Enigma

Kinda Hot

Nico awoke to the phone by her bed ringing. She pulled a pillow over her head, groaning as it intensified her headache. She was going to ignore it, but it just kept on ringing and ringing.

She picked up the phone and growled. "What?!"

"Nico! I did a bad thing!" Tracie's panicked voice cried. "So bad!"

"Trace, I'm so fucking hungover right now. I just wanna die, so this better be good."

Tracie's sniffles and whimpers made Nico sit up and gasp. "Wait, you're serious? Are you okay?! What happened?"

Tracie took a deep breath in after wiping her face with her sleeve. "I slept with someone."

"Nice!" Nico laughed. "But...what about Rob?"

"That's the problem! I cheated on him, Nico! What am I gonna do?!"

"It's okay, T. Calm down. We'll figure it out-"

"That's not even the worst part, though!" Tracie cut her off. "It was with one of your annoying new friends!"

Nico gulped. "Uhh...what?"

"He's asleep beside me right now!" Tracie whisper-yelled into the phone. "It's...it's Albert."

Julian awoke to manic laughter coming from beside him. He blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the light and he caught sight of Nico laughing into the phone.

"You fucked Albert?!" Nico screeched. "Oh, this is too good! I thought you hated him!"

"Who fucked Albert?" Julian found himself asking.

Nico pointed to the phone and mouthed Tracie's name, resulting in a gasp from Julian.

"This isn't funny, Nico!" Tracie yelped. "Seriously, what am I gonna do?! If Rob finds out he'll flip!"

"Well, you'll definitely have to tell him, so good luck with that I guess."

"I can't. I-I'm scared." Tracie stuttered, her lips quivering as tears began to flow again.

"Why are you scared? It's about time you dumped that loser anyway. It'll be easy."

"I dunno...when he gets mad sometimes he-" Tracie stopped herself mid-sentence and cleared her throat. "Nevermind." she said. "So...did Julian get you home safely?"

"I probably wouldn't be talking to you right now if he didn't." laughed Nico. "And what were you gonna say about Rob?"

"Nothing, don't worry."

"Okay." Nico didn't sound too convinced, but decided she'd pester her friend about it later. "We'll talk more about it in person I guess. You should come over and probably bring Albert. Julian's here."

"I was planning on it." said Tracie. "See you soon!" She would've made a joke about Nico sleeping with Julian, but she wasn't in the mood, which was quite out of the ordinary for Tracie.

"See 'ya!" Nico hung up the phone and turned to Julian, who had been watching her the whole time. He was lying on his side, propped up on his elbow as he took in her messy appearance. Her hair was sticking out all over the place, and her eye makeup was smudged. But she quickly fixed all that after 5 minutes in the bathroom and somehow walked out looking like she wasn't suffering from a huge hangover.

"I feel like I really need to do something, but I don't know what it is." said Nico as she fixed up two cups of coffee. "I can't remember much from last night."

Julian was sitting by the counter, eating some cereal. "Oh, fuck." he said, dropping his spoon. "You wanted to go to school, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it's not that." she said.

Nico realised she'd forgotten all about going to school as she fixed herself up in the bathroom earlier. She had a mini, silent breakdown, thinking of what had become of her. She wasn't one to skip school and party so easily. It definitely would never happen again, and she'd make sure of that. This was a one time thing. She thought about turning up late to school, but Tracie's panicked voice on the phone made her realise she should probably comfort her friend.

"Can you fill me in on some key events that may have happened last night?" she regretfully asked.

"Well, a major one was you making out with-"

"Nikolai!" she yelped as the memory flooded her mind. "I have to apologise to him! That's it!" She walked over and handed Julian his coffee, to which he politely said thank you, and she immediately picked up the phone to dial Fab's number.

"Hello?"

"Fab! What's Nikolai's number?" asked Nico.

"Hi, I'm having a lovely morning, thanks!" His tone oozed sarcasm.

"I don't have time for your jokes right now. I've gotta say sorry to Nikolai."

"Why?"

"Long story."

"Well, he's at my place right now so I guess I'll hand him the phone."

"Please do."

Fab handed Nikolai the phone. He was confused, but raised it to his ear. "Uhh, hi?"

"Hey...it's Nico. I just wanna say sorry about last night. I shouldn't have forced myself on you, it was wrong of me."

Nikolai was a little surprised. "Oh...that's okay?"

"Really." Nico sighed. "I am very sorry. That wasn't me. When I'm drunk I just turn into a completely different person sometimes." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's so embarrassing."

"Seriously, it's fine!" he chuckled. "It's not like you molested me or anything! It was all consensual, I can assure you. I could've said no, but I didn't."

"Oh...well thank you for your forgiveness." she said, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. She looked over at Julian, who seemed to want to know how the conversation as going, and she gave him a thumbs up. "I still feel really bad though." she continued into the phone.

"Don't." said Nikolai. "For what it's worth, I enjoyed it very much." His voice was hushed. He made sure to be quiet enough so Fab wouldn't hear. Nikolai usually wasn't the type to flirt like that, but something about Nico made him want to give it a try.

Nico gasped, her cheeks flushing red. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she just giggled.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah!" she squeaked. "I've gotta go. I'll see you 'round."

Nikolai smiled. "Hopefully."

"Bye!" she hung up the phone.

Her widened eyes made Julian's face form a puzzled expression. "What'd he say?" he found himself asking.

Nico ignored the question and sat down, firmly gripping her cup. Her eyebrows knitted together as she rehashed the short conversation in her mind. "Damn..."

Julian raised a brow. "Well..?"

"Nikolai's kinda hot."