
17: 'We're just friends.'
Chapter 17 - "We're just friends."
With my suitcase packed and Nathan on his way over to pick me up, I went to say bye to my flatmates. Luckily, I wasn't feeling hungover. Unluckily, I was yet to see Jack. He hadn't emerged from his room all morning so I had no idea if Alison had stayed the night or not. Despite texting me last night and saying he needed to talk to me, Jack hadn't made an appearance.
I knew I couldn't go to Paris on a romantic weekend away without first finding out if everything was okay between me and him. Taking a deep breath, I headed down the corridor and knocked loudly on his door. No answer. I knocked again.
"He's not in," Hayley said from within her room.
I turned to look at her. "Where is he? I'm leaving in ten minutes."
She shrugged and turned back to her laptop. "Dunno. He's been gone for hours. I think he brought a girl back last night though. About time."
"Yeah," I agreed quietly, my stomach twisting. I really hoped Jack was okay. If he'd slept with Alison and she'd then told him it was all set-up, then that would be enough to drive him out of his room for a good few hours.
"Are you excited about Paris?" Hayley asked me, changing the subject.
I wandered into her room and sat down on her bed. "Yeah I am. It should be good."
"You made any plans about what you're doing there?" she asked, whilst still tapping away on Facebook Chat. She had about six conversation boxes open – she was clearly a popular girl.
"Some vague plans," I said. "We'll probably decide when we get there."
"You'll probably just spend the whole weekend in your hotel room." She smiled. "What else are romantic weekends away for?"
She may have been replying to me, but I felt like I didn't really have her undivided attention. Her comment about spending the whole weekend in the hotel room stirred something within me. It would be so romantic, she was right. And we hadn't done much romance recently when it came to sex. We'd both become quite caught up in the other side of it.
"I'm just going to check I've packed everything," I told her. "If I forget the tickets then he'll kill me."
She laughed. "Okay. Come say bye before you go."
"I will."
I headed back into my room and checked my bag for the tickets for the tenth time that morning. They were still in my purse, the same place as before. I scanned my room for anything obvious I might have missed. Remembering that I'd used a different bag for our anniversary meal, I checked inside it for any loose change.
My eyes froze as they landed on the blindfold and cream from the other night. I twisted my mouth in thought. Deciding to be spontaneous, I grabbed both items and shoved them into the inside pocket of the suitcase. We didn't have to use them, but they were there for if we were feeling adventurous.
From across the room, my phone buzzed loudly. I jumped, on edge at the thought of someone discovering me packing kinky items. The text was only from Nathan, telling me that he was just parking and could I let him into the building.
I dashed down the numerous flights of stairs, smiling when I saw Nathan standing outside the main door. He returned my smile and stepped into the warmth of the building when I opened the door.
"Morning, Beautiful," he smiled, pulling me close to his body, his hands gripping my waist. "Not too hungover, I hope?"
I stood on my tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Nope. I'm fine," I replied, scraping my hands through his wavy hair. "I'm a responsible drinker."
He snorted at that, his hands gently rubbing my waist. "Responsible drinkers don't get carried home from a night out and then end up passing out on their bedroom floor."
I scowled. "That was one time."
"One time that I've seen," he whispered teasingly against my lips.
"Come on." I took his hand and pulled him up the stairs. "Let's get moving."
Unsurprisingly, the first thing that Nathan noticed when he got into the flat was the fact that Jack wasn't around.
"That's unlike him," Nathan commented.
"Yeah," I agreed. "He was really looking forward to seeing you. But he's not been around all morning and he's not replied to my texts."
"Weird," Nathan said. "Maybe he pulled last night."
"He did pull. But she came back here."
"Well maybe he walked her back to her place and she invited him in for a cup of tea or something."
I frowned. "Seriously? A cup of tea? How polite of her."
He sniggered. "Okay. Where's your suitcase? I'll take it down to the car whilst you say bye to everyone."
Gemma and Phil were in lectures but I said goodbye to Hayley and Shaun, both of whom told me to have a good time and celebrate properly in style. We were going to the city of love after all.
"So tell me about last night," Nathan said once we were on the road on the way to the airport. "Was it good?"
I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "I met quite a few people."
"So did Jack end up ditching you then?" Nathan asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you said he pulled. So did he ditch you for the girl?"
"Part way through the night," I replied. "But I knew other people there so it wasn't too bad."
A comfortable silence fell between us and I reached across to rest my hand on Nathan's leg.
"This is such an amazing present, Nathan."
