I hope you all are liking the story so far even if it's only the second chapter =)

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Nate sat in the chair and watched as this mysterious girl left. She left - just like that. Right after the best lap dance ever; she left  Usually there were some things that involved a bedroom and more intimate contact. He didn't know what to think. Hell, he couldn't think at all  His brain had completely shut down, which was one thing that had never happened to him before. He was the one who walked away from girls and left them with jumbled thoughts. Girls did not do that to him. Apparently he was wrong because that is exactly what that girl had just done. 

No longer feeling in the mood to party and harder than ever, he left. He walked past girls who were throwing themselves at him in an attempt to get his attention. Two years ago he would have gladly picked one out of the bunch and pulled her into the nearest empty room. He might've even had another if he felt like it later. But now, he knew better. All the sleeping around he did when he was 16 landed him with a baby - a baby that the mother wanted nothing to do with. 

He rubbed his hands over his face and stalked off to his truck. He needed to get home and take a nice cold shower. It would be the only way to get rid of this damn hard on he had. The thought of way his 'friend' had so suddenly come to life had him growing even harder if that were possible. The way her body moved against and around him was just…perfect. It had taken all his will not to grab hold of her. 

 "Dammit!" he swore under his breath as he sped away from the party.  I will not let some random girl get me all riled up because of one fucking lap dance. 

He grumbled with himself all the way home, still unable to get the little vixen out of his head. It was pissing him off to no end. He never thought about a girl longer than it took for him to get what he wanted. After that she was just a distant memory, never once plaguing him after. The tires of his black Toyota Tacoma screeched to a halt in front of his house. Slamming the door, he stomped up to the front door. He closed the door softly, not wanting to wake his daughter, who was sound asleep down the hall. 

 "You’re back early,"  his little sister Jessica stated while casually leaning against the kitchen doorway. "I wasn't expecting you back until at least three." 

 "I wasn't feeling it,"  he shrugged not wanting to explain his reasons to his 14 year old sister.  "How was Brooklyn?"  

He knew his daughter could be a handful and hated leaving her in someone else's care. His sister had offered to take care of her for the night so he could have a little time for himself. Yes, it was a Friday night but, Jessica didn't mind since she had a project to work on for her Art class. Their parent's went to the next town over for their date night that they had once a month. Nate had offered to pay Jessica but, she refused. She loved her niece and wasn't going to take money that her brother had worked for to watch her.

 "She was great as always,"  Jessica replied knowing that her brother was changing the subject on purpose. It wasn’t that he didn't care about his daughter, it was just a diversion to steer the conversation away from what really drew him away from the party. She knew that his excuse of not feeling the party was a bunch of bull.

 "Did she give you a hard time going to sleep?"  he asked as he tossed his keys onto the table next to the door.

 "She's only like that with you because she knows she can get away with it." 

"Yeah, well she's my little girl." Nate shrugged. 

His daughter was his world and at the tender age of two she already had him wrapped around her little fingers. Even though she hadn't been planned, he wouldn't change having her for the world. Brooklyn's mother had been one of his many one-night-stands. He was too drunk that night and had sex with the girl without a condom. He didn’t know that he had gotten her pregnant until the girl showed up on his doorstep and dropped off a newborn baby. She hadn't even given the baby a name; she just came with all the hospital paper work and left. Nate hadn't seen or heard from her again. 

His parents had been livid when he had gotten home. They couldn't believe that their son would be so careless. The first thing they did was head over to the doctor’s office to do a paternity test, although Nate didn't need a test to prove that the little girl was his daughter. She had the same chocolate brown hair and striking green eyes as he had. But his parent's wanted to be 100% sure. The doctor had given them at home test and sent them on their way. As Nate had expected, it was positive; the baby in question was indeed his. 

The day after the test Nate and his parents, along with his little sister, went over to the hospital to deal with the paperwork. He discovered that the girl had come in two days prior and given birth. When she was discharged she had left no contact information. With the help from his sister Nate named his daughter. He and his parents had tried for months to find the girl whose name he later found out was Samantha Cohen. She hadn't been from Hilton Valley; she was from a few towns over. Samantha had come to visit a few friends when the two had met at a party. 

