Chapter 22 - "She's hardly my friend."

I woke up the next morning with a funny feeling in my stomach, and it wasn't hangover-induced nausea. After quickly recalling the previous night, I remembered the reason for my distress: Hayley. Was this an issue we were going to have to address today? I hated confrontation, but there was no way I was going to sit back and let her inappropriate behaviour be ignored like it normally was.

Groaning at the thought of it, I rolled over and snuggled closer to Nathan, draping my arm over his stomach and resting my head on his chest. Immediately I felt better. It was amazing how simply being close to Nathan could make my problems fade away; I tried not to think about how this particular problem was because of Nathan.

Ten minutes later and I was wide awake with Nathan still snoring away beside me. I could hear voices in the kitchen, including Hayley laughing away about something, seeming as chipper as always. Despite how drunk she got, Hayley never seemed to suffer from hangovers and was always the first awake after a night out.

Another five minutes passed, and I found myself getting more and more wound up. I couldn't just lie here. I had to get this over and done with. Sitting up, I gingerly climbed over Nathan's sleeping body, careful not to wake him.

I'd hoped it was Jack or Shaun in the kitchen with Hayley, someone who'd maybe give me a bit of moral support. Unfortunately, it was the worst possible option. It was Gemma. I didn't really want to distance myself from the girls any more than I had already, especially since I knew how close they were, but this was something that I wasn't willing to let go unsaid.

"Hey, Izzy," Hayley smiled, as if everything was normal. "How was your night?"

My heart was thudding. I really wasn't confrontational and I didn't want to cause an argument or an awkward situation. But I did need to grow a backbone.

"It was okay," I lied. "But we left early."

"Oh." Hayley frowned. "How come?"

"I'd had a bad day and didn't feel like staying out."

Was Hayley going to pretend like nothing had happened? Could I guilt trip her into apologizing first so I didn't have to bring it up? Unlikely.

"You should have just stayed out and got really drunk." Hayley laughed. "That's what I did."

"As per usual," Gemma said with a snigger.

"Did you have a good night?" I asked Hayley.

"Dunno. Don't remember a thing. Although that usually means I've had a good night."

This was my chance. Taking a deep breath, I blurted it out, despite my best attempts to remain casual and conversational.

"You tried to get with Nathan."

Both girls stared at me, as if they were trying to work out if this was a joke or not.

"Are you serious?" Hayley asked.

I didn't like her tone of voice. She didn't sound embarrassed or horrified, but rather disbelieving, like she thought I was lying.

"Yeah," I murmured. "You were all over him."

"With all due respect, Izzy," Gemma began, "he's the one with a girlfriend. He shouldn't have let a wasted girl pawn all over him."

I frowned. "He wasn't letting her. He was trying to push her off him but she wouldn't let go."

It shouldn't surprise me that Gemma would automatically defend Hayley, but it angered me that she would so easily push the blame onto Nathan.

"Well I had no idea what I was doing last night," Hayley said quickly. "I wouldn't have hit on your boyfriend, Izzy."

"Okay," I said quietly, not wanting this to escalate anymore. "I just couldn't let it go unsaid."

"Well now it's been said." She smiled brightly, clearly just wanting to sweep it under the rug.

Nathan was only half-awake when I returned to my room, but he still seemed to pick up on whatever angry vibe I was radiating.

"What's up?"

I briefly explained the story and realised that my anger had shifted from Hayley to Gemma.

"I mean, Hayley's just a mess," I said. "She's always been a mess; it's like her trademark. But Gemma... She wants Hayley to constantly love her. I don't get it."

"She just wants to fit in and have a friend. Forget about them."

Pushing me onto my side so my back was to him, Nathan wriggled closer and wrapped his arms around me so we were spooning. Our legs immediately intertwined as I pulled Nathan's arms further around me so we were as close as possible.

"We should try sex like this," he said, out of the blue.

I didn't know whether he said it as a distraction, but it worked.

