Nate comes home around ten pm, looking like shit. He notices I took his side of the bed and scoffs.

"Really, Trish? Really?" He says sarcastically as he kicks off his sneakers and lines them up perfectly in his closet. One of these days, I'm gonna go through and mess everything up on him. 

I giggle a little and then push over,  giving Nate his side of the bed back.

"I'm surprised you're home. Want me to sleep on the couch?" I sit up, pulling the covers up with me, and watch Nate get undressed.

"God did I fuck things up." He ignores my question and holds on to his aching ribs, getting into the bed carefully, in only his underwear.  I scoot over  and turn to my side, propping my arm up and resting my head on my head.

"You sure did, Playboy. What the hell happened today? Storming into the hospital through the front... going to  Sullivan's? Nate, this isn't like you. All because we slept together last night? Like you said, we've slept together a million times. She's cheated on you with James and James with you multiple times. And she did it again with this kid.  

 "It's because it was YOU I slept with." He folds hands together and lays them on his chest, looking up at the ceiling. He has yet to even make eye contact with me.

"ME? What do you mean?"

"Let's just call it a night, ok? I'm beat."

"No. Now I want to know. How am I I I in trouble? I'm single. I can sleep with who I want."

"Because." Nate turns to lay on his side and face me. He tucks my hair behind my ears. "You know you're my best friend. I love ya so don't take this the wrong way, Trish. But, you can be a snob. A 'mean girl'. And I know you don't mean to be like that but sometimes you are so confident  that you come off as... better than everyone else."

"What?! I do not!"

"No really. You do. We've had this discussion before. I guess, I don't know, it hurt Julia more that I cheated on her with you. She said it could have been anyone else in the world and she wouldn't have been half as broken up about it, but because it was YOU it stung more."

"Ok, I'm not following, Nate." I am genuinely confused.

"Trish. You don't give Julia the time of day. You know you don't-"

"No, I just don't feel like dealing with the bullshit drama that comes along with Julia." I cut him off.

"That. That right there! See?  What you downplay as bullshit drama is really someone's  problems that their trying to work through. It may be insignificant to you...but  a big deal to someone else. Julia is a human being with feelings, emotions and a fucking mental illness. She's not  hard like you. Things come easy to you, she has to work for them. You make her feel smaller than you because she actually shows emotions and you just bottle them up inside and and take  them out in the bedroom."

"What?!" My eyes widen.

"It's a good thing. Believe me, doll. It's a REALLY good thing." Nate smirks at me but I'm not smiling back. "You get crazy in bed and fuck the living shit out of me and that's how you let out all that cooped up emotion. Then you lay with me all cute and cozy like an angel."

"Oh my God. What are you saying? I'm bad in bed now?"

"Quite the opposite. You're absolutely amazing in bed. You just turn into a different person. I love it." Nate kisses the top of my head.

"But because you make Julia feel inferior  she thinks she isn't good enough and will never live up to being you. She thinks you're perfect and it's hard to compete with perfect."

"You know I'm not! God, is this bash Trisha day or what!?"

"You ARE perfect. You've earned that. You work hard at EVERYTHING you do. You have the drive and ambition and some people struggle with that. You get knocked down you just get back up and do it until it's perfect. Julia gets knocked down and while she's trying to get back up, get's knocked down again. And again. And again. She can't catch a break and she feels like you think she is a waste of space. You come off that way, doll. Whether you notice it or not."

I flip back over to my back and cross my arms over my chest with a big huff.

"You know I'm not perfect." God, if he only knew how much I'm struggling right now....

"Anyways. That's that. Ok? Just be nice to her. She has no female friends here. Not one. I think she looks up to you. That's all. Just be kind." He explains. "And don't go fucking walking around here half naked looking the way you look because you're just gonna keep getting me in trouble."

"So. You want me to sleep on the couch? Cuz right now I'm wearing absolutely nothing under these covers." I fucking did it on purpose to make him mad thanks to the day he gave me of cleaning up his shit....

He lifts up the covers and groans, laying his head back on the pillow.

"Why!! Why do you do this to me?!"

"Because I can. And you're not getting any. Payback's a bitch, Nate. Today was a hard day."  I push the covers down to my waist and put my hands behind my head. "Goodnight." 

