One Night Could Change Everything

Chapter 16

November kind of flew by in a blur. I spent Saturdays with Alyssa, Sundays with Scott. Had long phone conversations with Nathan almost every night. I worked at the pet store on random week days and stayed with my dad as much as possible. I had decided to put the whole 'Aaron having a crush on me thing' out of my mind. It just seemed so impossible for him to crush on a girl like me. Nathan never dated anyone, which was weird. He constantly had girls around him, he'd laugh and flirt with them, but when it came down to dating any of them he didn't.

Alyssa was still completely obsessed with him. Daniel had gotten a new girlfriend so my chances of her getting with him were diminished. Alyssa had started talking about possibly getting a job at the pet store with me, which, it would be cool to have my best friend there, but that would mean her spending even more time badgering me about Nathan. Sigh. I kind of hoped Nathan would start dating someone at least, just to get Alyssa off my back. Well...No actually, I did not want Nathan with someone. To be more clear, with someone other than me.

God. Being a teenager is so fricken complicated. Stupid feelings and hormones making you a basket case. It was almost Thanksgiving. I was going to spend it with mom because dad was going out of town with Terri to see her family. Scott was also leaving for a couple of days to see his grandparents. Thanksgiving was a week away, and since my mum is never really prepared for anything, we still didn't have any food for the big dinner. I was going to the store to pick up all the stuff we needed. Scott was busy packing with his family so I asked Nathan to come with me to the store. He hadn't mentioned any plans with family so he was free, plus he made things so much more fun.

He showed up at my house at 9 in the morning, I like doing things early, save the rest of my day. Mom was sleeping in late on one of her only days off, Benji was playing his Xbox. I got in my car, Nathan in the passenger's seat. "Where are we all going?" He asked once I pulled out of the driveway. "Market, and the post office for my mum." I said and checked my side mirror. Safety first. "Cool. Hey do you think we could make a quick little stop before the other stuff." He asked.

"Sure, where to?" I asked and glanced at him. He was smiling a little. "There's a um, body shop down the street from the drug store." He said. "Body shop?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Well tattoo shop actually." He muttered and looked out the window. I stared at him shocked, before I remembered to keep my eyes on the road. "You're getting a tattoo? Nath, are you sure you want to do that, I mean, you're not even eighteen yet, you might regret it." I tried to reason. He laughed. "I've done a lot of things I regret Chloe, but that's not the point. Besides, stop freaking out I'm not getting a tattoo, I was thinking about getting a piercing. They do both at the shop." He said.

"Oh." I mumbled. A piercing wasn't as bad I suppose, if he didn't like it, he could always take it out. I felt relieved. "So...What do you want to get pierced?" I asked hesitantly. "Oh, probably my bottom lip." he said. "Your lip? But..But you have nice lips!" I said without thinking. He looked over at me. My face flared red. Idiot. He laughed. "Yeah I do have pretty nice looking lips, is what you probably meant." He said still chuckling. I nodded mutely, feeling incredibly embarrassed. "Anyways, I've wanted a piercing for a long time, I figured today was a good day to do it." He continued. We drove in silence for a bit until I pulled up to the tattoo shop.

"Nathan, don't you need permission from your parents to get a piercing?" I asked as we got out of the car. "Don't worry about it, I know the chick who does the stuff." He said and held open the shop's door for me. I went inside. It was a typical tattoo place, pictures of examples on the walls, some couches to wait on. There was only one other person in there getting work done on his arm. We went up to the counter. A girl with spiked neon blue hair came out of the back room, seen Nathan and grinned. "Hey I was wondering when you'd come in here." She said and slung her arm around his shoulder.

Just that simple touch between them made my hands ball up into fists. Jealousy is a bitch. "Hey Bailey, sorry I haven't been around in awhile, but I'm back and I'd like to get me lip pierced." He said. She surveyed his face, making me even more jealous, unfortunately. "Hmm, I always seen you more as a ink guy rather than a metal face." She mused. She glanced at me then back to Nathan. "Oh right, Bailey this my good friend Chloe." he said, smiling in my direction. She smiled and nodded to me. I gave a small smile in return. If she didn't get her arm off of Nathan...

"So you want your lip done then, huh?" She said and stepped away from him. I sighed. "Yep, can you do it today, or do I have to come back?" He asked, following her to the back of the shop. I followed as well. "Of course I can do it today, it's not like I have anything else to do!" She laughed and gestured to the almost empty shop. "Damn holiday, makes everyone leave town or spend time with their family, nobody wants any body art!" She said sarcastically. She gestured to a special reclining chair for Nathan to sit in. I sat down in a folding chair next to him. "I'll get my things and be right back, just stay put." Bailey said and went back to the front of the shop, leaving just Nathan and me.

"Having any second thoughts?" I asked hopefully. I didn't really like the idea of Nathan's lip being some what ruined. He shook his head looking amused. "Are you sure?" He laughed. "I'm absolutely sure Chloe, chill." Bailey came back into the room holding this instrument with a large needle on the end. I shivered involuntarily. "Before I stick ya, you need to pick out a some kind of piercing to put in to keep the hole open. You can get a new one in a week." She said and held out a metal tray full of different rings. "Hmm, Chloe can pick one out for me, I don't really care." He said and shrugged. I leaned over and examined the tray. I picked a black-ish sliver ring and gave it to Bailey. "Good choice." She grinned.