"Spooning?" My fingers gently caressed the forearm that was wrapped around my chest.

"Yeah. It's romantic and practical. My hands are free. Free to touch any part of your body." And to demonstrate, he moved one hand to brush between my legs.

"Have you done this position before?" I asked him slowly, already anticipating the answer. There weren't many things that Nathan hadn't done.

"No," he said, surprising me.

Frowning, I rolled over in his arms so I was facing him. "Never?"

He shook his head. "Like I said, despite its practicalities, it's primarily a romantic position. I didn't do romance. I didn't even cuddle after sex."

"Oh," I said. "Well, we can figure it out together, like you said."

An unfamiliar look of uncertainty crossed his face, one that made me smile.

"You're nervous...!"

"No, I'm not," he denied immediately.

"You are! You're nervous about doing something you've never tried before. Are you scared you'll mess it up?"

"I never mess up," he said in typical Nathan-like confidence.

"Never in sex," I smirked. "Which is exactly why you're nervous. Because sex is your forte and you don't like being bad at it."

"I can't imagine anyone likes being bad at sex."

I chuckled to myself and rolled back into the spooning position, pulling him close again.

"Well I personally can't wait until you mess up."

"I don't know why you'd have that attitude, Bella," Nathan said calmly. "Usually my bedroom expertise sends you wild."

I blushed. Our sex conversation had started off relatively casually, as if we were talking about the weather. I was glad we'd got to that stage, the stage where talking was easy.

"I just like that there's something new that we can try together," I told him. "I never really get any of your firsts."

"Now you will," he said, kissing the side of my head. "But for now, my head is still hurting and I just want to sleep."

And seconds later, he was snoring again. I envied how quickly he could fall asleep. I lay there, totally awake, my head spinning.

*

Nathan slept soundly for a good hour before his phone started ringing and woke him up.

"God, go away," he groaned, his eyes still shut.

"Want me to answer it for you?"

"No, I know who it is. I assigned Louisa her own ringtone so that I know to ignore her calls."

"Oh. Your assistant?"

"Yeah. She knows not to bother me on weekends."

The phone stopped ringing and the missed call icon flashed up. Barely three seconds later, it began to ring again.

"You may as well answer it," I told him. "She might not stop ringing otherwise. And it might be important."

"Nothing is more important than my time with you," he mumbled in annoyance but he reached for his phone anyway. "What?" he snapped irritably. I could faintly hear a female voice at the other end of the line, but couldn't make out any words. Nathan rolled his eyes at whatever she was saying. "I know...yes, I know...I've told you I was spending this weekend with Isobel..."

Knowing that Nathan's assistant was aware of my existence reassured me. He clearly talked about me, or at least referred to me as his girlfriend.

"...No, it's due for next Thursday..." he continued. She said something in response and Nathan's eyes widened. "What? When?" Then he brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed at it, closing his eyes. "Right. Well I didn't pick up the email...because I'm spending the weekend with Isobel and didn't want to think about work!" Louisa's voice was getting louder but I still couldn't work out what she was saying. "Oh don't give me that!"

I sat there in silence, watching Nathan become angrier and angrier with his assistant.

"Well how kind of you not to bother me on my anniversary," he said with heavy sarcasm. "Yes, Louisa! I understand you! I get the picture. Just email it through and I'll do it now, okay?"

Getting up off the bed but with the phone still to his ear, Nathan strode over to my laptop and opened the lid, immediately powering it up.

"Yes, I know..." he said, his voice calmer now. "Okay, I'm sorry...yeah...I dunno, an hour? I've already looked through it...okay...okay...thanks...yeah...bye."

He put the phone down and sat in my desk chair, sighing to himself and seeming defeated all of a sudden.

"Everything alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I had a translation that was due in next Thursday...but the company has emailed us and requested that it's done for Monday instead. Apparently Louisa emailed me about it last night as a matter of urgency but obviously I don't check my work emails at the weekend..."

