Slipping Through My Fingers

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

Nate's POV -

Chris and the twins all had to be at school early today to complete a test they missed out on. I didn't care that they dragged me along and made me safe keeper for the hour because like I was all day yesterday, I kept thinking about her. Why didn't she come to school? Or why had she avoided me during lunch?

Why the f*ck am I such an asshole to her? I wanted to reconcile things with her as soon as I had left her but when I went back, she had already walked away. It really annoyed me how she was so... different to other girls I had been with. Well, not really been with, more like slept with.

I sat on the bench with their phones surrounding me when suddenly; Chloe's phone started to ring and the name Adam-Rose came up. Who the hell was that?

"Hello?" I took no hesitation in answering the phone.

"This isn't Chloe." A male voice stated.

"Yes, she's currently doing her test. Is there something wrong with Rose?" I asked immediately.

"Yes, she's really sick. She won't be coming to school today and I can't be with her so I was going to get Chloe to take care of her." He replied.

Rose was sick? I felt guilty straight away and even though I knew I wasn't the cause of her sickness, I felt bad for leaving things between us in a not so positive way.

"Well, like I said, she's in the test room and won't be finished until at least another hour." I said.

"Are you Nate?" He asked after a short pause.

How the hell did he know who I was? I wasn't even sure as to who I was speaking to. Actually, which kind of male knew Rose?

"Yes." I didn't know what else to say.

"Well, than can you come take care of her?" His tone sounded like he was being smug and I just couldn't understand why.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." I answered and with that, I didn't even think about their phones, I left them on my bench and made my way over to Rose's apartment.

***

I was nervous standing outside of her door. Unlike last time I was here, I didn't know how to act. I finally knocked on the door using the regular three-knock signal.

"It's open." I recognised Rose's voice however her voice sounded a little weird.

Right, she was sick.

I slowly turned the knob, hesitant of how she was going to react.

Finally, I pushed open the door and walked inside with an unsure expression. I watched as Rose's pupils increased, almost covering all of her eyes as her lips parted slightly. Her shocked expression soon turned into a scowl, clearly implying that she didn't want me here.

"Get out." She demanded.

She looked pretty pissed off and I didn't blame her. But, I stared at her looking at how cute she looked.

Her usual high pony-tail style was in a high messy bun at the top of her head. Her tanned skin tone had decreased to a vast extent, clearly showing how pale she looked. Her pants were thick and sitting on her hips while she wore a long sleeved tight shirt that was tucked into her thick pants. Her shirt looked the same way her dress looked; it hugged her curves.

"Didn't you hear me?" She demanded once again. "I told you to get out." Her tone was strangely calm.

"But-"

"But nothing. Out." She commanded.

I didn't want to argue with her and I had nothing else that I could do so I did the only logic thing and stepped outside and shut the door. I didn't leave though; no I wouldn't do that.

I pressed my back against the door in thought. What the hell could I do to get in there? I knocked on the door again hoping she'd grant me access however I had no such luck.

"Rose? Just let me in." I pleaded.

She didn't answer me and I kept knocking but she was ignoring me. I racked my brain for something to do, anything. What would make her allow me to come inside? She has to get rid of her attitude first; she had to laugh. And I knew just the thing.

"Rose..." I said her name wearily.

She didn't answer me but from the sound of the TV on and then hearing no volume meant that she was listening.

"And I am telling you, I'm not going, even though there are times that I should, I don't want to be free," I sang the song that the twins had gotten stuck in my head once. I have never been much of a singer and even now, my tone was awkward, like I was half talking, half singing.

"I'm staying, I'm staying and you, and you, and you, you're going to-" I quickly swapped the words around in my head. "Tolerate me-" Before I could continue, I heard a beautiful sound.

Rose was giggling; she was actually laughing, scratch that, she was in hysterics. So help me God, she turned my gruffy mood right around for the better and as I heard that sound, I knew that to anyone, they would be in a world of pain having to listen to it however for me, I loved the sound.

There was soft movement towards the door and finally, the door had opened with a horrible looking Rose. Well, not that she looked horrible, no; she still looked beautiful like she did every other day but the sickness made her look weak.

"You can come in you loser." She giggled; waiting for me by the door.

She closed the door once I walked in but I put my arm over her shoulders and guided her quickly to the couch when she still wasn't moving.

