The Kissing Thief Ch. 02

He looked...haggard.

His hair was messy and grimy. His clothes had dirt and leaves on it. Is he homeless? The question floated around in my mind as my hand grabbed at a stray dried leaf on his shirt and stared at it. "You're not the only one who's had a bad day." He said quietly. I looked up at his face and swore that even without his eyes I could see what he was feeling. He gave me a small smile and slid his arms underneath me. He looked as if he hadn't bathed in at least a week.

"To home for you." I began to protest, making whiny nosies, lazily hitting his shoulder. He all but laughed and began the short walk back to my apartment. About half way there, I fell asleep while I listened to his heart beat in his chest.

A pounding drum.

I woke up back in my bed feeling utterly warm and cozy. I yawned and stretched backwards. "Oof!" came from behind me. I turned around to see John huddled under the covers. I patted his butt in comfort and snuggled up beside him. He seem to relax when I did that. As my eyes began to drift off I watched as the mystery man walked out the sliding door. He seemed to look at me for a moment. "Wait" I whispered, but it was too soft for him to hear, and I was too tired to go after him. I fell asleep as the cool night air blew into the apartment.

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"Laura! LAURA!"

I sat up erectly in bed and watched my half blind vision swim.

"Bitch, we're late! Shit! Class! Get up! GET UP."

John threw a shirt and pants at me. He grabbed his phone from off the counter as it buzzed. "Oh my god, he's doing a pop quiz!" I leapt from my bed shimmied into my leggings and threw on the shirt. I didn't even look at what I was wearing, I just grabbed my bag and John ripped open the door and jumped the stairs 3 steps at a time. "Crap! Why didn't you wake me sooner?!" I squealed as we got into his car. "Oh, I'm sorry beauty queen, you freakin' sleep like the kraken!" John ripped open the driver's side door and started the car. He peeled out of the parking spot narrowly missing the tree behind us and barreled towards campus.

By the time we got there, the quiz had just gotten passed around and the professor had already locked the door. We looked on in alarm and watched Kelsey and Alex take the quiz. Kelsey momentarily looked back at us in silent pity. "Dammit!" I couldn't watch everyone else taking the quiz. It was at least 15 points and with a college algebra professor, it didn't matter if the content was easy, when you got the test, you needed all the homework points, and extra credit you could get.

John and I sighed. I slid down to the floor. "Well, there that went." He said. "Yea, 15 points that may or may not have gotten me to at least a C." I muttered from the floor. John sat down next to me. "It sucks, but whatever. I guess we can make it up on a test right?". I gave him a look. He gave me a 'I'm trying to have hope smile' and we chuckled. I looked down at my shoes. "John?"

"Yea?"

"Whose clothes are these?"

"They aren't yours?" He asked. My neck retracted with the statement. "Of course not!" I screeched, "Does this even look like something I would wear?!". John sniffed with dignity and threw his nose up in the air. "Considering I picked it for you, I think it fits your frame nicely," He said with a haughty tone, "It's like a boyfriend top." He said side-eyeing me. I squinted up at him. "Right." Just then the professor came to the door and held up a sign. John got up, with a couple other students waiting in the hall to read it.

"I am not unlocking the door. Come to class on time." It read.

"Well, then fine! I'm going to go have eggs and waffles!" yelled a boy in a hoodie. He looked as if he had literally rolled out of bed, grabbed his glasses and ran to class. His hair wasn't brushed and he was wearing socks with no shoes.

"Waffles, is a good idea." John repeated as he walked away. He gave the professor a thumbs up and walked back over to me as I got up.

"Waffles?"

He extended his arm.

"Waffles."

He pulled me off the ground and we walked hand in hand to the cafeteria to go have the breakfast that we missed out on every class.

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After ordering our waffles and eggs we went in search of a nice corner to eat our breakfast. As we rounded the business building we saw a lonesome table shrouded with trees and bushes. Without turning to each other and with an unnatural hissing sound, John and I sped towards the table. We plopped down onto the seats ferociously, as if guarding our domain.

"We need more trees." He said.

"And bushes."

It was ironic really, that after spending years not having people who understood me, I finally found them in a desert state that might as well have been the backwater places I would have normally never gone.

