Best Friends Forever, Chapter Seven



Sometimes when someone looks closely at the moon they can see a face in the craters. They can see the stars around it making a sort of veil of beauty, and the moon reflects the light of the sun onto the Earth's surface, a sad and ghostly light that often invigorates and intrigues people. Others find it frightening, and shiver under the light of the full moon, and still more worship the few nights a week when it appears full and bright, dance in it. Some lay claim it makes them act crazy, and some really believe they can be crazy during a full moon. It was a night of the full moon Eric snapped and drove an hour to Nadia's half-empty house and stared in horror at the mess inside. Lexi had invited him in, but it was HER house then, and she had hardly said anything about Nadia to him. One month-one cycle of the moon-had passed since he'd heard or seen from her, and it was too much.

"Where is she?" He asked suddenly, looking at the box of photo albums Lexi was using as a footrest.

With sorrow and mild regret, Lexi spoke. "She got the job at Cambridge."

"So she moved?" He asked, and when she nodded, he felt a sort of crushing sadness envelope him. "Why didn't she tell me? Do you have a number-?"

"Eric," her eyes shut against his words for a moment, "she agreed it would be best if you couldn't contact her for a while."

Despair swallowed Eric whole. "Why the hell do I screw everything up? I listened to her, she-"

"You'd be forcing her to make a very difficult decision."

"A decision I could make in seconds in my position. And since I can make it she should be able accept it." He spat angrily.

Lexi felt for him, and when she knelt next to him and put a hand on his, she was surprised to feel his fingers spring up around hers. "Just forget about her."

"Not that easy." He murmured, face devoid of all _expression. "I can't believe how hard it is."

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"So, why don't you go find her?" Mike asked, tossing a fork into the sink.

Eric, whose face was buried in the crook of his arms, groaned. "Do you realise how many places she could be?"

He smiled as the others snickered. "How hard can it be to find the hours and location of one of her classes? She can't maul you in front of a few dozen students, can she?"

"She can, and will." He muttered, but a smile had covered his face. "But I'd take it, I'd take every blow."

Terry eyed his watch. "Well, as of nine o' clock tomorrow you have a three-day weekend."

He grinned. "Nine o' clock it is."

The others sighed quietly in relief; it had been such a horror to have him moping around for over a month, worry and daydreams taking over what little sanity he still had.

The day whirred by and before Eric could prepare himself for the next day, it was nine o' clock and he was sitting in his car with nothing in his pocket but a few notes and his house keys. He set off with an empty stomach and proceeded in nervously checking his mirrors every few seconds for the first leg of the trip before he was forced to stop for food to satiate his craving. He was on the road and felt like at any moment he'd lose whatever held him to this trip.

Nadia couldn't be any happier at that precise moment; it was ten o' clock and her first hour class had just started. She had them for an hour and a half, and was presently showing two of them the small garden next to the studio that they had asked her to use in order to do their first project. The first girl, Melody, wanted to make a cross like Nadia's tattoo out of green and blue flowers, and Nadia could only smile and encourage her. The second girl, Ariel Marc, wanted to make a flower out of flowers, which Nadia found amusing. The others were hunched over paper, sitting in trees, enjoying the last of the pleasant heat before the season dissolved into autumn and all the heat was lost to the bitter, chilly air that would lure winter. She walked among the bodies sprawled in the grass, tugged on sneakers in trees, and checked to make sure everyone was on the right track. It seemed that only one had strayed, and he claimed that when he was done with the actual drawing he'd at the details to make it more fantasy-oriented. Nadia accepted this answer and turned to help Ariel and Melody rake the dead grass and leaves from the garden. A phonograph started somewhere inside the building, and some very catchy rock music began. The atmosphere was loose and comfortable as ten thirty rolled around and Eric parked outside the main office of the Cambridge University building.

He stepped inside, where a young girl with blonde pigtails sat, chomping on gum, filing papers with a bored _expression. Nervously he smoothed his hair down and shook off his nerves. The girl looked up and dropped a small stack of papers, blushing wildly as she bent to pick them up. As she straightened up, she flashed him a suspicious look.

Finally he found his charming Eric self and flashed her a wide grin that made the poor girl's heart melt. "Hello there-"

"Hi, I'm Jimena. What can I do for you?" She asked, extending a hand in a friendly way.

He shook her hand with a never-faltering grin. "I was hoping I could find out where my cousin is right now; his Mum's in some deep trouble and I need to talk to him."

She grinned at him distractedly. "What's his name?"

