Each Other's Comfort
I know I'm infamous – like I told you most in PMs – but I like to think I deliver after an absence. Let's hope I did. I told most that it was a slow build-up in this chapter and I think I delivered the spoilers although you might get a little frustrated. I'd be too, if I was a third party to the ridiculous Nathan and Haley. But I really do hope I delivered in terms of quality and I hope you all enjoy. Read and review, if you'd like.
CAli
Chapter 7 – Falling Deep
6:15 p.m. – Nathan and Haley's Apartment
Haley's name was at the tip of Nathan's tongue and he opened his mouth to call her name when he opened the door. Her name stopped short when he heard the melody drifting throughout the apartment. He stopped in the middle of the threshold and slumped his shoulders a little as he really listened.
It was absolutely beautiful.
His gym bag slowly dropped to the floor and he leaned against the edge of the door as his eyes squinted and his head bowed so his ear could really concentrate. A small smile graced his lips that grew as the music drifted in a flightless ride. The different sounds Haley made conveyed to him the beauty of a story. Even as the sounds she produced seemed all over the place, they held this captivance that made him the only person to understand; that this music and he had this special secret.
Nathan smirked and finally moved from his spot. He dropped his gym bag right next to the door, closed the door and locked it and walked down the hallway until he made it to Haley's cave. He appeared at the doorway and watched his roommate be intensely immense in her MacBook. He stayed there just staring.
6:30 p.m. – Nathan and Haley's Apartment
Haley felt her eyes fluttered. Her brain screamed at her to focus – that the pitch needed to be just right – but her eyes were not cooperating. Her eyelids seemed to be favoring fluttering than keeping still and a thought tiredly floated throughout her mind.
You're falling asleep. Take a break.
With a deep sigh, her arms reached up accordingly and her hands cupped her face. Her muscles twitched as her body told her to reach up and stretch. Her back arched as her muscles tightened then relaxed in a pop and she realized just how stiff she was from being hunched over her laptop. She counted back the hours that could cause such a chain reaction in the muscles of her back. She's been close to ten hours working on her inspired music sample as a part of her compilation of her final portfolio; it's been close to two hours since she stretched or took some sort of small break.
She moaned as her body stayed suspended in stretch before she slowly exhaled and her chest back to gravity. She flinched when she turned her chair.
"How long have you been working on it?" Nathan said with a smile.
She gave him a look while he stayed rooted in the doorframe and kept her hand to her chest. "Jesus Christ, Nate," she said.
"I could've murdered you fifteen minutes ago."
"That's how long you've been standing there?"
He nodded. "When's the last time you took a break?"
She shrugged and gave him her famous "I don't know look." One side of her lips corked up as the bottom adjacent stayed down in a weird half-pout. Her nose went in the same direction of her upper lip and Nathan has told her more than once she looked like constipated emoticon. She always shrugged off his rudeness as misplaced honesty.
"Maybe two or three hours ago," she said.
"No wonder you look like Lady Gaga hung-over. Let's get some food in your stomach, crazy."
"Can we see Brooke?"
"Why are we going to Hell?"
She rolled her eyes. "Nathan. I haven't seen her in a couple days and I want to make sure she didn't pull the store down the hole since it's kinda the only job I have at the moment. Plus, I want mall food."
"Are your bosses retarded? Why would they hire a slut, let alone a slut with the attention span that's lower than an ADD kid?"
"Nate! She's just easily distracted!"
"Whatever. Just as long as you get food in your stomach and I get two minutes of insulting her without you hitting me."
She pouted. "Thirty seconds."
He rolled his eyes and stomped his foot a little. "Fine! Jesus Christ, why are you so nice?"
7:00 p.m. – Westfield West Covina Mall. Food Court
"I fucking love Chinese food," Nathan belched.
"You're such a gentleman," Haley said, as she rolled her eyes.
"Only towards you, sweetheart." He winked at her.
She laughed one of her special laughs and he genuinely smiled in return. It was times like these that made him happy. His best friend had this serene front to her that made him just want to be better. He didn't know what made him specifically want to be better but when he saw his best friend happy, a feeling fluttered all around his body and he liked it. Simply put, he wanted that feeling all the time.
