The Wallflower Ch. 03

You're lying. If everything was fine, why are you here? No one stays here because they want to. They would only stay here if they need to. I asked you a question, but you answer me with lies. Don't think because I am not living that I am stupid. You signed the lease that you would appease me every night. Lie to me again and I will have to punish you. Now tell me the truth.

The word 'punish' made her whole body tense. How many people had he "punished"? And what did he do to punish. Not wanting to know the answer to that question, she picked up the knife and wrote the words as calmly as she could without trying to think of what all that word might entail.

My Ma threw me out. She put all my things away and told me to get out. I don't have money to pay for a decent apartment, so I had no choice but to come here. Lily couldn't think of anything else to say, so she put the knife on the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. This time when the apparition wrote on the wall, the scratching was softer and more like a scribbling on a piece of paper.

I'm sorry about that. You're still holding back from me. But I'll let it slide tonight. It's not as simple as you make it out to be. You're hurting. Lily glared back at the words as she read them. How the hell could he tell her how she felt? She had given him a truthful answer, what more did he want.

How can you tell me what I'm feeling? I told you what you wanted. She ended the sentence with a stab to the wall and left the knife embedded in the wall.

You told me the truth, yes, but you didn't tell me what you wanted to say. I can still see what you don't write. I saw you as you sat in your bed deep in thought with your legs tucked under your chin. I saw the furrow in your brow as I angered you with my last message. I see how you hold yourself as you wait for me to finish writing as if to support yourself from collapsing. Your pain runs deeper than just being kicked out. At this point, Lily just wanted to go to bed. She didn't feel like having everything about her observed and talked about.

I'm not up to this psychology bullshit, ok? I just don't want to talk about it. She laid the knife down and pushed her curly hair back frustrated.

Fine. I guess there not much else to talk about tonight. Tomorrow, you will appease me. Before she could even ask him how she had not appeased him, the wall had lost all its light and returned to being a normal scratched up wall.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

"That shit is fucked up!"

Vanessa stared wide-eyed at Lily as she went about her business putting returned books on the shelves. Vanessa was one of her co-workers and best friends. People always wondered how it was possible that she and Vanessa could even be friends. Vanessa was more outgoing and typically went to party on the weekends. Despite the personality difference, Vanessa was able to cheer her up even when Lily was at her saddest point. And right now had to be the saddest part of Lily's whole life.

"Yeah. She kicked me out because someone told her I was roommates with a man. Because she didn't want to risk having a slut for a daughter, she kicked me out." Vanessa rolled her eyes at the whole lunacy of the situation.

"Oh c'mon," Vanessa scoffed. "As scared as you get around guys, I wouldn't believe you to sleep with a guy, let alone have a one night stand with a guy you just met. You're mom is fucked in the head if she actually believes you would sleep around."

"It doesn't matter to her if I have my V- card or not. To her it's all about what it looks like." Lily rolled her eyes as she mimicked the annoying voice her mom used when she wanted Lily to give a fuck about appearances.

Vanessa put a book on the high shelf, so it appeared to the librarian at the front desk that she was working and not just running her mouth. "Remind me to pay that bitch a visit so I can shove my foot up her ass. Because no friend of mine is a slut. Especially not you. You're too smart to be fooled by any man trying to run a game on you."

"A guy has to be interested first, before they can run a game, Vanessa." Lily looked down at the floor as she put a book back into place. Lily wasn't like Vanessa either when it came to looks. Vanessa was of a lighter skin than her and had a pretty face to match. She had long red coiffed hair that complemented her face. To top it all off, her body was like the models a person saw in magazines. Vanessa was a tall 5"8 with a thin frame. She may not have had curves like a porn star, but she still had enough to give her a nice feminine touch. Vanessa always had guys coming up to talk and flirt with her at the library. Lily was lucky if she even got a glance.

At that moment, Vanessa glared at Lily and placed her hands on her hips. "Uh uh, you ain't doing that again. Don't you dare do that 'I'm too ugly' bullshit. You are good looking naturally. If a brotha don't wanna holla at you 'cuz he thinks you're too dark or whateva, he just missed out. Plus, there's some fine white boys too." Vanessa gave Lily one of her devious smiles. "Which reminds me. You didn't tell me about what your roommate looks like."

"He's an asshole," Lily said and left it at that.

Vanessa playfully hit her arm, trying to get more out of her. "That doesn't tell me anything," she whined and gave her best pleading face. "You know me. I want detaaaaiiiilllss."

"Well he's sexy-"

"Knew it."

"How did you know?" Lily asked in total disbelief.

"Something about the way you said he was an asshole. I don't know. Continue."

"He's white. Looks sorta emo."

"The few emo guys I've seen are pretty cute. A little skinny, but cute."

"Yeah." Lily shrugged. "He's slender but he has a few muscles. He has awesome vibrant looking tattoos and I think he has three piercings, and-" Vanessa nudged her right in the ribs. Lily had to bite down on her lip to keep from yelping.

"Look at that guy over there." Vanessa crouched next to her behind the book return cart. Lily rolled her eyes as she looked in the direction Vanessa was pointing to. 'Oh the fucking irony'

On the other side of the library, Nicholas was looking through books in the Non-Fiction section. His head was low in deep concentration as he looked over the books on display. He looked totally different from his usual self. He had on a warm gray long sleeve shirt, jeans that actually fitted him, and didn't have his piercings in. It was not only his clothes that were different, but his whole demeanor. He was usually loud, perverted, and over talkative. In here he was quiet and looked kind of lonely. Why in God's name was he here? And what's with him?

