Nicolas rolled a small spliff between his fingers, trying to figure out whether to light it or not. Stephanie had made it for him a while ago, telling him it was light enough he wouldn’t get caught but strong enough that it would calm him down; relax him, she’d said. That was exactly what Nic needed now, though he wasn’t sure how to smoke it or if he should start now. He couldn’t stop thinking about Darryl, and not just because of the purpling bruise across his cheek spreading up to his eye. The eldest David had a scary hook on him, but it was much less then what he had been expecting. Looking down at the joint once more, Nicolas flicked it into the top drawer on his desk and slammed the door shut angrily. He had been expecting something worse, yes but that didn’t mean it was easy for him to lose the relationship he’d had with his best friend. The baby-faced boy had always put Darryl ahead of everything… how had he forgotten that in favour of Sierra? It wouldn’t have happened if Darryl had have returned to Tipton sooner. Then it would have been the two of them at Pulse that night, Sierra wouldn’t have lost her relationship with Steph.
Steph. Nicolas sighed as he remembered finding out it was her that had told Darryl. He was mad, yes. But not as mad as Sierra was at her. In truth, Nicolas thought that Stephanie had been strong enough to do something that the two in the relationship didn’t have the strength to do. Sighing, Nicolas pushed himself up from his desk chair. He walked out of his dorm room and into the hallway, walking to Darryl’s room and knocking on the door, praying that he wouldn’t punch him across the face once more.
Although Darryl was mad with both Nic and Sierra, he wasn’t ready to deal with Sierra right now. He thought she would be at least honest with him and not hide her relationship with Nic—but he couldn’t blame her knowing that he’d act the way he’s acting right now and it wouldn’t make a difference. Flashing back to his first day back in Tipton, it probably wasn’t Stephanie that Sierra was texting to. How could he be so blind and stubborn; her eyes were literally glued onto her phone and the faces she kept making? It definitely wasn’t a girl she was talking to. Darryl had his back facing Sierra; once he heard his sister yell, he looked over his shoulder glancing at her but soon turned around back to facing Nic.
Ignoring whatever his sister was saying, Darryl panted as he watches Nic on the floor explaining how everything was a misunderstanding. Darryl wouldn’t mind Nic being with Sierra, in fact besides awkwardness having your sister and bestfriend together would be a great idea. But this is Nic you’re talking about; Darryl’s bestfriend that would accompany him into clubs, hitting on some random girl and expected to say goodbye the next day without even knowing their name. Darryl didn’t care if he were the type of guy that every mother warn their daughters about, but having his sister going out with the exact kind of person he is, is just unacceptable. “Hurt me?” Darryl asked Nic. Scoffing, he pointed his finger at Nic, making sure Nic got every word he said. “I don’t mind you fucking some girl down the hallway. I don’t mind you bringing five girls home. I don’t even mind if you fuck the same girl as I did two days ago. But don’t you dare touch my sister” Darryl argued, grinding his teeth at his last sentence. He couldn’t imagine what the two might have done while he was gone. He cant even imagine how it all began.
As Nicolas did his best to explain the situation to Darryl all Sierra could do was sit there wide eyed, following the conversation back and forth, her eyes darting to each speaker, her brother with gritted teeth and pulsating veins while Nic looked to be doing all he could to prevent being hit. Finally finding her voice, a small plea escaped her, “Darryl, please.” The voice of the usually eccentric, gaze capturing girl was almost inaudible, she seemed as if she were the kid that sat at the back corner of the class room that everyone believed to be mute. The stance of her brother over her boyfriend was threatening but she knew there was nothing she could do, even if she stopped whatever was about to proceed she couldn’t be there in the future when emotions bubbled over and it all came crashing down. Anymore, the worst possible word that could slip from Nicolas’ lips now hung in the air, a small sting hit the girl at the thought of just being another number to Nicolas but she was not that at all. With his back facing her Sierra couldn’t predict Darryl’s reaction as she watched on. Moving backwards, still sitting on the bed Sierra leant against the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest, knowing she couldn’t leave but didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t say she didn’t expect this reaction from her brother, he had always been a protective figure in her life, in fact it was the only one she had. As Darryl continued to shout Sierra buried her head in her hands, racking her brain in order to find a way to fix the problem at hand. Looking up once again as his voice came to a stop but Darryl’s breathing still echoed Sierra turned her head to look out the bedroom door which was still open since the eldest David barged in, there she saw Stephanie and she knew just how Darryl found out. “That fucking bitch,” She said, springing off the bed, slamming the door as loud as possible as she completed crossing the doorway. Hoping the noise would stop all the yelling too.