When Brooklyn turned six months old, Nate received a letter in the mail stating that Samantha had signed over all her rights as a parent to him. He was astounded – she really wanted nothing to do with their child. That was a low point for him. He had thought that even though Samantha had brought their child to him that she may want some kind of contact. Unfortunately, she didn't. It took him a while to get over that, but eventually he had. Nate had also started working full time at his father’s mechanic shop while continuing to go to school. He knew his family would help him support his daughter, but he wanted to be able to do it on his own. After all, he couldn't rely on them forever.

 "So are you going to tell me the real reason why you bailed on that party?"  Jessica asked, bringing Nate out of his thoughts. She desperately wanted to know the truth. 

 "Nope,"  Nate said.  "I'm going to bed."  He kissed his sister on her forehead and headed down the hall to his room.

Nate stopped in front of the closed door across from his and pushed it open slowly. There lay his daughter, fast asleep in her little toddler bed. Silently, he made his way over to her and crouched down next to her bed. Pushing her hair away from her eyes, he smiled down at her sleeping face. He never thought he would ever love someone as much as he loved her. He never really knew what love was until he had her in his arms. With a kiss on her cheek, he got up and left the room. 

Later the night Nate lay in bed replaying the events that happened tonight. When he had gotten home he hadn't needed a shower, but now, he was starting to think about her. In his mind he saw every move that girl had made, down to the way her body moved to the beat of the music. She was made for dancing; that much he was certain of. Damn  The way her body moved should have been illegal. Then, her hips swayed as she walked away. Everything about her had Nate's mind reeling. He groaned as his member sprang to life. He didn't even have to see her in person – all he had to do was think about it and he got all hot and bothered. This wasn't good; it was not good at all.

***********************

For most of Saturday Celeste had stayed in bed nursing a hangover. How she had a hangover when she hadn't had that much to drink was beyond her. She supposed she had drunk more than she thought she had. Aaron laughed at her expense, telling her that it was her own fault that she decided to get wasted the night before. What a loving and understand brother she had, she thought sarcastically. He made up for it by bringing her a couple of pain pills and some breakfast. The smell of the food had made her nauseous and had her running to the bathroom, emptying out the contents of her stomach. 

It wasn't until dinner time that Cece had wandered out of her room and into the kitchen. Aaron looked up at her with an amused expression on his face. He couldn't believe that his little nerd of a sister had gotten drunk last night. He knew that she would have a few drinks here and there on the off chance that she went to a party. It was obvious though that last night she had had way more than a few drinks.

 "You look like shit"!  he chuckled.

 "Thank you Captain Obvious," she scowled.  "That's what every girl wants to hear."  

 "Sarcasm so soon, baby girl?"  he smirked; he loved pushing her buttons whenever he got the chance –and right now was the perfect opportunity. 

 "No,"  she said, slowly shaking her head.  "Whatever gave you that idea?"

 "A hung over Cece is a fun Cece,"  he grinned.  "Anyways, take a seat the food should be here soon." 

 "What'd you order you lazy ass?" Celeste questioned; she really wanted something greasy right now; then she could go back to sleep.

 "Pizza, what else are we going to order in this little town that can be delivered?"  he questioned as the doorbell rang.

 "Ah, very true."  She cringed at the sound of the bell still ringing in her ears.

Throughout dinner Aaron continued to pick on Cece like her hangover was the best thing that had ever happened to him. It probably was, since there isn't much that goes on in their small town. Celeste's hangover must have been the highlight of his week. How he found any of it amusing was beyond her. She had refrained from giving him any witty or sarcastic remarks (because that would only keep him going) and let him have his fun, silently promising retribution. When they had finished dinner and watched a movie, she headed back to bed. 

Though she had been drunk out of her mind (as her brother had stated many times), she remembered every detail of what had happened at the party. How her alcohol-infused mind thought it was fine and dandy to give a random stranger a lap dance; how her body had reacted insanely as she rubbed her body against his. She remembered how his gaze felt like it had been burning her skin even if she wasn't able to make out any details of his face. The way she wanted him to just reach up and grab her instead of leaving his hands in fists at his sides. 

