The continuation

“Hey, you,” Nathan said, standing beside me, at the kitchen counter where everyone was talking, and laughing surrounding the birthday boys.

“Hey, you,” I said, blushing for no reason.

They had already cut the caramel cake that Nathan made for them. But nobody knew Nathan was the chef except for me, Lea, and the twins.

Before Nathan was swept away by the boys, Theo and I were talking. He told me how in Nathan’s starting days of baking, he had made Fletch and Theo the guinea pigs of all his experiments. They had tasted everything from his kitchen.

And the first souffle he made, was a complete and utter disaster.

I remembered praising Nathan and telling him how talented he was when he made a souffle in just one try. That night, as we walked around the restaurants, I complimented him on it. However, Nathan never mentioned that he had actually failed completely.

When I brought that up, Theo rolled his eyes, “Of course, he wouldn’t tell the girl he failed to make a souffle.”

I was still reeling from the fact that I was ‘the girl’ in this scenario. How did I get here?

Well, I knew.

Then it was Leanna’s turn to interrogate me.

“So,” She said, wiggling her eyebrows as soon as she caught me alone.

I told her he had asked me to be his girlfriend, and we jumped and shrieked, a little away from the boys. Then she flexed the fact that, without her, this wouldn’t have been possible. I let her bask in that glory.

“Your firstborn must be named after me,” She said, at some point.

That was where I had to draw the line.

My firstborn’s name would definitely not be Leanna.

Nathan caught a few stray strands of my hair and rubbed it between his fingers, bringing me back to the present.

“So, should we sneak out?” He whispered.

I pressed my lips, barely hiding my smile, “Already? Won’t they miss you?”

Nathan waved that off.
“Let me get my keys from my room,” He said, nodding towards the stairs. As he started walking, I followed him.

When he reached the landing of the stairs and saw me, he smirked, “Now they will definitely miss us.”

I shrugged, “Let them.”

He pushed the door open with his hips and walked backward, I followed him.

“I like your dress,” He said, standing in the middle of his room, with his hand shoved in his pockets.

“And I like your shirt,” I said, looking at the opened-up button-down.

“And I like you,” Nathan said, stepping closer.

“Hmm,” I thought for a moment, “Good for you.”

He barked a laugh, “I deserved that one.”

“Mhm,” I said, as Nathan leaned down, pecking me on the lips.

“And I like your ribbon,” Nathan whispered close to my mouth.

I was staring at his lips. I had nothing to say in reply because my heart was thudding so loud, I couldn't think.

Nathan reached behind my head, staring into my eyes. There was a slight pull and then my hair cascaded down my shoulders. When he pulled back, the ribbon was in his hand.

“Nice colour,” He mumbled, as we shared the same breath.

It was green, of course.

“My favorite color,” I said, gazing into his eyes, and pressing my palm against his desk.

“Hmm,” He hummed, his nose brushing mine. He pocketed the ribbon. “I wonder why.”

I leaned in closer, my lips almost pressing his, “Do you?”

“Yes.”

Then we kissed. At first, it was gentle, like a warm breeze over me. Then, it turned into something hot, so fast. He grabbed my hips and positioned me over the table, stepping between my legs.

I sighed into his mouth. His hand wrapped over my thigh over the dress.

“You’re addicting,” Nathan mumbled.

“That must be such a bad thing,” I said, sarcastically, as I pulled back a little.

“I knew it’d be like this,” Nathan said, his palms on either side of me on the desk.

“Oh, really?”

“You remember our dumpling date?” He said.

I raised an eyebrow, “Oh, was it a date? I thought I was just-”

“Hush,” He said, pressing his index on my cupid’s bow, “You know full well that it was a date.”

“Mhm,” I mumbled.

“Your lips looked so red,” He said, “After the dumplings. So were your cheeks, your ears, and your whole neck.”

He moved his index under my jaw, down my neck, to my shoulder leaving goosebumps in his wake, “and I wondered how deep the blush went.”

“Oh,” I said.

“It’s not like I thought of kissing you immediately, but I was so... curious,” Nathan replied, distracted by his finger on my skin, running it over the thin silk strap of my dress.

“And curiosity killed the cat,” I whispered against his chest, pushing him away from me.

He smirked, as he took a few steps back.

I jumped down from the desk to the floor and something blue and pink underneath his bed caught my eye.

“Huh,” I mumbled, crouching down to inspect it better.

