The Issing Thief

My second instillation of The Kissing Thief! While I wasn't sure I would keep writing it, I hope some day someone will love this story, and I don't want to be like other authors who left people out to dry! BTW There is zero sex in this chapter! It is purely plot and character building! Have fun reading!

~ Aven

Three Weeks later

Click. Click click. Click click click.

The pen cap snapped back up so I could viciously push it back down again. I have nearly destroyed or lost all of my black gel ink pens within the last 4 months since the semester began.

I kept assuming that somehow, the obvious connection between Nicholas and the eyeless guy would appear, but so far, there hasn't been a single clue.

Not one.

Nicholas isn't chatty. He hardly speaks and briefly glances over the class without looking anyone in the eye. The other girls in the class try to catch his attention, but he couldn't be bothered. When they raise their hand to ask a question, he doesn't even look at them when he calls on them. Every other day, he wears a blue or black button down shirt with khaki slacks and black leather dress shoes. He's wearing navy blue today. My eyes float over the contours of his body and the well defined muscles that make the shirt tight around his arms and over his shoulders. I throw the pen from me in frustration.

I've been trying to talk to him for weeks now.

Every time the class ends he flees.

Literally. I get up, he takes off out the door.

The other students want to talk to him too, but he just says casually, "email me".

I emailed him. No response.

I call the professor. No response.

Good thing this is just an English class. I sigh and watch the clock as it predictively falls on the 9 and he ends perfectly in sync with the second hand, turning to smile at the class as he packs up his things.

A deep inhalation and exhalation helps to release the tension in my body, because today I have made up my mind:

I'm going to follow him.

He turns his back to the class and begins to pack his stuff up as I lean down to pick my backpack off the floor. I keep my eyes lowered as I pack my bag and watch Nicholas through my eyelashes. He walks past me and walks out behind another student. With deliberately slow steps I swing my bag over my shoulder and walk out of the classroom. My eyes roam the hall quickly for Nicholas whose red hair can be identified exiting through the south side of the building.

He's already at the end of the hall! Shit!

I speed up and hurry to the door. So much for acting natural dammit! I roll my eyes and slam the door open with a force that makes it hit the wall behind it. Other students walking past look up at me startled. I smile cautiously and wave. "Oops". I say with an unconvincing smile walking away from the door. My eyes go back to scanning for Nicholas who is nearing the other side of campus, speedily walking to the parking lot. I have to jog to close the space between us. When I'm close enough I hide behind a column and wait for the distance to grow before I continue to follow him. A brunette with a black choker and glasses walks past me with a twinkle in her eye. There's a sly smile playing on her lips. I return her smile with a tight lipped one. No need to judge bitch. Just mind your business. I start walking again, but several feet behind him, keeping speed and staying undetected. My steps elongate to match his so the distance doesn't grow anymore than it has already.

He's nearing the parking lot! Come on! Don't lose him! I speed up and round the building before the parking lot. He's no where in sight.

Fuck.

I take a deep breath and scan the parking lot again. The glint of the cars makes me squint and but I still can't see anything or anyone that looks like it might be Nicholas. It's fairly devoid of people. Most of the students are still in classes. I sigh. You can try again tomorrow, I remind myself as I turn to leave. Immediately, I'm faced with a rather irate red head scowling down at me.

"HEY! NICK!", I say slamming a smile on my face. I know my eyes are wide with surprise and I am trying to hide the 'oh shit' reaction from my features as best as I can, but my heart is pounding in my chest. Questions race through my mind as he looks down at me with casual irritation.

"Miss Brown, correct?" He says with a cold tone. "Yes...?... Mr. Allen?" My breath hitches in my throat. I can barely see his eyes. He's squinting down at me and the sunlight is blinding both of us. "Is there a reason you seem to be following me?" So damn direct! Make up a lie! QUICK! "Um, actually my car is in this parking lot too! But, I can't seem to find it...way too many blue cars..." I give him a rather unconvincing smile. He raises an eyebrow and begins to move past me to the sea of cars. "I see. Well, I hope you find your vehicle soon. This is not a place to stand about for long." He says as he walks away.

