Enigma

Phone Booth

It was way too easy for Nico to get out of school. All she had to do was tell the nurse she had a headache and ask if she could get the last two periods off, and she was out the door in under 5 minutes.

"There she is!" Fab called out, pointing to her.

Nico looked over at the three guys leaning against the fence and gave them a little wave as she walked over. "Where are we going?"

"Help me find a phonebooth and I'll call Nick. He's outta school today for whatever reason." said Fab.

"Who's Nick and why do we need him?" asked Albert, a cigarette hanging from his lips.

"A friend," replied Fab.

"...a friend with a car." Nico added, knowing it would pique his interest.

"Sounds good then." Albert said with a nod. "Let's go." He lit his cigarette, every-so-often sharing it with Julian.

The teenagers slipped out of the front gate unnoticed and began walking. It only took them a few minutes to find a phone booth.

"Anyone got a quarter?" asked Fab as they approached the sketchy looking booth. There was graffiti scratched into the glass and it smelt quite pungently of urine, but it didn't seem to bother Fab as he jumped right inside and picked up the phone.

Nico pulled some change out of her back pocket and handed it to Fab, who smiled in response and thanked her as he dialled up a number. She returned the smile and then turned to Julian, who was yet to say anything. "Are you okay, Julian?"

Her voice snapped Julian out of a deep thought. He looked over at her, blinking his eyes rapidly. "Yeah, sorry...still really high."

Albert elbowed him with a smug looking grin. "I thought I told you to go easy on that shit, man."

"I thought I told you to shut up." Julian snapped back in a mocking tone. The smirk tugging on his lips showed he wasn't being entirely serious.

Nico listened to them bicker back and forth for a few minutes until Fab walked back over to join them.

"Nick's coming to pick us up," he informed us. "...you'll finally get to meet Nikolai too!"

Albert raised a brow. "There's more of you?"

Julian nudged him. "Stop being an asshole."

"I'm being an asshole?!" Albert gasped dramatically in disbelief. "You're the one barely speaking—practically ignoring everyone! What's up with you, man?"

"Now I remember why I never bothered to contact you after school." Julian retorted.

"You two fight like an old married couple." Fab said, earning a giggle from Nico.

Albert wrapped an arm around Julian's shoulder and jokingly kissed him on the cheek. "Missed 'ya, Jules."

Julian rolled his eyes, laughing through his nose as he pushed him away.

The group soon engaged in friendly conversation about music. They had a pretty similar music taste and ended up getting in an argument over which Doors album was the best. Before Nico could tell Albert he was being ignorant, they were interrupted by a car beeping.

"Here's Nick!" Fab announced as the car pulled up.

Nico looked over to see Nick waving with a cigarette in his hand, and another guy in the passenger side, who she could only assume was Nikolai. He had neat light-brown hair that stopped at his jawline, was wearing a blazer over some band tee, and he seemed to be very tall, as she could see his knees bent awkwardly in the little legroom he had in the front seat. She thought it was quite funny and had to suppress a giggle as they approached the car.

"Niko!" Fab exclaimed.

Nico raised a brow. "Huh?"

Fab started laughing and pointed at Nikolai. "That's Nikolai! He goes by Niko sometimes."

Nico giggled. "Oh!" She followed the guys over to the car.

"Nikolai, this is Nico, Julian and Albert." Fab stood aside and pointed to them.

Nikolai greeted them with a nod and a friendly smile. He seemed to be a quiet type.

Nick, having already met Nico and Julian, said a casual hello to them and then turned to Albert. "Hey, man. I'm Nick."

Albert nodded. "Albert."

"Well...all aboard!" Nick called out, motioning for them to start piling in.

Fab opened the door and jumped inside, followed by Nico, Julian and Albert. It was obviously a tight fit, because the standard car is only supposed to seat 3 people in the back, so everyone was a little uncomfortable.

Nico was squished quite tight in between Fab and Julian. She and Julian were quite tense, as they had accidentally touched hands a few times and shared apologetic looks, but all tension disappeared as Nico cleared her throat.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she tried to wriggle closer to Fab to give Julian more room, but to no avail.

"I have a friend who's throwing a party tonight." said Nick. "We're gonna go help set up."

Nico turned to Fab and crossed her arms. "Oh, are we?"

Fab shrugged. "Sorry, I assumed you guys would be cool with it. Couldn't think of anything else to do."

"A party? Hell yeah!" Albert cheered.

Nico sighed. "I guess that'd be okay."

"Julian? That cool?" Nick asked, peering at him through the mirror in the front.

"Yeah, man." Julian nodded. "Sounds good."

"Who the fuck throws a party on a Monday night, though?" asked Albert.

"Let's just say my friend is...older than us." Nick explained coolly, after taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Is he that college dropout guy you were telling me about before?" asked Nikolai. His voice was quiet and soft. He sounded a little like Julian, actually. Nico made sure to tune in all her attention incase he spoke again, because she could barely hear him and she was sure he'd have some interesting things to say.

Nick dodged his comment and started the car. "He lives in a huge brownstone on Ludlow, so this should be pretty sick."

"Oh, dude! This is your dealer, isn't it?" asked Fab as he began to laugh. "You're helping him for free pot!"

"Okay, you got me!" Nick chuckled. "You guys will get some too, don't worry."

"I think if I knew this was how my afternoon was going to go, I would've stayed at school." said Nico, rolling her eyes.

"That makes two of us." Nikolai smiled back at her.

Nick elbowed Nikolai. "Since you two seem to be getting along so well, you guys can run into the store and buy some chips."