the signs were pointing out that Niles was ready: the way he kissed her, touched her, in all of his verbal and non-verbal queues.
But what about Natalia?
Niles wouldn't have to wait long to hear her answer.
"Yes," the girl replied breathlessly, locking her determined green eyes with his as she sealed the future of their fates together.
“Good.” was all he whispered back before the two got lost in the moment as one.
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