"Thanks for the advice!" I shout after him. In a matter of minutes he disappears into the cars and I pray to God to help me lie better.

I march back to the other side of campus to begin walking home. I know I look dejected and I can't help it. He makes me so uncharacteristically nervous, I can't even formulate a sentence that makes sense. I begin cutting through the medical building and turn to look at my reflection in the glass of a message board. I sigh and bang my head against the wall without caring that there are people are watching. Classic case of dejection for the psychiatry kids.

"You're stupid. You're stupid. You're stupid. Stupid." I repeat to myself. My eyes roll back in my head as I start to walk to the bus stop. I could've sworn I saw a shadowy figure in my peripheral watching me from the side of a building.

*****************

After a couple of weeks with Nicholas teaching us, and deciding not to further pursue my quest to determine if Nicholas was the man from that night, our regular professor returned from his extended trip. He explained that he was gone because of a sudden illness and had to stay home for quite a while to recuperate. Pneumonia.

Nicholas left the same day and no one saw him again for weeks.

I cringed every time I thought back to my response when I was talking to him in the parking lot. "You're fucking stupid." I muttered as I walked to my chem class. "Yea, and we're flying pigs." I snapped around and watched my classmate Alex smile at my fright. "Nigga. Don't try me. What's good?" I laughed and mock punched him in the arm as we walked into the lecture hall. We weren't kiss-asses so we sat in the middle towards the back of the class. In the amount of time I had started school in Arizona, I had actually made a number of friends and I was pretty well known in certain circles. I waved at Kelsey and John and sat down next to them while Alex sat on my right. John leaned over and said, "So, Alex tell you about the party yet?"

"No?... What party?"

John gave Alex a look and Alex shrugged as he leaned over to explain. "There's a frat party and I was still deciding if I was gonna go to that or the new restaurant opening downtown." Alex explained. John made a face and Kelsey chimed in to ask Alex if it was the new Asian Fusion restaurant that she had heard about. They made plans to go together to check out the restaurant and John looked at me expectantly. We maintained eye contact for a minute until I gave up and sighed. "Yes, I will go, but so long as you don't ditch me for the first hot guy that's out of the closet." I muttered. John smiled. "No problem boo. I'll just ditch you for the first guy that wants to move the party to the bed." I scoff and we finally shut up as the professor begins his two and a half hour drawl on things I never learned in high school.

*****************************************

The class finally ended and I dragged myself out alongside my friends. I barely registered agreeing to meet up before the party with John before we go our separate ways. I have two more classes to sit through before the party. I sigh as I trudge over to the buildings where the classes are held. "God help me." I mutter.

Beyond the class buildings, dark clouds loomed. Suddenly the sky is bathed in a purple light and I look up to watch electricity paint the sky. My mind flashes to the thief who broke into my home. I smile. A thief who steals kisses. I smile at the ever growing fondness of the memory.

****************************

Instead of going straight back to my apartment I head to John's dorm. He's driving me to frat party held at a big ass house about two miles from the school. We're cruising in his Jeep. It's a classic wrangler and dark gray. The rims aren't over done, but it's still a big car. Back in Georgia, we would look like rich college kids, but here we just look like hippies. Generally speaking there is one unofficial official rule about how to show up to a party: Look like you made no effort to look good. The great thing for me, not giving a fuck just got a whole lot easier.

John is wearing blue jeans a white v-neck and a black collared shirt. To make sure women don't get confused and men get the picture, the v-neck is tucked in, his ears are adorned with stud earrings, which he rarely wears and choker. He looks like a gay Abercrombie model that has a Pinterest featuring only self taken aesthetic photos. Next to him, I look like I really didn't try: Black jeans, white tank, Keds, choker, and earrings. And of course, the massive fro is out. We probably look too good, but that's half the draw. John told me in advance why he wanted to come to the party. "I don't want to spend the next four years complaining about how no one knows me and I made no friends in college. I want to be seen and I know how to do it." he said over his caramel latte. "I don't give a shit if people think I'm lame for wanting to be well known. I prefer fake love to no love." It was lunch. The discussion had been during the hour break we had between Chem Lab and my English class. As he spoke, I recalled how I had met him while I was looking for our Chem Lecture class and ended up wandering into Starbucks. I told the barista I wanted a large chai latte and she corrected me on the fact that at Starbucks a large was a grande or venti. My eyeroll, made me fast friends that day.