"What? My body?"
I rolled my eyes and removed my hand. "The trip to Paris. You're so romantic."
He chuckled. "So I guess now isn't the time to tell you that I don't plan on letting you out of the hotel room for the whole weekend?"
My whole body heated up at the thought, especially after how intense things had gotten on Wednesday night. We hadn't had sex in over two weeks, not since the afternoon when we'd had rough sex, the afternoon that had opened my mind.
"As long as candles and champagne are involved," I said.
Nathan laughed. "We're going to the right country to get champagne."
Checking in at the airport went smoothly enough, and we soon found ourselves sitting in the departure lounge. Nathan had now turned serious and was trying to construct a list of things we could do over the weekend.
"I tried to do some research," he admitted. "But there was literally so much stuff that I couldn't narrow it down. So I decided I'd let you choose where you most want to go."
It was a relatively short flight to Paris; it felt like we were barely up in the air before we were making our descent. Since Nathan had planned this whole weekend secretly, he had booked the hotel on his own too. It didn't disappoint. I didn't even want to consider how much a hotel in the centre of Paris would cost, but this one was lovely. It wasn't huge and overstated, but rather small and cosy. Our room had a four-poster bed and was decorated with antique furniture. When I wandered over to the window, we had a beautiful view of the Seine.
"This is so amazing," I breathed.
Nathan came up behind me and wound his arm around my waist. "I'm glad you like it."
"Nathan..."
"Don't," he murmured, bending to kiss my forehead. "I wanted to do this so badly, Bella. You have no idea how much you mean to me."
Standing on my tiptoes, I took his head in my hands and twisted it round to face me. Then I pressed my lips softly against his. The kiss was so romantic and perfect, especially because of where we were. Sometimes when I kissed Nathan, lust overwhelmed me, unfamiliar desires took control. But right now, I couldn't control how much love I felt for him. We'd only been in Paris for an hour, yet I still wanted to stay here forever, just Nathan and me, in our own little bubble.
I sighed regretfully when we pulled away from the kiss.
"I should have a shower. Freshen up for tonight."
"Want some company?" he offered, raising an eyebrow.
His suggestion caught me off guard. "Oh...um..."
"Wow, don't sound too excited," he smirked in amusement.
I laughed softly. "Sorry."
"Do you like your space in the shower or something?" he asked, still looking amused.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never shared a shower with someone before."
He cocked his head to the side, regarding me with interest. "You and Matt...?"
"No," I confirmed. "Never. We never had sex anywhere other than the bed or the sofa. Or sometimes the floor. All highly original places."
A small smirk played on Nathan's lips, making him look mischievous. "Interesting," he stated.
"I don't know why you're so surprised."
"Believe it or not, sometimes I forget the extent of your innocence."
"Oh, shut up and get in the shower with me."
He grinned and grabbed my waist when I went to head towards the ensuite. Pulling me roughly into his body, he nuzzled his face in my hair.
"I'm only teasing," he murmured, pulling my hips firmly against his. I could already feel just how much Nathan was looking forward to our shared shower.
Slowly, he began to inch up my top. I stepped out of his arms and pulled it off myself before kicking off my shoes.
"I can undress myself."
"Why are you playing so hard to get?" he laughed, following me leisurely as I headed towards the ensuite again.
"I'm not," I denied.
I wasn't playing hard to get, but I was nervous. I had no idea how sex in a shower worked. Wouldn't the water get in the way? Would it be slippery?
Sighing to myself, I decided to get a grip and continued to undress, flicking on the water so the temperature had time to settle.
"We don't have to," Nathan murmured in my ear, appearing out of nowhere. "I can tell you're unsure."
"No, I want to," I assured him, carefully climbing into the bath. "You can help do my back."
He gave me a small smile and wriggled out of his boxers then climbed over the edge of the bath to join me. After giving me an encouraging smile, he planted a soft kiss on my lips, so soft that I barely felt it.
"Turn around," he said quietly.
I did as he said and ducked underneath the pouring water. As I stood underneath the stream of water, my eyes closed, relishing the feel of the hot jets on my skin, Nathan gently pulled my hair from around my shoulders so that it extended down my back instead. His fingers massaged my scalp as he applied the shampoo. I stood there, completely relaxed and at ease while he pampered me. When he reached around for the conditioner, his erection dug into my back, and I jumped.
"Sorry," he murmured in my ear before kissing my cheek.
With nimble fingers, Nathan began to scrape the conditioner through my hair. The sensations sent shivers down my spine and I involuntarily leaned backwards into his body. This time it was Nathan's turn to flinch.