"Do I have something on my face?" Haley said and he shook his head a little to break the trance he was in.
"No," he said. "I'm just happy for you."
"Why?" She gave a sweet smile.
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's that weird roommate thing, you know? You're happy, so I'm happy. Some telekinesis-hormones-type shit."
She inhaled and tilted her head and frowned a little, her signature "you're a weirdo" look. "I think that has to do with females and their periods synchronized."
He scrunched his face in dismissal. "Whatever. We got some ESP shit."
"Okay, Einstein."
He curled his upper lip in mock anger and took a mouthful of orange chicken. Haley stuck her tongue out in retaliation and also scooped up some fried rice with some cooked vegetables. A few minutes of silence passed as they contently ate their food while the bustle of the area filled their ears. Chatter of gossip nonsense, Asian workers chasing down patrons of samples of their chicken, and kids begging their parents for a cookie from the sugar shop was what Nathan saw before his gaze trailed back to his best friend, who had her head down as she wolfed down her dinner. He softly smiled as he just observed her.
He noticed her looked up and returned the soft smile. For just that slowed moment – when time seemed to slow down – they just smiled at each other. The next thing Nathan knew was that time resumed and all the chatter around them flooded his ears. Haley dropped her plastic fork and leaned back in her chair and he mirrored her actions. She stretched long and hard, noise and all, and was oblivious to the strange looks they got. His lips subconsciously cracked open and his signature smirk appeared as he watched. When she was done, her arm lazily slapped down on the table and her fingers lightly scratched the back of his hand.
"Where's your head?" She asked.
"Your song," he said, honestly.
"Oh, yeah," she ducked her head and slowly rolled her eyes. "I'm just messing around something new."
"It's amazing. Truly."
"You're biased, hun."
"Don't do this to yourself!" He groaned. "You know I hate it when you do that."
"You're supposed to encourage me."
"No, I'm supposed to give you constructive criticism with brutal honesty to encourage you. I'm serious. It's amazing."
"You really think so?"
He scoffed hard. "I know so, bitch."
She laughed and gave him a look. "Truly a gentleman."
He chuckled before he looked away then back at her. He leaned forward and grabbed her hand with his thumb massaging her skin. He looked at her with adoration in his deep-blue eyes.
"You're gonna get an A, like you always do. That melody: some of your best. Something different from you but totally you in a sense. You're gonna blow the music scene, you understand me?"
She ducked her head in that shy manner and her brown eyes shined with that encouragement. She bit her lip and squinted her eyes a little and he knew she was debating on telling him something. He wanted to be impatient and call her out on it, but her look made him washed every single cell that held impatience his body had with just one cleansing breath.
"I really like that piece," she quietly confessed.
"Yeah?" He whispered with a grin. "You should."
"Would it be wrong if I said it was my favorite?"
"Hell fucking no!" He scoffed.
She looked away then made eye contact with him with a raised eyebrow. "I was inspired by Chris for it?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. His art really got to me. I think… I think I'm falling deep."
Her smile grew big and almost lit up the room. He smiled back, but it wasn't as big as hers.
3:15 p.m. – West Covina Mall
"I'm going to need you to stop using that evil pout," Nathan grumbled.
"It's not evil," Haley retorted. "You're just mad because you can't resist it."
"Why do you even drag me to these stupid shopping trips when you know I'm just gonna complain?"
"Because you don't make me try on slutty clothes like Brooke does."
Nathan stopped his useless browsing on the kiosk Haley was parading around and looked at every single sunglasses there was on display. He stopped fingering the nose bend of some douche-y looking sunglasses when his best friend said that. He frowned deep and narrowed his eyes as images conjured of Haley in slut-ware and males within the vicinity checking her out. His fists subconsciously squeezed.
"I'm going shopping with you from now on," he grunted.
"You mean, can you go shopping with me from now on," she gave him a raised eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Toe-may-to, toe-mah-to."
She laughed as she twirled around the kiosk. "Yeah, you wish."
