AN: Apparently my story is too depressing. Eh, don't worry I kind of agree, so here's a little bit of sunshine. Hope you enjoy, it might not last very long...
Disclaimer: Don't own. Except for Stevie Wonder... the teddy bear, not the person... yikes, that could've been a major law suit lol.
Chapter Six:
---
I woke up in Nate's bed, not quite sure how I had gotten there.
The door opened and I heard Nate's hushed voice. "Not right now, Mikey. Wait downstairs, okay? I'll be down in a sec."
I heard Mikey pleading something, but couldn't quite make it out.
"Okay, I'll ask her."
"Awesome!" Mikey exclaimed, loud enough for me to hear.
"That doesn't mean the answer is 'yes' though, okay?" Nate added, obviously not wanting to get his hopes up about something.
Mikey mumbled a short response, and I heard his light footsteps head downstairs.
Nate opened the door fully then, and he walked up to the bed, seeing that I was awake. He sat down on the edge of it beside me, causing me to roll gently into his leg. It felt warm and strangely calming, so I didn't move back.
"How are you feeling?" He asked anxiously, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
I closed my eyes and let out a silent sigh, feeling quite content under his touch. I opened them again to smile at him softly. "I think... I think I'm feeling a lot better," I said, for once speaking truthfully. Crying last night, for what could have been hours in Nate's arms, had felt like finally letting out everything that I had been bottling inside for so long. And whilst those horrible memories were still there, I didn't feel like they were controlling me anymore. I felt a little like I could breathe again.
Nate looked like he was going to cry, and for a moment I was scared he was going to. But then he leant forwards and engulfed me in a tight hug. He let out a breath of relief against my cheek, "Thank God, Mitch. I was more worried than you'll ever know."
After a long moment he pulled away, and I rolled my eyes playfully. "God, you're so mushy," I laughed, poking his cheek fondly.
He rolled his eyes, too. "Sorry, I'll try to tone it down for you," he chuckled gently.
And then we just sat in a comfortable silence for a little while.
"So what did Mikey want?" I spoke up finally.
Nate seemed to pull away from his trance. "Oh, uh, he was hoping you might walk with us today... but, you don't have to if-"
I shook my head, cutting him off. "No, it's okay. I think I'd like that," I smiled up at him. But then I remembered something, and I bit my lip. "Oh..."
"What is it?" he asked gently.
"Uh... it's just... I kind of have... nothing to wear," I said, a little embarrassed as I gestured down to the clothes of his I was still wearing.
"Actually, you kind of do," he disagreed, smiling.
I rolled my eyes at him, "Um, Nate, I don't think it's quite as socially acceptable for me to wear your clothes out in public as you seem to-"
He rolled his eyes right back at me and touched a finger to my lips to shut me up. Then, holding out his hands for me to take, he pulled me out of bed and lead me slowly to his closet.
"Okay, I've already seen all of your clothes before, Nate, and I don't think any of them are going to... Oh..."
Nate stood with his hand resting on the open door, smirking at me. And I gaped as I saw most of my clothes hanging to one side of the closet next to his. "You- you went back to get my clothes?" I asked him, feeling touched for some weird reason.
He nodded and then stepped forward to open his top drawer. Inside there was a brush, a small bag full of my bathroom things, and-
My cheeks began to heat up, and I looked at him, mortified. "You... went into my underwear draw?" I gasped, not out of anger but with shock and embarrassment.
"Uh..." he began to blush a little too, and he ran his hand through the back of his hair awkwardly, "Well... you kind of... need them, don't you?"
"I... Well, yeah... I guess, but-"
"Well, it's not like... I haven't seen them before?" he cringed immediately at the words that had come out of his mouth. "I- I mean," he let out a breath, and then his expression turned serious, "I just wanted to make sure you had everything, so... So you wouldn't have to go back there again."
I bit my lip at the thought, and I was silently glad that he had. "Thank-you," I breathed out, meaning it completely.
He nodded, and took the chance to leave. "So... I'll let you..." he nodded towards my clothes, "We'll meet you downstairs."
"Okay," I smiled, and he turned to leave. "Oh, and Nate?"
"Hm?" he said, turning back to me with his hand on the doorknob.
"Thank-you for bringing me my underwear." I laughed as his face adorably heated up again, and I realised I could watch it do that for the rest of my life.
He just shook his head in embarrassment and walked out, muttering something to himself under his breath.
---
"Why aren't ya holding hands?"
"Huh?"
"Like married people do when they're walking together, duh."
"Y'know Mikey, you sure do seem to know alot about this marriage thing," Nate chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"Well..."
"Well what?"
"Why aren't you?"
"Mikey, Mitchie and I aren't married," Nate stated simply.
"Then how come she sleeps in your bed?" Mikey asked in a 'duh' tone.
Nate rolled his eyes again. "She... sleeps over... like a friend."
Mikey shook his head, not convinced. "But boy and girl friends don't sleep in the same bed."
Nate just stared at him incredulously. "Man, where are they teaching you this stuff?" He muttered, more so to himself.
But Mikey just grinned. "So you and Mitchie really aren't married?"
"Sorry, bud," Nate chuckled, scruffiling Mikey's curls.
"Cool! Mitchie can marry me then!"
Nate's face fell a little in shock.
I started laughing, my first input into the conversation so far, and Mikey just grinned up at me. "Sure, Mikey, that sounds great," I agreed playfully, with a grin to match his.
"We can live in my room!"
