The Concept is Simple (Sequel to You're Crazy)

Chapter 5

I suddenly jumped out of my skin, making Gemma shove a handful of curls into her mouth to muffle her laughter, at the sound of the doorbell. I sprinted there and hauled open the door.

“Err, hey.” Nathan was stood there with an amused grin. Okay, so I sort of forgot I had been wearing my onesie.

“Oh crap, hello!” I chuckled, trying to hide behind the door. But Nathan caught my fluffy arm and pulled me out into a hug.

“Aw, you’re warm.” He laughed, burying his face into my shoulder.

“Thanks!” I laughed but suddenly stopped when I saw him looking at me strangely. “What?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked abruptly.

I opened to mouth to say ‘yes’ but I couldn’t even get it out before he took my hand and dragged me, sliding around somewhat in my onesie’s feet, to my room. I watched his eyes glance around nervously while I hovered agitatedly in front of the closed door, feeling ridiculous in my onesie.

“I thought I wasn’t seeing you until tomorrow?” I started seeing as how Nathan looked a little lost.

“Yeah, I want to talk to about something.” He took a deep breath, his eyes rolling back slightly in his head which really freaked me out.

“Okay, you know I can’t deal with stuff like this – you’d better tell me!” I raised an accusing finger to point at him. “Seriously, I’m getting palpitations.” I was as well; I could feel myself getting worked up. He looked at me and crossed the room quickly, taking one of my hands and his and touching my cheek with his other hand. He stared deeply into my eyes and I sort of forgot what was going on for a second.

We moved slowly over to the bed and sunk down onto it, my body facing Nathan’s. He took a deep breath and supressed a small smile before saying “I know I made you uncomfortable before when I asked you to move in with me. I never wanted to pressure you, God knows you don’t need any more of those.”

“Nathan I want to, I just – “

“I know you do, but it’s not the right time.” He answered simply, his glassy eyes meeting mine searchingly so I sort of felt like he could see what I was thinking. “And that’s cool for now. Like I said, me and Tom will just stay in the house, Tom can’t be arsed finding a flat for himself.”

I brushed some of the hair of his face to see his usually bright eyes were filled with sadness. I instantly felt guilty. “Nathan, that’s so kind of you. But it’s what you wanted.”

“I’ve thought it over.” He nodded, taking my hand that had been resting on his leg. “You’ve been my girlfriend for near 3 years now and I love you.” I bit back my smile “I guess I just wanted our relationship to move forward. But that doesn’t mean living together if you don’t want to.” He looked sideways at me nervously. I felt confused.

“But Nathan what else is there?” I whispered warily.

He fixed me with a hard, penetrating look, as if trying to sense my reaction. “Like..” he broke off to laugh awkwardly so I squeezed his hand supportively. “Like if we just promised each other that we’ll always be together. Because that’s what I want.”

I took a moment to let this sink in. Suddenly everything was flashing before my eyes. Nathan waving cheekily at me from under an altar, Nathan chasing a little green eyed girl around a small, city garden.

“I promise!” I said carefully, leaning in to kiss the side of his mouth as that’s as far as I could reach, considering how he hadn’t yet turned to face me.