"He's been coming here for the last few weeks on Monday every week," Vanessa said as if reading her thoughts. That explains why she never saw him here. In school, she only worked on weekends. Vanessa, graduated early and worked weekdays. "He always checks out nonfiction books. Sorta mysterious, don't you think? And he's totally hot! I had to go retrieve a book for him, and he's much cuter up close. And-"

"He's my asshole of a roommate," Lily said in a deadpan voice.

"Say what?" Vanessa looked back at her shocked. "That guy? An asshole? He's totally sweet."

"He's totally perverted." Lily went back to putting books back on the bookshelf with more determination this time. She would deal with his ass when she got home.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Lily unlocked the door to the townhouse with the key Mrs. Yates, the old woman, had given her. Lily was still fuming inside that out of all the libraries in the city, Nicholas had to go to the one she worked at. 'Well it is in walking distance, Lily. It's only two blocks away. Plus, you're not mad at him for being at your job. You're just frustrated that you get to see him every Monday...checking him out every Monday.'

Her own thoughts began to grate on her nerves. 'Shut up, Goddammit!' She fumed as she closed the door and marched up the stairs. Lily looked through the bags of clothes to find an oversized shirt, thong, and a pair of shorts. She changed into them quickly before looking through the house to look for Nicholas.

It didn't take her long to find him. He was sitting in an arm chair that was faced away from her. "Nicholas, why-"

Lily stopped mid sentence as she rounded the chair to look at him. There was something wrong with him. When she couldn't see him, she thought his head was bent over one of the books he had checked out. But there was nothing in his lap or even his hand. He was simply sitting there with his legs spread equally apart and arms haphazardly resting on the arms of the chair. But the way he was sitting was so unnatural. There was something wrong.

His head was bent over with his hair covering his eyes. She slowly pushed back his hair to see his face. What she saw caused her to yelp and jump away from him. His eyes were wide open as if in a trance. They were bloodshot and red and wide open. And if possible, he looked paler than usual. Something was definitely wrong. What the hell was going on?

Lily came back to him and started slapping each side of his face urgently. He wasn't responding. "Nicholas, wake up," she said weakly. She straddled his lap to listen to his heart beat. It was still beating strong, so he wasn't dead. His chest was rising up and down steadily, so he was breathing correctly. Then what the fuck was wrong with him?

"Nicholas, wake up!" she began shouting. She started slapping him harder, getting more desperate in getting him out of the trance that he was in. His unblinking eyes were still staring out into some sort of space that wasn't there. "C'mon, Nicholas...wake up." Her head rested on his chest as she hoped and prayed for him to wake up.

All of a sudden she felt these two large palms gripping her ass.

"Trying to ride me again while I'm asleep, cowgirl?" she heard the familiar carefree voice burr. She looked incredulously into his face and saw his crooked smile etched on his face. "At least I get to feel a nice, round firm arse when I wake up." He took another firm squeeze out of her ass and even spanked it.

A loud slap rung out in the air.

"The fuck you hit me for?!" Nicholas yelled, holding a hand to the stinging red handprint to his face

"You're a fucking pervert!" Lily screamed at him, readying her hand to slap him again. Her blood was boiling with rage as she glared at him. She was actually worried about his ass! She couldn't believe he was trying to feel her up again while she was scared to death that he was in shock or something!

"You're the one sitting on my lap!" Nicholas pushed back his hair with a look of annoyance.

"That doesn't give you a free pass to fondle me!"

"Well you know I'm a pervert. I see a girl sitting on my lap, I'm going to touch her! Because NORMALLY girls sit on men's laps when they want some dick!" Heat rushed to Lily's face in both embarrassment and rage. "You don't want me to touch you? Easy. Don't sit on my lap!"

"I was only sitting on your lap to check your heartbeat!" Nicholas sputtered and gave her a cynical look.

"Uh huh. Remind me to go to the doctor more often. It must be a new procedure I haven't heard of where the nurses have to sit on your lap to listen to your heart beat because you've been giving me that same bullshit excuse whenever I catch you about to ride me."

Lily closed her eyes and breathed out her mouth slowly to calm herself down. This guy was so aggravating! With a final breath, she opened her eyes and glared back at him. "Something almost makes me think you faked that whole trance like shit, just so you could get me worried about you."

"Aww, so you do care?" Nicholas mocked and touched his heart playfully. "For your information, cowgirl, I have silent epilepsy. Meaning I can have epileptic attacks without frothing at the mouth and convulsing. It makes me nonresponsive. Almost as if I'm asleep."

An awkward silence came between the two. Lily felt like the asshole this time. She was just sure it had to do with the ghost. It's not as if the ghost didn't use Nicholas. Nicholas was used each and every night to alert her that the ghost was in the room. So, the possibility of the apparition putting Nicholas in a trance didn't seem too farfetched.

Without any warning, Nicholas got up from the seat, causing Lily to tumble onto the floor. Lily landed on her backside and let out a yelp. "Asshole," she muttered.

"Well the asshole has to go eat dinner." With that, Nicholas left Lily on the living room floor wondering what kind of person Nicholas Yates really was. The loudmouth asshole she had to live with or the quiet boy that kept to himself in the library?