“Maybe I don’t want some fucking girl. I just want her.” Nicolas shouted back, getting angry at Darryl now. It was the same assumption that Nic had made about what happened between them that first night, but now he’d definitely learnt better. No one thought more highly of herself then Sierra did, but it suited her and her lastname. Not that he could see that now, his girlfriend curled up inside herself, protecting herself and all Nic wanted now was to hold her and make any hurt go away. He looked back to Darryl when Sierra finally uncurled herself from the bed, trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation to his best friend, but he wouldn’t understand. Nic doubted the boy before him ever looked at a girl for anything more then his own pleasure. The slam of the door made Nic’s attention snap to Sierra and the room finally fell quiet. “She-we-we’re together.” Nicolas told Darryl, looking up into his best friend’s eyes.
He exhaled at the relief of finally coming clean about their relationship. About it all. He held is hand out to Sierra and tried to coax her back into the fold, feeling the need to just hold her. “Hit me if you want, Darryl. I deserve it. But you can’t not let us be together unless you can truthfully say you’ve never felt this way for a girl before.” Nicolas challenged, sure that his friend would have a heart somewhere that had a crush on one of the many girls he slept with—the pool was wide and deep after all. Nicolas also wanted Darryl to punch him a bit, feeling like the argument wouldn’t be over until the anger that had bubbled through Darryl previously had been exerted.
Once Darryl stepped out of his room hearing a loud bang coming from his door that he had pushed wide open, he wasn’t worried about Stephanie anymore. He wasn’t mad at her anymore, he wasn’t that upset anymore but all his feelings he had just 5 minutes ago, got together and all he felt was anger- not quite sure against who; Sierra or Nicholas? There was two things which made him explode; one, not being told they were fucking behind his back ever since he gotten back into Tipton. And two, not understanding why of all people It had to be Nic. Darryl has his palms tight shut as he march his way over to Nicholas’s room hoping that all whatever came out of Stephanie’s lips were just rumors and that she was just playing him. Without giving any warning to the figures behind Nic’s wooden door, Darryl twist the doorknob, hoping it wasn’t lock—and with luck, it wasn’t.
The door sprang open, revealing two bodies against one another on a bed. Darryl’s eyes widen, shocked to see his bestfriend on top of his little sister. “So it’s true..” Darryl started, having his voice calm as possible. “Been fucking around while I was gone right?” Darryl asked, walking slowly towards the bed. He furrowed his eyebrows as he nodded his head, quite impressed at how he contain his anger, but it wasn’t long for him to explode. You could see his face getting from calm, to tense, getting bright as a tomato. Once he was just metres away from the bed, he took hold of Nicholas’ shirt from behind and pulled him off the bed, and onto the floor. “Out of everyone..” he started, moving his body direction infront of Nic. He looked down at the figure which was now on the ground, narrowing his eyes, watching Nicholas very carefully. He doesn’t look at him as a bestfriend anymore, more like the boys who had hurt Sierra in the past. “..My sister?” he continued, walking towards and bending his back, staring into his ex-bestfriend.
