"Shit, Sophie, are you alright?"

 A heavy thud sounded as someone threw themselves down beside me. My eyes were still closed, and my head felt like it was throbbing. My entire body felt like one giant bruise, and all the muscles of my back, arms, and legs ached considerably. 

When I summoned enough energy to flicker my eyes open, I found Nathan's frame bent over mine. Those two luminous eyes of his burned brightly and scanned all over my face in concern. Suddenly, Nathan ripped his jacket off, and before I could say anything, he lifted my head slightly and tucked his jacket underneath my head. 

"Thanks," I croaked out weakly.

"I..er...I don't move. I-I'll call an ambulance. Let me get out my phone," he said, sounding slightly breathless as he frantically patted his front pockets for his phone.

"Wait, no," I said quickly, "I'm fine, Nathan, I just need to walk it off," I mumbled.

 Hesitantly and slowly, I lifted myself up into a seating position - the effort of such causing me to let out a stressed breath. Nathan's hand dashed to my back to help provide support.

As soon as I sat up, all the blood felt like it was rushing to my head. Closing my eyes briefly, I ignored it and stood up on shaky feeble legs. Nathan moved a hand to support me underneath my elbow. 

"Hey, you sure you're alright," he said softly, as his eyes darted back and forth between mine.

 I shrugged his arm off and felt my cheeks warm up slightly in embarrassment. I didn't like people coddling me; it made me feel weak.

 "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm just a fucking idiot, that's all," I laughed before taking my first step. 

My balance was wobblier than I anticipated, and I was forced to lean my body weight to one side due to the throbbing sensation burning throughout my knee.

Without even a goodbye, I limped quickly towards the direction of the exit, desperate to get home so I could cry about my pain in peace. I refused to be a wincing mess in front of Nathan - that wasn't cute or attractive.

 Annoyingly, Nathan quickly caught up with me in two long strides. "You...er.. forgot your drink," he said giving the white cup in his hand, a little wave. 

I glanced his way and gave him a barely-there smile. "Thanks," I said stiffly as I reached for it.

 Nathan quickly pulled it away before I could. "Nope, I'll hold it for you," he said sternly.

 I rolled my eyes. "You can stop treating me like a baby Nathan. I told you, I'm fine," I insisted.

"No, you're not; you fell out of a fucking tree," he said, his voice coming out somewhere between a disbelieving cry and laugh. 

"Yeah and?" I retaliated as I pushed angrily through the park gates.

 I heard him let out a frustrated sigh before catching up with me once again. "And you're clearly hurt! You're limping, for goodness sake, and who knows how many bruises you've got under your clothes," he lectured.

That caught my attention, and I managed a smirk through my pain. "Trust you, to be wondering what's underneath my clothes."

 "Gosh, would you stop with the jokes. I'm serious," he said, his voice slightly shaking. 

This time I looked at him properly and stopped walking. Oddly, he looked visibly stressed out, his eyes slightly crazed with hands that were clutching onto his drink a little too tightly. The weaker part of myself softened, finding the way he was looking at me similar to that of a frightened puppy.

I found myself speechless, only expecting this level of concern from my family or Brandon. Certainly not from a guy who has been vigilant in calling me an annoying bitch for the past few weeks.

"Come on, my car's around the back. I'll take you to the hospital, okay?" he said softly, his voice sounding almost pleading.

I knew he was right, and going to the hospital was probably the most sensible thing to do after falling from around eight feet up in the air. But I just couldn't. Hospitals were bitter places full of drugs, death, and disappointment. You come in there with a simple chest cough, and then you leave with them diagnosing you with stage four fucking cancer.

 That's what happened to my mum, and it's sure as hell not happening to me. I couldn't afford to lay sick in bed for even a day; my dad needed me.

"No, I don't do hospitals," I said plainly before walking off.

 "What the hell do you mean, you don't do hospitals? They save people!" he stammered out angrily as he chased after me.

 I ran a hand through my hair in frustration before turning to face him. "Respect my fucking decision. I said I don't want to go, okay?" I snapped.

 Nathan's eye's widened slightly in surprise at my outburst, and I was glad, figuring he would finally fuck off and leave me alone. It was painfully funny that the one time I push him away, he actually wanted to be near me.

  It was irony, at its finest...

Out of nowhere, his eyes hardened. I was expecting him to yell at me for being rude, but then he did something different altogether. Chucking both of our cups roughly into a nearby bin, Nathan suddenly snatched an arm around my waist and swiped me completely off my feet. And like that, I was flung roughly over his shoulder. 

I yelped in surprise, shocked at seeing the whole world spin around me so fast. I barely had time to process before he started to march away with an arm slung tightly over the backs of my thighs to keep me in place. 

Finally coming to my senses at what was going on, I lost my absolute shit and started to flail around like a maniac. Still feeling weak and bruised from my fall, it was near to impossible to make a single ounce of progress. 