"You need to rest, which means no standing up." I told her seriously, even though I was still amused by her high-pitched on and off laugh that had possessed her.

She frowned at me and looked up at me in confusion. Her big brown eyes were wide for a few seconds and she looked distant like she was lost in thought.

"You okay there?" I asked, bringing her back to Earth.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbled, a hint of a blush creeping up to her tanned cheeks.

She sat up from the couch and I arched an eyebrow at her which earned me the biggest grin in the world. Seriously, the Cheshire cat had nothing on Rose. I laughed at her reaction and she started blushing again.

"Why the hell were you smiling so much?" I asked; still laughing.

"I have a thing for the one raised eyebrow." She answered, not looking me in the eye.

I laughed again and purposely kept my eyebrow up as I spoke to her.

"So, what's the sickness?" I asked.

"Stomach bug. I've only had it once before a few years back and since then I've been blessed not to get it again. But you know; I got it now." She shrugged like being sick was no big deal.

That again made me gain so much more respect for her as well as admiration. Before I knew what I was saying, I blurted out something that was rather embarrassing.

"I respect you." I told her after our eyes had connected in silence for a few seconds.

Her eyes went wide for a few seconds and that blush returned furiously, making her whole face go red.

"What?" She asked; shocked.

What?! What did I say and why the hell did I say it? Well, yeah I respected her but to keep my own f*cking respect I didn't need to tell her that.

"I said that I respected you. And I do, because you know, I kind of admire your strength." I told her, this time at my own free will.

To my surprise, she actually laughed. It wasn't like the high pitched laugh before but kind of an I'm-feeling-really-awkward-but-kind-of-touched laugh.

"Kind of ironic for you to be saying you admire my strength when I couldn't be weaker at this moment." She smiled.

She patted the empty space beside her and it wasn't until then that I realised I had been standing up this whole time.

I sat next to her, making sure to move the scrunched up blanket and drape it over.

"Well, I don't mean in appearance. Well, in appearance you're the most beautiful creature the Earth could ever hold. Like, you're gorgeous and you don't even know it. And as for your personality, well, you're strong. And loyal and dedicated. I like that about you." With this girl, this sick girl sitting right next to me, I could actually say anything I wanted to without leaving anything out.

I wasn't sure if my uncontrolling words were a good thing or not, though.

"You speak you're mind around me, don't you?" She spoke softly after a few moments of hesitation.

"Well, yeah," I shrugged. "I speak my mind around anyone really." I answered.

"No, no." She shook her head but then cursed herself and kept her eyes shut.

"You okay?" I asked, feeling a little worried.

"I'm fine. Anyway, I see how sometimes you pretend to be in a certain mood around others. Sometimes you want to disagree with others but keep your mouth shut. And sometimes there's more you want to add on to the story but you hold back. But, with me, it's like you don't care. And it's not as if you can't control it, you just choose to tell me everything." She noted carefully.

I was kind of shocked, well, shocked was an understatement.

"That is amazing, Rosie." I complemented her with a sly smirk.

She returned it back with her compelling smile and we went back to staring into space.

After a few minutes of silence, a huge smirk appeared on my face.

"What I wanna know is how you knew all that about me. Does someone watch me without me noticing?" I winked at her.

I could see it in her eyes, I kind of caught her on that one. She tried masking her features and even though she did one hell of a job at it, her eyes, though, were like an open book.

"You know, it's not that I pay attention but it's just a mere observation." She defended herself.

I rolled my eyes at her and laughed. I guess I would let the conversation go until another place and time.

"You want anything to eat?" I asked her.

She shook her head quickly but in a matter of seconds, she groaned loudly and her fingers went white from the way they were flexed on her head. She had her eyes shut tightly and then she shot up quickly and ran to where I could only guess was the bathroom.

I heard the sound of her puking and winced. I didn't wince because I found it disgusting; I surprisingly didn't find it disgusting but I actually winced because I felt hurt in away. The sound of sweet, innocent Rose being in pain wasn't something I really wanted to hear or witness because I wanted her to be okay.

I rose to my feet and slowly walked to the bathroom.

"Rose, are you alright in there?" I asked, my voice coming out hesitant.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just don't come in." She replied.

And that was my cue to walk inside.

