Chapter Fourteen
Pushing against her shoulders Nate hurried to get Sophie away from him. "ELIOT WAIT!" Nate tried as Eliot turned to leave.
"For what!" Eliot spat. "It's clear this has turned into a private party!"
"Eliot I-" but Nate trailed of as Eliot had already left slamming the door behind him.
"What was that about?" Sophie asked pulling Nate's arm as he tried to leave.
"I'll tell you later, right now I need to go find him." Nate urged pulling away again.
"No, I'll go find him." Hardison declared. "You need to stay here and tell Sophie what's going on anyway."
Hardison wasn't happy about the way it had happened but at least the air was finally gonna be clear.
"What's going on?" Parker hadn't been to many parties but even she knew this was a really bad start.
"Ask Nate" Hardison told her before he too left.
Hating the stares of two sets of questioning eyes Nate clenched his eyes shut. He knew if he and Eliot were ever going to have a meaningful relationship that he needed to come clean to Sophie, but this wasn't exactly how he pictured things going. Especially not with Parker being there.
"Well?" Sophie wasn't sure what she was about to hear but judging by the way Nate looked she knew it wasn't going to be good.
"Parker" even if this wasn't how he wanted things to come out he didn't exactly have a choice now. "I need to talk to Sophie."
Seeing that she wasn't going to take the hint Nate stressed, "Alone."
"But"
"I promise I'll tell you later I just really need you not to be here now." Nate explained.
"Fine, but I'm taking the cake." If they weren't going to have a party than she would have her own.
"What could possibly be so important that you had to send Parker away, and better yet what was up with Eliot?
I know he's not the most affectionate but that was a bit much over a simple kiss." Sophie was still trying to figure out what he meant by 'private party'.
"He was mad at me Soph and just give it a minute and you'll be too." Moving to the couch Nate couldn't help but wonder how he was supposed to tell her.
He could take the easy way out and say 'Sophie a year and a half ago I realized that girls are icky so I've been going out with Eliot instead' but that wasn't exactly true.
He still liked woman and he was with Eliot despite the fact he was a man… well sort of.
Not being able to stand the silence or the inner battle she could see on his face a moment longer Sophie sat next to him, placing a hand on his knee, and asked, "What is it? Can it possibly be so bad?"
"I don't want to hurt you Soph and I know that this will." Sighing deeply as he rubbed his face Nate couldn't help but feel stupid.
This was his fault and he knew it. "I just don't know where to start."
"Well, with the truth is always a nice place." Sophie was trying to hide her fear.
She didn't know what he was hiding but apparently it wasn't anything good.
"Sophie, Eliot and I have been dating." Not liking how silent she was being Nate quietly pressed, "Sophie?"
"Wow Nate." Sophie breathed out. "We're not even apart for five months and you literally replace me with the first person you come across!
What was he in the kitchen during one of your drunken stupors and you thought what the hell!
And him, what right does he have to be mad that I kissed you? You two are the ones that have been lying to me!" Sophie yelled.
How could she have been so stupid?
"Soph don't be mad at Eliot, it's not his fault."
"Not his fault! How is it not his fault?
He knows exactly how I feel about you and he goes and does this to me!"
"No I did this! I hurt the both of you and I'm sorry for that but this is on me not him."
"How could you have hurt him? He's probably just using you because he can't find any more willing one-nighters!" Sophie couldn't believe this; she never imagined Nate to be this kind of man.
"I hurt him first! I hurt him with you! I love him and if I wouldn't have been so stupid I wouldn't be in this situation right now!" Saying this made Nate realize he might have hurt Sophie but he had been torturing Eliot.
"How long?" Sophie whispered. She was just about speechless after hearing Nate declare his love for Eliot. He had never even come close to mentioning love to her.
"18 months."
"So not only did you have me playing a fool but I got to be the other woman too." What was she supposed to do with this?
All she could think of now was how humiliated she was feeling.
"No. I might be an ass but it was always one or the other, never the both of you at the same time."
