One Night Could Change Everything

Chapter 23

Since I had basically pissed off three of the most important people in my life I was feeling pretty low. Sunday I called all of them, texted them, none of them answered or replied. I knew Alyssa wouldn't respond at all, and I had figured Scott wouldn't, but I was surprised that Nathan wouldn't. It hurt, I thought he would be the easiest to get to forgive me. Apparently not. All I knew was that come Monday, I had some major ass to kiss. Ha.

The first person I went right to on Monday morning at school was Scott. I went up to him before class started. "Hey." I said. He gave a stiff nod while grabbing books from his locker. I sighed. "Scott, please talk to me I'm really super sorry I forgot about our plans, I had a lot of stuff on my mind." I said. "Funny, you forgot about our plans, but you made sure Alyssa's plans with that fricken Nathan guy didn't follow through." Scott said sarcastically.

Oh God, was he actually jealous or something?? "Come on Scott, I didn't try to ruin things because of Nathan. She's my best friend, would you want her to get hurt?" I demanded. He glared down at me. "Don't try to turn this around on me Chloe, you know I don't want 'Lyss hurt. I just think it's pretty suspicious that you got so involved with her love life after she started dating Nathan." He said. Oh, looks like Scott's been paying more attention than I expected. Crap.

"Scott please I'm sor-" "Okay, okay, okay, fine. You're forgiven, just please stop apologizing." He said and gave me a quick kiss. "I'm forgiven, really?" I asked. "Yeah, I get that you don't want her hurt, but you have to look at it from my point of view, you spend a lot of time with that guy, you know." he said. "I know, but he's just a really good friend." I sighed. Scott rolled his eyes. "Sure." He muttered.

"He really is a good person, if you'd just take the time to get to know him..." I said and hugged Scott. "No thanks, I'll take your word for it." He said. I hit his arm playfully, making him smile. Getting Alyssa's forgiveness was going to be way harder, but I had to try. In our first class together I sat at the desk next to her so it would be hard for her to ignore me.

The class was health, the teacher and the class never seems to really pay attention so it's safe to talk. "Lyss, can we please talk?" I whispered. She sighed and looked at me. "Don't worry Chloe, I'm not mad at you any more." She whispered back with a small smile. I was shocked. "What?" "Well, I was super pissed that you tipped Nathan off, I thought maybe you told him not to, but after I thought about it, I mean, you only told him what I wanted to do. You didn't tell him not to, that was up to him." She explained.

I just stared at her. I was expecting some huge fury storm. "Anyways, it's not like I won't have other chances to sleep with him." She continued. I ignored that last part, I was too relieved to get upset right now. "So what happened?" I asked. She turned to me, getting that storytelling look she always has when gossiping.

"Okay, so I call him and invite him to dinner and a movie. We go, we're having a good time, but he seemed kind of distant through dinner-" She stopped to give me a disapproving look. "Sorry." I mumbled. "After dinner we went to see Hunger Games, by the way it was so awesome! Once it was finished I asked him to take me home, he walked me to the door and I turned to him, smiling and gazing into his beautiful eyes, then, I asked him as sweet as possible 'Nathan? Would you like to maybe, spend the night with me?'

Oh it was so romantic! All of a sudden he got anxious and started mumbling about how you wouldn't like it and me not being ready. That's how I figured out you had told him. I told him I was ready and asked him again to stay with me but he completely refused. I was like 'um what the hell??' he then said he was sorry and just left!" She exclaimed. "Wow." I muttered. "I know right?" She said shaking her head.

"Have you talked to him since?" I asked. "No, I think he's still sick or something. Anyways, I wouldn't talk to him even if he did try to apologize, unless he gets me flowers...Oh, if you see him tell him to get me flowers!" She said. I laughed. So I had gotten Alyssa and Scott out of the way. Both had surprisingly forgiven me easily. Thank God. All that was left was to find Nathan.