Sierra laughed under Nicolas as she wrapped her arms around his neck, their eyes meeting as her body shook underneath him. “Oh Nic, you’re just so smooth,” She told him sarcastically, her hand now lifting his shirt as her fingers traced delicate lines on the soft skin of his back, pushing her lips to his pale, plump ones. The brunette had never felt quite so out of touch but humble before, it seemed as if the whole word revolved around the two of them in that moment, as if no one else existed or would catch them.
Her thoughts, however, came much too soon. The door to her boyfriend’s bedroom flung open and instinctively Sierra pushed the boy off of her, moving to put space between their bodies. As the tall figure of her eldest brother made its way into the room she could read the tell tale signs of anger, his nostrils flared, his erratic movements, the reddening of his skin. Watching Nic be thrown to the floor Sierra yelped, “Darryl!” Her exclamation so high pitched and worried she didn’t know how it couldn’t catch his attention, or the attention of the whole dormitory. Lowering her voice to a soft plead she could only get a single word out, “Don’t.”
Nicolas looked over his shoulder as the door opened, his stomach plummeting when he saw Darryl. He moved away from Sierra quickly when she pushed him, though no distance between them would take away the fact that Darryl had caught them together. “Man—wait…” Nic struggled, watching his best friend walk towards him. He went to reach out to Sierra, to protect her from the figure but something stopped him. Probably the fact that he knew it was going to be him that Darryl hit. He’d always known, since that last night where it had started as nothing more then a casual fuck. The tall figure loomed over them more as he approached, and before Nic could say anything to stop his best friend, he’d been thrown onto the floor. He heard Sierra’s cry, but couldn’t look at her. So far everything was out of balance, waiting for Darryl to snap.
“I-It’s not like that—” Nic tried to get out. Or it wasn’t anymore. Now it was about the two of them. They’d been together for a relatively long time considering who Nic used to be. But he had to let Darryl hit him, at least once. For being with Sierra, for lying to him, for that first time where she meant nothing to him until after it was done. But Darryl wasn’t going to understand because he’d never seen them together, no one had. “This isn’t just like a casual thing anymore.” Nic insisted, standing up so that he was closer to Darryl’s height. He’d made a flaw though, adding in ‘anymore’, but he couldn’t take it back. “We just didn’t want to hurt you…” He began, realising just how much he loved the two David siblings, though he wouldn’t never be able to tell that to Sierra… at least not yet.
Sierra’s face scrunched, a grimace and shock crossing it as Nic licked her hand, “Did you just lick me?What’s wrong with you?” As her boyfriend began to talk about her glasses the girl laughed, “I’d like to rephrase my question, what is right with you?” She said jokingly, looking at Nicolas, meeting his eyes, kissing him quickly. As she lay beside him, Sierra couldn’t help but think of how lately this is all she ever wanted to do in her spare time, she hadn’t seen Steph in a while unless they were in class or wondering the halls. It made her feel awful that she was passing off her best friend but she could see her in public, at any time she liked, but Nic and her were still secret, the only time they shared together were lost moments hidden away from prying eyes and at the moment she couldn’t seem to spend enough time with him.
After Nic’s lips pulled away from her own she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw another banterous comment his way,”You’re one of many lovers, wait, what was your name again?” The brunette teased, eyeing him for a reaction. Nicolas’ compliment left Sierra dumbfounded, she knew she was pretty, she had been told so many times before but to hear it from the boy who now lay snuggled in beside her sent a tingle through her body, an inevitable smile lit up her face and her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. Turning her head she pressed her lips to the top of Nic’s head before moving, placing her forehead there instead, closing her own eyes. “You’re pretty great yourself,” She mumbled into his messy brown locks.