"Didn't I just say to not come in?" She groaned, resting her head on the very edge of the toilet seat.

"Yes, but I also don't care." I replied.

"Please don't say anything that'll make me roll my eyes. It kind of hurts." She muttered.

I laughed at that and sat down next to her, rubbing her back slightly.

"Oh, trust me, you don't want to touch my shirt." She muttered.

"Why?" I frowned.

She went pink again but didn't answer, however I did see what she was talking about. Again, I felt strangely angry that she was the one that had to endure this sickness. Anyone but her. There was a little liquid on her shirt which was probably her vomit. She was now vomiting out water? This could not be good.

"Can you please get out for a few moments?" She asked; I didn't stop rubbing her back.

"Nope." I answered confidently.

"Nate-" She began but I cut her off.

"No matter what you say, I'm not getting out." I said again.

"But I need to change my shirt." She told me quickly.

That shut me up pretty quickly. So, if I stayed I'd get to see Rose in a bra but if I turned around and left, I wouldn't?

There was no question about it; I was staying.

"I'm still staying." I spoke after silence.

"But Nate, I need to take my shirt off. I don't want you in here." She insisted.

"Then I'll turn around, but I'm not getting out." I commanded.

She went silence for a few moments before she huffed out loud.

"Do you need to get another shirt?" I asked her.

"I kept another one in here just in case." She answered.

I nodded and stood up as I turned around. I smirked when I saw that Rose was standing behind me and I could see her reflection with the mirror being in place. I could still see her in that bra if I wanted too. And trust me, a huge part of me wanted to. She was after all, the most beautiful person in the world. How could I have no curiosity towards that? And plus, I'm a guy.

But, on the other hand, Rose was the girl who had no parents, was raising three boys and living in this shit-hole. She was sick and she deserved to be treated with the most respect anyone could ever muster up.

Trust me, I wanted to take advantage of the whole moment but she was just too pure for me to do that. So, I closed my eyes and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, it felt ridiculous to be waiting this long for her to change her shirt.

"Rose, everything okay there?" I asked worryingly.

She didn't answer; actually, everything seemed a little too quiet.

"Rose? If you don't answer me I'm turning around." I spoke again, feeling a little scared.

"Don't turn around." She muttered quickly.

Thank God she answered me.

"What the hell is taking you so long?" I asked in aggravation.

"I'm just, uh, you know, fixing something." She answered a little too innocently.

"Rose." I said in a stern voice that basically said to cut the crap and tell me what's really going on.

"Fine." She grumbled. "The back of my shirt is caught in my bra buckle."

I tried hiding my smile, I really did, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Do you need any help?" I asked, still smirking.

"No." I heard her firm mumble.

Nope, I wasn't going to take that as her answer. I knew I said that she should be respected in every single way but the thing was, I felt like I was her joking exception.

"Come on, I'll help you. I'll keep my eyes closed if you want." I insisted.

I heard her gruff sigh and she finally said yes. You could only imagine how big my grin was.

I walked over to her, making sure to keep my eyes closed. I kept my arms out so I wouldn't lose my footing. My hands found her face which was quite amusing because I expected her shoulders or something but she was a little on the short side; not that I minded. I found her all the more attractive.

"Are you going to move your hands?" She laughed.

"Shit, sorry." I chuckled and walked around, behind her.

I moved my hands trying to find her but I had no such luck. I found her shoulders and slid my hands down her back, feeling a sensation within me. I wanted desperately to open up my eyes and see if I had any effect on her but I wouldn't do such a thing if she sincerely believed my eyes were closed.

I felt my fingers brush against her bare back and without opening my eyes, I could feel the goosebumps I had on my skin. I found the middle, and worked my way up before feeling the wire of what could only be her bra.

"Rose?" I asked hesitantly.

She was silent for a few moments and I thought about calling her again.

"Yes?" She asked, sounding muffled.

"I won't be able to fix this with my eyes closed." I told her.

And it was true; I wasn't making up some lie. I honestly tried fixing it however without full vision; I wouldn't be able to see what the problem was.

"Fine, you can open your eyes but if you look, I'm going to kill you." She muttered.

How the hell did that work?

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll be able to kill me." I snickered with a laugh.

