#failedthat

Did this stay Nobell? Maybe not. Does it have Nobell? Absolutely. Does it have Osby? Also yes.

Wc: 4,771 (oops)

Dancing Next to You

A football game was the last place Nova wanted to be tonight. It wasn’t even a home game. The fans here were loud, the stands were packed, and our team was full of jerks who thought it was fun to break girls hearts. Why did people care so much about football where there were good sports like MMA and rugby out there? 

Yet, here she was. At the football game. Asking herself why she had let Oscar drag her all the way out here. 

The two were sitting near the front of the middle set of bleachers which just so happened to be right in front of the cheer squad. Nova rested her elbow on her knee and put her head on her propped fist.

“Dude, lighten up! What’s your problem? We got asked here by Ruby and all you have done is mope,” Oscar said lightly hitting Nova in the leg with his cane.

“Correction, you got invited by Ruby and dragged me along too.”

“Well, sorry for trying to make you have a good time!”

“I have plenty of good times!” Nova shot back straightening back up.

At that moment the team, unbeknownst to Nova, did something good because the stands erupted with noise as everyone clammored to their feet and started cheering. Well, everyone but Nova.

She looked over at the scoreboard and saw the second quarter had just started and decided it would be as good a time as any to go grab a snack. Oscar would be getting hungry soon and she knew that he would rather be hangry than miss one second of watching Ruby, but Nova did not want to deal with a hangry Oscar tonight. 

So she stood up and tapped Oscar on the shoulder, 

“I’m going to get something to eat. How many things of Nachos do you want?”

“Three,” Oscar said ducking his head around to be sure he got a good view of Ruby.

“Right, four, got it,” Nova said on the brink of a smile.

Oscar beamed up at her, “you know me so well!”

Nova rolled her eyes and then pulled up her hood, making the trek through the crowds down to the sidewalk. A few people bumped into Nova as she tried to snake her way around loiterers close to the field, but she just ignored them and kept walking.

The less people that recognized her, the better.

After a few minutes of walking Nova made it to the snack bar. The line was short and she ended up being only the third person in line. As she walked up to the window Nova noticed a few of the workers staring at her and whispering.

She furrowed her brows and tried her best to ignore them, but she could feel her cheeks turning pink anyway.

“Can I help you?” Nova had been so focused on the two guys in the back she hadn’t even noticed the girl waiting to take her order. She tried to smile, but it looked more like a lopsided grin. The girl behind the counter did not seem impressed.

“Um, I’ll have five orders of nacos, two large cokes, a water, and a bag of skittles, actually make that three bags of skittles.”

The girl aggressively punched something into the register and looked back up, her cold brown eyes and pointed expression boring holes into Nova. Still, she couldn’t help but notice how the girls golden dreadlocks lit up her flawless dark complexion. Even in the horrible stadium lights.

“Twenty dollars is your total. Cash or card,” the cashier spat through clenched teeth.

“Oh, cash,” Nova responded flustered. Why was this girl being so rude and arrogant? Nova had never met her before ever and yet she was acting like somehow Nova had insulted her ancestors by robbing their graves or something.

Nova stepped off to the side to wait for her order and saw that now all the other girls in the booth were stealing glances in her direction and whispering and a few people in the line had started to take notice too.

Part of Nova had hoped that no one would recognize her, but she knew that wouldn’t be happening any time soon. She wiped her mouth and cheeks just to be sure they were not actually just laughing at her for having something stuck on her face and then pulled her hood down further to cover as much of her as possible while walking toward the fence by the field. Nova didn’t understand how the game worked, nor did she care, but it was the only thing to look at.

“Nova? Nova Artino is that you!”

She internally groaned a little at the thought of having to talk to a fan right now, but slowly Nova turned to the side to see a tall boy with chocolate skin and a giant grin on his face bounding toward her. To Nova’s relief she instantly recognized him as Adrian Everhart, adopted son of two of the biggest names in tech and one of Nova’s favorite people. The two had been close friends since preschool when their respective guardians had them in the same ‘robotics for tots’ program.

