As soon as his words were spoken, I forgot how to breathe. My heart started beating erratically fast, and I stared at Nathan, feeling consumed by shock.

 He was on to me; he had to be. That was way too specific of a never have I ever, for him to have said it on a whim. Was I seriously that bad at acting that he knew my intentions already? 

If so, that was awfully disappointing. I had barely even got this plan started.

I swallowed harshly before quickly composing myself by plastering a look of amusement on my face.

 "That's a bit of a probing question. Why are you asking?" I laughed, trying to keep my tone light and unsuspecting.

Nathan furrowed his brows. "Well, that's how the game works; you're supposed to ask probing questions," he snickered.

 I searched his eyes cautiously, then calmed down slightly when I saw no ill-intent behind his eyes. He seemed one-hundred percent clueless, just like I wanted him to be. 

"Well, I guess I haven't used someone before," I lied smoothly. 

My answer couldn't be further from the truth. I was definitely a hard advocate for the using people life.

 Wait, hold on before you judge me; hear me out. If someone is handed their wealth, their privilege, or whatever you want to call it, is it really doing the world a disservice to simply push them back a couple squares?

 I mean, yes, Nathan is going to be a little butthurt when he finds out what I have done, but he's hardly going to give two shits after a couple of days. If anything, the guy might thank me for teaching him the consequences of not treating someone with respect.

Not wanting to dwell too long on the question, I cleared my throat with a smile. "Anyway, my go next. Never have I ever moaned out the wrong girl's name," I teased with a playful little wink.

 All amusement was lost from Nathan's face, and he gave me an incredibly dry look. "You can't help yourself, can you?" he said, his eyes narrowing with irritation. 

I broke out into a fit of giggles. "I still can't believe you did that. I mean, I know you got a little excited by my little chair dance the other day, but I didn't know it would affect you to the point where you would start fantasizing about me," I teased.

Nathan let out a deeply frustrated growl. "Oh, would you shut up; it was an accident," he insisted. "And I wasn't thinking about you, so don't get excited. I probably got mixed up because I used to sleep with this random girl called Sophie," he rambled quickly, clearly making shit up on the spot.

I scratched my chin and eyed him up and down like he was a rare specimen. "Natalie, I know it's none of my business, but I can't help but wonder-," I drawled, putting on my best pretense at genuine curiosity. 

Nathan's gaze narrowed, clearly guessing that wherever I was heading wasn't good. 

"Does your ass ever get jealous of the shit that comes out of your mouth?" I asked boldly.

Nathan rolled his eyes, and let out a long over-dramatic sigh before staring pityingly up at the ceiling. "I am being punished. That's got to be it. Some god up there is punishing me by trapping me in your presence," he mumbled bitterly to himself.

I was about to reply with a clever, you call that punishment, but then I stopped myself and frowned - his words reminding me that we were trapped indefinitely.

I pulled my legs closer to me and started to look around at the walls of the elevator again. They seemed smaller than before. Anxiety started to claw its way back through me, and the air felt thick and hard to swallow.

Suddenly, I felt a warm hand place itself over the hand on my knee. I froze and glanced to the side. Nathan had shuffled slightly closer now, and I watched as his mouth pricked up into a brief barely-there empathetic smile. 

"Hey, don't think about it; let's just play the game," he said softly.

 I nodded my head slowly. I hated that I was presenting myself as weak, but I could hardly help it; this whole situation was petrifying.

He cleared his throat. "It's my turn. Never have I ever-"

"Nathan?" I interrupted before he could finish.

 He furrowed his brows. "What?" he asked in confusion. 

"Erm...I just wanted to know when you planned on letting go of my hand?" I snorted as I nodded my head down to his hand over mine. 

Nathan ripped his hand away from mine in a comedically speedy manner, and I bit my lip to suppress the urge to laugh in his face. 

"Don't say a word," he snapped.

 Deciding to give the guy a break from my teasing, I mimed zipping my mouth up. 

"If only we could zip it up for real," he sighed.

"You rude little bitch," I scoffed as I gave him a harsh slap on the shoulder.

He ignored me and leaned his head back against the elevator. "Okay, where was I, never have I ever-," he paused as he took time to think. Then a cheeky-looking grin spread over his face, which I knew for a fact meant trouble. 

"Never have I ever sucked a dick," he said, turning to look at me boldly. 

My mouth immediately gaped open, shocked by the vulgarity of his question. Before I had time to answer, he piped up again. 

"Hmm, guessing by how wide you're opening your mouth right now, I'm going to go with yes," he mumbled, his smile growing wider by the second.

 I immediately freed my legs from their tucked position in my arms to give him a harsh kick.

