Hide and (Not) Seek

"Oh, this isn't good." Nick muttered as he looked over his shoulder at the mystery woman who was currently looking over the towel. Thinking quickly, Nick grabbed her by the wrist and led her to his bedroom, throwing open the door and pushing her inside. "Look, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to stay in here for a bit until Jack and Richie leave. My roommates can't see you. Okay?"

"Ikana nooda -"

"Please! Just stay in here for a little bit!" Nick begged, "I'll try to get them to go out again and try to figure out what the hell you're saying, okay?"

The woman tilted her head in confusion.

"And I am just realizing now that if I can't understand you, you most likely can't understand me..."

"Yo, Nicki! You home?"

"Rich, where the hell do you think the dork is gonna be?"

"Good point, Jack."

"Crap!" Nick said in a hushed voice, turning back to The Woman as he pointed to his floor. "Please just stay. Put."

With that, Nick closed the door and left, leaving The Woman to stare at the floor in confusion. What about it warranted attention?

Nick came back into the living room just as Jack and Richie hung up their jackets. "Hey, guys! Back so soon?"

"Yeah, things didn't work out with Emma and Faith." Richie said, plopping down in a chair. "Shame too, because those twins were a couple of hotties!"

"Up until they wanted to..." Jack began to add before shaking his head, "Actually, you don't wanna know what they're into."

"Oh, it couldn't be that bad, right?" Nick asked innocently.

"Let's just say people from Alabama would become squeamish."

"Ooh..." Nick said awkwardly before clearing his throat. "Nevermind."

"What about you, Dorkzilla?" Richie asked with a mocking grin. "Invite any chicks over with the house to yourself?"

"Huh?!"

"That's a joke, Dweeb." Richie said as he and Jack laughed.

"Uh... Right..." Nick said with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

Back in the room, The Woman looked around, having lost interest in what was so interesting about the floor. She opened a doorway opposite the one that Nick had just went through and saw it was crowded with strange items of fabric on hooks. Looking down she noticed a box that contained thin, colorful pieces of paper stuck together, picking one up and flipping through the pages at the illustrations of people with extraordinary abilities fighting evil while dressed in those weird fabrics. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she did enjoy the pictures.

After looking through the pictures of these papers and emptying the entire box labeled 'Comics', leaving them scattered all over the floor, The Woman grew bored again as she looked around. She came across a large wooden box next to the door to nowhere and opened it, seeing more fabrics folded up. Closing it again, she paused as she saw a small glass frame containing that strange man who brought her inside standing next to a girl who looked about a year older than him, the woman in the frame giving him a noogie as they laughed. In a corner of the frame was a piece of paper that, though she couldn't make it out, read, "Love you, Bro! - Georgia".

The Woman picked up the frame to examine it closely before looking up... Going wide eyed as she saw her doppelganger staring back at her.

"But no, seriously." Richie said once the laughter finally died down, "You didn't just spend the entire day watching TV, did you? Because that's sad, even for you."

"Well, I..."

Just then, a surprised yelp rang out, causing the trio to jump in surprise.

"What the hell was that?!" Jack asked, getting up to investigate... Only to hear a crunching noise under his foot. Curious, he moved the rug slightly and practically screamed at the sight of the broken DVD. "No! Not 'Hot and Lonely Space Vixens From The Sexual Nebula'! What the hell did you do, Dork?!"

"Me?! I didn't even know that got broken!" Nick replied. At the murderous look from Jack, he added, "Look, I'll buy you three more copies to make it up to you, okay?"

"You'd think with all the tail you get, you wouldn't need those kind of movies." Richie commented.

"Whose side are you on?!" Jack snapped.

"No one's. I'm just saying..."

The Woman fearfully poked her head over the strange wooden box at her doppelganger, gulping as she saw it do the exact same. Reaching out her hand to touch the doppelganger's, The Woman was surprised to feel that it was made of glass. After a few seconds, she chuckled as she realized it was her as she went to sit down on the bed...

Unaware that her left ass cheek was making contact with a remote.

"There, that should cover it." Nick said as he handed Jack the money to replace his movie. "Hey, you know? You shouldn't let what happened with Emma and Faith discourage you. I bet you two could get better girls without even trying if you just go back out and -"

"Are you hiding something, Dweeb?" Richie asked flatly.

"'Hiding something'?!" Nick asked nervously, giving a half hearted chuckle. "W-what would give you that idea?"

"Because it sounds like you've been trying to get rid of us ever since we got back."

"Wait... Did you actually find a girl?" Jack asked, "Because I wanna know if The World is finally ending or not."

"Guys, c'mon!" Nick said, "Do I look like the kinda guy who -"

A loud blast of classic rock music soon exploded from Nick's room, causing the trio to jump again.

"Oh! That thing has been acting up this morning!" Nick lied, "I'll just -"

"Alright! Alright! We're leaving!" Richie groaned, getting up from his chair as he and Jack grabbed their jackets. "Next time, just put a sock on the door, you freaking weirdo!"

"This guy finally gets a girl?!" Jack asked in disbelief, "The world is definitely ending!"

Nick chuckled awkwardly as Jack and Richie left again, turning to his bedroom door in annoyance.

The Woman clutched her hands over her ears as the loud noise echoed through the room. Turning to see some black rock making the noise, The Woman yelled as she picked up the smaller rock she sat on and threw it at the larger rock. Surprisingly, it managed to work as the smaller rock bounced off and fell to the floor.

"What the hell is going on in here?!"

The Woman looked up to see Nick standing in the doorway, looking around at the mess in bewilderment. His comic collection was littering the floor, the remote to his radio was almost broken, and the picture of him and his late sister laid half-way under the bed. The Woman gave a sheepish smile and opened her mouth...

"Stop." Nick interrupted, holding up a hand. "I can't understand you and my roommates now think I'm even weirder than before. However, perhaps you can actually understand me if you managed to stay here like I asked. So, why don't we try something simple? What's your name?"

The Woman blinked.

"Okay, let's try this." Nick said. He then pointed to himself and said, "Nick. Nick! Me Nick."