Nibble part 11

Lindsay's older sister was in town again. Don't get me wrong, her sister is really nice, but she throws parties at Lindsay's house-which Lindsay of course forces Gabrielle and I to attend so she won't be alone- and they are just generally not fun. I mean, maybe if you were that type of person- a partier- you would enjoy these occasions. We three knights, however, are not that type. We're not social rejects or anything, we've had our fair share of boyfriends even if we don't go out of our way to try to join the "popular" people. But we don't like partying. At all. Just the general idea of spending an evening in a room full of sweaty strangers who don't know exactly what they're doing with bad music blaring in your ears is not appealing to us. Gabrielle and I have suggested a million times that Lindsay just spend the night with us when these parties happen, but unfortunately, Maggie, Lindsay's sister, is just as stubborn as Lindsay, and insists that her little sister attend her parties. So, as Lindsay's parents waved goodbye for the weekend, off for a fifteenth honeymoon or something, Maggie turned to us and clapped her hands together. "Party time," she said giddily. I groaned inwardly and turned into the house as Maggie skipped ahead of us and we dragged our feet on the marble entranceway floor.

"Hey," Lindsay said, emerging from the crowd of people. "Do you know any of these people?" Gabby asked, glancing around the room with an irritated expression on her face. Lindsay bit her lip and looked around. She pointed to the farthest corner and said, "I think that's Kyle-my sister's ex-boyfriend from freshman year." I rose an eyebrow and said, with emphasis, "Of college?" Lindsay winced, "High school." Gabrielle groaned, "I hate this. We waste at least every other Saturday night in an overheated house full of strangers." Lindsay rolled her eyes, "Aw, come on. My sister does invite the whole town. We know a lot of these people." Gabby rolled her eyes, "Yup. Our school chums are just my favorite people to spend my weekends with." Lindsay sighed, "Well, at least it's my house." Gabrielle tilted her head with a sarcastic smile, "Oh, yea. Roomier. Helps fit more people." Lindsay winced again, "I'm sorry, guys. Thank you for coming, anyway." I glanced into the kitchen and said, "I'm gonna go get some water." Gabby rose an eyebrow and I laughed, "Don't worry, I'll get it straight from the fridge. I'll be right back." I walked into the kitchen and located an unopened package of cups. I ripped the plastic and pulled one out, walking over to the fridge and pushing it against the button. I watched as water poured into the cup and then I leaned against the wall facing the living room for a moment, glancing around to see if anyone I recognized and didn't mind talking to was present. Just as I did this, a group of smokers emerged from the kitchen and I moved slightly over on the wall, giving them more room and trying not to cough. Smiling slightly at the memory of pretending to smoke with Lindsay once outside of a coffee shop and receiving strange looks from passerbys, I brought my hand up to my lips and made a peace sign, so it looked like I was holding an invisible cigarette. I sucked in and then brought my hand away from my face, blowing out. Just as I did this, I recognized someone as they stepped out from a crowd of laughing people by the sofas. It was Nick. He was looking down, as usual, but then he suddenly glanced up, as if to make sure he wasn't about to slam into a wall, and he made eye contact with me. I had brought the imaginary cigarette up to my mouth again and I carried on with my fake smoking despite Nick watching. He walked up to me, still making eye contact, and I faked throwing the cigarette on the ground and stepping on it. I pretended to pull out another cigarette and as Nick stepped up to me, I expected him to ask me what the heck I was doing. Instead, he said, "Need a light?" I wiped the slight smile off my face and nodded, sticking the invisible cigarette into my mouth and leaning forward as he mimed pulling out a lighter and spinning it. I leaned back and said, "Thanks," through the corner of my mouth, pretending to be trying to keep the cigarette in my mouth. I put my hand up to my mouth again and sucked in. He smiled that half-smile and said, "I'm Quentin." I tried to hide my smile as I noticed the actual smokers watching us from the corner of my eye, their expressions confused. "Shelby," I replied as I puffed an imaginary cloud of smoke in his face. He waved the invisible smoke away and said, "You shouldn't smoke inside." I shrugged, "I don't think I'm effecting anyone." He half-smiled again and said in a lower tone, leaning slightly forward, "You're effecting me." My breath caught in my throat again and he said, "I gotta go. But you should really light up outside next time." He waved to the house and said, "This is a private residence, you know." I nodded slowly and he grinned and turned away from me, heading towards the front door. Leaving. As if the only reason he had come in the first place was to see me. I turned and saw the smokers glaring at me, probably thinking I had been trying to say something to them through this little facade, so I quickly emerged myself back into the living room crowd and wiggled my way back to Lindsay and Gabby. They had now found spots on a couch and were talking to a girl I didn't recognize. At least, Lindsay was talking to her. Gabby seemed like she was kind of over making an effort to talk to anyone. I sat down next to Lindsay and as the girl asked Gabby a question and she replied in a bored tone, Lindsay whispered to me, "Did I just see you talking to Nick Angel in my peripheral vision?" I cleared my throat and said, "Uh, yea. He, uh... was just commenting on the house, sort of. Probably knew that it was yours, that I'm close to you. You know." Ok, so that may have been stretching the truth to the tenth power. But, hey, what was I supposed to say, "Oh, yea. I was pretending to smoke and he noticed and came over to offer me a pretend lighter." Right. Lindsay looked at me for a minute, studying my face, and said, "Huh." I blushed at this, for some reason, and Lindsay turned back to the girl, returning to that conversation as if our short one hadn't happened at all.

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