Begin Again || Nate Maloley

|| Chapter 14

My head rested on his shoulder as we rode the coach bus back to my hometown. We slept most of the way but he woke me up once we got to the parts that were already dusted by snow. He let me sit by the window because earlier, I was complaining about aisle seats. There was even a time we stopped caring about wandering eyes and we made out for a while.

When we finally got there, after 6 hours, we had to take a cab to my house.

"Nervous?" I asked him.

He took a deep breath and nervously smiled. "Should I be?"

"You're totally nervous," I giggled.

"You're the first girlfriend I've had who wanted me to meet her parents, so yeah I'm pretty fuckin' nervous," he replied.

I poked my lips out and he kissed them. "You'll be fine. And let's work on the swearing thing, my mom is super antsy about that."

Poor Nate. He felt so tense holding my hand as we approached the front door. I knocked and I was happy to see it was my little brother, Alex, that opened the door. He smiled as he looked at me then looked at Nate.

"Who are you?" He asked Nate. He's only 10 years old but very intelligent for his age.

"I'm Nate," he answered. "What's yours buddy?"

"Alexander, but call me Alex. I like your hat."

Nate was wearing a white snapback that wasn't cheap whatsoever. I watched as he took it off, ruffling his hair.

"I'll tell you what, Alex," he placed the hat on my brother's head. "Since my friends call me Skate, I'm gonna call you Lil Skate while I'm here. Cool?"

"Cool," Alex smiled. He fistbumped Nate then ran up to me so we could finally hug. "Missed you, Olivia."

"Missed you too...Lil Skate."

"Olivia dear? Is that you?" I heard my mother's voice from inside the house accompanied by the sound of her heels on the marble tiles. She soon emerged from the dining room down the hall with a smile on her face. She was dressed in her usual at-home attire which didn't qualify as at-home for most people. White silk blouse, tan pencil skirt, & tan patent leather pumps. She hugs me and touches my hair. "Oh Liv, let me call Gustav."

"Mom, my hair is fine. This..." I lock my arm into Nate's. "...is my boyfriend, Nate. The one I told you over the phone about?"

She grins as she gives him a once over. "Finally nice to meet you," she says. But I could tell by the hidden tone in her voice that she finds him lackluster.

He doesn't notice this, though, and he shakes her hand with the biggest smile on his face.

"She's nice," he tells me quietly as we enter my house.

"Yeah...nice."

+

"And this is my old room," I say as I opened the door.

Everything was just how I left it. I could tell our maid Louise has been in here every week to dust everything. My mother never liked my room, she said it had no theme. That's how I liked it. My sheets never matched my comforter and my thrift shop lamp didn't go with the ugly floral wallpaper I desperately wanted to get rid of. Nate took in my room carefully, marveling at my boxes of various collections; seashells, crystals, and coins dated before the year 1900. He had just gotten over the fact that my house was enormous.

My older sister Katia used to live in the room across the hall from me. Then she moved out before I started college, got married and now has a son. So now, I pretty much have this entire one side of the house to myself. I know my mother is going to make Nate sleep in Katia's room as if I'm still a teenager. She finds it proper. I don't care about proper. But I know that's not gonna stop me from inviting him into my room after she falls asleep.