“You know, of all the girl’s I’ve slept with this week, you’re definitely the funniest Sarah.” Nic teased her, pretty sure that the brunette would know he was joking. He hadn’t actually gotten close since their first night together, it was intoxicatingly boring being in a relationship, but Nicolas wouldn’t a minute of his little time with Sierra for anything… except to perhaps say goodbye to his parents. He’d always wished he’d had that chance, though he knew it would never come. He watched Sierra blush, loving that he had put that pleased smile on her face and couldn’t help but smile back at her. She was Sierra David, and somehow the two of them had kept their relationship secret for this long. While Nic constantly craved to reach out and grab her hand walking through the school grounds, or walk her to class, or pull her onto his lap when the Davids congregated in the entertainment room for whatever premiere movie one of them had set up for the night, he didn’t want that social pressure on their relationship either. He’d seen how quickly the rumours about Steph and Darren had spread while she was with Frankie, and though he wouldn’t believe those about Sierra after a while the students’ rumours would succeed in planting seeds of doubt in his mind.
Nic chuckled melodically, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend’s body and rolling himself on top of her. Supporting himself with his knees, he moved her brunette head onto his pillow before lowering himself closer to her, careful not to hurt her. He ran one of her dark locks around his finger, kissing her perfect pale lips after admiring the blush that still coloured her cheeks from his compliment. Moving his hand to her hip, he ran his fingertips lightly up and down her side, just needing to have their skin touching somewhere. He flicked his tongue lazily over her lips before kissing her cupid’s bow softly, in their own little world. Together.
“Damn it,” the girl sighed dramatically, “I was hoping you’d be gone before my other lover arrived.” Sierra teased her boyfriend, relaxing her head onto his shoulder, pressing her forehead to the nape of his neck, closing her eyes, allowing the relaxed silence to engulf her, given a few more moments she could’ve fallen asleep there. Not only her mind but her body was fatigued, her muscles aching every now and then when she moved. It still felt odd to be in the arms of Nicolas but she was comfortable and happy there, protected almost, not that protection was something she required.
As Nic began speaking Sierra sat up, pulling herself off of her boyfriend, sitting on a spare place on his bed, “Me? Homework? Pffft.” Although it was true, with the senior students finding themselves stressed and busy with assignments, finals and college applications Tipton had seriously died down, leaving her with not much to do but hang out with the sophomores, whom Sierra didn’t get on with a majority of the time, of do the homework she had been assigned, something she had found was actually making class even easier for the already intelligent girl. At Nic’s comment on her glasses she put her hand to his face, pushing him further back onto the bed and pillows behind him. “That was rude!” She exclaimed, a laugh escaping her mouth, her bright smile on show, “I happen to look good in anything, unlike you!” She retorted, giggles still flowing.
Nic smiled as Sierra pushed him back he licked the palm of her hand so she could remove it from his face, rolling his eyes up and laughing. He grabbed onto her wrists tightly watching her smile light her face up. Nicolas never imagined himself with someone like Sierra—being able to joke around, and just be together, least of all behave as childishly as she sometimes did. “Don’t you dare break those glasses.” He warned her jokingly, using his grip on her wrists to push the dark-haired girl onto her back beside him. Nic put his arm under his head so that his hand could support it, and watched his girlfriend, a smile gradually tweeking his cupid’s bow as he watched the only girl he wanted to be with lately giggling childishly.
“So I’m your lover, am I?” He asked cheekily, smiling slightly as he pushed his lips onto her own quickly before she could say anything. Nic didn’t really want to know the answer, not yet anyway. Wrapping his arms around Sierra, he pulled his body onto her own and kissed her more passionately before pulling back and brushing her hair to the side slightly. Taking in her dimples and delicate features, Nic cupped her face carefully and bit his lip. After a short hesitation, remembering all the times his father would greet his mother, or how his cousin greeted his fiancee, remembering always wanting what they had himself… “You’re beautiful.” Nicolas told Sierra, collapsing down beside her and wriggling into her body. He rested an arm lazily over her stomach, the boy’s eyes fluttering a few times before Nicolas stopped trying to fight it and let them close.