"Is she annoyed that you don't check your work emails?"

"Most of the time it's fine," he said. "The weekend is my time off and they don't expect me to work overtime. But as this is a matter of urgency, Louisa was annoyed about it. She said she never bothers me on the weekend unless it's an emergency and that I should respect that."

"Oh. That's why she said about our anniversary?"

"Yeah. He loaded up his emails. "Yep, here it is. Flagged as important..."

I peered over his shoulder at the email:

Nate,

Really sorry to bother you. This now needs to be done by Monday. Please can you quickly complete it and send it back as soon as possible? A rough draft is fine. I can send it on for proof-reading.

Many thanks,

Louisa.

"She does seem apologetic," I told him, aware that I was defending the girl I felt threatened by.

"I know," he mumbled. "I'm just annoyed at having to work when I want to spend time with you."

"It's fine," I assured him, squeezing his hand. "I'm going to take a shower anyway so I'll let you get on with it."

"Thanks, Bella." Nathan smiled in appreciation. "It shouldn't take long."

As I stood in the shower, I thought back to how Nathan had spoken to Louisa. Sure, he'd been annoyed, but he'd also been rude. I struggled to believe that he'd talk to an employee in that way, no matter how annoyed he was. So was it possible that he knew her a lot better than he was letting on and that he was getting annoyed at her as a friend rather than a colleague?

Maybe they'd known each other better at school than he'd led me to believe. Or maybe they had just spent a lot of time together at work and got to know each other that way. Either way, they seemed to have quite a familiar relationship now. Perhaps I should take more interest in Nathan's work life, or maybe the reason he didn't talk about Louisa was because he was concerned about me becoming jealous and insecure again.

When I stepped back into my room from the ensuite, a towel wrapped around me, Nathan was busy tapping away at the laptop. To my utter surprise, I noticed that he'd already written a good page or so.

"You're a fast worker," I said.

"I work well under pressure," he murmured back, his eyes not leaving the screen. "This one isn't too difficult anyway, hence why I hadn't bothered starting it yet."

"You don't have to rush," I told him. "I can go and chat to Jack for a bit, give you some peace and quiet to get it done properly?"

"It shouldn't take too much longer," he said, still not looking away from the screen. "But I probably would get it done quicker if you weren't standing there dripping wet with a tiny towel wrapped around you."

How had he even noticed? Sometimes I could swear he had eyes in the back of his head.

"Okay...well I'll put some clothes on and then go and sit with Jack. Let me know when you're ready and maybe we can go out and grab some lunch?"

"Sounds good, Bella." He glanced at me. "Thanks for this."

After wriggling into some skinny jeans and pulling a baggy hoody over my head, I plodded up to Jack's room. His door was open which meant he was up, but when I got closer I heard Hayley's voice again.

"...apparently tried to get with Izzy's boyfriend," she was laughing.

I scowled, pausing outside the door. Was I just overreacting or was it genuinely not funny? Because I couldn't see a funny side to it.

"Yeah..." Jack said slowly. "I saw that..."

"Sounds like the kind of thing I'd do." Hayley chuckled to herself.

"Well Izzy was quite upset about it last night," Jack told her. "I wouldn't laugh about it in front of her."

"Oh come on, lighten up! We have to laugh about it otherwise people just start getting awkward...I don't see the issue. I was completely wasted. And it's not like her boyfriend encouraged it or did anything wrong. Apparently he just tried to push me away."

"That's not really the point, Hayley," Jack told her softly. "You're meant to be Izzy's friend. And you hit on her boyfriend. That's such a shitty thing to do."

"Why are you taking sides?" she snapped, no longer laughing.

"I'm not taking sides. I'm just trying to make you see it from her point of view. How's she supposed to trust you if you're hitting on her boyfriend whenever he visits? She clearly loves him to death. The last thing she needs is to be worrying about him visiting here all the time because of you..."