She was chuckling at him as he scoffed along with a genuine smile when her laughter suddenly stopped. Throughout the loudness of the mall and the thousands of people that walked by them, he heard the screech of her sneakers as she suddenly stopped. He frowned when he never heard anything from her and turned the corner.
"Hales, what—" He began.
"Shit, it's Steve," she said just above her breath.
"The social retarded guy you dated?"
She quickly turned around. "You gotta kiss me."
"What?"
"He thinks we're in love, okay? That was my excuse when I broke up with him and you need to kiss me so maybe he doesn't notice me and even if he does then he knows I didn't just use an excuse. Kiss me!"
"Can't you duck your head and turn your body like a normal person?" He loud-whispered.
"Kiss me!"
He opened his mouth for another argument when she forcefully propelled her body forward, hooked her fingers on the back of his neck, pulled him down and kissed him hard. He instantly reacted and moved his lips to add pressure on her top lip. One, two strokes and his tongue instantly slipped inside her mouth and massaged her own tongue. His hands automatically tightened across her lower back as he pulled her closer and she moaned low as her hands clutched on both sides of her neck. They breathed through their nose as his hot breaths mixed with hers and something exploded inside him.
He couldn't pinpoint this feeling but it was this extra pressure that pushed against the interior of his body. It was like this pressure fought and clawed to get closer to Haley, who pushed her body more into him. Feeling her body pressed so close – even though they were no strangers to close proximity – made the pressure combust and he found that he wanted that feeling again. But when he tried to chase that feeling, everything became reality.
"Haley?"
They broke apart in the slowest way possible as she slowly ripped herself away from him. They shared a moment as they just looked at each other's eyes in wonderment before his best friend realized her name was called. Her eyes widened and he mirrored only his was slightly less big. He conveyed with his eyes to react, and to react now as his head subtly tilted towards the boy who called her.
She quickly turned around with a breathless laugh and greeted her ex with too much faux-happy greeting to Nathan's ears. But he kept his face stoic as she and Steve and awkwardly hugged and she stayed on her tippy toes and clasped her hands in front of her; a classic sign to him that she was way nervous. Steve, however, didn't seem to catch on which raised his temperature. It was another reason why none of these boys deserved his best friend; they never noticed the simple things like her mannerisms when they were around. But he kept his mouth shut as he stayed close to her.
"How are you?" Steve said.
"I-I'm good. You?"
Steve shuffled his feet and ticked his neck a little before he made eye contact with her and nodded before he guffawed and giggled. Nathan raised his eyebrow at this. What grown man giggled? Well, boy, but still. What male would giggle?
"I'm good," Steve said. He widened his hands in a look-at-you gesture. "You look amazing!"
"Thanks! You clean up well," Haley smiled.
Once she said this, Nathan took the opportunity to really analyze the dorky ex. He remembered Steve well, just like all the others. He stayed on the bottom of the social ladder his whole life, had the social awkwardness that some geeks would consider the best. He had a bad habit of not keeping any eye contact for longer than two seconds and hunched his shoulders. It was like he was physically allergic to people and could only stand so much.
But here he was, dressed up nice and actually made eye contact then more than two seconds. Haley would call him impeccable now, but he wouldn't go that far. He wore a striped polo instead of a vintage batman shirt and khaki shorts instead of maroon skinny jeans like when he first met him. His hair wasn't shaggy anymore, instead with a nice, short 'do that he probably got at SuperCuts.
"Thanks," Steve said, and then his eyes drifted to Nathan. "Nathan," he said as he stuck out his hand.
Nathan raised his eyebrow in wary as he took a step forward closer to Haley and she subtly elbowed him in his stomach. He barely grunted, slightly rolled his eyes and clasped his hand into his. He took a hard grip to him and was mildly surprised when he squeezed back. He grunted his name and narrowed his eyes when Steve's lingered a little too long.
"You guys still together?" Steve asked, rhetorically.
"Um, yeah," Haley said, cutting in. "About what?" She looked at Nathan with raised eyebrows. "Six—"
"Six months," Nathan finished for her, as he nodded.
They mentally calculated the last time they saw him and Haley widened her eyes as a thank you and with a subtle nod that he was correct. His left hand casually slipped over her left hip and he pulled her close. She automatically leaned into his side.
