The Other Is Gold [On Hold]

Chapter Twenty-Four

"One," she replies softly.

I raised an eyebrow. "One? Only one? Holy Jesus, this may be a new record. Why only one? Wait, don't tell me. Was he a druggie? Alcoholic?"

She shook her head with each guess. She was biting her lip hard. The only time she did that was when she was hiding something. "Then who was he, Danielle?"

"It was no one," she snapped. "God. Who are you, my mother?"

I stepped back, stricken by her sudden mood change. Her forehead crinkled, signaling that she was stressed. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just been a really tough day."

I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry."

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry. I feel like such a bitch right now. It's just been hard, you know. With school, Jake gone, and drama. Your life seems perfect. Mine's so screwed up."

"Danielle..." I didn't quite know what to say. "My life is not perfect. I still have this Nate-Ben issue to go through."

"Yeah, I know." She looked around nervously, tugging on the collar of her shirt. "I should go know. Class starts in a few. Good luck with Nate."

I groaned, realizing that Nate was going to be in my next period. And we were going to be lab partners. Perfect. "Thanks, I'll need it," I smiled at her. "See ya."

Unfortunately for me, the next period came around much quicker than I thought it would. So there I was, nervously walking into Biology class. My eyes instantly spotted Nate's. He was talking to the teacher about something. Probably about switching lab partners, I bet. My hands were shaking like crazy at this point and I had no clue why.

Here I was, scared to death about even sitting next to the boy that I danced with in the middle of a storm. It felt like just yesterday that we were stuck in Mexico. The events kept playing over and over in my head: Me sleeping on his shoulder, dancing in the rain, putting my sweat into building that stupid tent, running away from the crazy Mexican dude while my fingers were entwined in his.

No. You will not even think of him, Scarlet. You will not think of how he calls you "Skittles" or the way he smells and laughs. Or his crooked smile. Or his kisses.

Damn it.

I tried not to pay attention when the bell rang, indicating that class had started. Nate had somehow made his way towards me without me even noticing it. Well, actually, I did notice it. His strong cologne and shampoo gave it away. I could identify that smell from anywhere.

It was hard not to notice the fact that we were almost a foot away from each other. It was hard not to notice that his hand wasn't on my thigh, like it usually is. It was just plain hard in general.

I think we both were deep into our thoughts, because the next thing we knew, everyone was chattering and paired up into groups. Everyone except for me and Nate.

"Umm..." Nate cleared his throat awkwardly. "Did you hear what the teacher said?"

"No," I replied. "Did you?"

Stupid question. Thankfully, he ignored it and just started taking out a bunch of papers out of his folder. I hate how he didn't even make a effort to talk to me. So, I decided to be the bigger person and speak up.

"Look," I started. He looked up from his papers and met my eyes. I gulped and looked away, not being able to take pressure. "We need to talk."

"Clearly." He snorted.

I decided to get straight to the point. I wasn't going to make it some kind of soap opera where the all these little events lead up to one big one. I am just going to say it out loud, loud and clear.