He bit his lip. "It's an embarrassing problem really, drunk driving again. And, stupid me, now that I've told you it'd probably be better if no one knew which one he is. Gender is probably too much. If it helps, I know what class he'll be in sometime today, just not the location of the building and I'll ask the professor for the time he'll be there."

Jimena's smile faltered then. "Those are confidential; I can't just tell you if you aren't a member of the school."

Eric flashed a wider grin at her. "I know my way around, I went to school here. Did you?" He continued to grin and flirt despite his haste to find Nadia.

"Yeah, it's my third year here." She smiled and batted her pretty eyelashes.

"So, where's this year's Surrealism In the Arts class?" He pressed, reaching over and playing with a pigtail.

He could see her sway slightly, uncertain.

"No harm in telling me where the building is, right? My cousin needs to bail his mother real bad."

"The old science wing, you know the building with the skylights?" She blurted.

He frowned. "The one by Harrison Fountain?"

Jimena nodded ferociously. "Yeah! But be careful, if you go in the east entrance you might walk right through Miss Smart's garden and she'll eat you alive."

He started backing out the door. "Thanks, Jimena, you were a doll."

She blushed again, straightening her papers. "Are you going to be there all day? Because if you are, I have eleven from noon off-"

"My cousin," he interrupted nervously, "has the class first hour, I think I'll catch him and be on my way, but it was a pleasure meeting you." He smiled again forcing his mouth to agree with his words.

With a slightly down-trodden smile, Jimena waved at him leaving and never learned his name. Eric, completely unconcerned, slipped into his car and started the engine, then, with a second though, left it there and walked the concrete sidewalks under the leafy trees, pausing now and again to gain his internal compass. His old dorm was somewhere around here-and then he saw the fountain. He could almost picture Nadia sitting there, legs crossed, eyes open, hair hanging lank around her face. He smiled to himself and walked by his dorm, hearing and smelling certain things that you could only experience in college, but by the time his smile faded he was standing at the edge of the north entrance of the old Franklin building where the life sciences teacher educated them on anatomy. He took a deep breath and stepped inside the hot building, eyes meeting emptiness, but a loud, blaring phonograph. Upon peering out the east window he discovered a small rag-tag group of students sprawled all over the lawn, talking to Nadia, who was standing in nothing suitable for a Cambridge professor, and addressing her by her first name as though she were no more than a good friend.

"So, Nadia, you have a boyfriend?" Inquired one of the ditzier looking girls.

Nadia looked up over the rims of her glasses as she raked, her hands gripping the wood handle tightly. "Not at the moment. I had to leave my last one for this job."

There was a chorus of loud, sad noises among them interrupted by giggles at their unexpected togetherness.

The first one spoke again. "Why did you have to break up with him?"

"Distance. He lives down in London and has a great job down there, I wanted this great job up here."

"Was he nice?"

She rested her chin on the wood of the handle in a bemused way. "Julia, it's my love life; it doesn't need to see the light of day."

"He won't visit?" She pressed, and Eric squirmed inside.

She shook her head. "I leave no forwarding address. It didn't start or end very well."

She flapped her eyes like Jimena had before and Eric briefly wondered if it was in style. "Can we hear the story?"

Nadia flopped down onto the grass, pulling a hankerchief from her pocket and tying the black cloth to her head. "Fine, but I'm telling it like a magical faery tale and you're all going to like it or else."

Julia nodded, content enough.

Nadia shifted herself into a whimsical position, and Eric was immediately surprised at the number of men and women that had suddenly surrounded her. "It was Nadia's first day in college and she felt like being weird. Nobody had really warmed up to her; she had a thick French accent and tended to wear more black than most, not to mention her tattoo, her piercing, and her language." She coughed and shifted again as a few giggles lifted into the air. "Of course, the evil campus security guards had to go spoil her fun just as it was getting good. You see, children, Nadia had climbed into Harrison fountain and had been sitting there undisturbed for about half an hour when a few guards started into the fountain to 'save' her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a thin man with loads of spare time on his hands jumped into the fountain and tugged her out of danger and into a near-empty dorm. Together she and the stranger sneaked out the back and walked back to his dorm where she borrowed some of his dry clothes and was escorted to her dorm. Soon she and the mysterious stranger, who gained a name (Eric), became good friends. In fact, as college progressed, she and Eric moved in together and even shared some not so normal friendly banking accounts and experiences.