"You're bed's a little small though, Mikey. She might still have to sleep in mine," Nate stated, winking at me as he said it. And for some strange reason I felt my heart splutter. Was I having one of those heart murmur things? I swear I was.
Mikey shook his head. "Mitchie, you can sleep on the floor and I can sleep in my bed," he corrected matter-of-factly.
My mouth gaped. "Oh, is that so?" I laughed.
Nate was simply shaking his head, "You know, I think I have to start teaching you to be a better gentleman, Mikey."
"But I'm the one who's getting married, so maybe I'm the one that has ta teach you stuff!"
Nate chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Touche."
"You know you are one smart kid, Mikey," I laughed, patting his head fondly.
He grinned, seeming proud of himself.
We came to a stop then in front of the elementary school I was assuming was Mikey's. Nate rested both of his hands against Mikey's shoulders. "Be good, okay?"
"Uh-huh," Mikey nodded.
Then Nate held his fist out in front of him, and Mikey hit it excitedly with his own. "Knock 'em dead, little man," Nate said proudly, and I got the feeling that this was some sort of pre-school ritual they shared every day.
Mikey grinned and then nodded again. Then he turned to me, and shot forwards into my arms. He pulled back, looking at me excitedly. "Are you gonna come pick me up after school with Nate?"
I smiled back at him, "I guess I am."
"Yesss!"
And with that he turned and ran happily towards the front entrance.
I could see out of the corner of my eye, Nate shaking his head at me, so I turned to face him. "What?" I asked him confusedly.
He chuckled smugly, "Nothing, nothing. I just hope you know it's going to take him a very long time to forget you're his 'wife to be'."
"Who said I wanted him to forget," I teased, playfully, "He's so cute!"
Nate rolled his eyes, "Of course. He's a stud muffin, so I guess he got the girl."
"Oh, absolutely," I laughed. And I studied Nate from the corner of my eye as we began walking again. "You seem happier today," I stated reflectively.
He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets, "I find you're moods very contagious."
"So... If I'm happy, you're happy?" I asked, feeling slightly surprised and confused by that fact.
He just nodded in response.
"...Then I hope I'll be happy forever," I whispered, with a little too much meaning. We locked eyes, and I knew he understood what I meant.
After a short silence, he spoke again. "So... are you going to school today?" he looked at me hesitantly.
I bit my lip, to be honest, the thought scaring me a little. I hadn't been to school in over two weeks. I wasn't sure I could handle being around all those people again.
"You should," Nate encouraged suddenly, but I found I still doubted myself a little.
"I don't know, Nate," I sighed, "I- I'm not sure I'm even going to be able to catch up... I'm so behind."
He threw a comforting arm around my shoulder, "Of course you can. You're smarter than anyone else there anyway."
I smiled, but rolled my eyes, knowing he was just trying to make feel better so I would go. I shrugged, "I don't know... I'll consider it."
"Cool," he said, "I'll walk you."
I rolled my eyes again, "I said I would consider it."
But he just ignored me and steered me in the right direction. I shook my head, chuckling a little at his attempt at surreptitiousness, but decided to let it go. It couldn't be that bad, could it?
"You know, I think this might just be the first time in three years that you have walked me to school," I smiled after a while.
"Yeah, well before I was going to school too, so I actually had a reason," he chuckled at himself, and then quickly added, "Nah, I'm just kidding."
I laughed fondly at him, fake insult totally forgotten. He always used to do that, add the 'just kidding' straight away, almost as if he were frightened of letting me feel offended for more than just a couple of seconds. It was nice to have something the same in him after all this time.
"But you're right," he said quietly, leaning towards me a little, "This is kind of nice."
I sighed softly. "It is nice," I smiled. "I don't think I've heard you talk this much in years, and it's... kind of nice, too."
He turned silent, and all of a sudden I wanted to slap myself for letting that slip out of my mouth. It just reminded me of the significant amount of time that we had spent not talking, doing what we had as a substitute. And I knew he was thinking the same.
I blushed again, and the rest of the way we walked in silence.
We got to my school and I turned to him, his arm falling back to his side. He had a pained and slightly guilty look on his face, but he seemed to snap out of it as he looked up at me too.
"You'll be okay, Mitch," he told me, as if reading my anxiousness.
I nodded, letting out a slightly shaky breath, "I hope so."
"Okay. Well, uh... I'll meet you here at three."
"Okay," I nodded.
He gave me a small smile, and went to turn away, but-
"Yo! Patterson?!"
Nate turned at the call of his last name. "Oh, hey man, what's up?" he replied as a guy from my class walked up, and they knocked fists together.
"Nothing, bro. Where've you been, you just up and left?"
"Yeah, I had... things to take care of," Nate answered vaguely, rubbing his hand through the back of his hair nervously.
The guy looked like he wanted to ask more, but didn't. His eyes flicked over to me then.
"Sorry, hey. Alex Harper," he said politely, holding his hand out to me.
I took it a little timidly. "I- I know, you're... in my lit class."
"What? Are you sure?" he replied, disbelievingly, "I would've noticed you."
"I'm sure," I blushed a little, knowing this proved just how invisible I was.
He blinked at me a couple of times, and then spoke to Nate, "Hey, don't worry, man. I'll take care of your girl for you."
He slung an arm around me, and Nate looked uncertain for a second, but then he nodded, letting out a slightly relieved breath, "Thanks, man."
"No worries," Alex smiled, and then the bell signalled. "See you later, bro," Alex called, already turning me towards the school.
I turned back to see Nate give a short wave, and then he turned and walked away.