Steve's gaze lingered between them before his eyes flicked back to his best friend and he gently smiled. Nathan's eyes followed down to Haley's and noticed she nervously licked her lips. His fingers flexed into her skin to relax her and her soft sigh followed by her right arm sliding across his back and hugged him tighter told him she was calming down.
"I'm happy for you," Steve said. "Breaking up with me for him was probably the best thing in my life, honestly."
"Really?" Haley couldn't stop the surprise from her voice even if she wanted to.
Nathan scrunched up his face a little too at the revelation. He imagined they both had twin reactions in wide eyes and scrunched muscles in their faces. Steve just stayed calm in his explanation as a huge grin broke out on his face.
"Yeah, you two made me realize that I'm gay. I'm in a relationship now. I've wanted to thank you but I always thought it would be awkward calling you, you know?"
"And this isn't awkward?" Nathan muttered.
He felt a hard pinch on his side as Haley smiled big and spoke to Steve with a genuine care in her voice. "That's great," she said. "I'm very happy for you."
"Thank you," Steve said. "Coffee sometime?"
"Are you shitting me?" Nathan blurted.
Haley stomped her foot as hard as she could and he felt a slight searing pain that originated from his big toe. He clasped his lips together to stop the groan and his best friend continued to talk with her ex with a serene smile on her face.
"That would be great," she said. "My number is still the same."
"Great!" Steve laughed. "I'll call you sometime."
He opened his arms wide for a big hug and she hesitated before she detached herself from him and Nathan frowned at the loss contact. Steve engulfed her and he had to swallow down the growl at how stiff she looked, which gave him the tall-tell sign that she was uncomfortable. It didn't matter if he was gay; he was still a douche for not noticing her normal tics. Asshole never appreciated her even if he credited her "cheating" as enlightenment to his gayness.
He finally let her go and she immediately went back to his side, which he comfortably switched his arm from her hips to her shoulders. Without thinking, he leaned down and chastely kissed her hair. Her arm squeezed his body back and he felt the comfortableness settled in. Steve softly smiled at them and made a gesture that he was gonna leave and promptly turned on his heel and walked away. After a few minutes, Haley broke the silence.
"I can't believe I turned him gay," she said.
"Forget homo-douche. I can't believe you kissed me in public," he said with a raised eyebrow.
She left his embrace and faced him with wide eyes.
"Whoops," she said.
7:45 p.m. – Nathan and Haley's Apartment
"Nate," Haley whined as she plopped down next to him on their couch.
Nathan stopped pressing his index finger on the page down button on the remote and paused for a second. His eyes slowly drifted to his right where Haley dropped like a sack of potatoes and felt her arms folded on top of his shoulder. The pout he barely saw in his vision but knew was full-on made him dropped the remote with a loud clang against the wooden coffee table. He groaned loud and reclined back into the sofa.
"Let's go out," she said in a baby voice.
"Don't you have the three-douche-amigos for that?" He asked with a pout as he turned his head to look at her.
"Um, we haven't hung out just us in a long while and Chris isn't in town."
"So that's why," he rolled his eyes. "Chris isn't in town, that's why you want to hang out?"
"No!" She said, indignantly with wide eyes. "It just so happens that Chris isn't in town which gave me the perfect opportunity to think that we haven't just hung out the two of us and haven't talked about what happened with Steve."
She said the last part of her mini speech in a quiet voice, which gave him the universal sign that the incident two weeks before bothered her. She didn't want to "talk" about Steve; she wanted simply to forget which meant getting trashed together. He softened at the connection because he knew how his best friend worked. She was questioning everything again about her dating life and there was no way in hell she could ask advice from Brooke or even the guy she liked which probably wouldn't take too kindly that she acted so slutty. Nathan's reasoning was far from slutty behavior and she needed to hear that over drinks.
He took a breath and released it with one motion before he craned his head back and puckered his lips. His lips made contact with the corner of her forehead and they both closed their eyes at the contact. She opened her eyes first and when he felt her gaze he opened his to warm brown eyes. Her smile didn't show her teeth but he knew it was genuine.
"Let's go out," he said, quietly.
