Author's Note: Hey everybody! First, thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them and I always read each and every one. Since you had such a long wait on the last chapter I made myself sit down and write out another one for you guys! Sorry this one is a little on the short side, but I promise the next chapter will be longer. Enjoy chapter eight!
"Nate?" I choked on my iced tea and started coughing. I saw Nate glance over. He didn't look surprised to see me. In fact I could have sworn I saw a satisfied smile on his lips for a moment.
"Michelle?" Stephen didn't even notice my hacking. He stood up as they walked over, his eyebrows raised.
"Hey Stephen." Michelle said cooly. Then she looked at me and smirked. I had finally stopped coughing, but my mind was still reeling. Michelle and Nate? My brain refused to process it.
Nate didn't smile as he looked at me. "Hey Ella."
"Nate..." I said slowly and smiled tentatively. He looked away.
Stephen seemed to have recovered his composure. "Are you guys waiting for a table?"
"Yes, we are." Michelle smiled adoringly at Nate and batted her eyelashes. "Nate wanted the table by the window for our date."
"Your... date?" I said aloud, my voice incredulous.
Michelle shot me a glare. "Yes, date."
Nate, glancing back and forth between me and Stephen, said quietly, "Looks like you're pretty familiar with the word."
I glanced down at the table, embarrassed. I heard Stephen clear his throat. "Uh, well, actually we're just all at lunch. Ella cancell-"
My head snapped up and I saw Nate staring at me, looking smug. I can't let him think I canceled because of him. Not after he was such a jerk and brought Michelle here to rub her in my face.
"Stephen sweetie, what are you talking about?" I cut him off, smiling sweetly in his direction. "Of course it's a date!" I reached across the table and placed my hand on his arm. He stared at me.
"Ummm..." Stephen paused then looked back and forth between Nate and I. I held my breath. "Oh, uh, yes. Sorry I just wanted to make sure you were okay with telling... everyone." Stephen flashed me a grin and winked at me. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Nate's smile faded. "Right. Well Michelle," he pulled her closer to his side and rubbed her shoulder possessively, "we'd better go back to waiting for our table."
"Why don't you just sit with us until your table's ready?" Stephen asked, smiling warmly.
"NO!" I said quickly, then blushed as they all stared at me. "I mean, sweetie, they probably want to sit by themselves."
"Oh come on, they'd just be standing there." Stephen gestured to me. "You can come over here and sit by me and Michelle and Nate can sit on the other side. It'll be perfect."
I smiled, feeling numb. "Uh, yeah, right. Perfect."
Michelle smiled up at Nate, then pushed out her lip in a pout at his reluctant expression. "Come on Nate, it'll be fun!" I felt my stomach twist.
"Fine." He sighed and waited while I pulled my food to the other side of the booth and slid in beside Stephen. "After you milady." He said, smiling flirtatiously at Michelle.
"Oooo, thank you sir." She batted her eyelashes again and sat down. Nate sat beside her and immediately put his arm around her. She sighed happily.
I turned to Stephen smiling, "Thanks so much for asking me to come here today Stephen. This has been so much fun."
Stephen smiled and casually put his arm around me. "Anything for you Ella."
Nate scowled. I smiled at him, a little too sweetly and said, "Nate, you shouldn't make faces like that when you're out with such a gorgeous girl. Tell me," I leaned forward, hidden sarcasm in my voice, "what's your favorite thing about Michelle?"
Nate paled. "Uh... well, let's see." Michelle simpered and smiled at him. He laughed nervously. "There's just so many things." He paused then looked straight at me and said, "She knows what she wants. Never sends mixed signals or lies to cover things up. I would hate it if a girl did that."
Michelle giggled as I stared down at the food on my plate, awkward. Nate smiled at Stephen and said, "Well Stephen, while we're asking questions, what's your favorite thing about Ella?"
