Stars Align

chapter nine

"Loverboy already bought your coffee," Kelly smirks as I walk up to the counter.

"Huh?"

She smiles and points to my corner of the coffee shop where Nathan is already sitting at our table. I'm always here before him.

"No, we're not..." I trail off, no doubt turning beet red. "We're just friends."

"Mhm." She turns around to wipe off a counter.

My stomach churns. Is that what people think? Do they think Nathan and I are together?

"What are you doing here?" I ask, walking up to Nathan.

"Lauren got a shipment early this morning and wanted to rearrange the store," he mumbles, rubbing his face. I can tell he's tired and hungover. "I got you a coffee as a thank you for taking our drunk asses' home last night," he lightly chuckles, gesturing to the coffee on my side of the table.

"Thanks," I say, sitting down.

I can't help but feel awkward, replaying Kelly's words in my head. All morning I'm too busy in my head cursing myself over this boy that I don't even notice the dark clouds roll in. The sound of thunder rumbles through the air making me jump in my seat, my blood running cold.

"You ok?" Nathan chuckles, thinking I was just caught off guard. "Stella?" He asks, when I don't respond, staring outside in fear. "Hey," he reaches over, grabbing my hand. "What's wrong?"

I swallow the lump in my throat. "Storms. I-I hate them," I manage to stutter out.

"Stella, its ok," he tries to comfort me, squeezing my hand.

I just shake my head. It's not ok.

"My parents," I manage to choke out.

I close my eyes and pull in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. I haven't talked to anyone about my parents or what happened in years, afraid it would make people uncomfortable or pity me. But for some reason I feel like I can tell Nathan. I want to tell him.

"When I was sixteen, my parents and I took a road trip. On the way home we ran into some bad weather. It was pouring and my dad went to pull over on the shoulder but lost control of the car. We ended up driving off the road and down a hill into the woods. The car rolled so many times I lost count. The next thing I remember is being pulled out of the car by a paramedic, seeing my parents bloodied, lifeless bodies still in the car. They died on scene and somehow I survived." I choke out the last part.

"Oh, Stella," Nathan whispers, eyes full of concern and empathy.

He stands up quickly and sets his chair next to mine, sitting down and pulling me into his arms. He hugs me close, not out of pity but to comfort me and that's all I can ask for. I didn't realize I was crying until he reaches over the table to grab a napkin, offering it to me.

I greatly take it, wiping me eyes and blowing my nose. When I'm done Nathan pulls me back to him, riding out the small storm that decided to roll through with me.

When the storm's over, I pull away and notice that the clock on the wall reads past noon.

"Nathan," I gasp. "You're supposed to be in class!"

"It's ok," he shrugs. "I can get notes from someone."

My heart clinches in both guilt and appreciation that he stayed with me.

"You two are adorable together," Lily, a regular customer, comments as she walks past our table and out of the shop.

I feel my body stiffen and get hot with embarrassment. Quickly standing up, I scramble to gather my things so I can leave. I can't stay with him any longer. I can't keep seeing him either. I'm only going to hurt myself in the end. I thought we could be friends, but I can't kid myself anymore.

Undoubtedly, I'm attracted to him. As much as I hate to admit it, I have feelings for him. I've tried so hard to bury them deep down, but if people are starting to see something between us obviously I'm not doing a good job. All of the comments today are the last straw.

"Stella? What's wrong? Where are you going?" Nathan asks confused.

I don't answer. I just brush past him and out of the coffee shop onto the wet pavement of the sidewalk.

"Stella," Nathan calls out, running after me. When he catches up he grabs my arm and spins me around to face him. "What's going on?" His eyes hold so much concern, and its moments like this I think he may feel the same way.

"We can't do this anymore," I firmly tell him.

"Do what?"

"This!" I yell hysterically. "Nathan, we can't hang out together anymore. You have a girlfriend."

He takes a step back from me, baffled. "So? I like you, Stella. That doesn't mean we can't hang out together."

"Yes, Nathan, it does. It's inappropriate."

"What?" He looks at me dumbfounded. "What is that supposed to mean?" I can tell he's starting to get angry, defensive.

"Goodbye, Nathan." I brush past him and head home.