"They were attached at the hip for most of the time, giggling at tall the stupid people in the world that thought they should start dating. Well, after Eric graduated, Nadia dated a real jerk whose name was Norm. This guy liked to drink, and one night he tried to hit Nadia!" There was a childish gasp and a few whispers of horror. "Well, Nadia could only think of one person she trusted after an experience like that, and sought Eric out. He dropped all sorts of obligations he had for the next two weeks and nursed Nadia's mental status back to a healthy numbing feeling before releasing her back into the wild, a whole person again. But disaster struck, and they were estranged again. It had to be at least seven months until they spoke again...and then a few more, and a few more, and before she knew it, she had been teaching for a year at an elementary school and it was July. She hadn't spoken to her friend in several months so she went for a visit in London.

"It was really an accident, bumping into him. Nadia literally bumped into him, grabbed him and tugged him away from a small group of girls. They talked and caught up, but Eric's new friends were convinced that Nadia and Eric should date. In the end he gave her a ride home and mentioned it to her. Nadia wasn't all too keen about it, but they decided in the end that one little kiss wouldn't change anything, just open doors. So they tried one, itty bitty kiss...which turned into a bigger one, and so on and so forth. Soon Eric was a mess and Nadia was convinced she had just screwed up a relationship with her best friend. As the weeks progressed she and her friend Eric started to duel. Eventually he ended up kissing her again and she was scared because she had distinctly thought she'd do just about anything for this guy, and pushed him away. She told him never to touch her again, ungrateful wench she was. Well, he gave up and started drinking, but Nadia apologized. She tried to get back to normal and dated a new guy.

"New guy turned out to be a slimeball that never really liked Nadia, in fact he told her she was hideous looking." She paused again as the kids looked to one another and made disagreeing faces, totally engrossed in her story. "She believed him, got her nose pierced, her ear pierced again, and a new tattoo. After that failed to make her feel better, she tried changing. She wore a dress, and a pretty floral one at that. She put makeup on her tattoos and painted her nails, made her hair look longer by combing it down; the works. Well, new guy/exboyfriend recognized her and started to tell her that nothing was going to help, and tried to hurt her. It was starting to be Norm all over again when Eric saved her. He took her back to his place and told her that she was beautiful. Nadia was convinced she was in a faery tail for real now; why couldn't every guy be just like him? And still he insisted she couldn't make herself ugly and no one else could. After some dancing and sleep, Nadia was almost normal again. Since it was summer, she ended up staying an entire month with him, and it seemed nobody knew. Not that Nadia cared, but suddenly she realised she was dating him, sorta kinda. And now and again they'd start kissing again and it wasn't just friendly pecks on the cheek, there was tongue involved." She smirked as the kids giggled again, elbowing each other.

Nadia continued. "Well, earlier that month she had applied for a job teaching a class she loved when she was taking it. It was her last day at Eric's before she said she'd go home and find out how well her job interview went. It ended on a sweet note, and they were convinced they were in love. Nadia became convinced she was wrong the next day, however." Her face was dark. "He didn't hurt her like the others, but he was embarrassed of her being there; he knew his friends were going to make fun of him for dating her when they knew it was right all along. Nadia was so angry with Eric she left without another word, sneaking out the back window. Back at her house she discovered she HAD gotten the job and packed up and left. Her friend convinced her the best thing to do was to leave without a forwarding address, make him move on since it couldn't work so far away. Nadia believed her and packed up, moved on. It's been a month and our lovely princess hasn't received word from her daring prince yet; she hopes he's moved on even though she hasn't."

Eric was sighing longingly in the back room, glancing out the window nervously. There was a collective sigh among the group as they heard the end of her sad tale. She clapped her hands as she caught sight of her watch.

"Alright, folks, time's up. It's eleven twenty, let's go inside and chill for a while." The others laughed and followed her in, not quite expecting to see Eric sitting calmly in her chair, fingers laced and tucked under his chin. At first they thought he was a school board executive about to fire Nadia for her loose apparel and such, but he stared on without _expression while Nadia trembled.

"Eric, what the hell are you doing here?" She asked, and everyone took in a collective gasp.

He opened his arms with a nervous smile. "Daring prince has come to make sure lovely princess hasn't died of boredom and lonliness like him."

Julia let out a wild sigh of longing as Nadia twitched nervously.

"You should leave before I get in more trouble," she started, turning to walk away.

He jumped up and grabbed her arm, tossing a nervous glance to the students, who were staring at both of them hard. "Nadia, you scared the shit out of me, I'm not leaving until I'm sure you're alright!"

"I'm fine!" She shook her arm from his grip hotly. "But I'll be bad if you don't get your ass out that door right now!"

Julia stamped her foot. "What happened to love? Come on!"

There were a few cries of agreement aimed directly at her. "Exactly, you left and he didn't even know! You almost owe him an apology."