“What is it?” Nathan said, above me.

But I was reaching for it. I had a vague idea of what it might be. I couldn't believe it, even if it was what I thought it was.

There was just no way.

“Shit,” Nathan said, “No, Emily, wait-”

I had already reached beneath his bed, on my knees. Nathan was grabbing my hips to get me away from it. But I grabbed the book and pulled it. And the books that were above it crashed. A few fell and skittered from under the bed on the empty floor.

I turned the one in my hand.

“Emily, this is not-you’re not supposed to-”

“The Love Hypothesis?!”

I turned around and stared at him. Nathan sighed dramatically and sat back down, resting his palms on the floor.

“What the hell are you doing with ‘The Love Hypothesis’?”

Nathan gave me a weird look as if I were dumb. So I looked around at all the other books that had come out. I retrieved the ones still under the bed. All of them were romances. All of them had one thing in common.

I had pointed to all of them on our bookshop date.

He had bought them.

“But...when?” I said, turning to him.

Nathan's eyes looked soft, almost sad, “When do you think?”

“I-” I was out of words, “We weren't talking, and you...bought all my favorite books.”

Nathan tucked a stray hair behind my ear, “The least I could do. I was pathetic.”

“Nathan,” I said, my voice caught in my throat.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered, his eyes shining.

So I looked away and cleared my throat. I gathered them all and stacked them, “So, how many of them have you read, Mr. Romantic?”

Nathan laughed. He looked sheepish when he said, “None.”

“No problem, Callahan. I'll give you one week.”

****

The next morning, someone was blaring their horns outside the door. Mom kept screaming my name. I was jumping on one foot while pushing another through my sock.

“I’m coming! Coming!” I said, hopping down the stairs.

This is what happened when you had a party on a school night. The twins were crazy, and so were everyone else. Then there was the boyfriend who couldn't say goodbye without twenty kisses.

“Tell Leanna to stop honking!” Mom said, banging the pan.

“I will!” I replied, opening and closing the door, my shoes untied, turning around to run to the car.

But it wasn’t Leanna who had come to pick me up for school.

It was my boyfriend.

“Mom hates you,” I said, getting near him, poking him on the ribs.

“Liar,” Nathan grinned.

“How did you-” I stopped talking because Nathan fell to his knees before me.

My eyes widened. “Bit too fast, aren’t you, Callahan?”

Nathan laughed, his hand around my shoes, tying the strings.

My heart shouldn’t be beating this fast. My stomach shouldn't be doing this weird jumping thing. He’s only tying my shoes.

“I’m in if you’re in, Kingsley,” He said, sarcastically.

I swallowed, “It’s like eight in the morning.”

He stood up, done with my shoes, and smiled, “Good morning, then.”

I shoved him away as I pulled the door to the passenger’s side open and sat down, buckling up. I noticed the coffee in the cup holder, “Hey, you got me coffee.”

Nathan rounded the car faster than I had ever seen him, “Wait, wait-” He got in and buckled his seatbelt, then held up the two coffee cups he had there. “Now one of them is your very basic, very boring, absolute abomination iced Vanilla latte-”

I glared at him. “It’s what I like.”

“Yeah, I know,” He shrugged, “and in another is a concoction I put together which has all the good stuff, coffee, chocolate, caramel, almond milk.”

“Give me my coffee,” I said, reaching for my cup, “And keep your concoction for yourself.”

“I am very generous and very kind-”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll let you take one sip from my drink, which will change your life,” he said looking smug, “You’ll never be able to go back to boring vanilla.”

I huffed, “Sometimes boring vanilla is all you need in life.”

“Sometimes,” he nodded, “not every day.”

I grabbed his magic coffee cup. Giving him a look of disinterest, I took a sip. Meanwhile, he watched me like I was about to tell him he won this round, that his coffee order was superior to mine. As if I would ever tell him.

I finished my sip. I acted like I was giving it a thought. “Hmm, interesting...”

“Isn’t it?” Nathan said, excitedly.

“Give me my coffee now,” I said, putting down his cup.

He handed me mine. I took a sip. It tasted watery and tasteless compared to his drink. But I kept drinking. “Still better than yours.”

Nathan leaned back in his seat, watched me, and shook his head. “I have to bring your taste buds back to life. What a big responsibility.”

“With a lovely girlfriend comes lovely responsibilities,” I concluded.