"Thanks, Nate," she said as equally as quiet.
"What would you do without me?" He smirked.
She chuckled. "I'd die."
He slouched down more and rested his head on her shoulder. In reaction, she looped her arms around his neck and lightly scratched. His left hand reached up to her shirt and his fingers lightly traced the material of the left side of her chest.
"I'm here always," he said.
She swallowed and one of her hands slipped down from his neck to the left side of his chest.
"I'm here forever," she said.
3:00 a.m. – Nathan and Haley's Apartment
"I turned a man gay!" Haley giggled as she stumbled through the door.
Nathan was right behind her and in the same predicament. He tripped over Haley's feet as he tried to rush her in and guffawed in an unattractive way. Haley's laugh grew louder when he grabbed her waist and pulled her close once he caught himself. His hot breath and giggles invaded the side of her neck and she tilted her head to the side in response. He walked them further into their hallway before his hand blindly reached out behind him to close the door.
"You really did!" Nathan said with a slurred laugh before he snorted, which made Haley burst in another fit of giggles.
They walked until they were in the kitchen, which was the closest room to them. Walking was such a feat in their predicament because they were beyond smashed. It also didn't help the fact that Nathan kept them close together and forced them to walk with the same stride of steps, which wasn't easy. He kept his arms tight around her waist and his upper body practically hunched as he laughed into her neck and pressed light kisses every time there was a catch in his laughter. His best friend was in no better shape, as she kept her hands tightly grasped around his arms at her stomach and was taking small steps to his large ones, which caused him to step on her heels.
Finally in the kitchen, Nathan slightly bent Haley into the counter and kept his body closely behind hers. After her giggle-fit, she moaned and subconsciously bent her back forward, which pushed her ass into his crotch. His hands immediately unwrapped from her waist and she was able to grip the edge of the counter. He never allowed time, as his hands went from her hips, trailed up her sides to her shoulders and traced her arms until his fingers intertwined hers from behind. In response to her moan, he gave a slight groan and bit her shoulder.
She turned around and he let go of her hand and made eye contact and made eye-contact to her lust-filled look. Her palms pressed down on the edge of the counter and she jumped up for a boost, while his hands went to her hips and helped. The moment she was safely on the counter, she fisted his shirt and pulled him toward her. He gladly accepted her heated kiss, tongue clashing and all.
They left the apartment at eleven p.m. and promptly spent the first hour talking about Haley's predicament. And by talking, what really went down was him listening as she poured her heart and soul (complaining) about Steve and how Chris hadn't text all day, which was unusual since they at least said hi through next every day. Nathan offered the common sense side (that he was busy with the art exhibit and maybe time got the best of him) which she concluded made sense after a shot and mojito. She didn't understand why she was making a big deal over it though and promptly gave her his no-bullshit answer.
"Maybe because you were the one who was always busy?" He asked. "Sucks being on the other side, doesn't it?"
He simply told her not to sweat it, just like with Steve. Okay, so, he turned out to be gay. It didn't necessarily mean she turned him gay. He probably was repressed and tried so hard to date girls to deny his sexuality. The problem was he was a social-geek-outcast so the moment she showed interest he pounced on the opportunity. When he got dumped, maybe that was his wake-up call that the-ignoring-you're-gay part wasn't working out for him. He would never get a girl like Haley, so he might as well stop trying and embrace his true-self. He concluded in his normal crass manner.
"You should be fucking proud you paved the right path for him!"
After the consoling part of their night and Haley concluding that he was right (I'm always fucking right!) they went right into the part of their night where they got beyond smashed. Many, many drinks filled the three hours they were at the bar (thanks to the ladies-drink-free special) and a lot of dirty dancing where the club section boomed music. In the back of his mind, he knew it probably wasn't the best idea to get this smashed – due to their history of hooking up when it happens – because of her blossoming crush on Chris but goddamnit, whatever to make her happy he was going to do. And she was right; they haven't just hung out just them in a public outing in quite a while.
So here they were, heavily making out in their kitchen and about to make the same actions they always do when a lot of alcohol was involved. Thoughts swirled in his mind about her and it should have concerned him that maybe the thoughts of stopping were supposed to be front and center. But all that was dominant was the simple question of whether or not to take her in the kitchen.