"Well that makes me feel so much better!" Sophie shot sarcastically.
"I'm sure Eliot took it as a reasonable answer though since he's still with you."
"No he didn't and I worked my ass off to get him back. It wasn't easy you know." Eliot was still reserved and even though he would tell Nate they were fine he could still see the hurt and broken trust in his eyes.
"Then why the hell did you do this to me? If you wanted him so badly why didn't you stay with him and leave me the hell alone?"
"You're right about that… I shouldn't have put you through this.
I shouldn't have put either of you through this." Nate really hoped she wouldn't start crying; this was hard enough already.
"I can't feel sorry for him when he knew all this and didn't tell me." This was what she got for chasing him all these years. She fell for him and all Nate did was break her heart.
"I asked him not to and it wasn't his place to anyway." Nate knew that things were going to be rough for awhile but he hoped Sophie wouldn't block him out completely or worse yet leave permanently.
Rising from the couch Sophie decided she had heard enough, "Nathan Ford you're nothing but a bastard and you deserve to be alone."
As the door slammed Nate couldn't help but feel that Sophie's statement was true.
Trudging his way upstairs he tried to control the emotion that was threatening to spill and as he flopped on his bed not caring that it was the middle of the afternoon he finally let go. Ignoring the tears that were leaving his face sticky Nate couldn't help but wonder if he would be able to fix things this time or if he had finally ruined the one thing that had been good in his life in years.
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"Eliot! Eliot hold up!" Hardison called running to catch up with him.
"What the hell do you want Hardison?" Eliot roared, never faltering in his pace.
"I just want to talk, make sure you're okay." Hardison worried but he really hoped Eliot didn't plan on being outside long; he never was one for the cold.
"Oh I'm just fucking perfect. What do you think Hardison? I go over there, follow the line of bull about Parker's damn waffles just so Nate can have his damn surprise party and I end up being the one surprised!" He couldn't believe he was on the other end of this crap again.
"I honestly don't think things went as simply as that."
"So I didn't see them kissing then? Where the hell were you at Hardison?"
"I was in the kitchen talking with Nate and he didn't sound like he wanted anything to do with Sophie.
The only reason he let us all be there was because Parker told him it was gonna be a birthday party for you." Hardison didn't know if he should be defending Nate or bashing him.
"That doesn't change anything. I told you already I refuse to put up with his shit and I'm done. I'm not gonna stick around while he plays these games… he can go to hell if he thinks I will." Eliot seethed. He had given that bastard a second chance and sure as hell didn't plan on giving him a third.
"Don't you think you should talk to him? See if you guys can work things out." If possible Eliot seemed angrier than when he had been talking to Adam.
"Who says I want to work it out? We were supposed to be easy, no complications… how wrong we were there." Sarcasm quickly softened into turmoil. "What if I just want out before I fall to deep?" Eliot wanted to believe that ending things could be that easy.
"I think you already fell and like it or not I know you know Nate did too.
You need to talk to him even if it's just to tell him you're done; he owes it to you to listen and you deserve to make yourself heard."
Hoping to use any excuse to get out of the cold Hardison tried, "How about we go find Parker and see if she can't scrounge us up some birthday cake."
"I'm not going back to Nate's." Eliot relented. The only plans he had were to go home and pretend not to be affected by what had happened.
Maybe go out for a few drinks, pick up a girl he would regret in the morning to help him forget.
"That's cool, we can go to my place." Hardison knew that if he pushed Eliot anymore he would shut down but he also knew that heartbreak was hard and he wasn't going to let Eliot go through it alone. Even if he wouldn't admit it.
A/N: Sorry this one took so long or if there's any errors, but I hoped you enjoyed. I wrote a small drabble to accompany this, if anyone's interested it's called unshed tears. Thanks for everyone who is continuing to read and as always I love hearing from you so thoughts, opinions, criticism and reviews are cherished. (maybe a threat or two considering what I just did, I don't even know who to feel sorry for at the moment.) Spelerison:)