Unexpected 25

Hello, everyone! Just a quick note, I'm planning to have a lot of build-up in this story, so there won't really be any sex until later on. Hope you enjoy it regardless, though! It's an idea I've had for a long while now. ^^

-~*~-

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with so much joy that you started to question whether or not what was happening wasn't just a dream? When the moment that you actually

have

dreamt about, many times, happens for real?

That's how I'm feeling right now as I happily take another copy of my book from the young girl beaming in front of me and sign it. Being a bestselling author, having book signings, all of that had been a distant fantasy years ago. The fact that it's actually happening right now makes me want to just scream out at the top of my lungs 'til every window in all the buildings of this city cracks.

I remember when

Catharsis

, my book, had been nothing but a pesky Word document that I slaved over for nearly a full year. I couldn't even tell you how many pages I had to scrap and rewrite. I also couldn't even begin to describe how excruciating the wait was

after

I finished it, anxiously staring at the phone and at my inbox, waiting for my life to either soar into new heights or crash down into the earth's core.

I never imagined that months later my book would become a

New York Times

bestseller, and that I'd actually have fans. Fans! Me! I still find it difficult to process even now. I couldn't be any more ecstatic and grateful.

I take a moment to stare at the cover of my book for a moment. It's of a girl, floating in the abyss, wearing a gorgeous ball gown that disperses into a flight of butterflies that form the typography in the bottom, my name just below it: Kiara Paxton. The cover never fails to send goosebumps along my arms and making my throat choke up slightly. I sign the copy and hand it over to the girl. "Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the book."

She grins. "A lot of my friends online gave it glowing reviews, so I'm really excited. Thank you!" She walks away and lets the person behind her come forward.

Not to mention that not only the book became a bestseller, but the response from reviewers and book bloggers have been so overwhelming positive that I'd burst into tears of joy. I'd crafted the story and the characters from this book to the best of my ability, and for people to acknowledge that just left me speechless with gratitude.

The next person in line is a boy who's about the same age as the girl from earlier. He smiles and hands me the copy of the book, but with a piece of paper on top of it. A sketch. "I drew that earlier for you," he says, beaming. "It's how I picture Aiden looks like."

"Ooh cool!" I look at the sketch and my eyes widen. It's certainly very accurate to how I'd pictured the love interest in my book, Aiden, to look like. I internally chuckle to myself, because I'd based

his

looks on a certain someone I knew from my past. A certain someone who I really should forget, but can't quite do for some reason. My fifteen-year-old self still hopelessly pines for him, but my twenty-five-year-old self wants nothing more than to kick him to the curb and move on.

The person I'm talking about is Nikolai West. He was the strapping, popular senior boy back in the day who my past self had had a huge crush on. Strangely enough, he also happened to be the boy who'd bullied me a lot. He never did anything to physically harm me, no. But at the time the things he said and the way he always laughed at me were enough to hurt me due to how they were like daggers themselves.

He loved flaunting all the gorgeous girls he was dating in my face, just to rub in the fact that he'd never be interested in me. I wasn't very attractive in my teenage years. I'd been pale and skinny, flat-chested, and my hair was stringy and a dull platinum blond color, almost whitish. He'd called me many names that I'd rather not repeat, and just basically made my school life a living hell. I'd been begging my parents to move me to a new school, and they always said that they'd be "working on it", but nothing ever really happened. Until that one night that led me to straight-up threaten them.

That had been Homecoming night. For those of you who've seen the movie

Carrie

, you probably already know what happened. Basically, everyone in school all of a sudden treated me differently, acted nice around me. And Niko was being especially sweet. Of course, the naive fifteen-year-old that I was, I completely disregarded all the crap he did to me because he was just soooo dreamy. Ugh. Anyway, he asked me to be his Homecoming date, I giddily said yes. And then he never picked me up.

But that's not the end of it, oh no. I actually ended up going there myself. Of course, when I got there, he was already busy making out with another girl, and then he and everyone started laughing at the fact that I actually came, and that I actually believed he was interested in me, and I ran and cried all the way home. I literally felt my heart split in two during that moment, and when I got home I'd threatened to kill myself if they wouldn't let me move schools, in an act of desperation. Yes, I know that was an incredibly stupid thing to do, but hey, my past self in general was incredibly stupid, so.

Luckily they did end up letting me move schools. Better yet, they let me leave town and live with my aunt Joanne. Things started to look up after that. I went through an emo phase, but what teenager in the early 2000's didn't?

Fast forward to now, ten years later, I'm surprised how much I've changed. The me ten years ago feels like an entirely different person. Yet I know she still lives in me somewhere, because otherwise I would've been able to let go of Nikolai by now and simply forget his existence. But the fact that I haven't seen him once all these years was a big help.

"Wow, this is amazing," I say to the boy, still looking at the sketch. I quickly grab my phone and take a picture of it. "What's your Twitter handle? I gotta post this!"