I opened my eyes and wished I hadn't. I didn't know what to do but I wasn't going to grab her and kiss her or anything. As much as I wanted to, I wouldn't do that. I found that the thread for her shirt was caught in one of the buckles and all I needed to do was tear the thread apart since I couldn't get it out. As soon as I took it out, Rose felt it and turned around, her face on fire.

"Now leave." She ordered.

I decided not to argue with her and quickly walked out the door before I did something that I would regret.

I went back to the lounge room and cleaned up a bit, I knew Rose would probably end up cleaning and I didn't want her to clean while she was sick.

It didn't take long for Rose to come back out, this time wearing a long sleeved bat winged shirt that looked gorgeous on her. That girl could really pull anything off.

"Thanks, you don't have to do that." She mumbled; her voice hoarse.

It took me a while to realise she was thanking me for cleaning up. I smiled at her and lead her back to the couch where she laid down instead of sitting like she did before. This left no place for me to sit.

"I'm sorry, I'll sit up." She said quickly once she realised my awkward stance.

She was sick and was worrying about me standing up?

"Shut up and lie down. I don't want to sit on the couch anyway." I told her.

She frowned a little but complied. I sat against the couch but I twisted my body a little so I could fully face her, we were now face to face leaving an intimate moment between us.

Woah! Hold on, when the hell did I ever care about this kind of intimacy? I was Nate Sanders; I didn't give a shit about this kind of stuff...

In saying that, I looked back at the weak Rose in front of me and smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled softly.

She looked taken aback and I felt the need to elaborate.

"About the other day. I was really angry with you very quickly and I shouldn't have lost my temper so quickly." I explained.

She smiled, showing the dimple on her right cheek that made her breathtaking.

"Well you're forgiven." She smiled.

I noticed that her eyes had gone a little red and they were blurry. She started blinking away furiously and turned away from me.

Was she about to start crying?

"Rose, are you okay?" I asked hesitantly.

She nodded but then cursed herself for it, keeping her eyes shut.

"You're not going to puke on me or anything right?" I attempted making the mood light.

She laughed, making me achieve what I wanted.

"Nope, I'm fine." She laughed.

I smiled at her just as she opened up her mouth to tell me something. Her words were cut out by the sound of my stupid phone.

I answered it quickly in anger and noticed how my mood had shifted quickly.

"What the hell do you want, Chris?" I answered in frustration.

He seemed to have interrupted something that Rose was about to tell me.

"Woah, relax there bud. I think I'm the one who should be pissed at you. Who gave the f*cking right to leave our stuff and leave? You know one hundred dollars is missing from my wallet. You f*cking jackass! We ask you to do one thing and you can't even do that right!" He yelled over the phone.

"Well what the f*ck was I supposed to do?" I screamed.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Rose flinch from the sound of my voice and I mentally cursed myself for it.

"Stay with our stuff! Why the hell did you leave anyway?" He retorted.

Right, he didn't even know why I wasn't taking care of their stuff.

"I'm with Rose." I muttered bitterly.

He was the one who had been encouraging me to pursue her.

"What the f*ck are you doing with Rose?" Chris didn't swear a lot so I knew he was fully agitated.

In anger, I shut the phone in his face.

Rose's eyes went wide and she looked at me with the same expression of confusion.

"Why did you hang up?" She asked me.

I had no real answer so I just didn't answer her at all. What was I going to say? I had no idea so I just resorted to staying silent and scowling at the ugly cream colour of the wall.



I didn't know that if my reaction would have any effect on her or if she would dislike the way I didn't answer but everything was so complicated right now and I had no idea why.

"Nate?" I heard her timid voice.

I looked back at her with intention of forcing myself to smile but just like that, when I saw her, the corners of my mouth lifted up. It was a genuine smile.

"Rose, can I ask you something?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes." She answered almost straight away.

"Why won't you let me see your brothers?"

She looked like... Well, she looked like she honestly had not expected me to ask that. But that one night I came over, I was wondering why she seemed so adamant to keep her little brothers away from me.

"Because I don't want my brothers to be around someone like you." She answered honestly.

I hadn't expected such a blunt answer from her and I certainly hadn't expected her to actually be truthful with me. But, I did ask the question expecting a frank answer.

"Fair enough. So, what's wrong with me?" I tried.

"Well," She seemed uncomfortable and squirmed a little in her position. "You're crude, mean, blunt and have a bad attitude. You're negative and have a bad temper as well as a huge ego."