As we laid out our breakfast, John passed me the jams he had collected and I passed him the fresh fruit that I got for the both of us. Looking up briefly, I smiled at him, and gave him the extra packets of salt and pepper I had thought to bring just in case we needed them. It was like I had a brother. "What is it?" John said with half a mouthful of food. My smile widened. "This feels like I have a brother." I said. I could feel my smile touching my ears. John smiled around his waffles and raspberries, and I chuckled.

"John, you're gonna choke."

"Mmmff, Eh well nut!"

I laughed at him, as he started to cough.

I tried to freeze this moment in my head. These are the moments I want my life to be filled with. I shoveled some blueberries over my waffles and put some syrup over them, and began to cut into my food. The eggs were fluffy and a bit dry, but it didn't matter. This is perfect. We ate in happiness.

I watch John through my eyelashes and wondered if we would be friends for the duration of our college years. Probably not, whispered the voice in my mind. I mentally slammed the door on them.

I smiled for John's benefit, although I knew he wasn't watching.

"Mmmph," John smacks my arm. "Isn't that the hot TA you were raving about?" He indicates to rather tall redheaded man walking past us. He's carrying his lunch in one arm, and seems to be searching for something. "Yea, that's him..." I shrug. "Wonder what he's looking for." I go back to my waffles, and pretend to be preoccupied.

"Seriously?" John says. I can almost feel the look he's giving me. "Hey! Ginger dude!" John yells to Nicholas.

My entire body seizes. My shoulders are scrunched into my neck as I stare at my waffles and listen to John invite Nicholas to sit with us. God must have laughing at me, while Nicholas walks over, throws his bag down next to me, and opens his food without even greeting me.

"Ahrm." I can feel John looking at me again, but I could care less. I cannot make eye contact with this guy. I haven't even recuperated from the embarrassment of stalking him not even two weeks ago. John however believes differently and I receive a sharp kick to my left shin. I winced and grabbed my shin. I looked up to make a face at John. He gives me an unapologetic eyebrowed eyeroll and eye gestures to Nicholas. "So," says the beautiful deep familiar voice from beside me. "Make a habit of stalking others?" Nicholas opens up his chipotle bowl and takes a bite. His body is turned and he looks at me expectantly. My upper lip curls into itself as John tries to contain his laughter. I open my mouth and then shut it. Wincing I slowly urge myself to speak. "Well, if it's any consolation, I have not. Stalking you officially scarred me." I manage to say with a muppet face, trying to be diplomatically apologetic. I hesitantly turn towards him to see his facial expression. Even I start chuckling.

His face says it all.

"Really? Ya, don't say, cause from the way you were stalking me coulda sworn you probably stalked three quarters of the guys on campus." Nicholas says nonchalantly. John busts out laughing. "DAMN! ROASTED!" He laughs until his face is red. I just sit there and accept the roast I rightly deserve.

"As a matter of fact, I have only stalked you on this campus! However, I have much more experience from my formative stalking days." I try to sound cool to make up for losing face, but I can tell it's not even making the cut. "Ahuh." Nicholas gives me a raised brow side eye and I have the feeling that I will never live this down. My face returns to it's seemingly natural state of the muppet look and I go back to sawing my waffles. My ears pick up the slightest sound of a chuckle coming from my right. Nicholas is laughing. He scoops up some food and deposits in his mouth only to attempt to laugh around it.

"You're gonna choke." John says.

"Kaffahk" Nicholas chokes on his food and we all burst into fits of laughter once more. Nicholas has to lean over to get the food out of his windpipe and I pathetically slap his back in an attempt to help him.

After he's done choking and we've wrapped up our laughter, Nicholas rights himself. "Ah, good ole' college." He says with a content sigh. "Oh!" I turn to Nicholas, "This is my friend John, who has heard an embarrassingly large amount about you." Nicholas smiles smugly and extends his arm to John who takes it. "Nice to meet you." John laughs "Same to you, although it feels like we already met!" Nicholas nods in agreement. "I'm sure it has." He smiles and begins to eat again as we settle down. After taking the last bite of my eggs I gather my courage. "Sorry, for stalking you." I tried not to look constipated, and gave him what I thought was a rather compelling pitiful smile. He chuckled and sighed. "It's ok, just don't follow anyone without their permission." He wagged his finger at me like a parent. "Yes sir!" I pipped. Nicholas dove back into his bowl and John went on to ask him about the classes he was teaching. I was too nervous to speak much after looking so stupid, but John and Nicholas seemed to get along well.