I close my eyes but can feel Nate staring at me. He inches closer to me just like I knew he would.

"Trish... put some clothes on." He growls  and I feel him lean up against me.

"Nope." I smirk with my eyes still closed. "And no touching."

He pushes against me, and I'm happy to report that what I'm doing is working because he is hard and not gonna get any tonight.  I had to put out so many fires for him today that he deserves to get burned.

"You're killing me.." He ticks his hips against me.

"Oh well. Actually," I say more seductively. "Maybe I'll change the no touching rule. For myself." I  I drop my hand down and slide it under the covers, pretending like I'm gonna touch myself.  Nate pulls me by my chin to open my eyes and look at him.

"I fucking hate you, you know that?"  Nate crashes his mouth into mine and we once again have sex. Good sex. great...amazing sex.

Because Nate will always be mine.

***

Once again, I wake up in the morning, and Nate is already gone to be with Julia at the hospital.  I don't head there right away, though. I'm in no hurry to face Julia, especially after what Nate said last night. Now it's just awkward. 

But apparently, while  Paul and I were sleeping in... Nate was up to no good.

*****

"Nate. This is crazy."  I sit in the small breakroom, and don't go back to Julia's room thanks to her puking her brains out. I can't handle that shit so Nate tells me his grand plan here. Moving James into his house. AND the nurse Casey. With all of us?? He's fucking insane.

"You're gonna open your home to MORE people??"  Like I said. Fucking insane!

"I already called the maintenance to install a divider ..like the one in the hospital room, in the dining room. We'll section off a good sized area to make another bedroom. We have plenty of bathrooms. Plenty of room."

"And plenty of people. How did you go from always wanting your flat all to yourself ...loving living alone, to wanting a house with seven people??"

"Five. You can go home. Paul can stay with you, right? You have two spare bedrooms in your apartment and a spare bathroom. You won't need to stay with me. "

"Oh." Ok. So I guess I wasn't prepared for that. He wants me out. Nate stands in front of  me nd rubs both my arms at the same time. I think he could see the hint of disappointment on my face from that.

"Trish. This will be a good thing. You can go back home. You won't have to sleep on a couch ... Paul will take good care of you. I need him to still be with you for awhile. I have a bad feeling about Dave. And you won't have to deal with Julia's detox or mood swings or mental issues. You still have free reign of my place like you always have. You know you can come whenever you want to see James... or me... but this will help me get back on schedule, in the studio more, with Julia taken care of by not one but two nurses. That's what you wanted, right doll? For me to get back to living my life? I won't have to spend time driving all the way here to visit her, getting stuck in traffic, spending nights here. The studio is right around the corner from my place, you know that. This can work out and benefit everyone."

This is true. He actually thought this all out.  This WILL benefit everyone, and help him move on and get back to being Nate Hollan...in the studio, making music.

"You're right. This is a good thing. Have you talks to Paul about it? Or Casey? Dr. Donovan? James's family?"

"I'm on it. James still has to stay here until his next evaluation in a week and I need to get the room set up before we can bring him in anyways. Give me one week. I will tie all the loose ends."

"You really believe this can work?" I am usually the one to organize all this stuff so I'm not really confident Nate will think of everything this will entail.

"You got me and Julia out of this hospital and in to home care. We're just adding another person. If that's what you want to call him."

"And when he wakes up and finds out he's under your roof??"

"One day at a time... ok?" I assure her I know what I'm doing.

"You're nuts, Nate. But ok. I mean.. I see this turning into a huge disaster, but ok."

*****

Paul and I head back to Nate's so we can pack up.

"Dude's seriously kicking me out." I scoff to myself  with Paul right in the room waiting for me. He didn't have much stuff apparently because he packed up two suitcases in record time and I'm still retrieving clothes scattered around Nate's room. "You sure you don't mind staying at my place, Paul?"

"Does it have a bed?" He leans against the doorway, watching me.

"King sized bed in the spare room with your own bathroom. Yes."

"Will you feed me?" He questions.  Of course I will. I've been cooking for everyone here. 

"You know I will..."

"Then that's all I need to hear. Let's go. You're taking forever."

*****