"What the actual fuck!" I cried. "Have you learned absolutely nothing, you asshole? What happened to I'm sorry for manhandling you into the elevator, huh?" I shouted, my voice coming out so loud that I was surprised I didn't set off a car alarm.

"Well, I asked you nicely, and you didn't listen, did you? You might be comfortable with letting yourself die from internal injuries but I'm certainly not," he laughed bitterly before turning onto the next street.

 "But I don't have internal injuries. I'm fine. I want to go home," I spat out in frustration as I continued to kick at his chest.

He completely ignored me, and I groaned as I heard a clicking sound, signalling he had unlocked his car door. Suddenly, I was lowered off his shoulder and placed on the familiar plush chairs of his car - the scent of his cologne wafting around the place. 

I tried to barge my way past him, but he seemed to anticipate what I was about to do and blocked my way. He rudely closed the door in my face, and I reached an even higher level of pissed when I heard the sound of the lock click closed behind him. 

I jiggled the handle anyway despite the low chance of it opening and let out a frustrated groan when it didn't open. 

 "You little bitch," I hissed at him through the window even though I knew he couldn't hear.

 He gave me a little patronizing wave through the window, and my blood boiled. How dare he gain satisfaction out of this. 

I watched in distaste as he quickly walked around the car and opened the driver's seat. Seeing another opportunity for escape, I hurled myself over the central panel and tried to dive headfirst out the door. 

Nathan snorted, and put a hand on my forehead, and shoved my head back in. 

"Hey," I shouted as I flopped back clumsily into my seat. 

I glared up at Nathan in fury, and the smug bastard shut the door before settling into his seat calmly.

 "Seatbelt," he called out chirpily as he turned his keys into the ignition.

"What the fuck, Nathan? This is literally kidnapping!" I yelled out manically. 

"Hmm, I don't think so," he drawled as he casually adjusted his rear-view mirror. "I'd call it more saving someone's life, but call it what you want, because either way, you're not leaving," he said with a simple shrug before pulling the car out of the parking spot. 

I stared at him in absolute bafflement. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" I spat.

"Seatbelt," Nathan called out again, completely ignoring me.

"Don't boss me around, you piece of shit," I seethed, feeling myself getting angrier and angrier by the second.

"Sophie, put your seatbelt on in case we crash," he sighed, as though he was talking to a temperamental five-year-old.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Well, I'll make this car crash if you don't let me out. Maybe you'll learn the consequences of depriving someone of their free will," I bit back sarcastically.

"Well, you can't have free will if you're dead, can you?" he threw back, his voice rising. "You're out here, living in fantasy land, Sophie, but I'm not. People die when they don't ask for help. Do you want to die, Sophie, do you?" he said, his voice getting progressively louder with each word.

 His lecture stunned me into silence and stared at him for a while before I slowly turned to face the window.

All the anger left my body, and I stared mindlessly ahead. I'm not sure if it was my flaring claustrophobia at the locked car doors or the painful fall, or the stress of being manhandled, and yelled at by Nathan. But for some reason, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and soon buds of tears pricked to my eyes. 

At my silence, he took his eyes briefly off the road to glance my way, and as soon as he did, he paused, taking in the likely dreadful state of my eyes.

Swallowing back the shame at having him see me like this, I stole a glance his way. I held onto the last remaining ounce of hope I had and gazed at him with desperate eyes. 

"Nathan, please," I said in a voice so weak and unlike my own that it scared me.

Despite the fact, the traffic light had gone green, Nathan continued to stare at me, his eyes flickering over mine repeatedly. 

Finally, he let out a long sigh and turned back to face the road. "You make me really, really hate myself," he muttered.

 Before I could question him, he spun the steering wheel around sharply, so we ended up doing a U-turn. I let out a startled gasp in surprise. Looking out the window, I saw we were now heading back to where we came from, which happened to be in the opposite direction from the local hospital.

"I'm so confused; what are you doing?" I asked, looking back and forth between him and the road in confusion. 

"Being an idiot," he said, his eyes focused deadly ahead. 

I let out an ugly snort. "Can't argue with you there, but I mean in the sense of where are we going?"

"To your stupid fucking apartment. Congratulations, you won. I'm not taking you to the hospital," he spat out bitterly as he stared sulkily ahead.

 His words were an absolute relief to my ears, and I brushed away any remnants of tears as a stupidly wide grin stretched out onto my face.

"Aww, you actually listened to me? I have you wrapped around my little finger, don't I?" I teased, suddenly feeling a lot more chipper. 

 He let out a breath of laughter. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm not letting you go scot-free. I'm looking after you," he snapped matter-of-factly."

----------------------------

Author's note:

That's chapter twenty-four done, hope you enjoyed. Also, I'm not sure if I'm psychotic or what, but I really enjoyed writing this chapter lol. 

Anyway, why do people think Nathan acted so crazy in this chapter? I love hearing your theories :)

Next update: Monday (6-8 PM - UK time)