Stephen didn't hesitate. "She's so unpredictable. It keeps life interesting. But I know interesting isn't for everybody. Which is good for me." He leaned over and kissed my cheek. I blushed as Nate sat back, looking furious.
Michelle frowned at her brother, then tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I hope they get our table ready soon." She snuggled against Nate and laid her head on his shoulder. "Then our date can really begin."
"Mmmmhmmm." Nate smiled triumphantly at me. I felt something inside me snap. Who does Michelle think she is? All over him like that? She doesn't even know him!
"Stephen?" I stood suddenly to my feet. "I think we should go."
Stephens eyes widened. "Right now?"
"Yes. Right now." I stared at Nate and Michelle and was surprised when my eyes began to fill with tears. Mortified, I tried to brush them away quickly, but Nate noticed.
"Ella, are you alright?"
"I don't feel very well." I said stiffly. "But I don't think there's anything you can do Nathaniel." My voice was icy. "Enjoy your date. Goodbye."
"Uh, I'll see you guys." Stephen said awkwardly. He pulled out his wallet and threw a few bucks on the table for the tip. "Bye."
I walked over to my dad and Ryan who had been watching what was happening. My dad looked concerned. "Are you alright baby girl?"
I smiled a small smile and nodded. "I just don't feel very well. I'm sorry to interrupt lunch, but can we go?"
Ryan smiled. "Of course. It's no problem."
I glanced behind me at the table we had just left. Michelle was giggling happily but Nate was staring at us all, his eyes sad.
Text from Alex 8:15 PM
R u alright? I saw u leave the restaurant. U looked upset.
I lay back against the pillows on my bed and stared down at my phone, wondering how much I should tell him.
Message sent:
It was nothing. Nate came in with Michelle, that's all.
Text from Alex 8:19 PM
Who's Michelle?
Message sent:
Stephens sister. Nate n her were on a date I guess.
Text from Alex 8:21 PM
Is that a big deal 4 u?
Message sent:
Of course it's a big deal! Y do u ask?
Text from Alex 8:24 PM
Well, u don't like him. So y should it matter if he dates Michelle?
I rolled my eyes, annoyed that he wasn't getting it.
Message sent:
I wouldn't care if he really liked her and dated her. But he just did it to make me jealous.
Text from Alex 8:27 PM
But y are u jealous?
Message sent:
She was all over him! She acted like she owned him or something...
Text from Alex 8:30 PM
So? If u really didn't like him then u probably wouldn't care.
Message sent:
He deserves a better girl than Michelle. She's all wrong 4 him.
Text from Alex 8:32 PM
Alright, let's play a game. Name a girl u would be ok with Nate dating.
Message sent:
IDK. Do I really have to do this?
Text from Alex 8:35 PM
Yes. Just try.
Message sent:
I can't...
Text from Alex 8:37 PM
Y not?
I swallowed hard, embarrassed by the truth.
Message sent:
Because I can't think of anyone.
Message sent:
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING!
Text from Alex 8:40 PM
R u sure?
I stared at the phone in my hands. Was I?
Message sent:
Yes. Maybe.
Text from Alex 8:43 PM
Riiiight. Ok well I g2g. Sry. But just think about that ok?
Message sent:
Ok I will. Bye:)
Text from Alex 8:45 PM
Bye:)
I leaned back on my pillows again and sighed. Ever since Nate and I had kissed things had gotten so complicated. Not that they weren't complicated before, I thought, thinking of Miss Montez a.k.a Gabriella.
Thinking of Miss Montez and my dad's little mystery made me think of the play. I wondered how Nate was feeling about the fact that we were still playing opposite eachother in it. I picked up my phone again and decided to text Michael and try to find out.
Message sent:
Hey:)
Text from Michael 8:52 PM
Hey:D Wuts up?
Message sent:
Nothing much. I wondered if you had seen Nate 2day.
Text from Michael 8:55 PM
No, but he texted me. He said he saw u with Stephen.
Message sent:
It wasn't what it looked like. Btw, why was he there with Michelle?
