Nate was nervous and frustrated with himself at the same time. Why, he asked himself, did Alex have to look so damn beautiful today? Of all days, she chose to look like that when he was to ignore her? How was he supposed to do that with her standing right in front of him looking…well, looking beautiful?

And when he looked into her eyes…he wanted to kiss her, to hold her and tell her that she was his, not any of the competitors in the house (in which they were walking into the studio to meet) not anyone else's but his. Why did he want to do that? It was ridiculous!

He bit his lip and risked a glance at Alex. She looked rueful, to say the truth. He suppressed a groan and tried not to wipe away her frown. She wasn't his by any means—he had no right to touch her or look at her.

After an internal battle, he managed to tear his gaze away from Alex. He noticed they were only a few more steps to meet the contestants. God, he didn't want Alex to meet the contestants. He even battled grabbing Alex and running out of the studio, running away from everyone and everything, and start their own lives together.

That thought made Nate (almost) smile.

Finally, they stopped in front of a door that led to the main stage, where Alex was to meet all the contestants. He considered once again running, but he stopped himself. He could swear he was more nervous than Alex, although, as he glanced at her fixing her hair and biting her lip, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, and Alex looked at him, but he looked away just in time to not catch her eyes again. He heard Alex take a deep breath.

"Yeah," she said, not sounding ready at all. "I'm good." Nate bit his lip and nodded, motioning for Alex to go first. Alex looked unsure as she opened the door and walked into the room, Nate following behind her. He looked around and saw fifteen guys sitting in a very long couch, all looking down and looking downright nervous.

His stomach did flip flops as he closed the door behind him. He was the one that was supposed to introduce these losers to Alex. Why did this have to happen to him? Why not to someone in another state or another universe for all he cared? Why was he falling for a girl he had only had half a conversation with? It was impossible!

He looked over at Alex, whose face was focused on the floor. Great. He was supposed to make everyone feel at ease, not make everyone feel as nervous and uncomfortable as he was. (no matter how much he wanted to)

"Okay," he managed to sound normal, like he wasn't dying inside. He was a host, after all, he had to do that a lot. "So, are you guys ready to meet?" he threw in a smile as everyone (and he literally meant everyone) looked up at him, stunned that someone had broken the silence.

As if on cue, all fifteen guys turned to look at Alex, and they all seemed to like what they saw. Nate's teeth grinded together as he tried not to tell them to stop gawking, haven't they ever seen a pretty girl before? No, instead, he waited until their moment was over. Alex was just blushing, still looking down.

Well.

By all means of the definition, this was awkward.

Nate cleared his throat to have the attention of the contestants back, and they all turned to him. He pulled out some cards he had in his pocket and looked at them. The names were in the order they were seated, he reminded himself, and he looked at the first guy, apparently named 'Riley'.

He had brown, curly hair and he seemed to have a cocky smile, his eyes brown of some sort and his face didn't seem angelic at all. He seemed egotistical, to say the truth. But of course, Nate couldn't mention this to Alex, so he took a deep breath and started introducing them.

"Alex, this is Riley," Riley stood up immediately and, just how Nate had predicted, Riley put on a very cocky smile that made Nate want to punch him. "He loves to play baseball and dance a lot," he read from the index card, and Nate tried not to smirk. He couldn't be a bit more creative than that?

Riley bowed slightly and took Alex's hand to kiss it. Alex blushed a deeper red, and he wanted to gag. "Pleasure to meet you," Riley muttered, before taking his seat again. Alex nodded in return.

He looked at the next index card, then at the second guy. "Alex, this is Dean," he continued. "He loves car racing, anything to do with mechanics, and loves to skip school." Nate rolled his eyes. Dean had black, sleek hair pulled back and his eyes were small and brown, and he wore a lop sided smile as he looked at Alex. He was wearing ragged clothes, and he didn't look as if he cared about his appearance.

"Why hello, miss Alex," he extended his hand to Alex, and Alex shyly took it. "I have been looking forward to meeting you for months," he kept up the lopsided smile, and Nate hated the fact he hated every single guy in this room.

Alex smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Dean took a seat next to Riley and smirked at him, and Riley gritted his teeth. Ah, of course. This was a competition, and Nate couldn't notice that somehow, he was part of it too.

"Alex, this is Zeke," he continued, and he looked up to see the third guy. "He loves talking Alien, is a straight 'A' student, and loves a girl who can cook." Nate almost winced at the talking Alien part. What the hell?

Alex looked surprised, and so did Zeke. "Alex Russo?" he asked, and Alex waved. Zeke stood up and out right hugged her, and Alex hugged back. Nate, along with everyone else in the room, was confused.

"I didn't know you were joining the show," Zeke proceeded. "Justin didn't mention anything," Zeke was smiling all out, and Alex seemed to visibly relax. Nate wondered if they had a past. He didn't like that idea.

