Chapter 25 - "Are you and Nathan in a relationship?"

"I wouldn't read too much into what Lucy said," Jess told me over lunch when I'd filled her in on yesterday's events. "I'd put money on the fact she's making it up to get to you." 

"Kat didn't exactly jump to my defence," I said. "She keeps going on about how sorry she is...but then Lucy says stuff like that and Kat just keeps her mouth shut." 

"In fairness, you've made it pretty clear that you're not gonna forgive her," Jess reminded me. "Lucy and Kara are her only friends now. She won't want to screw that up for herself, otherwise she'll have nobody." 

I shrugged in agreement; Jess had a point. Katrina knew that her friendship with me was over, and it was sensible of her not to risk burning all of her other bridges too.  

"So how are things with you and Alex?" I asked her. 

I'd spent a lot of time recently burdening Jess with my problems. Hopefully she realised I was there for her, too.

"They're good," she replied casually.  

"Have you talked about university yet?" 

"Not exactly, but I know he wants to do long-distance." 

"How do you know that?" I asked, sawing a chip in half before placing it into my mouth.  

"Because, well..." she faded away, looking awkward. "Well, we were talking about you and Matt...you know, when you told me he didn't want to do long-distance?" 

"Yeah..." I said slowly. "Jess, I don't mind you talking to Alex about me. You don't have to feel guilty." 

She shot me an apologetic smile regardless. Jess was a naturally nice person; she didn't like upsetting people and often went out of her way to avoid it. I'd fully expected her to talk to Alex about me—after all, I talked about her to Nathan—but she still felt guilty, as though she was worrying about betraying my trust.  

"Well, anyway," she continued. "Alex was saying what an idiot Matt was. He said there's no harm in trying long-distance. People in serious relationships shouldn't just give up." 

"Okay..." I said slowly, realising where this was going.  

"And then he said he could never break up with me without at least trying long-distance. He'd forever regret it." 

"That's because he's madly in love with you," I stated.  

"Oh, please," she scoffed. She was shaking her head but there was something reserved about it, as though she didn't find my statement completely ridiculous.

"It's so obvious," I told her. "And it's obvious you love him, too. Have you said it to each other yet?" I took her silence as a yes. "Jess! You so have! Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Because I knew you'd react like this," she admitted.  

"So, who said it first?" 

"He did," she replied, staring into her food to avoid looking at me.  

This was another classic example of Jess feeling awkward when it came to discussing how good her relationship was. She always liked to play it down, and I suspected it was due to her own insecurities and wanting to protect herself in case the relationship failed.  

"And then I said it back," she continued. "I'm surprised Nathan hasn't told you he loves you yet." 

"We've only been going out a few days," I reminded her with a short laugh. "And we're not in middle school anymore, so there's no obligation to confess our love after only being together for two days." 

"You're making jokes about it because you know it's true," Jess told me with a smug smile. "It's obvious he loves you." 

I persisted with denying it, though, shaking my head fervently. "There's a difference between caring about someone, and loving them." 

She shrugged. "I suppose. We should definitely double date!" she said, her eyes lighting up with excitement at the idea of it.  

I laughed at her enthusiasm. "You know, that's a good idea. I'm sure the boys will enjoy bonding. I don't think Nathan actually has any close guy friends." 

"Let's do something this weekend, then," Jess said, proactive as always. "Although we probably should check with the boys first. Where is Nathan today?" 

"He's trying out for the football team." 

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't Matt play on the football team?"  

"When he could be bothered," I said. But when I looked across the room, Matt wasn't around.  

"Do you reckon they'll get on when they're playing?" 

"I hope so," I murmured. "I'd hope neither of them was immature enough to put their differences before the team. It would make things better in general, anyway, if there wasn't hostility between them. I just want to move past it all." 

"It would make things better, yeah," Jess said. "But it's probably not gonna happen. Why don't you go and watch him? Show some support? I've got a paper I need to work on." 

We finished up lunch and parted ways.  There was still twenty minutes of practice left and I knew Nathan would appreciate me coming to watch him.  

