UNEDITED CHAPTER TEN [2]

       "Dad?" Nathan called out, but he got no answer. "Dad? You home?" he called again. He must still be at work. Nathan turned to look at Bree, whom was standing with her arms clutched around her. Her body shivered slightly with each breathe she took in and let out.

       "You can dry off in the bathroom," Nathan said to her, holding his hand out, waiting for his empty hand to be filled with hers. He could have let her follow behind him with his hands clutching Tulip, but he wanted an excuse to touch her. It was like wanting to touch someone's hair to feel how soft it was, or something; he's seen Bree, and he's smelled her before, and revealing her to another sense of his would only fulfill the abrupt need that burnt in the pit of his stomach.

       Bree, though hesitantly, took his hand and followed him up the stairs.

       It wasn't the type of hand-holding where he held her hand; he just held her fingers. He wasn't bold enough to actually pull more of her hand into his. Still, her fingers were soft and smooth. They curled around his fingers, almost like the way a child would grip your hand. His thumb grazed her knuckles, and while her thumb laid still at the back of his hand.

       He knew he had to let go first in order for the whole situation to not be weird. It seemed weird already, but he didn't want to push too far past the line.

       "You can use the towel to dry off," Nathan said as he held the bathroom door open for her. "Do you need anything? Something to wear other than those wet clothes?"

       Bree shook her head.

       "It's okay."

       Nathan gave her one last look-over before nodding curtly and closing the bathroom door. His eyes fell on the once again asleep Tulip. His clothes were damn, so he went into his room, making sure he locked his door. He placed Tulip on his bed, then went over to rummage through his closet for something to wear.

       Rummage. Rummage. Rummage.

       Nervous. Nervous.
       Ner-
       vous.

       Gray sweaters were cool, right?

       Tulip had woken up and was meowing loudly, trying to get Nathan's attention. He went through his book bag, which he had thrown on the bed beside Tulip, and took out a can of cat food his mother had given him.

       "C'mere," he said, scooping Tulip into his arms again.

       "Whenever you're done in there, just come downstairs," he said to Bree who was quiet in the bathroom.

       "Alright," she replied in a quiet voice.

       Nathan breathed out, feeling his heart racing. Bree was in his bathroom. He tried to tell himself that she was just a girl, but she really wasn't. He couldn't quite understand how he was feeling at the moment, so he decided to put all his energy into making Tulip feel welcome in her new (temporary) home.

       "Stay here," he said, putting her on the kitchen floor. Quickly, he took a small, clean bowl and set it on the counter top. He glued one eye on Tulip while the other aided in his search for a can opener.

       "Meow," said Tulip as she followed Nathan's every movement with her eyes.

       "Be patient," Nathan answered her cry.

       "Meow," she said again.

       "How'd you end up on the balcony, though?" Nathan sighed and shook his head. He was talking to a cat. A cat that couldn't speak. A cat that probably didn't even know English. He finally found the can opener and opened the Tuna. He got a nice whiff of the horrendous content and nearly gagged, although Tulip perked her ears up and began to meow louder.

       "You eat this?" he question the cat as he held out the can above her head.

       Tulip licked her lips hungrily like a tiger.

       He emptied the content into the bowl and threw the can into the recycling bin his father had kept there.

       Tulip dove right into the bowl the minute Nathan set it on the ground. He laughed and scratched her head gently with his index finger.

       "Hey."

       Nathan looked up and saw Bree, made up and dressed in a button up shirt and jeans: totally not the wet clothes she had on before. Her lips were glossed and her eyes shadowed and lined with thick eyeliner. She looked like she was about to hit the club or something, and it made Nathan's smile fade.

       "You seem prepared," he said, chuckling silently.

       "Well, I couldn't stay in those wet clothes, now, could I?" she grinned at him.

       She was different.

       "I can't get over how adorable she is," Bree said as she walked over to him.

       "Yeah," he sighed.

       He didn't want to seem down or anything, but she was this girl again. This girl wasn't the girl he liked, and more importantly, the girl she seemed to be.

       "So... where are you parents?" she asked.