"He didn't know and I didn't know," Alex continued, smiling at him. "As weird as that sounds. And I didn't know you were joining! You didn't tell Justin, did you?" she seemed triumphant as Zeke blushed.

"No," he spluttered. "But I guess he'll find out now, huh?" his eyes shone as Alex laughed, and it was no secret this guy had a crush on Alex. Finally, Nate had to cut in.

"Okay, Zeke, we only have so much time," he managed to sound friendly and Zeke threw him a smile and sat back down. Okay, so Nate was going to ask Alex what that was about. He'd have to make an exception—the curiosity was killing him. "Alex, this is Shane," he continued, looking up to the fourth guy. He had friendly smile and semi curly short hair, and big brown eyes that resembled a puppy's.

Nate hated the guy already.

Why?

Because he had that feeling. The feeling that he might be the one that wins. He was the guy that knew everything.

And he hated it now.

"He likes to sing, music being his passion, and loves canoeing," he continued, and tried not to scoff. No one cared if he liked to canoe! Why the hell would someone give a damn about that? Well, they were in Savannah, after all, Nate reasoned with himself.

Shane stood up, towering over Alex, and shook her hand. Alex blushed more than Nate had seen her blush before, and it made him sad. He didn't want her to blush for anyone else but him.

"Good day, miss Russo," he said simply before sitting back down on the couch, his eyes never leaving Alex. How did he know her last name? Right, Zeke.

Nate wanted this to end already. And they were only on the fourth guy.

--

At the end, he had introduced Riley, Dean, Zeke, Shane, Truman, Ricky, Harry, Peter, Jon, Tristan, Jerry (Alex had flinched at this name), Carl, Edmund, Trace, and Taylor. He had liked none of those guys, because they all seemed to confident of themselves. So what? Alex was an easy blusher. It didn't mean they had any chance with her.

At least, that's what he was trying to convince himself as he led Alex back to the parking lot.

Alex seemed to be deep in thought, too much, in fact, she had tripped over air a couple of times already, and Nate held back a smile each of those times. Alex, though, didn't seem to notice, and just kept walking.

Great. Now they had to get into his car together, he would invite her to lunch (he was obligated to) and then they would head back to the studio to record the session where they talk about the contestants. His plan on ignoring Alex? It wasn't going to work out too well as he might have thought it would.

He opened the door for Alex once they arrived at his car, and she blinked and stared at him. "What?" she asked, puzzled. Nate allowed himself to chuckle.

"I'm taking you to lunch before our recording session," he explained, and Alex gaped a little, staring at Nate. Nate tried not to laugh too much—what was wrong with this girl? Wasn't she used to hospitality?

Alex looked down. "I'm not very hungry," she said, quietly, and Nate sighed.

"Come on," he pushed. "I don't bite, I promise," Nate almost flinched as he thought about last night, where he had done nothing but that. He bit his lip and looked down, regretting it now more than ever. What would Alex think? Would she even ever find out?

Alex mistook this, though, and agreed immediately to go to lunch. Nate grinned at her and Alex looked dazed for a moment before taking a seat in his car, and Nate smirked to himself. He liked the fact Alex looked dazed. Did this mean she was interested in him as well?

He sat in the driver's seat and put on his seatbelt, and glanced at Alex to make sure her seatbelt was on too. He couldn't help it, he cared for the girl. He tried not to look too much into it, though. He didn't want to.

When Nate made sure Alex did have her seatbelt on, he started driving out the parking lot. Alex was looking out the window, that deep-thinking look still on her face. Nate couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. He wanted to know.

But he ignored the feeling and concentrated on his driving. Stop sign here, better slow down…U-turn here would be illegal, better take the other way around…that guy just passed the red light…damn, a mile over the speed limit! Slow down…

"So where are you from, Nate?"

Nate almost crashed at the sound of Alex's voice, his car going off course for a moment, earning a few angry honks from other passengers. Alex didn't seem to notice, though, she was just looking at him, a strange glint in her eyes.

Nate cleared his throat. "Uh," Nate processed the question for a while. "I'm from Dallas," he finally concluded. He noticed Alex nodding slowly from the corner of his eye. His heart was beating so much, it wasn't even funny.

"I've been there before," she continued. "It's beautiful." Se complimented, and Nate smiled.

"Not as beautiful as your hometown," he said. "I would give anything to live in Savannah. It's…breathtaking, to say the least." He admired the green around him, and smiled more. Alex seemed to be smiling, as well.

"Yeah, well," Alex sighed. "It's home."

And someday, it might be home for Nate as well.

Five reviews for next chapter. :)
And I'm sorry I didn't explain more thoroughly about the contestants, I have a page limit for every chapter, to make then equal, and that would've taken too much. But you will learn more about them throughout the story.
Next chapter will be a little of Nate's and Alex's lunch, and about their session. So...review. :)