He seems really flattered, cheeks red, and tells me his Twitter. I quickly tweet out the pic and mention him in it. "Oops, almost forgot!" I chuckle and sign his copy. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" He takes the signed copy and gestures to the drawing still on the table. "You can keep the drawing if you want."

"Oh I definitely do. Might even hang it on my wall." I giggle. I said that sort of half-jokingly, I suppose, because his drawing looks a lot like Nikolai. But hey, he was only going from how I'd described Aiden in the book, so I guess it's sort of my fault, in a way.

As the boy, Drew, walks away, I turn to the next person in line. He's a tall man, looks to only be a little bit older than me. Very built too, like a male model. My eyes move up to his face, and--

No. No way in hell.

It's clear that it is him, though. Same grayish-blue eyes, same spiky dark brown hair, same cocky smirk. He's clearly grown up well, though, and developed a gruffness to his look. His face that was clean-shaven all those years ago now has stubble, and his skin has developed a sun-kissed tan.

No question about it. Nikolai West is standing right in front of me, after ten years.

I will myself not to even blink, to just keep a calm, friendly expression and act as if I don't recognize him. "Hi, sir. Your copy, please?"

He raises an eyebrow. "What, you don't recognize me, Flatty?"

Ugh. Well, it's clear who grew up and who didn't, I guess. He honestly thinks I'd still get offended by that name? It doesn't even apply to me anymore. I didn't by any means grow into a bombshell, but I'm confident enough to say that I look good. I've developed a curvy, healthier figure over the years, and my skin no longer has the pale, sickly hue it did in the past. My hair now tumbles down my back in waves, and I've since dyed it a pastel violet color. I always wanted to dye my hair a different color, but I've only recently decided to dye it a color that's not natural.

It took me a long time to develop this much confidence into my appearance. I used to have so much self-loathing. Before I moved out of my hometown, I never actually had someone call me beautiful, or even pretty. The guy who did I'd dated when I was seventeen, two years after the...incident, I guess you could say. We were together for about a year, but it ended up not working. It was a mutual breakup, though. Was I in love with him? I probably was back then, but I no longer really consider the feelings I had in the past valid, because I was such a naive little girl. I never really thought logically, I just always let my emotions take over. Now I'm the exact opposite of that. But, I digress. I've since met a lot of people in my life that have helped me gain all the confidence I have now, and by developing this newfound self-love, I've also developed a thick skin. I refuse to let anyone stomp all over me anymore, and I'm certainly not going to let Nikolai do it again.

I furrow my eyebrows, acting confused and chuckling. "Um, I'm sorry? No, I don't recognize you."

"Oh, so we're playing that, eh?" He scoffs, looking me up and down. "Well, you definitely grew up well, Flatty."

"Uhh, sir, your copy, please?" I ask again, noticing the people behind him are starting to get frustrated. "I'm really sorry!" I quickly say to them to calm them down.

"What, this?" He holds the copy out in front of me, inspecting it, chuckling at the cover. "I just wanted to see what the fuss was all about. It'll probably be a nice addition to my trash can." He plops it down on the table.

I internally sigh, taking the copy and signing it, then handing it to him. "Thank you, sir, have a good day. Next!"

"Hold on there, missy," he says, pushing aside the next person in line, much to her annoyance. "Come on, you know you recognize me." Niko leans in close, his smirk begging to be slapped. "You know you still want me."

The fifteen-year-old girl inside of me wants nothing more than to just throw her arms around him and kiss him. But I shove her away as soon as she rears her head. I'm a grown ass woman, and to hell if I'm gonna let this guy get to me. "Sir, please step out of the line or I'll have to call security," I say in a cool tone.

I can see it in his eyes that he's starting to get a little frustrated. Possibly because he's used to getting what he wants, and getting any girl he wants. I'll give him the satisfaction when hell freezes over.

But then his eyes move downwards and sees the sketch from earlier. "Oh-ho-ho, what's this?" He inspects it, amused, a frustratingly cocky grin on his face. "See, I knew you're still wet for me, Flatty."

Alright, that's it. I shift my gaze toward the security guard near the front door. He meets my eyes, and I gesture to Nikolai. He nods and heads towards us. Niko sees the guard and sighs. "Fine, fine, I'll go. Don't think we won't see each other again, though." He winks at me as the guard escorts him out.

I can't help but let out a little sigh of relief. The woman who was behind him in line comes forward and awkwardly chuckles, handing me her copy. "Who was that?"

"I have no idea," I say, mimicking her chuckle, slightly embarrassed. "Probably just some crazy drunk guy."

"He was pretty hot, though," she adds.

"Yeah, well, appearances can deceive you." I hand her the signed book. "Thank you!"

It's a little later during signing that I realize Nikolai took the sketch with him.

-~*~-

That's the end of chapter one. xD I'm pretty excited to continue this. Let me know what you guys think. I'll gladly take criticisms just as long as they're constructive. Thanks for reading!