NATALIE

I wake to the sound of my door being opened and I peek out from under the sheets just in time to see Uriah jumping onto my bed and laying on me.

"No," I groan, trying to shift away from him. "What are you doing here? It's too early!"

He rests his head on my stomach. "We made plans, Nat!"

"No, we didn't!"

"Yes, we did," Uriah says tugging on the blanket so that my face is revealed.

I let out a sigh. "I hate you," I tell him. "Get off of me so I can dress."

"Are you going to lock me out of your room so you can go back to sleep?"

"No..."

He grins at me and hops off of my bed to head to my dresser. He pulls out a pair of pants and a jacket and tosses them at me. "I'll turn around, but I'm not leaving the room. Hurry up and get dressed."

I stare at him, my cheeks turning red. "Are you serious?" I ask him.

"Why not?" he asks. "It's not like I haven't seen you dressed in way less."

"Maybe when we were like five!"

"I won't be looking," he says. "I promise."

I swallow nervously and climb out of bed. Sure he and I are just friends, but my nerves don't dissipate just because we're only friends. I quickly pull my clothes off and dress in the ones that Uriah had picked out for me before turning around. "Okay," I say, pulling my hair up into a bun. "I'm dressed, you can look now."

He turns around with one hand over his eyes and he peeks at me through his fingers. "Okay good," He says dropping his hand. "Are you excited?"

I make a face at him. "Don't ask dumb questions."

He grins at me and opens the door and I follow him down the stairs. My parents are already awake and my dad is standing in the hallway drinking a cup of coffee. "I can't believe you got her out of bed," he says. "I can barely do that."

"What can I say?" Uriah says with a laugh. "I've got skills."

"Please save me," I tell my dad.

He shakes his head. "Nope," he says. "I don't save people anymore. I gave that up a long time ago."

"Dad!"

"Nat!"

I groan. "Mom!"

"Sorry honey," she says. "You've never been out of bed this early, it's very exciting."

"I hate you guys," I tell him before heading outside.

Uriah jogs after me. "Your parents are fun."

"No they absolutely are not," I say shaking my head. "I think they've been together so long that they think that they're normal."

"That's probably where you get it then," he says nudging my arm.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that," I tell him. I stretch my arms over my head. "Okay, so where are we running?"

"I was thinking that since it's your first time, we could just run through the main section of the city and then come back to shower and get ready for school."

I nod. "Okay, but remember that I don't do this very often, so don't run off without me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he grins at me.

He starts off running and I follow him through the streets going to the city, being sure to stay out of the way of anyone who has to be at work this early. After a while, we are running at the same pace, but it's not too fast that I can't breathe. He glances over at me.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," I say. "This isn't too bad."

"That's good," he says. "But that's not what I was talking about."

"What then?"

"Are you okay about Hayley?"

"What are you saying about?"

"About her and Jacob?" he says. "I don't know if you liked him or something."

I can't stop myself from laughing. I laugh so hard, that I have to stop running in order to catch my breath. I put my hands on my hips to help stabilize myself. Uriah comes to a stop next to me.

"I don't get it," He says. "What's funny?"

I look up at him. "The fact that you think I like Jake," I say. "As more than a friend, I mean."

"You don't?"

"No."

"Then why did you look uncomfortable when he kissed her cheek?"

"So you caught that, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "What's up?"

I shake my head. "Nothing," I shrug. "It's nothing important."

I start to move again, but Uriah grabs my arm to stop me. "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"

"Yeah I know."

"Then what?"

I swallow. "I just... I want that."

"Want what?"

"I want what Hayley has. I want that someone I can just be with, you know?" I shake my head. "It sounded less stupid in my head."

"It's not stupid."

"Yeah it is."

"No, Nat, it's not."

I look up at him at the sound of his voice. He's looking at me with a curious expression on his face. I feel my chest tighten and I realize that I've said more than I wanted to. I shake my head. "I'm gonna head back."

"What? Why?"

"I'm done for today," I say backing away.

He takes a step toward me. "Nat, come on..."

"I'll see you later!" I tell him, running off in the opposite direction.

I can't believe that we had that conversation. At least it's a good thing that he hasn't picked up on my feelings for him. But what reason could there be for him to think that I like Jake? I pick up the pace because all I want to do is run home and wash this feeling away. It seems like the possibility of me liking him was so farfetched that it hadn't even crossed his mind. And then it dawns on me. If he never even thought about it, then I need to stop thinking about it.

Uriah and I haven't even been gone that long, so when I run into the house, my parents looked confused.

"Nat?" my mom asks as I run past the two of them up the stairs. "Honey are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" I say, not wanting to say anymore because it would give away the sound of my tears. Instead I run into the bathroom and turn on the water. I keep my crying as quiet as I can so that my parents don't hear me. But I do stay in the shower longer than I normally do, so that probably is a sign for them. I change in the bathroom, because I know when I get to my room, one of them is going to be there, waiting to talk to me. When I leave the bathroom, I see my mom is sitting on my bed. She looks up when I walk in.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey," she says. "You wanna talk about it?"

'No," I say a bit too quickly.

"Come on," she says patting the bed next to her. "I was your age once."

"Yeah, obviously."

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm," she says. "Talk to me. What's going on inside that head of yours."

"I like someone."

"Uriah?"

I look at her. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only to me because I know you so well."

"So does he."

"He's a boy. They're all idiots."

"Hey, I resent that." Dad comes up the door

"You were an idiot," mom tells him.

"Rude," he says narrowing his eyes at her. He looks at me. "If he doesn't like you then he's the idiot."

"That's the thing," I say. "I don't know how he feels."

"Then ask him."

Mom looks at him. "You really are an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Get out," she says getting up from the bed and pushing him from the room.

She shuts the door and turns back to look at me. "Actually your father isn't an idiot," she says. I can hear dad laughing on the other side of the door. "Just talk to him sweetie. See what's there. And if there's nothing, that's okay. You'll always be friends."

I bite my lip and let out a breath. "Okay," I tell him. "I'll think about it."

She nods and me and then leaves my room taking my dad down the stairs with her. I lay down on my bed nad shake my head. "Okay, Nat," I say. "Just talk to him."

I hear a knock at the front door downstairs. "Uriah's here!" Dad calls out.

"Shut up!" Mom hisses at him.

I groan. "Well it's now or never, I guess."