 "Ouch," he whined. "Why are you getting all wound up for? It's a simple question. Can't a guy show curiosity?" he asked.

I looked him up and down. "Why the fuck are you so curious about my sex life for, anyway?"

"No reason, just for research, that's all," he shrugged. 

"Research? What utter-bullshit," I said, letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"Oh, whatever, answer the stupid question already. What's with all the stalling. Have you got something to hide?" He probed.

Yes, I most definitely have.

I broke eye contact and looked down to the ground. "I can tell you the truth, but you've got to promise not to laugh," I said as I looked back up at him hesitantly. Every cell in my body was screaming, no begging for me to lie, but for some reason, I didn't. Perhaps, being trapped in this elevator was making my brain go all loopy. 

"Well, I can promise to try not to laugh," he teased.

I frowned. "No, you've got to promise, not to laugh," I snapped. 

He held his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright, I promise," he laughed.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath in and out to prepare myself. "So....erm, I got my first boyfriend at sixteen, and er..,"

Nathan waved his hands to stop me from talking. "Woah, Woah, Woah, slow down. First? As in you've had multiple boyfriends? As in multiple people have been able to put up with your annoying- self?" he asked, faking a look of genuine shock. 

"Oh, shut up," I mumbled, a small smile appearing on my face.

"So, yeah, the guy I was dating was perhaps a little bit too old for me, and well, he was quite eager for me to, you know, start doing stuff-"

"What a piece of shit. He was pressuring you, and you put up with it?" He asked in a tone that sounded genuinely pissed.

"Oh, would you hush up, grandma, and let me finish the story," I said, cutting him off. 

He frowned at the word grandma, but thankfully, stopped talking.

"Well, I wasn't the most experienced, but I wanted to seem like I was, so I told him in confidence that I could, you know....give him a blowjob. And when he got around to pulling down his pants, I took one look at it, screamed, then ran out of the room," I explained with a nervous chuckle. "And well the ordeal, was so horrific that I never even humored the idea of doing it ever again," I mumbled lowly.

Nathan didn't say anything and stared at me with a completely unreadable expression. Then the corners of his lips twitched, and I pierced my gaze through his. 

"Don't you dare," I hissed.

 His eyes started to crinkle at the corners and his shoulders started to shake with the effort of suppressing his laughter. "God, I'm sorry, Sophie, but I really tried not to laugh, but I can't," he snickered as he started to break out into deep melodious bouts of laughter.

I crossed my arms like a temperamental child. "I hate you," I spat.

His laughter soon eased, but his eyes still shined brightly with amusement. "Did you seriously fucking run away at the sight of his dick?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you'd be scared too if you'd never seen one before," I cried to my defence.

He continued to chuckle while shaking his head as though he was still struggling to believe me.

 "Wait a minute," he said as he looked up at me. He tilted his head and observed me up and down slowly. "Are you still...are you still...erm inexperienced?"

 I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a virgin if that's what your nosy ass is wondering. Not that it's any of your business, but I've slept with a fair few people," I explained nonchalantly while trying to pull off a mature kind of casualty. 

I was lying. I had slept with one guy; one time. And yes, it was Mr, ex-boyfriend, who loved to pressure people into sex. Like the typical basic bitch, I had given it away simply to fit in.

It was definitely one of the more pathetic moments of my life, but I guess we all have those low moments at one point or another.

"So, erm, how long have you known your boyfriend now?" Nathan asked curiously.

 I stared at him stupidly for a couple of seconds before I remembered my lie about Brandon being my boyfriend. A lie which I deeply regretted might I add.

"Oh right, I've known Brandon all my life. We grew up as next-door neighbors, so naturally, we became the best of friends," I replied honestly with a fond little smile.

 He raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that's a long time," he marveled. 

I smiled and nodded my head. "Yeah, he's practically become a part of my family. My little brothers absolutely love him; idealize him even. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I get a little jealous," I snickered. 

 His eyes danced over my face as I spoke, and I was surprised by how carefully he was listening. It was almost as though he cared. I'm not sure why I was even bearing so much of my history out to him, but for some reason, it felt nice – like I was chatting with an old friend.

"Hmm, you're the oldest, I'd figured you'd be," he commented slyly, his eyes twinkling with playfulness.

 I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

 He shrugged. "Nothing personal, it's just the elder children are always, you know-" he nodded his head to me. 

"What!" I snapped, gesturing for him to go on. 

"Bossy, temperamental, know-it all's," he listed off easily on his fingers. 