Nathan burst out laughing and mumbled, God I love you, before starting the car while I blushed deep.

We walked hand in hand in the hallways. I was skeptical. I was wondering whether we should keep it a secret.

“Keep it a secret from whom?” Nathan had said as we were getting out of his car.

“I don’t know,” I had fidgeted, “People?”

Nathan had rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand pulling me across the parking lot. Now we walked side by side, towards our algebra class. I was craning to see if anybody was watching us since people were interested in Nathan's life. They didn’t know me. But I didn't want to be facing his fan club. I remembered those girls from sophomore year.

Also, Nathan was wearing a dark teal button-down, the buttons open at the front to reveal a white shirt underneath, his denim, and his usual pair of shoes. Meaning, that he was not in his everyday emo outfit, he was committing to his new boyfriend phase.

He looked good. It brought out the green in his eyes vividly. I wanted to grab the collar of his shirt and-

“There you are,” Azra’s voice brought me back to myself, “One minute and you'll be late.”

Nathan took his usual seat behind mine. I greeted Azra and she winked at me as I sat down.

Mr. Ewan walked in right away. The class had just started when Nathan interrupted, “Have you ever noticed that our seats are always close to each other in all of our classes?”

My hand stilled and I bit my lips, “Yeah.”

“I wonder why that is,” Nathan whispered, from behind.

I cleared my throat, then smiled nervously, “Whatever the reason, it's a nice coincidence, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Nathan replied, “Coincidence.”

He didn’t sound convinced. I hoped he was. The classes went one by one, us sitting close, Nathan giving me the occasional jab, me giving him one or two kicks under the table, and us walking hand in hand to classes.

That was until lunch arrived.

“So...” I said, looking at our lunch table. All of my girlfriends were already seated.

Nathan followed my eyes and looked back at me. “So?”

“I think you need some approvals,” I said, turning to him.

“Hmm,” Nathan opened his backpack, “Thought so.”

As we reached the table, Nathan placed a box of chocolate chip cookies right in the middle of it and met the girls’ eyes one by one.

Malti raised an eyebrow, “Is that a peace offering?”

Nathan pulled a chair from across a table, sat down, and crossed his arm over his chest, “No, it’s a gift.”

“I don’t take gifts from heartbreakers,” Malti replied, “I will need one of your shirts.”

Nathan asked, “What for?”

Malti leaned forward and said, “So I can burn it.”

Nathan turned to me as I was stealing fries from Azra, “Do you support this?”

I shrugged, “I do nothing.”

“Leaving your boyfriend when he’s in danger, I see,” Nathan said to me and then turned to Leanna, “What’s your verdict?”

“She can’t have any verdict,” Malti said, cutting Leanna off before she could open her mouth, “She fraternized with the enemy.”

“Hey, wait a minute now-” Leanna tried to protest in vain.

“More like made out with the enemy,” Uyen replied, “Your friend.”

“Neighbour,” Nathan corrected.

“Whatever,” Malti shrugged it off, “Do you have anything else to offer?”

Nathan sat up straighter, “No, take it or leave it.”

Malti glared, “I don’t like you, then.”

“Good,” Nathan replied, “I don’t like you either.”

Azra, Uyen, and I all burst out laughing simultaneously. Nathan turned to me and grinned.

“Nobody’s on my side!” Malti said as Erika grabbed the box of cookies, picked one, took a bite, and moaned.

I laughed as I grabbed one. Everyone got one for themselves. Malti rolled her eyes and picked one too. I turned to my boyfriend.

“Can’t believe you won all of them over with cookies.”

Nathan flicked off an invisible lint from his shirt, “Nobody can resist a little chocolatey goodness, can they?”

The rest of the lunch was as peaceful as it could be. The classes ended with loads of homework. We were back in chemistry sitting in our stools, Nathan with his head down in the station, smiling up at me.

“What?” I said, my cheeks heating up.

“You’re sitting too far,” He said, straightening up.

Then he grabbed the legs of my stools and pulled me close to him, in one move. I had to hold him for support as he did so.

His nose was almost brushing mine, “Where did you learn this?”

“Learn what?” He asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Oh my god! They’re finally together!”

Nathan and I both turned behind us, at the station, where a girl wearing glasses was covering her mouth.

The boy with glasses beside her said, “Now you’ve done it.”

Nathan and I looked at each other and then back at them.

The girl slowly lowered her hand and said to the boy, “You owe me twenty bucks.”