The weather was gradually getting more wintery and I pulled my coat tighter around my body to try to trap the warmth and keep out the wind. Luckily, it wasn't raining. Seeing the boys on the far side of the main field, I started to head over. They seemed to already be in the middle of a game and it didn't take me long to spot Nathan. I shouldn't have been so surprised at how good he was; he dribbled the ball effortlessly, almost running circles around the other players. When he took a shot, the ball soared through the air at a high speed and crashed into the back of the net, shaking the whole goal. The keeper hadn't stood a chance. I smiled to myself out of pride, suddenly filled with warmth despite the cold air.  

As they headed back up the pitch to kick-off again, Nathan noticed me and grinned, shooting a wink in my direction. I automatically smiled back. That's when I saw Matt. He, too, had noticed me but looked away as soon as I caught his eye. He was playing in defence, effectively against Nathan, and didn't look impressed in the slightest. 

I didn't know whether it was my presence, or whether the whole practice had been this way, but the play suddenly got a lot more intense. There was more tackling and clear hostility between Matt and Nathan. Matt had always had a problem with his temper and was a very bad loser. I could see that Nathan's talent was winding him up and the fact that I was here, watching Nathan clearly out-play him, was probably adding fuel to the fire. Five minutes before the practice was due to end, Matt slid to tackle Nathan. Nathan unavoidably tripped over Matt's legs and crashed to the floor as a small look of satisfaction crossed Matt's face.  

"Clean play!" the coach called, blowing his whistle. "Matt! No tackles like that. That kind of thing will get you sent off in a match." Matt didn't reply; he was too angry and already walking away. "You alright, Nathan?" 

"Yes, Coach," Nathan replied, picking himself up from off the ground and brushing away the flecks of mud and grass from his shorts. "Nothing too serious." 

"Right. Let's call it a day. Nathan, stay behind, please." 

I watched the boys head back in, immediately engaging in talk about the game and how they could improve. Nathan and the coach began chatting but the conversation didn't last very long. After shaking his head at something, Nathan headed over to me and immediately wrapped his arms around my body, enveloping me in a hug.  

"Eurgh! Gross! You're sweaty!" I complained, wrinkling my nose in disgust and trying to shake him off me.  

"I thought that's how you liked me, Bella." 

I ignored the comment, deciding not to rise to his suggestiveness this time.  

"You played really well," I told him.  

"Yeah, the coach just offered me a place on the team." 

"That's great!" I grinned. "I take it that you used to play seriously, then?" 

"Yeah, and I played loads in Italy. The Italians are great at football." 

"Of course. Ac Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus..." 

"Look at you," he smirked, ruffling my hair in an irritatingly patronising manner. "Trying to make yourself sound like you know stuff about football." 

"Hey! I do know about football! I just named three Italian teams." 

"Name three more." 

"Shut up." 

He laughed and swung an arm around my shoulder as we walked back towards the school. This time I didn't push him away.  

- 

Nathan was waiting by his car for me as I left the school building later that day. He smiled when I approached him.  

"I was beginning to think you'd been given an after school detention," he teased. "You usually can't wait to get out of school and see me." 

"My history teacher kept me back," I explained as I climbed into the car.  

"Why?" Nathan frowned, putting the key into the ignition.  

"My work has declined recently. I guess I stopped concentrating when I went through all that stuff with Matt." 

"The teachers must be aware of that," Nathan said. "Everyone in the school was talking about it and teachers aren't immune to gossip." 

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. It's sorted now, anyway." 

As we drove home, I suggested the double date idea to Nathan and he seemed as equally excited as Jess about it, just like I suspected he would be.  

"Are we going to have to act all lovey-dovey like they do?" Nathan asked, glancing across at me with a cheeky smile.  

I rolled my eyes. "I hope not." 

"We can do lovey-dovey." 

"At the appropriate moment," I told him. "They do it constantly. We bicker more than we act lovey-dovey." 

"Yeah, but the sentiment is still there." He grinned.  

"If you say so..." I replied, with a small smirk.  

"I can't come in tonight, by the way," Nathan told me as we pulled up outside my house. "I've got so much work due for tomorrow, and if I come to yours then I won't want to leave." 

"That's fine," I assured him. "Don't worry about it." 

"I wasn't worrying about it; I was just making you aware of it." 

I rolled my eyes and unclipped my seatbelt. "Whatever, Loser." 