“Adrian!” Nova said before she paused a moment, realizing something was different, “you’re wearing a t-shirt!” Nova had always known Adrian to wear long sleeve button downs to cover his tattoos, but now he was just in a plain grey t-shirt. It looked good on him. Like really good. It took the edge off his ever intimidating look and made him look younger maybe? Nova hadn’t ever really noticed before, but he was really handsome

“Yeah I am!” he laughed, running his fingers over one of the forearm tattoos he had.

“You look great,” Nova said smiling and looking at Adrian’s smile that was just wide enough you could see his dimples, “you have no idea how good it is to see a friendly face, but, if you don’t mind my asking, why are you here?” 

He kept right on smiling, “I’m just here to help run the snack bar, otherwise I would be home. Oh! And one of my best friends from here at school got roped into being in the marching band show this year, so i’m excited to see that!” He bounced a little in excitement before stopping and lightly punching Nova in the arm, “the real question is what are you doing here? You hate crowds.”

    “Oscar dragged me against my will. That’s really cool about,” Nova was cut off by her name being shouted over the noise of the game. 

    “NOVA ARTINO! Your order is ready!”

Nova looked back over at the snack bar and saw that all of the people in the area had turned their gaze in her direction, except the one girl at the register who was still in a huff.

    “Oh yeah, I forgot you are kind of a celebrity now aren’t you?” Adrian laughed. Nova did not.

    “I don’t think that I should be,” she quietly spat over her shoulder as she gingerly walked over to grab her food and run away. Being in the spotlight always made Nova uncomfortable so she tended to deny and ignore it, but a gaggle of douches staring at her and bystanders not so secretly snapping pictures for their stories definitely made that really hard. Nova tried to not make eye contact with any of them as she slid her tray of food and drinks off the counter, but foolishly forgot they could still talk to her even if she didn’t look at them. And they did.

    “So, Nova! What are you doing here?” the girl by the drinks piped up as she was just about to slip away into the crowd back to Adrian.

    “Oh, um, watching the game,” Nova said with a quick smile and tried to turn around and run to a part of the stadium that her name had not been yelled for all to hear.

     “Wait! Here, take this too!” A boy leaned out of the window to hand Nova a hot dog.

    “Oh thanks, that’s really sweet, but I can’t, I didn’t,” but before she could even reject the offer the girl from the register stormed over pulling the boy inside. 

    “Narcissa, she has to pay for that.”

    “Well, I’ll pay for it for her.”

    “Why would you do that! She’s an arrogant jerk that hasn’t done anything for you!”

    “Have you seen her work? Just existing is doing something for me!”

The two of them kept arguing and Nova took the opportunity to slip away without causing any more of a scene. Plus the one girl was being really rude and she didn’t feel like dealing with hate comments at the moment.

Nova made her way back over to Adrian who was still waiting by the fence around the field.

    “If you got some time, you could come back to the stands with me. I need to get these nachos to Oscar and I’m not sure if I can handle any more of his pining after Ruby by myself,” Nova said as she slid into the open spot next to Adrian. 

    “Oscar really dragged you here to watch Rubt with him?” he asked slowly.

“Yeah, he’s got it really bad,” Nova responded in a nonchalant tone. 

“Well, I guess I don’t have anything else to do!” Adrian smiled as they turned and walked back towards the seats.

    They made it back to Oscar in the stands without any more incidents of recognition and settled in for the rest of the game. Apparently Adrian had worked setup and the first quarter and so he was off for the night, but wanted to stay to help clean up after anyway because that’s the kind of person he was. Oscar finally peeled his eyes off Ruby long enough to notice Nova was back with Adrian and Nachos in tow.

    “If I wasn’t so in love with someone else right now, I could kiss you,” Oscar jested as he grabbed the tray from Nova’s hands. She just rolled her eyes and settled herself between Oscar and Adrian.

After a while of munching on nachos and skittles Nova pulled out her phone to check and had about 500 new notifications. No doubt new pictures she had been tagged in and a bunch of new messages from people in the area. With a sigh Nova shoved her phone back in its pocket pocket and turned her attention back to my recently acquired snack. 

 Nova had just taken a bite of the glorious golden gooey goodness when Oscar elbowed her in the ribs,

“We would love to come, right Nova?” he said, glaring at her for not paying attention to their conversation.

“Come where?” Nova spit out through my mouthful of nachos.