Text from Michael 8:58 PM
I think he was trying to teach u a lesson. But he said he didn't mean to make u as upset as u were.
Message sent:
I wasn't upset.
Text from Michael 8:59 PM
Right. Whatever.
Message sent:
Did he mention the play?
Text from Michael 9:02 PM
Yeah...
Message sent:
What'd he say?
Message sent:
U there?
Text from Michael 9:12 PM
Yeah, but ur not going to like this...
Message sent:
Uh oh...
Text from Michael 9:13 PM
He's dropping out.
I gasped. Nate was dropping out of the play?
Message sent:
Y?
Text from Michael 9:16
He said he was 2 busy.
Message sent:
What? He wasn't 2 busy when we auditioned!
Text from Michael 9:18 PM
He doesn't want to do the play because of u ok? He said he can't act like he's in love with u onstage.
Message sent:
What, y?
Text from Michael 9:21 PM
Because... he is.
Message sent:
Is what?
Text from Michael 9:24 PM
In love with you.
I dropped my cellphone as if had burned me and jumped off my bed, shaking. No, no, no Nate. Don't do this. You're not in love with me. You're not. We're friends.
Text from Michael 9:26 PM
Ella... this is Nate. Michael let me use his phone when he saw you were texting him.
I stared down at the text message, my cheeks burning. I had been texting Nate this whole time?
Text from Michael 9:32 PM
I'm sorry I didn't mean to trick you I just needed to talk to you, and you wouldn't have answered if you thought it was me.
Text from Michael 9:35 PM
Ella? Please answer me...
Text from Michael 9:38 PM
Ella? Hello?
Without thinking I automatically reached down and hit the power button on my phone. I grabbed a hoodie out of my closet and threw it on. I jammed my feet into some flip flops and ran out of my room and out of my house. I needed to get out, get away from it all for awhile, and just breathe. I continued running, not paying attention to where I was going or where I was heading. I stumbled once, but kept going, plunging into the darkness, breathing hard, putting distance between me and my problems.
Finally I slowed down and stopped, breathing hard. Nate's in love with me. I shivered. The thought scared me. But more than even the thought scared me was the reaction I'd had to it. For a second I had been happy. Too happy. It was scary to feel so happy about someone loving you, particularly when that person was your best friend. When it could never work.
I sighed and looked around, still breathing heavily. After a second, sick dread filled my stomach as I realized I had no idea where I was. The neighborhood looked worn and shabby, different from my suburban street. I pulled my hoodie closer about my shoulders and reached for my phone to call my dad. He would be worried.
Suddenly I gasped as I realized I had left my phone on my bed, with the power off no less. I groaned and shivered again. I found myself wishing for Nate, for his arms around me, protecting me from danger, but I shrugged that picture away with effort and tried to picture Stephen instead. It didn't work.
I turned to walk down the street the way I had come, hoping to find my way back by chance. I heard a car behind me and my spine tensed as I remembered all the stories I had ever heard about girls getting kidnapped or worse on dark nights in bad parts of town. The car slowed and I felt my breath catch in my throat as my heart skipped a beat. I squeezed my eyes shut and tensed my body, ready to run. Suddenly I heard a familiar voice say "Ella? Is that you?"
AN: Lot's of drama in this chapter! What did you think? Sorry if the text message part was a little confusing, I wanted to make it realistic while still making it readable. Hope it worked out okay. Also, for those of you who might be wondering, I PROMISE more of the original cast of characters will be coming into the story soon. Oh, and sorry for any continuity goofs in this story, I'm trying to keep track of everything I say and make everything match up but it gets difficult sometimes. Again thanks for the reviews, your opinions and praise actually do help me to write a better story. I have a lot of exciting chapters planned, lots of twists to our story coming soon, so keep coming back for more! Also, keep reviewing, hopefully soon you guys will break the record of reviews on one chapter of this story. (Which is four so don't worry it won't be that hard!:). Thanks for reading!