Sierra allowed only a moment in Nicolas’ arms, pressing her head to his chest, his slow, rhythmic heart beat calming her own slightly. “N-Natalie, she was in a car accident and now she’s in hospital, I can’t find Darryl and the limo will take too long to get her,” She blurted out, her thoughts rolling off her tongue at a fast pace, taking a deep breath she regained average speech, “Can you please just take me to the hospital?” She asked, a vulnerability in her voice as she looked up to meet his eyes, the warm brown of her irises beaming through her long, jet black lashes.
Not bothering to wait for a response she turned on her heel, walking out his door, “Scratch that, I’m not asking, you are taking me to see Nat.” By now her voice was strong, her tone unyielding, demanding even. A tone Nicolas probably wouldn’t recognise as she only seemed to use it around the lower dorms and the help, possibly her parents as well. Her feet tapped along the linoleum floor as she made her way just short of the door out the building, turning to see if he had followed.
Nicolas’ heart fell slightly when Sierra mentioned car crashes. It had taken him long enough as it was to get back into a car when his parents died, but he could imagine the loss being felt more the older you became. He looked down into Sierra’s dark eyes, knowing exactly the confusion as the thoughts of what she wanted to expect but what she was expecting crossed. Yes was on the tip of his tongue, naturally. He would never be able to deny the brunette anything. But she ripped herself from his arms and disappearing back into the hallway leaving Nicolas behind, his eyebrows furrowed and his arms up slightly at the side. That was not how Sierra normally behaved at all, and it surprised Nic even more then the demanding tone of her voice. Nicolas Vaughn was not her maid. “You’re not the only one with feelings, Sierra.” Nic mumbled to himself, rubbing the groggy feeling from his nap out of his eyes and retrieving his keys and phone from his desk before pushing his feet into a pair of loafers and heading after Sierra.
“I’m coming, but you need to relax.” Nic told the brunette when he caught her looking for him, pushing the door of David open quickly before Sierra could have some sort of a meltdown or superiority complex inside the dorm. Lately, his car had been left almost permanently on the side of the road, Nic being too lazy to drive it into the student carpark, so lead Sierra in that general direction of the gates. “Really, Sierra, it isn’t easier when you fret.” he told her, though he remembered his own nerves being kept nowhere near under control. It was slowly bringing up memories he thought he had completely cut the passage off long ago.
“Not in a million years, no.” Darryl reassured Nic as he raised his brows looking at Nic with a straight forward face. If he was to ask this question back to the time when Seth was still loyal to Steph, Darryl wouldnt give up the chance; He’d go for it. Back when Stephanie was in the David’s dorm, Darryl had a minor crush on her which made him felt gutted when he had find out she was taken by Seth. After that day, Darryl use his every chance to put her down whenever he sees her, just to make him look as if she did no harm to him. Darryl cares a lot about Steph, which gave advantage to both Sierra and Nic since they were close to her but it didn’t stop Darryl from being rude and mean to her. Months passed and Darryl eventually moved on and fancied someone else, but being immune to the way he treats Steph, Darryl was still the same old.
“Don’t turn into dust..” Darryl chuckled as he joked, looking back at Nic who was now sitting alone at the bar accompanied by another filled glass. Although he knew something was bothering Nic, he wasn’t that worried about him at all. Darryl knew Nic knows how to handle himself and by time he’ll loosen up and find a girl in no time- at least that’s what he thinks. Walking towards the blonde, Darryl instantly put his hand at the back of her hips having her to sharply turn around to see how it was. Introducing himself the two didn’t take long to feel comfortable around each other and was soon having arms around each other. Looking back at the bar, Darryl wasn’t surprised to find Nic missing. As he continued to dance with the blonde, touching her waist and butt, his head wondered as he look around for Nic, wondering if he was doing the same.
