~ Aaliyah's P.O.V. ~

After a lot of teasing and bickering over whether Nathaniel was jealous or not, we finally reached Burger king. 

"So, here's our stop, where I repent the crime I made. Order away malady!" Nathaniel spoke and bowed down with a goofy grin on his face 

Nathaniel is being sweet to me so far, other than the fact that he literally dragged me out of the mall and into his car just because he didn't like it when a group of guys stared at me. It is now that I regret giving him the rejection hotline number, instead of my own. How would he feel when he hears what they have to say? As far as I know him, which is not much, he would not take it too well. I took a pretty hasty decision, and now it is my turn to feel contrite. All I can do is, hope for the best.

'Oh come on, don't cry over spilt milk.'

Excuse me? you were the one who gave me the idea!

'Your point?'

Oh god.

I am beyond furious at smart  Aaliyah at the moment. She was the one who gave me the 'smart' idea, and she was supposed to support me and not switch sides like switching clothes. 

I looked over to Nathaniel arguing with the cashier about which four burgers we had ordered and which four he printed on the bill. He still looked collected even when the little elderly cashier called him a 'rude fuck'. I decided that I should tell him about me giving him the rejection hotline instead of my own number, whatever be the outcome. He would be pissed, that's for sure.

Nathaniel was done reasoning with the cashier and must have noticed my weird, constipated expressions, to which he responded with a weird face.

"What happened? Why such a bad face? Something stinking? Oh no. Do I smell bad?" He asked in a rush.

"What? No."

"Okay, if you say so." He replied. His looks said otherwise. I don't think he was convinced because my expressions didn't really change, and he was glancing at me after every ten seconds.

"Nathaniel I have to tell you something."

"I knew something was wrong. You see, this shirt of mine, is really old  and I don't think I actually washed it befo -"

"Huh?"

"-re coming on this trip an-"

"Nathaniel what are you blabbering?"

"-d I apologize if the smell is too bad, I'll bu-"

"NATHANIEL SHUT UP." He silenced his ramble at that.

"Your shirt is not stinking, it's just that I had to tell you something." His face looked relieved but when he actually noticed my face, his eyes held concern and anxiousness.

"Oh well, that's good then. So, shoot."

"Well I  wanted to apol-" I was cut-short by the waiter. Dang it, there goes my opportunity.

"Here's your order ma'am, and sir. Hope you have a great meal." 

"Thanks." 

I think, along with the waiter, my confidence walked away from me too. 

"So you were saying something Aaliyah?"

"Huh? What? Was I?"

"Yeah you wanted to tell me something didn't you?"

"Oops, looks like I forgot, I'll tell you when I remember though."

"Oh okay sure." He said while shaking his head with a trace of a smile on his lips. 

How could I do this? I was being so judgemental today! He never even showed me his actual side, not once, and I being the crappy person I am, gave him the rejection hotline. It is right now, while having my burger, that I think of it, the emotion that he felt could actually have been jealousy. Even though I was teasing him about it earlier, I can't help but confirm that he was jealous. But why would he be jealous? We don't even know each other well enough to have feelings that could be classified as something that we do not feel for friends, but more. 

'It's not like you knew him well that time. For all he could be a serial killer, getting close to you, then taking you to fairyland and then killing you.'

Where do you even get such thoughts? 

'It's called smart and logical thinking'

You know what, sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

Smart Aaliyah was silent after that, but my thoughts were raging wild. He has been so good to me, and I just ruined it. 

'You haven't, just tell him now. I'm sure he'll understand. Do it before it's too late'

'I don't even understand why you're thinking about this so much. 10 days and you're leaving. You can get into IIT yourself. It's no biggie.'

You just don't understand.

'What do I not? He's just a guy you met yesterday!'

'Correction smartie, a hot, cute, and amazing boy. Did you not hear what he said? He's the legitimate dream boy of every girl!'

'Oh yeah? What did he say that's got you head over heels?'

'Principles of my life :

1) no hookups

2) you fall in love, you stay in love. There's no going back ' Dumb Aaliyah said trying to mimic Nathaniel's deep voie but failing miserably.

Okay guys you can shut up. I'm pretty sure I gained all the confidence that I-

"Aaliyah, are you seriously okay? You're worrying me now. You're zoning out again."

"Oh no it's nothing. Just the heat probably." I sopke. Although it sounded like I was convincing myself eather than him, but okay. 

'I think you should add a smile for assurance'

And so I smiled, which fortunately, Nathaniel bought. Phew.

We talked for a while, but soon the conversation became as dry as the desert nearby. Soon we finished our burgers and walked over to his car in silence. I felt like I should break it, but my phone did the job.

"Hey honey, where are you and Nathaniel?" My mom spoke on the other line.

"Hey mom, we just left burger king, we'll be at the hotel in a few minutes." 

"Okay then, bye." 

Silence, again. 

Just as we were about to reach the hotel where I was staying, Nathaniel spoke up. Which I'm glad he did, because the silence became heavy and the tension was so thick that I could cut it with a knife. Honestly, I have no idea why.

"Are you sure it wasn't my shirt?" 

The moment he said this, I bursted out laughing like a madwoman. 

"Oh" Haha "God, no" hahahaha "It wasn't your " Hahahahahahaha "Shirt. At all." I said between hysterical laughs.

"Then would you mind telling me young lady?" We entered the hotel as he spoke.

"Someday, surely." I said as I ran towards the elevator, not bothering to respond to what he said.

"I'll call you later Als!"

WHAT?! CALL?! As I turned around to stop him from doing so, he was gone.

Well, shit.

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A/N: Hey lovely buttercups! It's been a while since I updated, for which I apologise, but, TA-DA! Here it is!

What's going to happen tomorrow when Nathaniel calls her? Or texts her? ON THE REJECTION HOTLINE, might I add! 

How do you think Nathaniel will/should react? 

See ya soon guys!