Her hands trailed down his shirt and under where her nails lightly scratched his abs. All he thought about was how good it felt and how much he couldn't wait to feel her skin, since it was almost six months ago that he got to feel every inch of her body. His hands gripped both sides of her neck and he plunged his tongue deeper in her mouth and circled hers before massaging with up strokes. One, two, three strokes and he broke apart when he felt his shirt lifted from his upper body.
He helped taking off his shirt and the moment the material passed his head he dipped his head to her neck and his lips immediately sucked a patch of skin into his mouth. Her hands when back to his upper body and her fingers lightly brushed then pulled against his nipples and in return, he hissed at the same time his fingers gripped the hem of her shirt. On instinct, his teeth latched on the skin her neck provided and sucked hard and as long as he could until her shirt reached his head, where he blocked the material.
He let go the skin with a pop and removed her shirt. "Nathan," she moaned.
With a soft moan himself, he tilted his head and went back to her mouth where he controlled the kiss, although she put up a huge fight for the dominance with her tongue going in different directions that drove him crazy. He squeezed her breasts, which she responded with a huge moan escaping her mouth and allowed him to win the battle. Her legs hooked behind his thighs and pulled him closer, which he slightly groaned to.
He couldn't take it anymore and finally decided to take to his bedroom where the protection was. That was the ultimate decision since he couldn't risk unprotected sex with his best friend, even though he knew they were both clean. A pregnancy would be about the end of the world for both of them at the moment. With one sweeping move, Nathan wrapped his large arms around her waist, pulled and lifted. Her legs immediately wrapped around his angular hips as he walked them out of the kitchen and towards his bedroom.
"My room," she whispered against his lips. "I want you. It's closer."
He shook his head. "Condoms in my room," he whispered before his tongue plunged back into her mouth.
She moaned in response and her fingers gripped tighter on his hair.
11:45 am – Nathan and Haley's Apartment
"Do it. You feel so good inside me," Haley moaned.
"God! It's like Heaven being with you like this!" Nathan grunted as he thrusted in a steady rhythm.
"Keep going."
"You're fucking amazing."
"Don't ever stop. My pussy loves your dick."
"You're so fucking sexy when you talk dirty."
"Stay with me, Nathan. Keep going, I'm almost there."
"Let me see your beautiful face when you cum, Hales. I need it."
Nathan woke up with a start because the sunlight shined directly on his eyelids. His eyes quickly adjusted to the dim the room provided because of the curtains but groaned when the sunlight filtered through the slits and stayed on his face. He rolled over and his arms wrapped around his pillow and he gave a satisfied moan. His eyes closed in that dazed droop and the memories of last night flashed through his mind like a flipbook.
He spent a few minutes light dozing before he heard the light click on in the bathroom, which automatically turned on the fan. His eyes flitted open and he happily sighed as a lazy smile graced his lips when he thought about Haley. He stayed in bed for a couple more minutes before he took a deep breath and with all his strength despite the slight hangover he had, pushed himself up until he was adajacent to his bed and got up.
He grabbed his discarded boxers from the floor and slipped them on before he noticed an ice cold glass on his nightstand along with two red pills. He appreciatively smirked before he scooped the pills and swallowed several gulps of water before he made his way to the bathroom. His tense muscles started to relax as he stretched and lightly scratched his chest when he appeared in the doorway of their shared bathroom.
Haley was standing in the middle of the room, concentrated on the mirror as she applied foundation to the side of her neck. He leaned against the doorframe as he silently watched her with a soft smile on his lips. She made eye-contact with him through the mirror and gave him a tight-lipped smile. He frowned a little and actually started to look at her full profile through the mirror instead of her face. She was fully dressed but there was sadness in her expression.
He raised an eyebrow and step further into the room until he was directly behind her. His fingers walked down her arms until his left hand grasped her make-up and his right hand laced through hers on the countertop. His head nuzzled the other side of her neck. She sighed and relaxed her whole body against his.
"Morning," he mumbled then lightly kissed her neck.
"Morning, Nate," she breathed a sigh and closed her eyes.