"Oh for fuck's sake..." she muttered. "This is fucking ridiculous. I was drunk, okay? I was having fun! Maybe she should try that occasionally instead of being so boring all the time..."

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach and all my insecurities about being 'the boring one' rushed to the surface.

"Well some people don't need to get wasted to have fun," Jack told her. "In fact, if that's the only way you can have fun then I feel sorry for you, Hayley."

"Oh get a fucking life, Jack. You're such a pussy."

"I'm not the one who needs to get a life. Hitting on your friend's boyfriend is pathetic."

"She's hardly my friend. She locks herself away because she's such a workaholic and then the times when she's not working, she's here with you! She's got no interest in talking to Gem or me."

"I'm not surprised when you're being like this."

"And I'm not surprised you never pull. You're so lame."

As much as I was upset over Hayley's opinion of me, I couldn't stand there any longer and let her abuse Jack.

"It just means he'd make a better boyfriend," I said, stepping into the room and startling them both.

Two faced as she was, Hayley smiled at me. "Hey. Didn't realize you were there."

"No. I wasn't going to interrupt your conversation but what you're saying to Jack isn't fair. There are plenty of girls who'd much rather have a sensitive, steady boyfriend than just cheap, one-night stands."

Hayley's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. She was clearly unsure about how much of the conversation I'd heard. On top of that, I was working hard to keep my tone casual; what I was saying might not necessarily be a dig at her promiscuous antics.

"Thanks, Izzy," Jack murmured, glaring across at Hayley.

"Well, anyway, I'll leave you two to it." Hayley smiled. "Catch you later..."

She shut the door after herself, probably to eliminate any awkwardness from the fact her room was just across the corridor from Jack's.

Sighing, Jack lounged back on his bed. "How much did you hear?"

"Pretty much all of it," I admitted. "It's okay though. Everything she said is true."

"In what way?" Jack frowned.

"I know I'm the boring one. I know I'm not part of the girls' crew. I know I lock myself away to work..."

"Okay, firstly you're not the boring one. Hayley is the one who can't have fun without being wasted. Secondly, I'm glad you're not part of their crew. You're better than that. And thirdly, we're at university and your course is much tougher than Hayley's."

I shrugged. "Whatever. At least now I know how she truly feels."

"Literally, she's not even worth worrying about. You're so much better than her, Izzy. Honestly."

I smiled in appreciation. "Thanks for standing up for me."

He shrugged it off in dismissal. "What are your plans for today, then?" he asked instead.

"Nathan has to quickly finish a piece of work. Then we're going out for lunch. You're welcome to join."

Jack laughed softly. "I know I joke about crashing your dates, but I'd never actually do it. Enjoy your time together alone. Hayley ruined last night for you but you can still have a good time today."

"Yeah. I think I'll visit Nathan next week," I said with a small laugh.

He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Izzy, listen, you can't let Hayley put you off Nathan visiting. After how much she strongly denied hitting on him, she's not gonna be stupid enough to do it again."

"I know, I just feel like getting away from the flat for a bit. I'm much more relaxed around Nathan at his place. Plus I can meet this Louisa..."

"Louisa?" Jack piped up. "You've not still got a problem with her, have you?"

"It's not a problem. And besides, that's why I want to meet her."

"To put your mind at ease?"

"I think meeting her will help. Plus then I can assure Nathan that I'm not that same insecure girl anymore. I can handle him working with other women."

"Insecure?"

"Yeah. He never talks about Louisa and I think it's because he's worried I'll get jealous or something. If I meet her then I'm hoping he'll be more comfortable discussing work with me. I don't want there to be things we don't talk about."

Jack nodded. "That's cool. You're a good girlfriend, Izzy."

Next week I'd prove that I was a mature girlfriend who had no problem with meeting her boyfriend's female colleagues. Once I'd met Louisa, everything would be fine.

--

Thank you for reading :)xx