She hadn't quite met Eric's eye yet, but she knew he was staring, trying to work her out again and it irritated her. "Back room," she muttered, pointing a finger. He turned about face and slipped into the back room, closing the door with a snap; Nadia could literally hear all the ears in the room slap against the wood of the door to hear what was going on.

He took a step closer and unexpectedly threw a hug around her shoulders, to which she unexpectedly burst into heavy, near silent sobs. "I'm so sorry," she murmured through her schizophrenia again.

"I forgive quickly, now how ARE things going around here?" He asked, tipping her chin up with a finger. She wiped at her face before telling him things were just dandy and opened the door. She pointed to his smug grin and lifted her eyebrows. "Good enough?" She asked, wiping at her face again.

There was a half-hearted cheer with a small, barely audible, "Kiss him!" Thrown in.

Before she could object, her shoulders fell back into his arms and she was dipped low, her body flailing in a familiar way as her eyes shut and she smelled him, tasted him, touched him all over again. He was wonderful in every way. She hardly wanted to talk anymore, and all thoughts of leaving him behind with no forwarding address were gone.

Eleven thirty finally hit the mark and Nadia shooed all her students out of the studio, waiting anxiously for her twenty minute break, and when that came, she and Eric could hardly keep from each other. He tried to be cautious and truly listen to what she had to answer for him, trying to hear every word she said, telling him she was fine, she felt great (but now she felt better), and all the students seemed to like her. After the formalities ended she pulled herself onto his lap and kissed him again, sighing as he ran his hands over her bare shoulders, feeling gently for her tank top straps.

"How many more classes you have?" He asked urgently.

Nadia shrugged. "Four more plus an hour for lunch at one forty."

"Your last three classes are only an hour, right?"

"Yup,"

He smiled. "Where you shacked up, then? In a box or a van?"

Nadia laughed as her next batch of students poured in, eagerly peering into the back room to catch a glance of this infamous prince that their teacher was dating. He didn't look like royalty, and was holding her like a perverted Santa Claus; all interest was held raptly, however.

"I don't own a car! If I did I wouldn't be living in it anyway. The new place I've got has a balcony on the second floor-"

Eric whistled. "This place must be huge,"

"It's actually tiny. Like a doll-house." She replied, playing with his hair lightly. A few faces were staring quite openly at them as they sat on the couch, and giggled hysterically when Eric decided he didn't care anymore and kissed Nadia again, tongue and all, pulling her closer.

With a squeak, Nadia slid off his lap and launched into her classroom, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

"Hey all," she started off, as usual.

Immediately she was assaulted.

"Who's that guy?"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"I've seen him before!"

She waved them silent as Eric crept out the back room and stood behind her, face blank. "Why so interested? He's just a hobo off the street, honestly!"

Eric looked peeved for an instant before taking the stack of papers she just put down and slinking back into the room. When Nadia groped for the papers, the kids began to giggle, and she turned, red-faced for the back room, a loud shriek and a muffled thud resounding seconds after she entered, saying loudly, "I oughtta-!"

The rest of the day went by like an anchor dragging through mud. Eric kept doing stupid little things just to irk Nadia, and she was perpetually caught up in the way he stared at her and had to reach out and touch her when she was close enough. He could hardly believe how happy it made him to have here there, and he even felt an odd feeling that he was happy when she was mad at him as well, just happy to have her. Now he was literally spilling happiness out his ears as she hugged him, waiting for the last five minutes of her class to wind down. There were the cutesy noises, but no one seemed to care; at least not Eric and Nadia. They just kept kissing or touching, laughing and smiling. It was near-bliss until Nadia brought up the reason she left.

"You were embarrassed of me-"

"No I wasn't!" He retorted. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't there when I acted like a guy and ended up spilling my guts to the guys. They would have eaten us both alive; in a way I was protecting you. So I thought."

She pulled a face but accepted his answer.

"Five minutes?"

She glanced at her watch. "Get outta here!" She howled at the masses. "You're a minute late!"

They laughed and exited the room, grumbling to themselves as they did so, leaving Nadia and Eric to lock up. They did, and by five o' clock, as they were leaving, they were left with a sinking sensation. Nadia showed him around her tiny house, but they were both feeling incredibly awkward by the time she led him into her bedroom. Electricity was running through the air in high voltage, but they both ignored the feeling-for a while longer that is.

"So," Eric mumbled, looking uneasily at the wall behind Nadia, "how-?"

She grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him towards her, irritated neither of them could just say it. "Shut up," she cut him off, falling back onto the bed behind her, him quick to follow.