He smiled because all the tension in her body seemed to disappear when he was around. He loved that he was the only one who was able to do that. He closed his eyes at the comfort they both radiated off each other and he knew his hot breaths tickled her neck but she gave no sign that it bothered her. He opened his eyes when he felt that she opened hers and his hazy blue met her golden brown. She gave him the same tight-lipped smile.
"I did some damage to your neck, huh?" He said.
"Yeah, but it's okay," she said, softly. "It's just a little more foundation that usual."
"Here, let me."
He lightly forced her hand away from the make-up and guided her hand down onto the countertop. He dipped his fingers in the goo and feathered his fingers onto the purple color that marred her neck. He had that soft touch that kept his best friend still as she silently watched him do his work. For a few minutes, he worked the make-up onto her skin until it was to the point of perfection.
"You got good at this," she said when he was almost done.
"You taught me well," he gave her a short smile before he went back to focus on her neck.
He referenced when his dad beat him up and she taught him how to use foundation to cover the bruises. At the time, they thought it was better to cover up the evidence then have a bunch of people ask what was going on. Looking back, they were probably taking the easy way out but all he wanted in life at the moment was to succeed in basketball and have his best friend at his side.
Haley gave him a sympathetic smile through the mirror at the memory when she first applied the make-up to his bruises all over his arms and eye. He smirked at her in return and she relaxed her body more into him and sighed.
"How are you with him?" She asked. "I know as of late it's been all about me and it's basketball season so of course Dan is on your butt."
He shrugged. "I'm okay, so far. It hasn't got to the point like a month ago. But you'll be the first to know when it does."
"I'm sorry he's your father."
"I am too, Hales."
He gave her a reassuring smile and continued to apply the make-up when she returned his smile with the same mega-watt smile he knew defined his best friend. He was glad she was starting to return to normal. They stayed silent until he was done and he decided to talk again.
"So why aren't you in bed with me?" He asked with a joking smirk.
She didn't give him her flirty smile back. "Chris called. He wants to meet up later."
Realization hit him like a flying baseball. He raised both his eyebrows and his mouth shaped to a verbalized "oh" that he never said. She somberly nodded back.
"That's why you look sad," he said.
"I don't know, Nathan," she sighed. "I really like him and I can't shake the feeling that I cheated on him last night even though that makes no sense. What if he finds out about us? Then I'm truly am a slut."
Nathan angrily scoffed and laced his left hand through hers from behind and squeezed. He made eye-contact with her through the mirror with an intense gaze and practically growled.
"Don't you ever fucking call yourself that ever again," he said. "You're nothing but."
"I feel like it."
"You're not! Look, are you going to tell him about us?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. He wouldn't understand."
"Exactly. He wouldn't understand our special relationship. And you're not official so you didn't cheat on him. You're a beautiful, talented woman who deserves the best from men. If Chris isn't secure enough in himself, then he's not worth it. And from what I can tell from the guy, he has no qualms about us. He understands that we're strictly best friends with a special connection. He won't judge you."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she whispered.
"He won't," he said with conviction. "And if he does, no matter how cool he may seem, I will kick his ass to Asia. No one makes my best friend feel bad about herself."
She closed her eyes at his words and they just stayed like that for probably the longest time. Nathan kept her close and nuzzled her neck as she relaxed into his body. Finally, her arms moved from the countertop and guided his arms around her waist as she readjusted her head so his face could bury deeper into her neck. He breathed in several times as his arms squeezed her tight into him. They stayed like that until she lightly broke away from his grip and went right back into his body in a full-frontal hug. He reciprocated without question and kissed her cheek.
"I'd die without you," she whispered into his ear.
He broke the hug but kept their foreheads together as his hand gripped her left shoulder. Subconsciously, his hand slipped down until his palm covered a part of her chest where something rhythmically thumped against her skin.
"I'm here always," he whispered back.
Her hand mirrored his and slid down from his left shoulder until her palm covered the left side of his chest.
"I'll be here forever."
End Chapter 7.
I know you all must hate me. Let me know your emotions in a review and I will try to explain myself. Review if you'd like.
CAli
