Getting Under Nathan

31: "It's not fair on Nathan."

"Well if you seriously doubt that it won't last forever, then one of you needs to be the bigger person and apologize," she told me. "Otherwise it just gets more awkward and more difficult for one of you to make the first move."

"I know..." I sighed.

"And just imagine how messy it could get. Jack would be bitching about you to Nathan, and then you would be bitching about Jack to Nathan...guys hate being stuck in the middle, Izzy!"

"I'd like to think Jack has more sense than to bitch about me to Nathan," I frowned. Surely he did?

"Well perhaps use that as your motivation to sort things out then," Jess suggested. "Even if you feel it's not up to you, and that he's the one in the wrong, just do it for Nathan's sake."

I actually couldn't think of a better reason than to do it for Nathan. His happiness was enough to make me swallow my pride.

"Well I'm getting pizza with the boys tonight," I explained to Jess. "So maybe I'll try to patch things up with Jack during that."

"Sounds like a good idea," she smiled.

For some reason, putting myself out there to sort things out with Jack made me nervous. It shouldn't have, because we were both mature adults and we weren't in high school. Maybe it was because Jack and I had never had a hostile relationship; we'd always been jokey and light-hearted around each other, so I wasn't really sure how to approach this new dimension. Would he be good about it? Would he forgive me? I knew, deep down, Jack was a good guy. And he was a guy, and guys didn't like to hold grudges.

When the time for pizza rolled around, there was no obvious awkward tension between Jack and me. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. We ordered pizzas and Jack even turned to me at one point and asked if I'd eat his mushrooms if he got the ham and mushroom pizza.

Whilst we waited for the pizzas to arrive, the group conversation didn't lend itself to any awkwardness. Jack and I chatted freely along with everyone else. We watched a film whilst eating, and by the time that had finished, it was almost ten o'clock.

"Well I've got a nine-am tomorrow," Shaun said. "So I'll probably be heading to bed soon. You want me to put these boxes in the kitchen?"

"I'll give you a hand," Jack offered.

As the room cleared, I waited outside my bedroom for Jack to re-emerge from the kitchen. My mind was spinning with things I could say, but since the atmosphere between us hadn't been too bad thus far, I decided I'd keep it simple.

"Hey," I said, as he left the kitchen. "I just wanted to apologize for the other night. Things got a bit out of hand and I said stuff that I shouldn't have."

He nodded. "It's fine. I wanted to apologize too. I know I hurt you and I know that's the only reason you reacted the way that you did. So I'm sorry."

I smiled. "Me too."

And, just like that, things were sorted. Friendships with boys really were easier than with girls.

-

Nathan arrived around six the next evening, and we cooked a pasta meal together in the kitchen to thoroughly line our stomachs.

"That's a shit load of pasta," Jack commented as we dished it onto plates. "Are you not planning on getting drunk at all?"

"Pasta is really hard to measure," I said defensively.

Jack snorted. "Oh, come on," he laughed. "With the amount of pasta you eat, you'd have thought you'd have the hang of it by now!"