“To the 5th quarter tonight at Narcissa’s house! When do we ever get to hang out, no pressure? Plus Oscar could invite Ruby too,” Adrian said staring at Nova with the biggest puppy dog eyes she had ever seen a teenage boy manage to conjure up. Oscar was staring at her with the ‘if you say no I will kill you’ look, and between the two of them it didn’t seem like going home after the game was in the cards this time.

“Yeah I guess we can go for a bit.”

Not one fiber of Nova’s being wanted to go anywhere near a party at Narcissa’s house, who she assumed was the boy who had tried to give her the hot dog earlier, but Nova was a push over. So now she was stuck.

Half-time was finally upon them and Nova was actually interested to see the marching band show. Adrian said that his friend from school was in it which meant that Nova might actually get to see something worthwhile tonight and the trip wouldn’t be a total waste after all!

The band got busy setting the pit and then scurrying to their places around the field. They were actually in a really good spot to see, which made it easy for Nova to find where the colorguard was standing and the other dancers with them. The costumes were well designed with shimmering colors to catch the eye and had great freedom of movement. Then Nova noticed who was actually in the costumes, the guy and one of the girls Nova had never met, but the third she recognized as the girl from the cash register. The girl who had stared daggers into Nova’s very soul. 

She could barely hear Oscar and Adrian chatting as she zeroed in on the girl. Noticing things that she had not earlier when all Nova could focus on was her big dark brown eyes. She had her blond dreadlocks pulled back in a bun and beautiful dark skin tone. Her curves were deep and her hips rounded perfectly.

As soon as the show started Nova couldn’t take her eyes off of the girl. The way she moved was effortless and beautiful. She had so much passion for her craft in every little moment; from jaw dropping tricks to the way she moved her hand to continue a line. It was mesmerizing. 

As the show moved forward there was a partner routine with her and the guy who was there and it almost made Nova laugh. He moved like an elephant compared to her and when he did any sort of lift or trick there was no sign of anything but exhaustion on his face. Despite how awful he was, it still made something bubble up inside Nova every time he touched the other girl. She deserved a better partner.

They moved on from that awful romance section finally and shortly the program came to a close. Once the girl had cleared the field Nova blinked a few times and looked over at Oscar and Adrian who were both staring right at her.

“Um, can I help you?” she questioned at their wide-eyed faces.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Oscar asked her point blank. He had always been rather blunt, but it was still rude.

“What do you mean? My face is fine! Unless my blue eyes magically turned brown. Which is unlikely,” Nova shot back.

“Nova, you were glued to the field that entire time with your mouth open,” Adrian clarified for me.

“Oh, I, um, well,” she really didn’t have any idea what to say, which wasn’t a new thing, but she was beyond flustered at the moment.

“Yeah, your face is bright red my dude, did you like something you saw out there?” Oscar wiggled his eyebrows at Nova and her heart dropped into her feet.t.

“Of course I did! I love watching… um, dancing.” Nova’s lie was not particularly convincing and they all knew it, but thankfully neither of them questioned her anymore. 

The next two quarters came and went and Nova could hear Adrian and Oscar chatting away beside her the entire time.

After most of the crowds left, Adrian went to help with clean-up telling us to meet him at the back gate in half an hour so we could all walk over together, Oscar went down to invite Ruby and Nova was alone. Technically she could have gone with either of them, but a little bit of quiet would be good for her. Nova had to get that girl out of her head and then move on with her life.

Her plans were far less successful than she had hoped and the more she tried to forget the girl and her perfect performance the less Nova actually forgot her. Finally Oscar came back with Ruby tagging along behind him and Nova couldn’t have been happier for the distraction.

“Hey Ruby! Great job out there tonight! Way to cheer us to victory,” Nova said, standing to give the black and white haired girl a hug.

“Thanks Nova! And thanks for coming too. I know Oscar dragged you, but it was still nice of you to show up,” Ruby replied with a smile.

“Well enough standing around here! We have a party to get to!” Oscar practically yelled at the two of them.

Nova took a moment to look down at her watch and realized it was three minutes till they were supposed to be meeting Adrian.

“Come on, we are gonna be late,” Nova grumbled as she started to walk.