Rolling over in her bed she screamed into her pillow. She did not have these kinds of thoughts about anyone, least of all a stranger for goodness sakes’. There was nothing she could do to stop it though. It was as if she could still feel his very defined torso pressed against her chest. She could still taste him on her tongue and smell the scent that radiated off of him. Lord have mercy for I have sinned, she thought to herself; the thoughts she was having about him were surely not pure.

Willing her mind to quiet down, she eventually fell asleep. Since Celeste had spent the majority of Saturday in bed she spent the whole Sunday slaving over her work that was due the next day. Aaron had been kind enough to bring her some breakfast before he left for work. A few years before their parents had died they had purchased the grocery store from Mrs. Fields. She was getting too old to run the store and had no family to hand it down to. After their parents passed away, Aaron had taken up running the place. Cece would often help out if he needed it.

Celeste had received call after call from her friends and it was starting to distract her from her work. She had sent a text message to all of them to let them know that she was busy and would see them in school the next day. It was nearing midnight when she was finally able to put away all of her books. It had been a very long day. She would have finished much sooner if her thoughts hadn't kept drifting to the guy from the party. She had never thought this much about a guy, even the ones she had had crushes on. 

The next morning when she pulled up to school everyone was buzzing about Jay's party on Friday. It must have been the only exciting thing to happen this weekend. Keeping her eyes on the ground, as not to draw attention to herself, she made her way through the crowded hallway to get to her locker. The twins and Hunter should be there by now as all of their lockers were in the same hall. As she turned the corner she bumped into someone; rattling off a quick apology, she scurried off down the hall. As anticipated, her friends were all leaning casually against the row of lockers.

 "Hey Cece!"  the twins called out as she made her way toward them.

 "Hi guys,"  she smiled and twisted her lock combination.

 "Did you get all your work done?"  Hunter asked pushing her aside to open her locker. For some reason she could never get it on the first try even though she’d had the same combination for the last four years.

 "Thanks."  she mumbled, placing her books neatly inside.  "To answer your question, yes I did. I was up until almost midnight finishing up."

 "You couldn't have had that much homework to do." Maddie exclaimed in disbelief.

 "That's just crazy!" Nina added.

"It wasn't too much, it's just my mind was…preoccupied," Cece sighed, zipping her bag up and hoisting it up onto her shoulder.

"That wouldn't have to do with a certain lap dance recipient, would it?"  Maddie guessed with a grin.

"No!" Celeste replied too quickly while feeling her face heat up. Playing nonchalance, she stuttered.   "Of course not."   Nonchalance = epic fail.

"Like we're going to believe that!" the twins cajoled.

"Can we please not have this conversation right now?" Hunter groaned. He couldn't stand listening to their boy talk first thing in the morning. There should be a rule, he mused, that you cannot talk about this kind of thing before ten o'clock 

 "Gladly," Celeste nodded and looped her arm through his. "It's time to get to homeroom anyway."

"You always ruin our fun." Nina pouted crossing her arms over her chest like a child.

"Don't pout sweetie, it'll give you wrinkles."  Maddie grimaced, smoothing out the lines on Nina's face.

"Grimacing will do that too." Nina shot back and ran down the hallway to get away from her sister who was ready to slap her upside the head. Wrinkles were not a hot topic when it came to Maddie and her appearance; she owned every wrinkle cream known to man. That girl was obsessed.

Hunter and Celeste walked casually through the halls that had begun to clear. They had the same homeroom together since they were freshmen. 

"How was the rest of your weekend?" Celeste asked.

"It wasn't all that exciting, just hung out with the guys." he replied, shrugging it off.

Hunter had spent most of Saturday and Sunday hanging out with Nate, Kyle, Brandon and Tyler. They were pretty close, just not as close as he was with the girls. Most of the time the guys gave him crap about spending so much time with chicks. He, of course, had to point out that he spent most of his time with hot chicks. They had to agree with him on that one, especially when it came to Celeste. Most of the time when the topic turned to those three girls, Nate stayed out of it. He didn't do much talking anyway; ever since he became a dad, his mind was on other things, and he couldn't be bothered to join in on their girl conversations. 