"Yea, I just can't understand why they would phrase a question like that and then when we went over it in class, it wasn't in any scenario where that question could even be asked!" John said as I began to tune back into the conversation. Nicholas has his arms under his chin as if deeply contemplating John's dilemma with test questions.

Nicholas nodded some more, like a typical counselor listening to the problem child after they got kicked out of class.

I looked at the two of them having a conversation and realized that my life, no matter how I imagined it being, is so different from what I really thought it was going to be. I started to scoff just as Alex and Kelsey rounded the bushes. "Well you happened to miss not one quiz, but two, and free extra credit." Alex said as sat down cutting through Nicholas and John's conversation. Kelsey elbowed him.

"Sorry! We were trying to catch them up on class. My name is Kelsey." She said extending her hand to Nicholas. "Nick." He said casually. He gave a half smile, and Kelsey flashed a full bright white one. I felt like I was blushing from the awkwardness of having all my friends converge on my stalkee.

"Aww, Laura's blushing. Did we make you nervous cause we're meeting your crush?" Alex cooed at me. I threw my fork at him which hit him in the chest and fell down to his lap. He laughed good-naturedly. "Hi, I'm Alex." He reached over the table to shake Nicholas' hand. "Nice to meet you." He said with a nod. Nicholas nodded back, but noticeably became uncomfortable. "You guys are making him nervous!" John said shooting a glare at Alex. Alex smiled coyly.

I had become friends with Alex almost before I had become friends with John. I had gone to the gym to find a baseball field to practice my swings. Alex happened to be running and gave me directions. When he noticed me about to play alone, he invited me to join his friends to play a game after he finished his run.

Alex was the typical next door bad boy, but lovable and charming and not at all bad, but just slightly pranksterish. He emitted a confident and slightly cocky vibe that didn't die down or go away. Growing up a tomboy, I didn't have a problem with it and always knew when to reel him in.

John rolled his eyes and Kelsey moved to sit between the two hot heads. I mouthed her a thank you. She smiled and scrunched up her nose. "Sorry for the intrusion. These two missed a class this morning, and we want to know what's up and fill 'em in on the stuff they missed." She said. The southern drawl melted over our ears. Nicholas relaxed a little. "Oh, I see. It's nice of you to want to catch them up on class." He said smiling tentatively.

"Oh yea! Very NICE of US to CARE about YOU!" Alex said pointedly. He leaned forward to make a face at John who all but ignored his effort.

Shaking off Alex's side comment John leaned forward. "So," he said demurely, "what are you up to now Nick?" John smiled seductively and Alex and I both groaned while Kelsey laughed.

"What?!"

"Oh don't even!", My eyes rolled side ways. "You and the damn parties! When do you study?".

Alex scoffed. "When does he sleep is more like it." Alex shook his head in disapproval and Kelsey nudged him. She looked over at Nicholas who grimaced and moved to pick up his bag. Kelsey's eyes flicked over this subtle move she looked at me. I made the kermit face and she gave the mom look.

Leave it to Kelsey to still parent us when parents aren't present.

Nicholas collected his bag and stood. I stood too. "Hey, you guys, I'm gonna head home now, and reread the notes Kelsey and Alex took for us." John pouted watching Nicholas get up. "And I've got another class to teach soon so I gotta go." He said with a polite smile. He head began to curl into his shoulders as if in an attempt to make himself smaller. "Nice meeting you all." He nodded his goodbyes. His eyes flicked over to Kelsey as they held each others gaze for a moment too long. The boys were oblivious. I wasn't. I pretended to not see anything and gave them all a bright good bye and walked in the opposite direction of Nicholas towards my apartment. I had nothing to do, but I had enough socialization for one day. Hell, for a whole month!

I walked the path I always took home. The view was sparse, but made me happy and gave me lots of time to think. The sun beat down on my already black shoulders. The sweat was dripping down my face. Maybe that was why I didn't notice the bathroom window in my apartment was open, when I normally left it closed.

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I walked into my home reviewing the day in my head. John had successfully introduced Nicholas to Alex and Kelsey who welcomed him into a weird, but perfect family of friends, which Nicholas seemed to greatly appreciate. I compared my first interpretation of his actions to the Nicholas displayed with my friends.