They met up with Adrian soon after and all walked over to Narcissa’s house together which was a total of ten steps behind the field. There was already music blaring and the back gate was open so it was pretty hard to miss.

This was not Nova’s cup of tea. In fact she would have much rather been at home in the quiet winding down for the night with a computer on her lap and a hot cup of tea in her hands. Nothing could soothe the soul like hot tea. Unfortunately for her there was no tea and no quiet in sight.

Adrian led the way through the crowded house to the less crowded kitchen where there were drinks and snacks scattered about. Nova wasn’t hungry and she didn’t drink, but also didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb so she grabbed a cup and filled it up with water while everyone else was busy pouring their own drinks. Oscar and Ruby both went for some sort of beer Nova wasn’t familiar with and giggled together while they started their first round. Adrian went the classy route and poured some cheep wine into a red solo cup

They all bounded off into the distance to play beer pong or something of the sort and Nova stayed planted in the kitchen. People came and went, most too far gone already to recognize her thankfully. That was until Narcissa turned up. 

"Nova? Is that you?" She squeaked in unbelief. 

"In the flesh," Nova grumbled back, shoving her hands in my pockets. Narcissa’s eyes lit up like the fourth of July and she scurred closer.

"I'm your biggest fan! I can't believe you are actually here! In my house! At my party!" 

"Yep. Here I am," Nova said and smiled. Her Aunty Honey would never let her out ever again if she let down a fan and so Nova had learned to fake it rather well.

"Wow. I need a drink this can't be happening," and with that Narcissa shuffled off in a stunned stooper, filling up her cup on the way out. What an odd girl.

After she left, a very drunk Oscar and Ruby and an only slightly tipsy Adrian came stumbling back. Oscar had one arm hugging Ruby’s waist tight against his side and the other dragging his cane as if it was made of lead.

“Hey Nova, wanna come dance with us?” Adrian asked.

“Yeah, that actually sounds really nice,” Nova murmured as she pulled off her hoodie. The four of them went back towards the backyard and honestly Nova was a little excited. She loved dancing. The way the music washed over a person and you could just move with it. No steps, no errors, no rules. Just you and the music. 

They made it back outside and realized it was almost pitch black now that the floodlights on the field had been switched off. Nova could see general movement and the ground, but that was about it. Something about it made her stomach tighten with excitement, the thrill of dancing in the dark. No one was watching. No one even could watch.

As soon as a new song started so did Nova. The beat was so strong she could feel it in her chest and she lost herself to the movement. Two songs, maybe three, passed and Nova was in her own world until she bumped into someone. Little did she know then that nothing would ever be the same after this moment. Nova had no idea who it was, but right then it didn’t matter. They were dancing.

They moved in perfect harmony with body pressed to body. It felt like a lifetime flashed through Nova’s mind; nothing else mattered but the two of them. Her hands snaked under Nova’s shirt and she didn't even try to stop it. Every time she touched Nova’s skin it sent electricity up and down her entire body and drove even more passion into their shared ecstasy. Nova longed to find her lips and press them against her own, but she held herself back finding contentment in the other girls soft skin under her fingertips. The other girl did not find the same contentment. Before Nova could even tell what was happening, she felt warm lips on her own and the world felt like it stopped. Electricity passed through them as they fought for power, hungered for more, and it was driving Nova crazy.

The ability to let go of the pressure of being Nova Artino and dive into this feeling of pure freedom and raw lust was… exhilarating. She had completely forgotten about her frustration of having to come to this party in the first place when a voice called from the back door, “Hey Y’all! Time for truth or dare in the living room!” 

The trance she had been in was quickly broken as the music was suddenly turned down and the back porch light was flipped on. Nova froze as she saw for the first time her partner. It was her. Like her.

Nova’s heart skipped a beat as the girl’s hands dropped from their place on Nova’s hips. The look of pure hatred that she had given Nova earlier plastered itself back onto her face. 

“It’s you?” the girl spat, backing away from Nova.

“Yes?” Nova squeaked back, not sure what to do. 

“You… you stay away from me! Everyone else may have forgotten what your family did, but I won’t. I will never forget the destruction of innocent lives. I. Hate. You. Never touch me again.” and with that the other girl turned on her heels and marched into the house. 