       "My dad's probably stuck at work, or something," Nathan replied. He left Tulip to enjoy her meal and walked into the living room, with Bree right behind him. They both took a seat on the large couch, and Nathan picked up the remote because sitting on the couch with her in pure silence didn't sound appealing. He could kiss her to fill the silence, but she had a boyfriend, and he was never meant to invite her over in the first place, so...

       "What about your mom?"

       Nathan stopped breathing for twenty seconds, pondering on an answer.

       "She doesn't live with us," he answered curtly. He held a straight face, his eyes glued on the people on the screen.

       "Kat told me she travels a lot..." Bree confessed.

       "You and Kat talk a lot about me, don't you?" He didn't mean to sound like a rude bastard, but he did, and it made him not want to look her in the eyes at all.

       "My mom doesn't travel. She just hasn't been my mom for awhile," the words slipped out of his mouth like slugs. Both of them stayed quiet with the only sound coming from the television. Sports and sports and more sports, but Nathan wasn't fond of sports, so he settled on the news channel. Some unlucky bastard won the jackpot and got robbed the moment he stepped out of the lottery building.

       "But you told Kat-"

       "Yeah, well I told Kat a lot of things that weren't true."

       Nathan sighed and let the remote fall to the floor in frustration.

       "Why won't you look at me?" She sounded hurt, and Nathan felt like kicking himself.

       He sat with his eyes to the floor and hands on his knees. He couldn't look up at her; the person he wanted to look at and talk to was hidden under a fake personality and a ton of make up, and it pissed him off so much.

       "Nathan, I'm sorry if I said something or-"

       "Come with me," he interrupted her. Nathan grabbed her hand and pulled her up. Suddenly, a look of worry flashed on her face, but Nathan ignored it and led her up the stairs. What he was about to do seemed extremely dangerous and foolish, but he couldn't control himself any longer. He needed to know whatever truth that was hiding behind such a thin curtain that was blowing in the wind. Bree made no protest, but Nathan kept his grip on her.

       They entered the bathroom once again. Nathan stopped in front of the mirror above the sink, and pulled her in front of it, too.

      "I can't look at you because even you can't look at yourself right now." Bree avoided any eye contact, and bowed her head.

       "Why the two personas?" he asked.

       If it was possible, Bree bowed her head lower.

       "It's a really simple question. When you're with your friends, and when you're with Neil, you're this... this type of girl that just seems extremely fake to me. The clothes, the make up, the loud laughter and just... everything. I'm confused on how I should feel about you, now."

       "It's not a simple question," Bree spoke up.

       "How is it not?" Nathan asked.

       "It's not that I'm being fake... my feelings when I'm around them aren't fake. It's just... I've always wanted to be a part of something like that, and if I acted like the stupid shy girl, no one would have ever noticed me. Kat, and Val and Terri... they wouldn't be my friends, and Neil... well Neil would just be the guy that never ever noticed me because he was too cool to ever be seen with me."

       You'd think she'd be sobbing with gigantic droplets of tears running down her face with how melancholic her voice was, but she was looking at Nathan right in his eyes with no tears and furrowed brows.

       "So you pretend to be someone you're not just because you want to make some pop princess friends and a 'mother-warned-me' boyfriend?"

       "Basically," Bree sighed and let his shoulders loosen. Her hair, which was still slightly damp, fell over her face, and so Nathan reached out and tucked in behind her ear, not caring about whatever the voice at the back of his mind was yelling.

       "You shouldn't have to pretend for people," he said quietly. He lifted her chin to make her look up at him. He took some toilet paper and ran some water over it, before proceeding to get ride of the heavy lip gloss and blush and eye-shadow, carefully working his way all over her face. Bree made no protest to stop him, and just stood there, close to him and and allowed him to unmask her.

       "You know," she said when he was finished, "I could have done with myself with my make up remover in less than five minutes," she laughed.

       "Right," Nathan chuckled.

       "Thank you," Bree said, then her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and his hands fell in the middle of her upper abdomen, and they were hugging. Essentially, hand holding is just two hand hugging each other, but this felt even better.

       It felt like heaven.

       ***

       THERE WILL BE A PART THREE TO THIS CHAPTER, SO. Thank you guys for reading! <3 love you

- rose