"Alrighty then Nath, sit back and don't move. I'm not going to lie, it's going to hurt a little bit, but I know you're tough." She said while patting his shoulder. He did as she said. Bailey held the needle up to Nathan's mouth. That's the point I had to look away. Needles, Ugh. There was a slight click noise and Bailey sat back. I thought it was safe to look. Nathan was massaging around his mouth, and the ring I had picked out was now placed on the bottom left side of his lip. Even though the area was kind of puffy he looked, well, damn good. Sigh.

Bailey gave him a small hand mirror to examine his face. "Well, what do you think?" She asked. He nodded his head. "Awesome Bailey, seriously, I really like it." He said and grinned, then winced slightly. "Good I'm glad you do, and since you've been my only customer, like all day, I'm not even going to charge you." She said. "No I can pay-" She interrupted him by shaking her head. "Nope buddy, this one's on the house." She gave him some liquid stuff to keep his piercing clean and we left. As I drove to the market Nathan was smiling to himself.

"What do you think of it then?" He asked for like, the tenth time. I already told him it looked cool, but he seemed to really want confirmation that he made the right choice. I sighed, smiling a little. "It looks really cool Nathan, trust me." We got to the market, Nathan got me a trolley. "Thank you, okay, we should just go to the back of the store and make our way back, my list is kind of huge." I said and started for the frozen aisle. The store was pretty packed considering Thanksgiving was a week away. People getting last minute things. I can imagine how crazy it's going to be on the night before the actual holiday. I scanned different aisle picking up random items along the way. Like I had guessed, Nathan made this shopping trip much more enjoyable. Making little jokes about shoppers along the way, and doing impressions. Without him, this would have been a lot more stressful.

We got to the frozen foods section to get a turkey. Picking a decent turkey is not as simple as you would think. There were so many and yet, so few to choose from. It was only going to be mum, Benji, and me having dinner, so we didn't need the huge one. As I tried to make up my mind between two medium sized ones Nathan shook his head. "I'm thinking that back in the Indian days getting your big feast would have been so much easier." He said thoughtfully. "How so?" I asked, weighing them both. "Well you basically grow all your veggies and crap, then pick'em and eat. And for your turkey, pretty much just load your crossbow, point it and shoot. End of story." He explained. His tone had taken on that of a national geographic narrator.

I grinned. He grinned back. God, that lip ring had really somehow, I had not thought it possible, made him even sexier. Just what I needed, for my crush to get even more good looking. Sigh. After much deliberation I just tossed one of the turkeys in my trolley and steered along to get the rest of the stuff on my list. "Hey Nath, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" I asked in the baking goods aisle. He shrugged. "Just sit home alone I guess, not a big deal." He said. "What about you know, your parents, won't they be around." I asked. I always asked about his parents and he never talked about them. He shook his head. "Naw, they have other plans." He said in a kind of undertone. I bit my lip. He was going to spend a holiday alone. He always seemed to be alone, and I hated that.

We got to the check out, which had a huge line. Every check out did. While we waited I flipped through some of the tabloids. All filled with the latest celebrity gossip. Nathan was grabbing a bunch of packs of gum. "Gum lover much?" I said with a laugh. He had six different packs. "Hey chewing gum is a better habit than other things, you know." He said with mock anger. "You have a point." I replied. I was starting to feel guilty about the big dinner my mom was going to be cooking on Thanksgiving while Aaron sat at home all by himself. I sighed.

"Nath?" I asked, to get his attention, he was going for yet another pack of gum. "Yeah?" He said and smiled at me. This was not the time for butterflies damn it! "Would, would you like to spend Thanksgiving with me and my family?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow. "I don't know Chloe, it's a time for family and stuff-" "We'll have plenty of food and I know for a fact that my mum won't care, you don't have to spend it alone." I said, interrupting him. He looked ready to argue again. "Please Nath?" I asked and sweetly as possible. His eyes widened slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"Come on, please?" We kind of had a stare down. "I won't take no for answer-" "Okay fine! I'll come to dinner, geez!" He said, defeated. I smile widely. "Thank you, I promise you will have a good time." I said and moved up farther in the line. "You know Chloe, you don't play fair." He said. "Oh well, never said I did." While I unloaded the stuff from my trolley onto the converter belt some girl behind us had started talking, well flirting with Nathan. He was talking politely back, not sounding very invested in the conversation luckily. But it still filled with that same jealousy from the tattoo shop.

I was trying very hard to ignore their voices, but like I said before, Nathan's voice draws you in. "I love your piercing! It's so hot." The girl was saying. Ugh. "Thanks, got it done today actually." He replied, smiling to show it off. The girl got this kind of dazed look on her face. I hoped to God I didn't make that face when I talked to Nathan. Once all my stuff was paid for Nathan said goodbye to the girl and helped me load the bags into my trolley. He bought his gum (Seven packs!) and we walked towards the exit. I glanced at Nathan to see him reading a little slip of paper. I realized, with a sick feeling in my stomach, that the girl had given Nathan her phone number.

"Got her digits huh?" I asked, and tried to give a convincing smile. He stared at me hard for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, she kind of just shoved into my hand, didn't want to be rude." He muttered. I quickly looked for a change of subject. "So you will definitely come to dinner then?" He sighed, smiling. "You're awfully persistent, yes I'm coming to dinner." He said. "Just making sure you won't try to skip out." I said casually. I still felt sick from that phone number. He gave me a look, but before I could figure out what it was he turned his head away. "I won't skip out on you Chloe." he said, trying to match my casual tone. But I could hear the promise and seriousness. Before we got to my car I was beyond pleased to see Nathan drop the piece of paper with the girl's number on it into the trash can.