Because I'm a Nerd.

Chapter 22- "What if it had been some other not so nice robber guy?!"

'ORPHAN'

A word that is so painful, it makes me cry no matter what. Those six letters, arranged exactly in that way, crush all the happiness inside me. Even if everyone around me miraculously made me forget everything about my parents, those memories would still keep haunting me.

My heart starts to beat faster again and I collapse on the coffee-brown seat in a daze.  I try to convince myself that just because I can't see my Uncle, Aunt and my cousin doesn't mean that they are dead. As the seconds tick by, I grow more and more anxious as it dawns upon me that not one of the calming exercises I thought myself are working.

Images of a dying Lauren, a blood-stained carpet and a wounded Aunt and Uncle refuse to go away from my head. Flustered at my inability to cope, I throw a cushion across the room, where it hits the beige colored wall a few inches left of the wooden mantelpiece and drops down with a thud.

I let out a small whimper, which soon turns into a full scale sob. Tears roll down my cheeks as I relieve those moments of utter helplessness and desperation. Suddenly, I hear a voice, although it is quite muffled due to the intense brain battle my brain is having with itself. I calm down a little and then the voice hits home.

It's Aunt Ellen, calling out to me. I rub my eyes to check if she's really there.

"Nathan, are you in there? Darling, how many times do I have to remind you to put your sho-" I hug her tight and cut her off. She pulls back a minute or two later and notices my puffy eyes. When realization hits her, she pulls me back for another bone-shattering hug and runs her hand through my wavy, black hair.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs, "I forgot that you were on your way home. I shouldn't have left the lights on and the door unlocked. I probably scared you.." she trails off.  I look at her with a solemn expression.  "'I had actually just gone to Maria's next door to borrow some cake mix when-" she starts to explain, but I cut her off once more.

"It's alright, Aunt Ellen. You're okay and that's what matters." I state. She nods and I can see that she is trying her best to keep it together. This is not the first time I've reacted this way and the tension in the room is palpable. My Aunt looks a little guilty, which makes me feel really terrible. I should honestly learn how to hold back.

"Really," I try to reassure her once more, "Besides, you're lucky it was me who walked in! What if it was some other not-so-nice robber guy?" I try to joke to convey to her that I'm okay. Smiling at my feeble attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Aunt Ellen looks relieved but not altogether convinced about me being alright.

She opens her mouth to say something, but, for some reason, later decides against it. She pushes back my sweaty, black hair and gives me a quick kiss on my forehead before hurrying back into the kitchen.

"How do tacos with Strawberry Quik for dinner sound to you, Nate?" she hollers from the kitchen.

"What about Lauren?"  I reply, referring to the fact that my idiot of a sister hates tacos to the moon and back. How that is possible, I do not even know.

"She's gone over to Adrian's and Dave's not going to be back from Arizona until the day after!" she screams back.

"Tacos it is then!" I reply, a lot more enthusiastically this time.

***********************************

After a scrumptious dinner of tacos, I go up to room and sit by the window, gazing at the stars. Judging from the relative quiet in the house, I'd say Aunt Ellen has switched off the television and gone to bed. As I look up the starry night sky, what happened at Emmett's today hits me with full gusto.

I remember staring into her hazel green eyes and having her stare back into my chocolaty brown ones.  It is weird how when you're in love, you start noticing everything about the other person, even stuff like the color of their eyes which doesn't even matter in the long run.

It's like when I was going out with Cassandra back in New York, I didn't notice all of this about her. I mean sure, I remembered her strawberry-blonde curls and her fair skin, but I did not look at her and see anything that someone else wouldn't.

Which is so not the case with Scarlett Woods.

Every time I look at her, my eyes take in everything about her. Right from the small hint of a dimple on her left cheek when she giggles, to a small fleck of blue in her otherwise completely green right eye. I look at her and I see something nobody else does, especially not Scarlett herself.

I see a gorgeous, perfect and undoubtedly sweet girl. I see kind, I see nice, I see all things good. I feel overwhelmed by her laugh; mollified by her smile; terrified by her tears and at peace with her rambling. I see peace and quiet. For some incomprehensible reason, Scarlett feels more and more like home each day.

I've heard Uncle Dave say once or twice that you definitely have a thing for someone when you can remember their eye color and stuff without them telling you.  When I hear Scar's name, I can remember everything- from the swishy, brown hair, the greenish blue eyes to the freckles on her cheeks (Though, thankfully there aren't many!)

And then I think right back to Cassandra... And bad as it sounds, I can't even remember her eye color.  It's a no-brainer really. I definitely have a thing for Scarlett. A thing that keeps increasing everyday.

A thing, I believe, more commonly known as love.

My cheeks turn crimson as I think back to her smile. I would give pretty much anything to see that beautiful grin plastered on her face always. Stacking books and helping out for no money in the town library, is, well, just one of them.

I also promise myself then and there, that I am going to tell Scarlett all about Cassandra very soon.

I know about Jonathan; it's only fair that she knows something about my ex too.

A/N

So what do you guys think? Isn't it adorable how whipped he is?

I'll make it short because:

a.     I can't wait to write further.

b.      You guys (hopefully) can't wait to read further.

P.S. I hope this gave an insight on how hard it is to actually be Nathan.

Have a nice day and thanks for reading!

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