Nathan

Chapter 7

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Hey guys. I have to tell you a couple of things before you start reading this chapter.

First of all I want to apologize for posting the chapters all at once, but I had to submit the story to the Wattys. And the submissions were only opened for today and the story had to be completed. So I submitted the story and I hope that you could help me win by voting :)

Second of all, I want to thank whoever supported me in this story. To whoever voted and commented. It's amazing to know that people enjoy my writing :)

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~•¤ Chapter 7 ¤•~

"Nathan?" The word came out more like a question the moment I reached my house's front yard. His back was facing me, but when I called his name, he turned to face me. His hair was messy; it sticked in every direction, and his bruise was getting better. It was less red than two days ago. He was wearing a black hoodie and light jeans with sneakers; his typical look. I stared right into his green eyes that never failed to make me weak.

"Finally! Look, I'm not gonna leave you this time. I'm terribly sorry about what I did and I didn't want you to get fired. You seriously have no idea how guilty I feel. I don't want you to stay mad at me Natalie," he apologized, his eyes full of hope. i was kind of surprised that he came to apologize. Thinking about it, I decided to go easy on him this time. He really seemed to feel bad about it and I didn't have to be so mean with him, even if he was the reason I got fired.

"Listen, I can do whatever you want. Just don't stay mad," he spoke again when I stayed quiet.

"Anything?" I asked, a smirk making its way on my face.

He nodded and said, "Anything."

"Well, I'm sort of hungry, so you can buy me dinner." I shrugged and smiled at the silly thing I just asked him to do. I didn't want him to do anything big. It was a fight and I didn't want it to get bigger. Plus, I was the type of person that couldn't stay mad at others.

"No, I can't," he said hastily and my smile turned into a frown.

"Why can't you? It's only dinner," I told him, feeling slightly embarrased.

He stayed quite for a short while. "Look, I can't hangout with you."

May jaw dropped at his words. Can't hangout with me? Wow, now I felt both embarrassed and offended. Why wouldn't he hangout with me?

"Excuse me?" I asked and took a step back, not believing how mean he was being again.

"I have my reasons Nat. Ask for anything else that doesn't involve us," he cleared out, gesturing at the both of us at the last part.

Chuckling dryly, I said, "First of all, don't call me Nat, It's Natalie. Second, I didn't know that you were so offended to be with me." I started to feel my heart ache. He seriously couldn't be crueler than that. My own crush didn't want to hangout with me. How worse could things get?

"No it's not like that-"

I cut him off and said, "You're forgiven. Relieved? Isn't that what you wanted? I'm not mad anymore. And I think you should leave, you don't want to be seen with me and in front of my house."

He was about to speak, but I let my feet carry me to the house in a fast pace. I couldn't take anything more from his harming words and actions. What was wrong with hanging out with me? I mean I wasn't that much of a shame.

Slamming the door behind me, I entered the house and immediately walked to my room. I didn't want Jenny to see me or ask what was wrong, because I wasn't feeling like talking at all. Realizing that I was crying, I started to wipe the tears from my face.

"Natalie honey, are you okay?" I heard Jenny call from behind the door.

"I'm fine," I said, mentally face plaming when me voice cracked. Now it was obvious that I'd been crying.

"Okay. I'll be in the kitchen making dinner," she gave in, probably knowing that I didn't want to talk about it.

I took my black skinny jeans, grey sweater, my short red boots, and red scarf from my closet, then walked to the bathroom. I entered and put everything above the small shelf that was placed beside the shower, turning the warm water on. I took my clothes off and stepped into the shower box, and immediately my tensed body relaxed when the warm water ran down along it.

My heart was still aching and I was hurt again. It was like he marked a scar on me, and just when it started to heal he dug deeper into it and made it worse. Anyone else would think that I was making a problem out of nothing and it was a silly reason to be mad from. But when you hear harmful words come out of the person you used to admire you'll break down easily.

After a while, the tips of my fingers started to wrinkle, and I took it as a sign to get out of the shower. I took a towel from the small cabinet that was placed beside the sink, then dried myself with it. I put my clothes on, then dried my hair with the blow-drier. I made sure it was dry because I wasn't willing to get sick, especially on school days.

I got out and walked back to my room and took my phone. I was making my way to the front door when Jenny stopped me. "Where are you going? Dinner's ready," she said, wiping her hands with a pink towel.

"I'm not hungry, thanks. And I'm going to the graveyard. I haven't been there for a long time," I told her.

She nodded understandingly and said, "All right, sweetie. But don't be late."

"Okay," I said as I continued walking to the door. As I was outside, a small part of me wished that Nathat would still be waiting for me, so he could maybe try to fix the situation. But as expected, he wasn't.

I took a cab because I didn't feel like walking at all. My feet hurt and I wasn't in the mood of getting pushed by people on the sidewalks.

................

"Thank you," I told the taxi driver and got out of the car. The cemetery was right in front of me, which sent chills to my body. It's been a while since I last came here, and it hurt me because I'd been busy with work and school that I didn't have enough time to visit my parents.

I made my way between the graves, until I saw Noah Collins and Kylie Collins carved on two headstones that were beside each other. I smiled and sat crisscrossed between the two graves. 

"Mom, dad, hey. I miss you guys so much. I know that I haven't visited you for a while now, but my boss and teachers had absolutely no mercy. The teachers would load us with homework and my boss would be so strict about my shift. But that won't be necessary anymore, because I got fired yesterday. Not the happiest thing to say, I know.

"But practically it wasn't my fault. I was fired because of a customer. And that customer's Nathan, the guy I told you I liked. Yeah, we fought both yesterday and today, and it hurts so bad, but I couldn't help it," I said and let some tears fall down. I wasn't being dramatic, but what happened in the last couple of days and being with my parents got me so emotional. I could be sensitive at times. I was a human being after all.

I stared at the sky that carried black clouds and smiled, knowing that my parents were up there. "How's heaven by the way? It's great, isn't it? You must be enjoying it up there because there's nothing better than being close to God and surrounded by angels. I bet it's peaceful and calm up there." I chuckled at myself and continued to stare at the sky. 

I felt a pang in my chest because I missed my parents so much. They'd been dead for a long time now, but everytime I thought about them, I felt the same amount of sadness hit me. 

After sitting there and talking to my parents for a while, it started to get dark. I had to go back so that Jenny wouldn't be worried about me. I tried to sleep that night, moving in my bed so many times, but I couldn't. I just had too much to think about.