When the Rain Stopped Falling (Published under Pop Fiction)

16: Riptides and Vortices

"Why are you so pale?"

A cold sweat dripped from my forehead up to the tip of my nose. I wiped it before it even falls. "Me, pale? Must be the light?"

"Are you okay? You look so flustered," Leslie stepped in closer to me making me cringe till my back touches the doors of my closet.

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't go outside all day maybe that's why I look so pale."

"You should have gone outside. The weather was perfect for an outdoor activity," Leslie went to the comfort room. I waited for her to lock the door and when she did, I immediately checked the closet. Nikolas was there contorted to fit in the cramped jungle of my clothes. "Come on go outside!" I whispered. His eyes reflected fear and he's totally out of his mind as it took him to process what I have just said. He was about to set his foot out of my closet when I heard the toilet flush so I panicked and closed the closet quickly.

"Ow! You squished my foot!" Nikolas complained in a muffled voice.

"Shh! Leslie is coming!"

The bathroom door opened and Leslie went out. "Were you saying something?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just asking where you have been?" I asked uncomfortably

"Remember the play I told you? Well, I got the part!" I could see that Leslie was very excited as her body twisted in joy.

"That's nice! Congratulations!"

"Aw thank you! You know what? We should celebrate, right?"

"Right, we should celebrate tomorrow!" I firmly suggested. I must get out of this mess soon or he would be in trouble.

"Boo! We should celebrate right now!"

"It's really late and it's kinda awful not to invite your brother," Nikolas coughed!

"What's that? You heard it?" Leslie suspiciously looked around the room my heart feels like it wants to go burst out of my chest and confess that Nikolas is here in this room.

"Oh it's me," I faked a cough "something is caught up in my throat,"

"I think I know what you're up to!" Leslie squinted her eyes at me. Shoot, we're caught! "You're finding a way to be with my brother aren't you? You two should just date already!" Nikolas reacted again but this time, I think he hit the walls of my cabinet as it created a loud thud. Leslie seems to have heard it again and momentarily checked my closet and started to inch towards my closet.

"OMG, Leslie!" I diverged her attention. "Come on now, you're surprising me so much I kicked my closet," I kicked my closet backward to recreate the sound. Leslie doesn't seem convinced but carried on anyway.

"Elois, if you two would not go out with each other, I'm gonna die! You two have serious sparks together, you two are like radioactive or something!"

"We? Have you seen him and Cole together? Leslie, those two are the dynamic duo! If someone is causing sparks with Jasper, that would be Cole," Leslie giggled. "Those two are so sweet together, it made me think that they have a thing going on,"

"Now you're talking nonsense. My big brother is not gay!"

"Are you sure about that? Have you met any girl in his life?"

"Oh my God, Elois," Leslie bit her fingernail. I irked and checked my own fingernails which were fabulously pink.

"Huh? Huh? Do I make a point or not?" I continued to push the topic.

"Is that it? Is that why you're holding yourself from knowing him?"

"No, no. Come on, Leslie, I just met him."

"But you had a date on the first day of our classes! How about that?"

"It's not a date! It's a friendly activity," I'm somewhat offended. Did I really make myself look like an easy-to-get girl? "What I'm saying is, I'm not holding back to Jasper. I like his attitude and all, but let time do its thing, okay?" I'm surprised that Nikolas has not been reacting to any of this though I'm a little worried that he suffocated and died.

"So you do like him?"

I rolled my eyes. "You should buy me first some chocolates outside, any chocolate would do,"

"What? Why?"

"So that I'll have some motivation to answer your question and you said we should celebrate"

"Oh alright, but promise me that you'll tell," she eyed me with an I'm-dead-serious-about-this gaze.

"I will, I will!"

Leslie gave me a reassuring look before she marches off and left the room. This is now our opportunity for Nikolas's exit. I opened again my closet. Nikolas was now heavily sweating when he climbed out. He stood awkwardly with only one of his foot reaching the floor.

"Does one of your foot hurt? I'm sorry for slamming the door on it,"

"It's okay. It's less painful than what you'll answer to Leslie's question about you and Jasper. I'm glad I could escape before I even hear it, thank you for sparing me."

"Nikolas, I haven't said anything yet,"

"No, it doesn't matter. I'm from the future remember. Indirectly, I know what your answer would be, and it hurts ten thousand times more than the pain of my aching foot right now." I swallowed hard. I wanted to disagree to his intuition but I would only do that if I wanted to lie about myself. "Remember what I've told you, Elois. Keep in mind that you're the one that can change the future," Nikolas reminded me while he limped away; finally leaving the room.

I sat on my bed and pondered about all the things I wanted to do. I feel an itch on my brain that I wanted to scratch to death. It's annoying and frustrating that I couldn't do something but just to think and try to sort my life, fold and unfold those sketchy and wrinkled thoughts, untangle wires of problematic scenarios and connect them to logic, build and destroy all my plans ahead. If I'm a computer right now, I'm probably buffering and overheating and soon enough I could explode. As I wait for Leslie to come back, I continued to immerse myself with riptides from the ocean of my mind and vortices I'm caught in, in which I could only hope that I would survive and breath once again.