"Uh," I scoffed as I held a hand to my chest in offense. "That's a lot of talk from someone who's a manipulative, attention-seeking, and self-centered younger child," I replied sassily, throwing the rude analysis back his way.

"Hmm, so you've been paying enough attention to me to remember Noah's older than me," he commented with an obnoxious little chuckle. 

"Well, I'd have to be blind to forget about that hot brother of yours. I don't think I could get him out of mind even if I tried," I scoffed. 

Nathan's smile faded from his face in a second, and he gave me a dirty look. "Spare me the lecture on how hot you think he is," he spat drily.

I was about to tease him for being jealous of his brother yet again, but then I paused, taking in how truly annoyed he looked.

 I leaned closer to him. "Not to probe, but what's the deal between you and him? Why do you dislike him so much?" I questioned, my eyes glossing over his face in curiosity.

 He swallowed harshly and looked at me for a long time before speaking. "Wouldn't you hate someone who purposefully tried to hurt you?" he asked simply. 

His question took me aback, partly because I was purposely trying to hurt him too. 

"How do you know he did it on purpose?" I finally said. 

He let out a bitter laugh. "Trust me, you can't do what he did by accident," he muttered. 

The nosy part of myself was burning to ask what exactly his brother had done to him, but I knew he would never tell me.

 "Well, your brother sounds like an utter dickhead to me - he's officially off my fuck list," I pronounced.

He looked at me fondly and shook his head softly. "You're strange," he chuckled.

 I observe him under a lifted brow. "Why? Because I have a fuck list?"

He let out a breath of a chuckle. "Not because of that, just because you're-"

"Let me guess, annoying? Bitchy? Pain in your ass?" I said drily, finishing off his sentence before he could. 

His smile grew slightly. "As much as you are those things, that's not what I was going to say. I was going to say because you're shamelessly yourself," he said simply. 

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Hmm, I'm sensing that was meant as an insult."

"Actually, it wasn't meant as an insult. I like that about you," he said, his eyes piercing through mine. I'm not sure why, but I felt a warm feeling pass through my chest at his words.

 Recovering from my shock, I blinked back at him. "Did you...did you..just compliment me?" I asked slowly, genuine disbelief dripping off my tone. 

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did. As much as I hate to admit it, underneath all that annoying-ness, you're mildly alright," he murmured.

There was a brief moment of silence which was promptly interrupted by the elevator shaft lurching to life. 

I widened my eyes in excitement. "Oh my god, it's fixed," I cried as I scrambled myself onto my feet. 

Finally, it came to a stop, and I almost let out a sob of relief when the elevator doors slid open. I didn't waste any time and immediately bolted out of there like a crazy person.

 "Look at all this space," I said as I started to spin around the corridor in circles.

Finally, I came to a stop to see Nathan looking at me with a singularly raised eyebrow from his position outside the door of the elevator.

"You done?" he asked. 

I put a hand on my hips. "Well, excuse me, Mr judgy, for being excited that my claustrophobic-ass is free from that elevator," I huffed. 

"Yeah, yeah, fair enough," he murmured as he shoved his hands in his pocket. 

"But anyway, it's kind of late, so I should probably get going home," he said as he nodded his head over to the stairs. 

"Scared of the elevator now?" I teased. 

"Pft, no," he murmured.

 I gave him a pointed disbelieving look. 

"Okay, fine, what if I am?" he spat defensively. 

I simply laughed and waved him off. "Don't worry, I'm not judging, Natalie," I winked. "See you later," I chuckled before turning back towards my apartment door.

"Sophie?" Nathan called before I had made a couple of steps. 

 I furrowed my brows and turned around in confusion. "Yeah?" I asked. 

With his hands still shoved in his pockets, he looked down to the floor. "I'm sorry," he swallowed.

 Furrowing my brows, I took a step closer. "For what?" I asked slowly. 

He looked up at me shyly. "You know, for taking my revenge a little too far. I shouldn't have put you in the elevator the way I did that was fucked up," he said simply. 

His apology shocked me to the point of sheer speechlessness, and I stared at him dumbly for a while. 

Finally, I came to my senses and gave him a weak smile. "Well, in your defence, I shouldn't have thrown the spider at you, so I'm sorry too," I murmured.

"So, are we even?" he asked hesitantly.

 "Even," I smiled. 

Nathan gave me a salute goodbye and then marched his way over to the staircase before disappearing out of sight.

I stared at the space he was with a distance smile because a stupid, foolish part of me wished he hadn't left.  

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

Author's note: 

I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty two, and yes that's is correct, you are smelling progress right now. 

Anyway, did anything surprise you in their game of never have I ever?

Next Update: Wednesday (6-8 PM -UK time)