He's an introvert. My mind noted. I nodded in agreement, but tried to get a grasp on why he seemed to become more nervous when Alex and Kelsey showed up. And definitely why he and Kelsey made such long eye contact. "Well who knows..." I muttered as I walked into my apartment. "Indeed." said the something laying on my couch.

My soul left my body and my feet left the floor.

Sprawled out on my couch covered in grime sweat and leaves was Nicholas' eyeless fangy redheaded doppelgänger. "SHIT! STOP THAT!" I hissed at him. "Oh come on, you have to admit that was a perfect come back." He smiled, groaning as he moved into a sitting position. He looked awful. There were bruises on his jaw line and scratches over his cheeks. His lower lip was busted and for a guy with no eyes, he had bags under where they were supposed to be.

"Oh my God. Are you ok?" I said, as I took in the sight of him. I walked toward and grasped his face in my hands turning each cheek to check him carefully. He pulled back initially, but he couldn't escape my grasp. "I'm fine." he said wincing. He pulled my hands from his face. He sighed. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to understand. I wanted to help him. "Reading you is hard." I said abruptly.

He scoffed. "Eyes really are windows...".

He paused and seemed to be thinking before he spoke. "I need help." He said. He sounded desperate. He held my hands tightly. His head hung low until it reached my shoulder leaning into me as I held him. This person, whatever he was, he's tired. Help him! cried the voice in the back of my head. I've got my own problems. I said back to it. "Please. Please. It will be dangerous, but I don't know what else to do. I've got no where else to go. I've run out of options." He whispered into my shoulder. I could hear his voice begin to break. It stole what was left of the warmth in my heart that I was saving for myself. "I will help you. Tell me everything." He sighed in relief and let his body relax. He released all his weight into me. Suddenly I realized how heavy he was. I wanted to be free of this weight, but I knew he needed me. I straightened my back and held him tighter. "First, let's get you a bath. Then we'll talk." He nodded solemnly into my neck. He began to sob quietly and I held him even tighter. "It's ok. I'm sure it'll get better." I said comfortingly. I rubbed his back tenderly. Air from his mouth tickled my skin. Wait. I began to pull away as he broke into full howling laughter. "You jerk! I was actually trying to comfort you and what?! You lied to get pity?" I felt a semblance of betrayal, but also knew that it was kind of funny.

"You're telling me you didn't figure it out yet?" He said as he came down off his laughter. I was confused, but of course he couldn't see that. Wait... OH! "You're a dick." I said shoving his arms away from me. I moved backwards on the couch away from my knee in his groin. He smiled devilishly. "Well I was being honest." his face became softer. It was odd watching emotions cross his face without eyes. "I really do need a place to stay and lie low...and shower." He leaned forward waiting for my answer. I sighed a rolled my eyes to know one's benefit, but my own. "Fine! You can still stay, but we're going to need to set some ground rules first." He smiled. "Thank you!" He grabbed my hands and pressed them to his lips. For a guy that can't see to learn, he's sure got moves. I made a disapproving face and then reminded myself that he couldn't see it and pulled my hands out of his and far away from his soft lips. "We can definitely have that discussion, but in case you haven't noticed, I would like to state the obvious: I really need to shower." He shoulders were completely squared towards what would've been my direction, but since I had leaned forward it ended up being off. I looked him over. Well so much for paranormal sight. "Yeah. Sorry. Didn't really notice. My nose is kind of broken. I've got allergies." He was an expression that flicked onto his face and vanished almost immediately, that gave the impression he found this fact odd in an amusing way. "I see. Well, then. I would like a bath." I nodded. "Yeah, the - uh - bathroom is over there first door on your left. I indicated to it with my head.

He didn't move.

"Shit. Sorry. Come on." His suppressed a rather sardonic smile and I took his arm and led him to the bathroom. Opening the door I led him. I released his arm and went to grab a towel down the hall. I heard him softly patting objects. I walked back to the bathroom. I watched him feel gently for the sink and the toilet. His hands slid over the glass door that led into the shower. He felt for the handle and pulled it. "It slides back." I said. He slid the door back and felt for the nozzle to the shower and the knob to start the water. "I'm gonna put your towel on the toilet." I said watching him closely. He nodded and continued feeling the bathroom. My heart warmed. He's like a little puppy with its eyes still sealed shut. I smiled and closed the bathroom door.