Out of all the guys, and even the girls, Nate was Hunter's best guy friend. He couldn't count him as just his best friend because there was Cece. As he walked with Cece to their homeroom, he wondered what the deal was with Nate this weekend. He had asked about it on Saturday and Nate just said it had to do with some girl he had met the night before. Hunter found that strange; Nate never thought long about girls, and for him to still be thinking about her the next day was weird.

Hunter was pulled out of his thoughts when Celeste pulled him down into his seat. She had been pondering what had gotten into him as they were walking. One minute he was fine and the next – he just stared off into space, deep in thought. Sitting in the back row as they have been all through high school, Celeste rummaged through her bag, triple checking to make sure she had all her work that needed to be turned in today.

"Will you chill?" Hunter said, snatching her bag away from her. "If anyone is prepared for school it's you. Now, I'll give you back your bag if you promise to stop checking it,"  he said seriously. He did the same thing every morning.

"Why do we have to go through this every morning?" Celeste questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Because it's annoying to sit here and watch you check through you bag every five seconds to make sure you've got all you're work. It's like clockwork with you and you always have what you need so I don't see why you go all OCD on it,"  he replied, handing her bag back.

"Well I'm sorry that my OCD problems are a nuisance to you,"  she said sarcastically. She wasn't even OCD!

"I see the sarcasm is making an early appearance." Hunted noted, narrowing his eyes at her. 

"What is with you and Aaron pointing out my sarcastic remarks? It's not that big of a deal." she grumbled, fiddling with the hem of her top. Hunter decided not to acknowledge that and faced forward in his seat. If he would have said anything, they would've gone back and forth until the bell rang.

The morning had dragged on for Celeste. They didn't do much in any of her morning classes except hand in their work. Without the distraction of actually learning something she had begun to think about her parents. She missed them so much over these last seven years. She missed the walks in the park with her father and sitting with her mother on their porch swing-sipping on lemonade on a hot day. The yearly trips they would take all over the country. 

Her whole life had slipped right through her fingers one stormy night. Celeste's parent's were driving back from the grocery store that night after closing up. The rain had been pouring down for hours and the roads were slick with water. She and Aaron had been at home waiting for them. Celeste was in her room reading a book when she heard the sirens in the distance. Thinking nothing of it she continued with her reading. 

A half hour later the door bell rang. Celeste didn't move from her bed since her brother was more then capable to open the door. She could hear the muffled voices of more than one person. Curiosity would've gotten the best of her eventually until her brother burst through the room. He was talking so fast that she couldn't understand a word he was saying. All she had caught was that the needed to go. Aaron grabbed a jacket out of her closet as she put on her shoes. 

She still didn't know what was going on when she walked down the hall way to see two police officers standing at the front door. No one explained anything as they rode to the hospital and hour away. By the time they had gotten to the hospital it was already too late. She had over heard Aaron talking to the doctors. When she heard them say that their parent's were gone she bolted from her seat in the waiting room and out the door's into the pouring rain. 

Sob's wracked her little body at their words. It couldn't be true. Her parents were not dead. They wouldn't leave she and Aaron on their own. They just couldn't do that. They were all supposed to drive down to the beach this weekend. She had her dance recital the next. So many plans had been made for that Summer all of them gone in the blink of an eye. 

Celeste had never asked for the detail on her parents accident. She didn't want to know what had caused the accident that ended her parents life. It was already hard enough knowing they were gone. It took her and Aaron months to get back to some sense of normality. Took them years to even bring up their parents in a conversation. 

 "Hey Ce, you okay?" Maddie asked bringing Celeste out of her musings.

Celeste shook her head in order to clear her thoughts.  "Yeah, I'm fine." she said with a smile.

 "Are you sure cause you've been spacing out since we sat down."  Nina commented

"I was just thinking." she shrugged

"About your parents?" Nina asked gently. Even after seven years Celeste's parents were a sore subject for her. It probably always would be.

"Yeah." Celeste answered with a small nod.  "Where's Jay and Hunter?"  she asked looking around their lunch table. Those two were usually the first one's here at lunch.