"I'll text you later," he said.  

"Don't put yourself out," I told him, gathering my coat and bag together.  

"You're the one who's supposed to put out." 

"Hm. If a career in football doesn't work out, you should try comedy." 

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm in your tone. We both know I'm hilarious." 

With a good-natured eyeroll, I reached for the door handle. "Night, Nathan." 

"No goodnight kiss?" he pouted, sulking slightly.  

I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He returned it expertly and even just that small kiss made warmth spread throughout my body.  

"I'm impressed." He smiled, raising an eyebrow.  

"Impressed with what? My kissing skills?" 

He laughed. "They're very good, but no. I'm impressed that you managed to kiss me without trying to tear my clothes off." 

"Right, I'm leaving now," I said, pushing open the car door and clambering out. 

The crisp air cut at my skin and I slammed the car door shut behind me before rushing up the path towards the house.  

Nathan waited until I'd unlocked the front door before pulling off and disappearing into the distance.  

When I got inside, Mum came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. The first thing she asked me wasn't about how my day had been.  

"Hi, Love. Isn't Nathan coming in tonight?" she asked, noticing that I was alone and actually peering down the driveway to see if he was making his way in behind me.

"No, Mum, he's busy," I told her. "What time's dinner?" 

"About an hour," she replied. "Do you have much work?" 

"Yeah, actually. I need to do some history." 

When I got up to my room, I spent an hour doing solid research on history. This was how I used to work; I'd read around the topic rather than just using the sources provided by the teacher. It wasn't just for the grades; I genuinely found the subject fascinating and wanted to learn more. On top of that, if I knew more, then the essays were easier to write. I was putting more time into it, but then getting more out of it as a result.  

I was feeling more optimistic about my education, and about life in general, when I went downstairs for dinner, following the scent of delicious home-made lasagne. Mum, of course, then had to go and ruin it by randomly spouting out a question that threw me off course.  

"Darling, are you and Nathan in a relationship?" 

I almost choked on my lasagne. Both Mum and Dad watched me intently, waiting for my answer.

At this point, I decided honesty was the best policy. They would find out anyway at some point and I'd rather not have to lie about it in the meantime.  

"Um. Yes."  

Dad sighed and looked down at his plate. Mum just nodded as if she hadn't expected any differently and then took a sip of her wine. 

"Is...that a problem?" I asked with apprehension, worried that they wouldn't be quite so relaxed about Nathan coming to visit anymore.  

"Were you planning on telling us?" Dad asked me, frowning slightly. 

"We've only been together a few days," I replied, trying to build my defence.  

"Don't know why it took you that long, to be honest," Mum said casually and then she stuffed some more lasagne into her mouth.  

"You're not mad?" I asked warily.

She frowned. "Of course not. Nathan is lovely. You deserve someone like that. Plus, I've seen the way he looks at you; he's got it bad. I can tell he'd never hurt you...not like Matthew." 

I looked down at my plate of food. "Yeah. He really likes me." 

"You could have told us," Dad said.  

"Well, it's early days," I replied. "And I didn't want you being weird about him coming over." 

"You're eighteen. You've been through heartbreak so I know you're not going to do anything stupid," Mum said. "But the rules still stand." 

I nodded, disappointed but not really surprised. "Yeah. I respect that." 

She nodded back. "Good. So how's the lasagne?" 

And then the evening continued as normal. As Mum was clearing up after dinner, I pulled out my phone and sent Nathan a quick text.  

- The parents figured us out. Are we really that obvious? 

- Well few things about you are subtle, Bella...  

I rolled my eyes at his response. And was about to reply when another message from him came through.  

- Sorry, more importantly: are they okay with it? 

- They're more than okay. Can't believe I was worried about telling them. 

- You worry too much.  

Mum came back into the dining room. "Texting Nathan?" she asked with a smile as she sat down beside me. "Are you telling him that we didn't completely flip at the idea of you being together?" 

I smiled back. She knew her daughter very well indeed. "Something like that, yeah." 

She sighed and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug and nestling her head in my hair.

"You're an amazing person, Isobel. I'll never think any boy's good enough for you. But Nathan comes pretty damn close."

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Thank you for reading :)xx