Now walking into this party, I felt like I was living the glory days, and he was the best person to stand by my side. He turned to me. "You ready?" he said. He looked a little nervous. "Are you?" I countered. "Ha! No." I laughed and grabbed his arm. "Let's go cupcake." He winced at his nickname and sauntered into the fray with me.

The party was actually pretty calm. People were laughing and talking on the couch, the kitchen was filled with freshmen attentively listening while a TA explained how the professors were assholes forcing them to make the curriculum harder so they could weed out the freshmen, and the backyard was filled people lounging around the pool in the cool night air talking, and playing pool volleyball. I smiled and I heard John let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God for small mercies." he said. "Amen to that." I said.

"I honestly thought it was gonna be a mad house. For some reason all I could picture were half naked people and drunk kids everywhere." I opened my mouth to reply but a voice spoke back first.

"That's 'cause house-rules dictate that the parties can't get out of control. 'Be responsible, be smart, be cordial'."

A sophomore jock walked around John and I. He turned to smile at us. "Hey! You're a football kid right?! Didn't you make the touchdown last game?!" I said. "That's me!" He smiled charmingly and extended his right arm for a handshake which I gladly gave. That game was wild! The memory flitted through my mind over the crowds excitement and the exhilaration towards the end of the game. I lost my voice for three days after because I was screaming so much.

I elbowed John in the side. "John, he made the touch down!" I said excitedly. I looked up at John's face to see my friend looking rather pale and tortured. "John?".

"I guess that's my cue to leave." The jock said. He gave me a nod and gave John a tightlipped smile. "Nice to see you Erikson." The jock said. He turned to walk to the kitchen, but not before I saw the look of regret on his face. "What was that about?" I asked as I looked from John to the kitchen and back to John. After a moment, John sucked in a deep breath and suddenly turned to leave. My arm was still wrapped around his and we hadn't even stepped five feet past the door.

I stumbled behind him before I felt him release my arm and nearly tripped down the steps after him. "John? What the hell is going on?" I tried to keep up with him and ended up having to nearly run.

"You have to ask so many questions?!" He shouted the words over his shoulder frustratedly. He was furiously marching to his car with long strides.

"Yea I do, because I'm trying to figure out why the hell you've suddenly changed your mind about the party?... Don't tell me you know the footballer?" John got into the Jeep and slammed the door. I hopped up onto the driver's side as he sat there. His eyes were watery.

"John..." I held his arm through the open window and he smiled sadly as the tears began to roll down his face. He took a shaky breath. "I didn't go to high school very far from here... but I figured my town was far enough away that I would hardly see anyone from there... Half the kids went to community college and the other half didn't go to college at all, so I thought 'Fuck it. What are the odds of seeing someone you know..." he raked his hands through his hair "...so I came here expecting a fresh start, and of all the fucking classmates in the world..." He took another shaky breath and pulled his fingers through his hair in frustration and pain. "It had to be the fucking asshole who hu-hurt me the mo-most." John sobbed out the words and I realized that he needed to be somewhere else.

Somewhere safe.

"I'm sorry I pushed you. You want me to drive you home?" He nodded silently and slid over to the passenger side while I got in the driver's seat. I started the engine and drove back down the driveway leading to the my apartment. I looked over at John while he curled his legs into his body and let the wind dry his tears. "John, you want to stay over my place?" I asked him over the wind. He nodded solemnly and we drove the empty town streets back to my place.

***********************************

I pulled into my dedicated parking spot that I currently didn't use because I still couldn't afford a car and turned off the engine in the Jeep. I hopped out and walked over to the passenger side to help John out of the car. His eyes were puffy and red and the sleeve of his shirt had been pulled up over his elbow.