Nicolas felt the girls arms tighten around his neck and looked continued to look away from her eager eyes. This was definitely more then he had signed up for when some part of him thought it was going to be possible to date Sierra and still be bestfriends with Darryl. Nicolas didn’t want to be the reason that Darryl didn’t have as much fun as he wanted, especially since the David had only just returned to Vegas. He’d just make Darryl pay him back somehow… Soft lips pressed against his neck and Nic rolled his eyes to shake the sudden wish that they were Sierra’s. The dislike for what was happening was written all over Nic’s face, he knew, but he’d never been the best at lying. Normally he relied on the fact that he was overwhelmingly sarcastic that people thought he was joking when he told the truth.
The girls kisses started moving across to his jawbone trying to find his lips, and her hands travelled across Nicolas’ sweater before he closed his eyes and gave in. Moving his hands to her hips, Nic pushed her back firmly but carefully rejecting the same girl twice in the space of a few weeks. “Drink.” He told her, walking away quickly before she could follow him. Nicolas walked up and ordered another scotch on the rocks. Quickly slipping back into the old routine he’d developed for when he was out with the David group, he was fairly sure that only Sierra ever realised that he wasn’t as much of a partier then his closest friends. You could get things you wanted without grinding it on the dance floor, after all.
Sierra’s body seized at the thought of not only her boyfriend but her brother and many other of her David friends moving on to college, leaving her stuck at Tipton with nobody but Steph and Natalie, Chris had never been one for the elitist spotlight. “But next year feels so far away,” She sighed, wishing the year would never draw to a close. Tipton was home to her, she was in control and happy here, something she couldn’t say about her life back at her house with her parents. Sierra lived in a huge double storey mansion alongside her elder brothers, mother and father. At home she wasn’t as eccentric as she appeared at Tipton, avoiding her parents unless they were buying her something new or jumping at any chance to jet off on vacation, whether it be with Natalie’s family, her own family of five or just her and her brothers, the house wasn’t a place she enjoyed, unless of course there was company.
Resting her head on Nicolas’ chest she listened to the pound of his heart, felt the rise and fall of each breath and heard his voice in what sounded completely different. “Mr Vaughn,” She replied, phrasing her voice in a way you’d imagine that of a Jane Austen novel, “I have not a clue, only that you must escort me somewhere no one shall see the two us. We cannot have rumours run rampant through the collegiate, can we now?” Sierra smirked up at him, in all honesty the past week had warn her out. Drying the tears Frankie had left on Steph’s cheeks, the infamous night out with the elite party of David and class work that seemed to be piling sky high had taken it’s toll, Sierra being happy to simply lay there with her boyfriend all afternoon or even just head out to the cafe to get an extra strong latte. “What have you got in mind?”
“It is a long way away, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” Nicolas replied with a smirk, wrapping his arms around her tighter still and pressing a slight kiss onto her forehead. It was nice being around Sierra. He never had to pretend around her. But finals, college admission essays and enrollments, and finally graduation were approaching faster then most seniors would have liked and in reality there wasn’t as much time left as most of them would have liked. Nic laced his fingers through Sierra’s as he felt her frame lean against his and ran the pad of his thumb lightly across her’s. He still wasn’t used to having a girlfriend, let alone having her in his arms, but he was pretty impressed with how he was doing so far—even if he did have to Google what to get her for Valentine’s Day.
Looking at Sierra now, he couldn’t imagine telling her about what happened at Pulse. It would only hurt her, and it wasn’t like anything happened. Nic just wished that they would tell Darryl soon so that it could be Sierra with her arms around his neck rather then someone else’s. It was hard not being able to confide in even his cousin, though the two were close, incase his uncle found out and it all got back to Darryl in the end. Though the Vaughn name was nowhere near as prominent as David, everyone always seemed to know each other when it either suited them, or there was gossip to be shared. Nicolas smiled at Sierra’s Austen accent, shocked that she knew so many large words at such a small time in her academic career. “Wow, someone’s been doing their homework.” Nic said, trying to imagine a part of Sierra that actually knew how to sit still, amazed that she had stayed in his lap for so long already. “You could always put those glasses back on, that would be hours of amusement for me.” He finished with a cheeky grin waiting to hear what punishment she dolled on him for that.