"Right," he murmured before the clothes went flying.

It was a bit more frenzied than Nadia would have preferred, but she was so ecstatic to have him there again, she literally felt like speeding along at the speed of light-at a minimum. Instead of the usually gentle and caring way they walked around the other, they flew together and at once were thrown into a harsh world of loud noises and bright lights. Nadia could care less what the neighbors could hear, and decided against shushing Eric in fear of changing something; everything was too perfect at that exact moment. Her back arched slowly as her mouth was covered over and over again with his, and she couldn't keep her hands off of him as he moved into her, out of her, into her again. Sweat beaded her forehead as the heat in the room reached a fever pitch, and then all her tension was released and they lay together, breathing labored but happy.

"Goooood morning," Eric breathed, smiling as Nadia slapped at his head lazily.

"It's not morning yet," she snapped, blushing lightly.

He snorted with a wicked grin. "By the time I'm done with you it will be."

Nadia hardly had time to laugh before Eric moved next to her again and she immediately forgot what she had been thinking as she sunk into the mattress and reached for his hand. This time she forced her teeth to stay clipped shut, heavy noises coming from her nose now and again, covered by the roaring thoughts in her head. Goosebumps covered her as the blankets fell from both their shoulders and she was left in the cool air with his warm body there to comfort her. She clung to him tightly, surprised to feel herself being lifted up into a sitting position. With her legs wrapped around his hips she was in another pleasurable position, one with was new and different for both, but it felt right and she was able to have a little control over what was going on. Her back struck the cool wall behind her, sending shivers up her spine, but she recovered quickly, hissing a few breaths in as Eric's breaths increased in depth.

She was fragile. Eric was almost afraid at first that he'd run out of things to say and end up asking her, or telling her, or doing something to her that she wasn't going to agree with. He wanted badly to have her again, he had for some time now, but she was just sort of at ease and calm around him, not nervous and neurotic like himself. The greatest joy that day had been when she had asked him, without questioning her own thoughts or impulses, to have her. He literally shook himself apart as he agreed and struggled to stay within bounds for at least a few minutes, but she controlled him in every way possible. If it wasn't alright with Nadia, it wasn't alright at all. She was still very fragile, from all she'd gone through she must be. With his protection and feelings he'd probably make an okay shield for her, but what he couldn't bear would probably be her undoing. Already he was taking all the teasing from all the people that knew them personally, and already he was sneaking around trying to keep her concealed from all the silly looks. A small college reunion was rumored to be coming up the following October around homecoming at Cambridge, and if a single person saw them together they would know; Eric could feel sparks flying between them when they met gazes and could hardly keep his hands off her in any occasion. Oh, the horror.

Nadia stared at Eric as he sat, thinking. He had an awful frown on his face, and looked half-shamed in some way. She wanted to cheer him up, but she felt slightly above purposefully tripping herself in order to see him roll his eyes and grin at her.

"You alright?" She asked instead.

He nodded slowly. "Just thinking,"

Nadia gulped, feeling vulnerable. "I love you,"

He turned, all the frown and heavy thought gone, replaced by a small smile of pure happiness. "Love you too, Naddy."

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Lexi dropped her bag on the floor and slipped off her shoes, knowing immediately that Eric was there. His jacket was on the couch in the tiny sitting area, and his shoes were next to Nadia's in the kitchen. She whispered a soft curse word and gently padded up the stairs, leaping upon the door in a wild fit of suspicion, hardly suspecting to see Eric there alone, fully dressed on a made bed, fingers linked behind his head. He jumped up and gave her a very dirty look.

"You always burst in on people sleeping?" He asked angrily, rubbing his face.

She ignored his question and asked him where Nadia was.

He frowned at her again. "She had to go teach today; she gets every other weekend off, every Sunday or something like that."

"Did she call you?" Lexi pressed, suspicious.

He shook his head. "Nope, I just showed up."

She made a face at him and turned towards the door. "She didn't want to talk to you."

Eric's face turned angrier. "Well, now it's not your business so you should stop caring."

She whirled and confronted him. "Nadia didn't cry until you kissed her, you know that? She didn't cry at all. She pushed through it all with a plain face, now she's turned into fragile little girl."

"There are some things neither of us had experienced before that have happened. It's all part of the process." He retorted, shaking his head in a wise way.

Lexi glanced at her watch. "It's her lunch hour. I'm going to go talk to her."

"Be my guest," he spat. "And by the way, Lexi, if you're going to talk her into being mad at me again, I'll know why."

For a moment she looked sort of afraid, and then her cool, lawyer's face was back. "You will never know."