Wow... I've never actually experienced being hurt. No matter what I've been through, sure I've been angry and frustrated and have physically hurt a lot of people but this... Listening to Rose saying these things about me kind of made frustratingly hurt. Yep, I don't know what the symptoms were and I never knew I'd experience it but trust this girl to be the first person to ever make me hurt.

"Okay. Thanks." I answered, curling up my lips to show her she had no effect on me.

"But, you're also loyal, caring, funny and you're a good person at heart." She spoke quickly.

And just like that, everything she said earlier did not matter to me.

"I'm extremely sexy too, right?" I joked, nudging her a little.

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"And I don't regret saying you have a huge ego." She sang.

We both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence. This was, different. I wasn't totally 100% my usual self when I was with her but I changed, but I was still myself. If that even made nay sense...

"Hey, are we friends?" Looks like today was full of surprises.

"Yeah, I guess we are." I smirked.

"Nate open the f*cking door!" There was a huge pound of knocks coming from the front door and Chris's voice was booming through the corridor.

"F*ck me." I groaned in anger.

Rose's laughter drowned out the sound of my groans and I started laughing at her in amusement.

"Just open the door for him."

***

I had wood shop right after the bell so as I finished up my food, I walked to the classroom. Chris and I joined this class for fun; we didn't necessarily have any goals to use this class for our future; well come to think of it, none of the classes were aimed for us to use for our future. Chris and I had what people would call carefree minds. Basically, we didn't care about school.

Chris and I arrived at the classroom where we found a note attached to the door ordering the students to meet at the school library for a meeting. With a huff, I turned around with Chris and walked towards where I assumed the library was located. I wasn't one to go to the library.

I managed to get lost within the school, hence my late arrival to the library.

"Good to see you've decided to surprise us with your presence. Mr. Sanders, Mr. Heart take a seat." Our principle announced.

"No problem." I smirked.

Making my way to the back of the room, I chuckled at all the gazes the girls had sent the both of us. Even though Chris had a girlfriend, no single girl (except for Rose) ever backed off him. And me, of course, I had every girl drop to my feet at my command.

I smirked my way over to the back of the room and looked around. I tried convincing myself that I was looking around the room out of curiosity but I was very well aware that I was looking around for Rose. Of course, she was sitting at the front of the room with the girls, looking very attentive. I chuckled once more earning my some stares. She was cute when she was a nerd.

"Now that everyone has decided to attend," Mr Robertson narrowed his eyes at me and continued to speak, "We have had a vast amount of students who had dropped out of school in our last year. We have decided that we are narrowing down the subjects that you have chosen which has resulted into a new schedule. This problem has only caused one subject to be eliminated from your timetable so there should not be too much fuss. A few teachers will be coming around to hand everyone their new schedule and you are expected to attend that class right now." After he finished speaking, everyone emerged into chatter and I fixed my eyes on Rose who looked worried.

Once again, I chuckled at how scared she was acting over school. No one seemed to realise that not doing well in school didn't matter.

"What new subject do you have?" Chris asked once we received our timetable.

I peered over my paper and narrowed my eyes at the words on paper. I had to endure visual arts/photography? I groaned in annoyance remembering how I had to do this in freshmen year.

"Art." I muttered.

Chris laughed loudly and slapped me on the back.

"Good luck with that." He snickered. "I get a free period." He grinned.

"That's because you're one lucky bastard." I rolled my eyes.

He laughed again just as Cam ran up to us.

"So, are you ever going to go class?" Chris asked me.

"Nope, I'll just skip those classes." I grimaced.

"Why? Which subject do you have?" Cam asked me.

"Art." I replied.

A knowing smile elapsed on her face and she looked at me with knowing eyes.

"Rose has that now, too." She gleamed.

A slow smirk soon spread out onto my face. Now I had both History and Art with her. This should be fun.

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Authors Note:

So most of that chapter was a Nate/Rose thing so no complaints :P anyway, next chapter is already up and it's kind of cheesy in a really weird way which isn't my thing.

Zac Efron as Ashton, Nates brother, remember? And in advance, I chose this photo of Efron with a beard on purpose because first, he seems older and second, I strongly believe that all men look better with beards rather than clean :P

Vote, comment and fan.

Farewell xx