"Um, I'm not too sure where Jay is, but I saw Hunter talking to some of his friends as I was walking here."  Maddie shrugged. It wasn't all that unusual that Jay and Hunter hadn't beaten them to their shared table. Apparently they also have lives. Maddie snickered at that thought.

“Everyone is talking about Jay’s party.” Nina said “It’s like the topic of the day.”

“Not it’s not.” Maddie denied with a shake of her head. “The lap dance is the topic. Everyone is trying to figure out who the girl is.”

“You can’t be serious ” Celeste whisper yelled. She didn’t want the attention that was sure to happen if word got out that she was the girl. 

“You bet your ass I’m serious.” Maddie grinned “Through all of my classes people were talking about it. The guys were talking about how hot it was and the girls were saying that they could do it too and they didn’t know why the guys were making such a big deal out of it. But, we all know that no one in this school can move like you.”

“This is so not good ” Celeste groaned wanting to bang her head on the table till she passed out.

“Don’t worry no one is even close to guessing who the girl is.” Maddie whispered “No one saw your face cause most of them were too drunk to tell, plus it was dark.”

“That make it so much better ” Ce hissed. 

“Well, no one knows who the guy is either. That’s good too right? I mean, if they don’t know who he is then there’s no way they can ask him questions. Did you get a goo look at him?” Maddie asked

“No, it really was too dark to tell.” Ce sighed pushing her lunch away. She no longer had an appetite. Why couldn’t these people just get over the party? Who cares that someone got a lap dance at a party  It couldn’t have been the first time 

“Guess what I just found out ” Hunter exclaimed taking a seat next to me.

“Ooh, gossip  Spill it ” the twins grinned; damn gossip whores 

“You my little nerd hottie gave a lap dance to the one and one...Nate Anderson.” Hunter grinned slinging an arm over Celeste’s shoulder as the twins jaws just about hit the floor. She didn’t understand their reaction to the news. Was she supposed to know who he was? She gave a Hunter a confused look.

“Who’s Nate Anderson?” She asked looking around at all of her friends who looked shocked.

“You’ve go to be joking ” Maddie said in disbelief

“You have to be, right?” Nina asked looking at her like she was crazy for not know who Nate Anderson is.

“I honestly have no idea who you’re talking about.” Celeste admitted. Why was is it so bad that she didn’t know who he was?

“Unbelievable ” Maddie muttered shaking her head “You are so clueless sometimes Ce.”

“Who is he?” She asked curious to know what was obviously so great about him.

“You really need to get your nose out of the books more often.” Nina said patting her hand. 

“Will you guys just tell me who he is ” 

“Nope, you’ll find out eventually.” Hunter smirked. 

He knew that Celeste was going to go crazy trying to find out who Nate is. She would probably look through their year books only to be disappointed since Nate hasn’t taken a school photo since fifth grade. He knew he was being mean, but he wanted to watch her squirm. When Nate had finally told him why he was so out of it Hunter just couldn’t believe it. His best guy friend was hung up on a lap dance that he had received from his best girl friend. He tried so hard to not bust out laughing. His little Cece had done the impossible. She had sent the Nate Anderson into a twist. No girl in history has ever been able to get Nate worked up unless it was in the bedroom. Nate had been going crazy trying to remember anything about the girl with no luck. Hunter would have told him who she was but couldn’t bring himself to do it. They’d meet eventually.

“What kind of friends are you ” she huffed crossing her arms over her chest and pouting like a child. Hunter and the twins just chuckled at her. Why couldn’t they just tell her? It was seriously ridiculous that they wouldn’t tell her. Celeste vowed that she would find out who this Nate Anderson person was, no matter what.

The rest of the lunch hour Celeste thought up ways to figure out who Nate is. First thing she would do was check all of her yearbooks if that didn’t work then she’d check facebook-every one had one of those now days. That’s exactly what she had done when she got home. Much to her disappointment she couldn’t find a single picture of him in any yearbook she had. Facebook was another fail, she even checked Hunters friends list and came up empty. Who the heck was Nate Anderson?!