Nova stood there dumbfounded. Unable to make her legs move. Did that girl really blame Nova for her uncle’s mistakes? Were there still people who were hurting over his actions? He was gone now… forever, and yet his actions still haunted Nova, trapping her in an inescapable bubble.

“Nova?” she heard Adrian’s voice call from the back door, “are you okay?” 

She looked up to see his face wrought with confusion, but all she could think to say did not answer his question at all.

“What’s that girl with the golden dreadlocks name?”

“Danna,” he said with a confused tone, “Danna Bell.”

“Oh,” Nova whispered as she sank to the ground. 

“Okay, enough of this,” Adrian declared as he walked over and sat next to her, “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

Nova couldn’t bring herself to repeat what Danna had said to her. Not yet. Not here. So instead she just slumped over onto Adrian’s chest, staring blankly into the night. Nova had thought that she was strong enough to take the hate comments by now, but for some reason they stung even more coming from Danna. Nova had felt electric when they were together. Her Aunt Honey had always told her that ‘the flame burns the one who holds onto it as it reaches the end of its life and then there is nothing left but you, alone, burnt, standing in a pile of ashes’ but Nova had never really understood what that meant until then. Her mind flashed with memories of the night that only served to deepen her wounds. So she hadn’t been in love with Danna or anything, they had not even spoken really before, but they had still shared a moment of passion and that made the words cut Nova even deeper.

Nova realized that since Adrian had sat down he hadn’t said anything else. He didn’t push her, or hurry her, or move her, Adrian just sat there with Nova in her hurt. They must have stayed there for at least an before Nova finally found the gumption to whisper the words she had been holding onto, “I danced with Danna all night, but as soon as the lights turned on she blindsided me with blame for what my uncle did and left.”

Nova felt Adrian’s steady breathing catch as she finally managed to get the words out. She knew how angry people who still looked down on Nova for her uncle’s choices made him, and yet it still lit a little spark of joy in her. He had been there for her through everything and never backed down from telling someone to shove off when they accosted her. From when the truth came out about her uncle and her world came crashing down, to when she finally rebuilt everything her father had worked so hard to create and the world looked at in her awe.

“Well then Danna is an idiot,” Adrian replied frankly before taking a deep breath and continuing, “Nova, you are the strongest, smartest, most resilient person I have ever known. Anyone who can’t see past your family’s mistakes is a fool missing out on someone who could change their life forever. I know you know how I feel about all of that, but you still deserve so much more than that. You are incredible Nova and anyone who passes up the opportunity to see that is a fool.”

At that, Nova sat up and stared at her best friend. He had never said anything like that to her before. 

“Do you mean that?” she asked quietly, thanking the stars that it was still dark enough outside to cover her blush.

“Of course I do,” Adrian said lifting a hand and brushing a stray hair from Nova’s face, “you are the most important person to me and anyone who hurts you is an enemy of mine.” Her heart started to beat faster as he moved closer. Had Adrian always been this handsome? Had his lips always looked this inviting? 

As they got close enough for their foreheads to touch Nova paused, looking into Adrians deep brown eyes for a moment before closing the gap between their lips. In that moment Nova felt like she was home. This kiss was gentle and knowing. It was a lifetime of memories tied up in a breathless moment. Adrian’s lips were soft and careful, soaking up her fears and letting her melt into the comfort of this intimate closeness. She felt his hand wrap around her waist as she draped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She wanted more of him. Of the safety that his arms around her body gave and of the slowly rising heat between them, but to her surprise Adrian pulled back.

“Is something wrong?” Nova questioned, a little fearful of what his answer might be. 

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Adrian smiled at her, “I just don’t know if now is the right time.”

Nova rocked back onto her heels and really took in Adrian’s face. He was right. Nova was taking advantage of him to make herself feel better and they both knew it.

“Oh, yeah, maybe you’re right,” Nova said before they dropped into an awkward silence. They sat just staring at each other for an unbearably long time before Adrian broke the silence.

“I think we should probably get the other two and go. It’s late and you have had a long evening. I’ll grab our things and Oscar and Ruby and we can head out.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Nova responded as Adrian stood up and cast one more look at her before walking inside.