“Excuse me?” Nathan interrupted while I was trying to remember their names. I searched my brain for that information until I remembered. Will and Frida.

“Yeah, dude,” Will said, looking bitter, “It’s all your fault. I always said this guy was a coward, he’d never get the girl. Now you cost me twenty.”

He shoved his hands down his jeans pocket and brought out his wallet. Frida looked delighted, “I knew you two would end up together, eventually.”

“She is the one who asked you out, didn’t she?” Will said to Nathan.

I was extremely amused. My cheeks hurt from smiling. Nathan looked annoyed, as if someone was walking all over his ego. “No!” he protested. “It was me. I asked her out.”

Will paused with his hand in his wallet while Frida watched him with utmost attention, “Can’t believe it, bro. Been staring at her for a year and suddenly you ask her out? Unbelievable. How did you finally grow the balls?”

I turned to Nathan sharply, “You have been staring at me for one year?”

“Lies,” Nathan said nervously, “Absolute lies.”

“Sure, bro,” Will said, “Remember when she used to read books and he looked at her like-”

“She’s pole dancing,” Frida said, “Yes, yes.”

Nathan's face went red, “I did not.”

I smiled harder, “Really?”

“Girly, who are you to laugh?” Frida rolled her eyes, “It’s not like you haven't been staring at him for the whole year as well.”

“I-” I opened and closed my mouth. Now, Nathan gave me a smug look.

“Yeah, whenever you had the chance, your eyes were glued to his face. Actually, it was you who started it, right?” Frida turned to Will.

“Oh, yeah, I thought at least someone was happy with the seating plan,” Will remarked. Frida gave him a glare.

Nathan grinned. I looked away blushing.

“Then she used to stare at you like you’re the apple pie on Thanksgiving, or the dark meat-”

“Or the stuffing, the stuffing is always so good-”

“Or the-”

“Yeah, I get it,” Nathan stopped them.

“You didn’t get it at first though, did you?” Will replied, “You started staring back at her a few months later.”

“It was like a tennis match,” Frida said. “She looks at you and looks away, you look at her and then look away. It went on and on and on, for months and months.”

I cleared my throat, “Yeah, thanks. We got it.”

“Now, give me my money,” Frida turned to Will.

I gave Nathan a look, and he shrugged. We both turned forward as Wong walked in.

“I think they’re a bit delusional,” I whispered.

“Yeah, me too,” Nathan replied, “They should check their glasses.”

“Yep, eye doctor needed,” I said.

Nathan entwined his fingers with mine, under the table and said, “Exactly.”

****

Her (Nathan's POV from chapter 24)

He had always thought it would be like lust or desire, something clothes-ripping, wanting to corner her in a dark room and whisper nothing into her ear as she shivered.

And it wasn't like that was absent. Oh no. That was very much present, like when she called him in with her hair all tangled with the zipper on the back.

Her bare back.

And all he could think about was tracing her skin with his fingers, drawing lines, and making connections between these small freckles she had. She probably didn't even know about them. And then he wanted to lick- no, Nathan, no. He thought to himself. Be proper. Be sane. What the hell is wrong with you?

But then all hell broke loose. As she laughed and looked at him through the mirror, all at once it wasn't only lust, or desire, or this sense that something about her made him think she was his. Mine, he had thought in passing. But then it was affection, intimacy, a deep longing somewhere beneath his ribs tugging in his heart, making it painful to breathe. He wanted to capture her laughter like rays of sunlight filtering through the dark clouds, transforming a gloomy day into a bright summer day. He knew what it meant.

Oh, Nathan knew it very well.

As his heart skipped a few beats and then started beating rapidly, he wanted to collapse against the door and watch her. But he remained standing. Mumbling something incoherent, he stumbled out of the dressing room and sat down on the nearest surface he found.

He was barely holding it together.

Nobody had told him falling felt like this.

It was called 'falling' for a reason.

He held his head in his hands and tried to breathe through it as that thought, that one singular sentence flashed through his mind repeatedly.

Emily Kingsley, the culprit, remained oblivious as she rummaged through the dresses, perhaps trying to find one that matched the color of his eyes. Of course, that was something she would do.

And what was worse, he couldn't wait. He couldn't wait for her to find her perfect dress, be happy, and glow in it knowing he was the reason.

He closed his eyes.

Nathan Callahan was in love.

What a fucking disaster.

****

A/N: hi.