I hadn't seen him all through the day, I was beginning to think he had gone home sick when I found him on the way to gym. I passed by the nurses office's window and happened to see his head of brown hair. I quickly went up to the door and peeked inside. He was sitting in one of the chairs with his face hidden in his hands. I didn't see the nurse anywhere so I went in and closed the door quietly behind me. I checked around the corner, the nurse must have left.

I sat down next to Nathan. He hadn't seemed to notice me coming in. "Nathan?" I whispered. "Hey Chloe." he replied, face still behind his hands. "Are...Are you, okay?" I mumbled. "Yeah, I just...No, I'm not okay." he said. I laid my hand on his back. It was awful to see him like this, words couldn't even describe how much it hurt me. "What's wrong?" I asked. He sat up a little and looked at me. He gave a sort of breathless chuckle. "Chill Chloe, I'm not dying." he said.

"Oh right, yeah, of course not." I mumbled sheepishly. "I had an asthma attack, I've felt it coming on for the last week or so, and today...It finally happened." he explained. I stared at him. "At least I had my inhaler." He added. It was on his lap. "Nathan, was it, you know, bad?" He smiled a tight smile. "Compared to others I've had, yeah, I suppose it was pretty bad." He said.

"Do you have to go to the hospital? I mean, if it was bad you should go, I could drive you myself it's not that far-" "Chloe, really, I'm fine now, it's okay." he said and patted my hand. I realized I had started to tear up. "Chloe?" He said, looking confused. That was it, I started full on crying right there in front of him. Totally embarrassing, but I didn't care. Nathan had an attack, he was really sick and he constantly played it off like he wasn't. I was so glad and grateful he had been at school when it happened.

I couldn't bare to imagine if he had been at home by himself, all alone like always... He pulled me into his arms, hugging me to his chest and let me cry. I felt like the tears wouldn't stop. Even through the tears my stomach and the rest of my body was going crazy having him hold me. The sensations were insane. "Oh Nathan, w-what if y-you..." "Shh, it's alright sweetie, I'm okay now." He whispered while his hand rubbed my back gently. He called me sweetie. Oh my God.

Just the simple movement of his hand on my back was starting to erase the tears and bring out something else in me. Need. Pure, hormonal, need and desire. I was so surprised by the way I was reacting to his touch. What was wrong with me? I quickly shoved back any other feeling I was expirencing at the moment except relief of him being okay. I could sort out the rest later. After a couple more sniffles I sighed.

"All better?" he asked when I pulled back. "Yeah, sorry about all of that, don't know what came over me." I mumbled. He shrugged and used his fingertips to wipe away the tears from my cheeks. Sort out the feelings later! I repeated that multiple times in my head until he dried the remaining tears. "There, now you're perfect again." he said with a smile. Sort out the feelings later! This boy was driving me crazy.

I took a deep breath to regain my composure. "So what's gonna happen now?" I asked, desperately needing a distraction from what seemed to be raging inside me. "Stay here until school lets out I think, the nurse said it was okay if I did." he said and leaned back into his chair. Probably to give me some space. I needed space...And yet, I didn't want to leave him. Just the thought of leaving this room weighed heavily on my chest. It was weird.

"Mind if I keep you company?" I asked, rather shakily. He rolled his eyes. "Of course not Chloe." We sat together in the nurse's office for awhile, making small talk. I mostly watched Nathan, thankful that he looked better and better. Once the bell rang to dismiss everyone for the day we both stood and looked at each other. Without seeming to give it a second thought he leaned down and gave me a quick hug. I tried to pretend it was just like hugging any of my friends, but it wasn't. It was Nathan.

And he's never really been in the same league as the rest of my friends to tell you the truth. I've always valued him more. "Thank you for staying with me Chloe, you have no idea how much it meant to me." He whispered into my ear, making goose bumps appear. "Any time." I whispered back. He pulled back and gave me one last smile before leaving.

It felt like forever until I made it to my car. Once inside, before I had even put the keys in the ignition I was crying again. Crying, because nothing had physically changed, and yet, nothing was the same now. It wasn't the same because I had finally admitted something to myself. Something that I've tried to keep hidden for awhile. I'm in love with Nathan.