Me & Her [gxg] | NOT EDITED

Twenty-One

When I wake up I check my phone. Shoot. I fell asleep.

"Hey," I say. I guess Nate has too.

He doesn't wake up. We've been sitting here for about an hour. I poke him lightly. He wakes up.

"Huh? What?" He says.

"It's been an hour," I say.

"Oh shit," he says and gets up.

"What?" I ask.

"My dad thinks I'm at Hunter's and Hunter is covering for me and his mom gets home at 8:30pm," he says and goes to walk down the hall to the exit.

"Hey," I say as I grab him by his arm, "Why don't you just tell him that?"

"Because if he knows that I'm here because of Cameron he's gonna freak and have a 'talk' about it with me," he explains.

"He beats you?" I ask.

"I-I didn't say a-anything," he states.

"But he has," I say.

"Shauna," he mumbles, "I never said that."

"Nathan," I say. "Why do you still cover for him?"

"I don't have a choice," he says, "I have a brother who's younger."

"But isn't there something you can do?" I ask.

"Probably but I don't want to leave my brother with him," he says.

"True, but you'd both be together wouldn't you," I say.

"No, because I'm able to live on my own," he sighs. "I'm 18, remember."

"Okay," I say in defeat, "Point made."

"That and he would ask me about being gay and all that shit," he says.

"But you're bisexual aren't you?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says, "My dad doesn't exactly understand that. He's more black and white I guess. I've fucked up one too many times."

"Oh," I say.

"People just don't understand," he says. "And that night, well it hurt.. A lot."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I say.

"It's okay, I think the worst is over," he says.

"Yeah," I say, "I just want you to be safe is all."

"I seriously got to go though," he says.

"Yeah," I say, "Okay, go. I get it."

"Thanks for understanding," he says and I realize I'm still holding on to him.

"Oh," I say letting go, "Sorry."

"It's fine," he says and starts walking down the hall.

I notice that there's a slight bruise where my hand was. God. I must've been holding tight. Shit. It was his bad arm too.

"Hey, I just saw Nathaniel walk out," Kacey says walking to me and pointing to the exit.

"Yeah," I say, "He had to get to his friends."

"Did he meet Nelson?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say, "They met a while ago. Can I ask you something."

"Yeah," she says.

"How did Nelson get paralyzed?" I ask.

"He was in a car accident, didn't I tell you that already?" She says.

"Yeah, I think. I just forgot," I say.

"I wanna check in before we gotta get out of here," she says.

"Okay," I say opening the door.

"Hey," Kacey says.

"Hey," he says kinda out of it.

"What'd they give you?" I ask.

"I have no fucking idea," he says dazed, "Hey um Kace?"

"What?" She asks.

"Are you mad at me?" He asks.

"Nelson," she says, "I was never really mad. I just... I thought you would've told me."

"I'm sorry," he says.

"I forgive you," she says.

"Hey," I say, "How you been?"

"Besides being drugged like the olden days I feel pretty good. I think this recovery will be a lot shorter," he says, "Maybe sometime in the future I won't have to have all this surgery to 'fix' my back and be able to get that experimental nerve surgery to walk again."

"Hey Nelson, buddy. I don't mean to be a buzz kill but that's expensive and probably doesn't work," Kacey says.

"I don't know," I say, "I think it could work."

"I'm with Shauna on this one," he says, "By the way tell Nate I said hi and that I'm sorry."

"Yeah," I say, "I'll tell him."

"Nelson, visiting hours are almost over, so I'll stop in tomorrow," Kacey says and kisses him on the forehead.

"Bye," Nelson says.

"Bye," Kacey and I say as we walk out.

"Well that went well I guess," I say.

"Yeah," she says.

"Oh my god," I say and stop in my tracks.

"What?" Kacey says.

"Is that Seth?" I say rhetorically.

"Oh my gosh it is," she says.