There were long red scratches over thick scar tissue on his arm. I made sure my eyes didn't linger on the scars too long and with his arm around my neck and my arm around his waist we walked up the stairs to my apartment on the 2nd floor. I unlocked the door and got John to the bed. He took off his shoes and curled up in my quilt that my grandmother handmade for me. He looked like a little Russian nesting doll.

I sat down beside him on the bed and rubbed his back. He sniffled and looked up and me. "Thanks for letting me stay over." He said between sniffles. "No problem. That's what friends are for." I said back. I tried to give him an encouraging smile.

"Want something to eat? To drink?" He thought about it, nodded and smiled a little. I smiled back and got up to get him some tea and a sandwich. By the time I came back he was so tired, all he could do was take a bite of the sandwich and drink half of the tea before falling asleep in my quilt. While he was sleeping I prayed to God to heal him and that the quilt would give him the same peace it gave me.

I looked over his puffy face and wondered what that jock kid had put him through. My mind briefly wandered back to my high-school days. I ripped it out of those memories. "No." I muttered.

Once I made sure that he was asleep and comfortable I left my apartment and went down the street to the park to think about the demons that I was running away from. I was so lost in my thoughts, I forgot about the storm that could clearly be seen, if I had only looked up.

*************************************

The park was several blocks from my house. It gave this gorgeous clear view of the night sky and the stars every night. I found it when I was just moving into my apartment and had initially gotten lost, but the park made me feel right at home. There were a couple homeless guys on benches, but it didn't matter to me. I walked over to the biggest tree in the park.

This tree was like the tree of life.

It made me feel like my world began and ended at that tree. No matter what could possibly happen, that tree would majestically make bad things become better.

I briefly recalled a call from my sister that my dad had to go to the hospital. She scolded me about leaving our family and said "You'd better pray that dad doesn't die while you're still away." When she hung up I felt the guilt of leaving my family slam down on my shoulders. I thought I could run away from it, but here it was following me. I had just unpacked the last box and was attempting to make my tiny apartment cozy.

After that call everything was a daze. My stomach began to turn and toss and I felt queazy. I sauntered outside and walked to the park to try and air out my sadness. I almost walked into the tree. I must have looked like a drug addict, but I didn't care. I sat right between the gnarly roots and cried. I cried for what felt like at least two hours straight. I slammed the back of my head into the trunk until it hurt and there was a small dent on the trunk from my head. When I had finally run out of tears and my face was puffy and my nose was stuffed, and the back of my head was swollen I decided that I was just going to sleep under the tree. Everything hurt. I could barely see. I felt stupid. What the hell were you thinking? Move out of your parents house to Arizona?! No support system whatsoever? You're a genius! Fucking moron!

Just the memory of the day sent my mind down a dangerous path. My subconscious whispered more insults as I laid back and looked up at the branches only to be met with the most demonic looking figure I had ever seen.

"What a coincidence! Sleeping outside?" He said. The accent threw me for a loop. From what I could see out of my now puffy eyes, was the beautiful pearly whites that ironically looked more sinister with the omniscient glow of the street lamp. He leapt from a high branch and landed perfectly on his feet bouncing up to a standing position. He didn't totter or sway. It was too perfect for someone who had no eyes. And more than that, it was lethal.

"I must be dreaming you up, cause I swear to God..." he walked over to me as I spoke smiling from ear to ear with apparent glee. "What you smiling about?! First, you disappear, then I think you've reappeared and smiling and creepy looking, but not..." I grumbled. The sleep was making my brain unintentionally screw up whatever insults I wanted to spew at him, but it was also confused. I wasn't sure if he was real yet.

He knelt next to me. His smile softened and he didn't look so fierce. I wasn't sure why I wasn't afraid. Something in the back of my mind told me that he wasn't exactly a person to be comfortable with or around, but I barely registered the reality of it.

"I've missed you." He said slowly. The accent was still there, but much softer and deeper. He sounded like he had a Canadian-Irish accent and it nearly lulled me to sleep. My head rolled backwards, but I caught myself. Opening my eyes again, I tried to get a good look at him. It was definitely him, but something was so off.