Chapter One - Nicolas

Chapter One

Nicolas

I stared at the computer screen blankly, bored out of my mind as I was every night around this time. I had already logged twelve hours in my video game, running around and ridding the world of orcs and goblins. I glanced at the clock and rubbed my eyes. Nine o' clock, too early for bed, too late to keep playing. None of my friends were on, all of them logged off of their virtual selves and indulging in the real world. A luxury I didn't have.

I shut down my computer and walked over to my pull-up bar, hopping up and latching on. My mind wandered as I bobbed up and down, going over the events of the day. I had woken up, eaten breakfast with the folks, then went for a jog on my treadmill before a workout session and getting on the computer. Throw lunch in there somewhere and that was about it.

I dropped the the floor and walked over to my bed, flopping down and staring up at the ceiling absently.

I was seventeen now, nine months and I would be eighteen. I had made it perfectly clear that the moment I was eighteen I would be heading off, my parents could easily afford to get me started in the city of my choice, loathe though they were to send their only son to a city. I hadn't quite decided where to go just yet. Austin sounded nice, perhaps L.A., though that held little interest for me. Hawaii was another option, but that was so secluded from the rest of the world, something I could live without at this point in my life.

Somewhere warm, with lots and lots of people. That was the place for me.

Most of my friends were European, but I didn't have much interest in going there either. Spain, perhaps, but that was about it. I looked out the window and sucked on my cheek. The moonlight shone through the glass brightly, illuminating the windowseat in a white-blue glow. Fascinating.

I picked up the television remote and flipped it on, sitting up on my bed and yawning. I flipped through the channels, surfing for something halfway interesting. Most people didn't channel surf these days, preferring to DVR their shows or use the TV Guide, but I liked to surf. The shows were always better if you had to work for them, somehow.

I stopped on a cop show, one I hadn't seen before. I winced as someone was slammed by a surprisingly fast moving bulldozer. The scene changed to day-time and the two detectives came on screen, a tall and handsome dark-haired man that wouldn't last a day as a real cop and... I blinked and stared, my mouth dropping. She was beautiful.

No. That would be an insult. The man's partner was beyond beautiful. Her dark red hair fell over her shoulders and shone brightly in the sunlight, every strand seeming to have a life of it's own. Her eyes were deep green pools, drawing you into them. Her lips curled up slightly, not smiling right now but giving you the impression that she was used to laughing perpetually. Her nose was the perfect size and shape and her eyebrows were thick and arched just so.

I gasped in a breath, only then realizing that I had stopped breathing. My heart slammed in my chest and I blinked in surprise. What the hell? She was an actress, a two dimensional Hollywood puppet, why would she effect me like that? I turned off my TV and tossed the remote down, my forehead creasing in confusion. I had seen plenty of beautiful women in movies and shows before, what made her so different?

Nothing, I decided. I was just even lonlier than usual tonight was all. That had to be it, because I wasn't about to admit to myself that I had just fallen in love at first sight with someone on my television.