"You've got such beautiful hair," he told me.
Slowly, I twisted around to face him. "I don't know how we've gone this long without having a shower together."
He laughed softly. Nathan looked so beautiful drenched in water. His hair had turned dark and longer, rather than his usually blonde, chin-length locks. It seemed as though the water was bouncing off every muscle in his toned body. Our shared shower didn't get much saucier than a few intense kisses, but I was happy with that. I had no problem saving myself for tonight—anticipation only heightened things in my experience.
As I dried off, Nathan lounged on the bed, flicking through his phone.
"Ooh," he piped up. "Isobel Smith has been tagged in three photos."
I frowned. Photos? I hadn't had any photos taken recently, had I? Apart from maybe last night...
When I glanced up at Nathan, he was staring down at his phone with a perplexed look on his face, saying nothing. Slowly, I headed over to the bed and crawled onto it to look at the photos.
"Do I look awful?" I joked. "'Cause if so then I'll have to remove the tags."
Nathan said nothing. He continued to flick through the same three photos, his expression now blank. All three photos were of Pedro and me, taken from various people's cameras. And in all three photos, you could clearly see that our hands were tied together and our fingers interlinked.
"Nathan?"
"No," he said eventually, putting his phone down. "You look great."
"You're not upset, are you?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, and irritation was now seeping into his voice.
"Because I didn't want to worry you," I told him. "I didn't want you spending the evening thinking about the fact I'd be tied to another guy."
"So you lied about it instead."
"No. I just didn't tell you because I didn't want you getting unnecessarily upset over it."
"I'm more upset that you didn't tell me."
Nathan and I rarely argued, at least not seriously. I knew it was my fault for not telling him, but I needed to make him understand that Pedro meant nothing to me.
"Are you accusing me of cheating?"
"No," he said quickly. "I'm not. But it's difficult enough being separated from you, Isobel. Seeing photos of you being that close to other guys is even more difficult."
"I'm sorry," I apologized quietly. "I made a mistake. I didn't even want to go to the stupid social. I only went because Jack was so keen."
"Who's the guy?" Nathan then asked.
"Pedro," I replied. "The one I did my project with."
"I'm not sure if the fact you're close friends with him makes me less worried or more worried."
"We're just friends, Nathan. I swear. I love you more than anything. You know that."
"Does he know that?" he asked. "Pedro? Does he know you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes. And he didn't try to hit on me. In fact, he told me he likes someone else. Honestly, Nathan, you've got nothing to worry about."
He scraped a hand over his jaw. "Look, I'm tired from travelling. Shall we get an early night and wake up fresh tomorrow?"
"Is this seriously such a big deal?"
"It's not the photos." He sighed. "It's the whole thing. When you started uni, you worried yourself sick about the state of our relationship. You couldn't deal with the fact we'd barely see each other. You know what I worried about? I worried that you'd meet someone else. You're mixing with tons of new people every day. You're meeting so many new guys, guys who have similar interests to you."
"I could never meet anyone better than you, Nathan," I murmured. "I'm sorry if you're not aware of just how much I love you."
"Don't be like that. It's not like I don't trust you, Bella...I do trust you. I've just been dreading seeing photos of you like this...I mean, you're holding hands with him."
"Everyone holds hands on nights out," I said. "Otherwise it's too easy to get lost in the crowds."
"I can't imagine it being that easy when you're tied together," he stated. "I'm aware that I probably sound pathetic. But I'd never held hands with a girl before you. For me, holding hands was a sign of affection."
"You're reading far too much into the photo."
He sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. Let's just get some rest, yeah? Then we can have an early start tomorrow and make the most of the day."
I nodded. "Okay."
"Kiss goodnight?" he asked, his voice laced with hope.
I gave him a small smile then leant to plant a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you so much, Nathan. You're the best thing that's happened to me. Nobody else would even come close to replacing you so I'd never jeopardise our relationship in that way."
He smiled appreciatively and ran a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry. I keep my worries to myself. And then when I do vocalise them, I sound like an idiot."
I smiled. "No. It's comforting in a weird way."
He gave me one last small kiss. "Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day."
I snuggled down into the bed and closed my eyes, willing sleep to take over. Nathan's arm was draped over me, keeping me warm. As I began to doze off, I couldn't help but think of the irony. Our anniversary weekend away and we'd started it with a petty argument. A petty argument in the city of love.
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Thank you for reading :)xx
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