I'm in Coriane and Nikolas (my OC) Brainrot Land. I have a whole playlist for them now and it makes my heart hurt for them. You're Gonna Go Far by Noah Kahan with Brandi Carlile is definitely the song for them in this. So here is Nik being a stupid boy and Coriane being (a maybe) aware girl. Prompt 4 for flash fic friday @nortaeventcouncil. Enjoy everyone (:
“Why would I stand by while he said those things?” Nikolas Samos was by no means a small person, nor did he have short legs. He walked fast when he needed to, and yet, he was worried right now that he should be running to keep up with his best friend.
Almost a head shorter than him, Coriane still managed to to be three steps ahead when she was upset. She had practically left him behind as she berated him. When she whipped around though at his words, her school bag almost smacked him in the stomach. He ground to a halt on the stone arboretum path they always took to get home. The loose stone under his worn boots kicked up and snapped against the toes of hers as she took a half step closer to him.
Rarely was Coriane this upset, and if he was being questioned by anyone, he would say it was terrifying when she was in a mood like this. If he was being perfectly honest, which he never would be, he would admit that she was ridiculously attractive too. Her eyes went from the jewel fall leaf colors to burning ore in seconds as she drew her lips in a tight line and adjusted her bag so it was hanging in its original place on her shoulder. He was like a bar of iron under that gaze, fracturing and melting to an ooze that would very easily roll back down the hill.
Gods be damned when she scrunched her brows like that, he wanted to take his thumb and physically smooth out the lines like he was working with a particularly temperamental sheet of metal.
“Because Nik,” She seethed as she glared at him. “People have said plenty of horrible things in front of and behind my back my whole life. One more won’t kill me.” She threw the words like darts and each one pinged him like one.
He didn’t mean to, but those words made him draw up to his full height. Coriane was not ignorant, she wouldn’t be his aunt's best if she were. Which could only mean she was and had always been willingly ignoring all the things he had been doing lately. It was driving him insane. He could barely sleep while thoughts of her drove him to almost get up and pace his bedroom. When he had slipped that beautiful corsage on her wrist for the stupid dance he hadn’t even wanted to go to, he had so desperately wanted to trail his fingers along her wrist. Instead he’d let go a little too quickly and teased her not to get too excited and wilt the flowers with her body temperature. She’d smacked his arm hard enough to make it ache, but then she had held the same spot with both hands a minute later and sent a chill down his spine during the quick round of pictures by resting her head on his arm. After that he’d stood in a daze and smiled and looked down at her while she pleaded with her parents to just let them leave already, that yes he would have her back by midnight like they had agreed to, that she would be careful, on and on it had gone, but he hadn’t been able to stop looking at her. She had looked so beautiful with the black liner highlighting the shape of her eyes and making them so much brighter in the evening sunlight, the dark red lip stick, and the tiny amount of glitter she had painted across her shoulders. He had to hold himself back from trying to catch the tulle of her dress as she spun around and grabbed his hand to drag him down the street to meet their friends to go. He still thought about that dress and the way the cut of the top had accentuated her waist and shoulders and collarbones. He'd wanted to trace the bones with his fingers the whole drive to the dance. And afterward too, when she had fallen asleep on his shoulder in the back as Douglas had raced back up the mountain to get them back by midnight in his new drop top that his father had gotten him for his birthday. He still dreamed about the smell of her hair after it had drifted around his and across his face in the wind after she had let the curls out from the half up-half down style that had shown off her neck. He'd wanted to trace her neck and kiss it, and cup it the whole night while they danced and laughed. His hand still burned from her holding it the other day while he sat on her porch and told her about what he had seen on his Peidmont mission.
Her ignoring the way he had been watching the side of her face while they sat near the lake last week was just another string in a long line of them that had driven them to this point. It was making him insane that she so clearly was not experiencing the same thing.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He said coolly. “You’re my best friend, I’m not going to just stand there while Xavier say that you took his dick like a princess.” The words felt like poison going through his teeth. They still ached from how tightly he had been grinding them when he grabbed the front of Xavier's jacket and pinned him to the brick wall outside the history building after he said that. It had taken Cori and Douglas to pry him off of Xavier who had trailed after them teasing and cajoling him, asking him if he was jealous from his pathetic position in the friend zone. Douglas and Vince had to physically hold him back while Cori pushed him back and got in his face to tell him to calm the fuck down. She didn't cuss unless she was really and truly pissed off, which had made him come down a few notches. But it had started to open that can of worms and he was so afraid now that she was about to rip the top off of it.
She exhaled an exasperated sound from her nose as she threw her head back and her hands up. The sunlight cut across her features so perfectly it made his stomach ache and he crossed her arms self-consciously as she brought her hands back down to rest them on her hips.
“You’re being ridiculous.” She retorted. “Why do you give a fuck what Xavier says about me?”
“Because he only says shit like that if he’s actually been with that girl!”
“And why would it matter Nik? What does it matter if we did or we didn’t?” She laughed bitterly as she dragged her hand through her hair, pulling the unruly curls out of her face.
“Because I—” He swallowed the rest of the words, watching as the corners of her brows scrunched together just a hint. He shook his head instead and began again. “Because I care about you and what people think of you.”
That crease didn’t disappear but her eyes softened as she clung to the strap of her messenger bag and took a step closer to him. He wanted to back up so badly, but he held his ground as she looked up at him and said, “I can take care of myself with stuff like this.”
“I know.” He admitted, the fire in him dying like she had taken it from him. She always handled those things with such grace, and he was envious of her ability to just roll her eyes and purse her lips. He knew that wasn’t going to stop him from putting a good solid fist through Xavier's mouth if he said anything else. Still she smiled at him, and her eyes lit bright as she shrugged and turned, throwing her comment over her shoulder.
“Besides,” the word was like a hook and he was a fish willingly caught on it. He immediately began to trail her and then came into lock step within only two strides. She smiled at him and teased, “I’m still looking for the right person for that stuff.”
His heart squeezed painfully in his chest. I'm right here, he wanted to say as he adjusted his jacket. He forced a laugh anyway and said, “I’d like to see you find someone who isn’t afraid of your dad.”
Her smile turned wicked as she winked and replied. “He’s not the one to be afraid of, my mom is.”
That wink punctured a hole in his chest and even as the air left in a rush that he hid behind a laugh again, he still felt the way his heart broke a little more in his chest over her smile.
