Chapter 4

Nate’s POV:

Last night was a great party. I had gotten wasted pretty quickly. I challenge Arianna to shots and of course she won. The vodka had been getting to me burning my throat. I guess she could handle it. After even more drinking I decided to give COD a go drunk. Failing completely I passed out on the couch. My world had crashed down to that moment and for the first time ever I hadn’t slept with a girl at the party. I smiled as I flicked my eyes open and realised someone was laying on me. I look around to see I was lying flat on the couch looking up at the ceiling. I still had the control in my hand and I dropped it forgetting that their floors were tiled. Oh shit. But there was only a little thud and I’m guessing it landed on a pillow. I grin at the skill and then try to sit up. Someone sprawled out on the couch was stopping me, I momentarily forgot. They had their head on my stomach and I hoped for life that it wasn’t a guy. I begged and begged as I got up on my elbows and looked down to see the familiar red dress and brown hair. I smile realising it was only Arianna. I could stay like this for a while too. But then she mumbled and woke up. She raised her head and looked at me.

"Oh shit. Sorry!" she blurts out when we meet eyes. I grin like an idiot.

"Nah its cool" I said as she climbed off. Her knee went in between my legs and I felt myself spike up thought. I groan as she stands up and looks down at me.

"Are you alright?" she asks and I nod standing up. My world shakes and I grip onto her for support.

"Yeah just dizzy"

"Maybe you shouldn’t have challenged me twice" she giggles and waits until I stand up straight before she moves. I follow her to the kitchen and I jump onto one of the stools. Some people had probably already left, but there was still a fair amount of people passed out in random places. She pulled out orange juice and pours two glasses, handing me one.

"Thanks" I mumble and groan when I can smell the vodka from my breath.

"No worries. It always does the trick for me"

"Hmmm never tried it before. Usually I just sleep it off"

"That’s one way"

"Can you see the time?" I ask her and she turns to look at the clock on the microwave.

"It’s 10:28 am. Oh god," she complained as she turned around and almost fell over doing it. I laughed.

"I can’t believe I slept in heels" she says pouting. I felt myself get turned on. I shake my head, not the time Nate. Not now.

"So that’s what was digging into my leg?" I ask her and remember the pointy thing stabbing my left leg.

"Oh sorry I just kind of passed out" she shrugs and blushes and I smile.

"Yeah so did I. I heard you threw up in the garden" I tell her. People around the party had been talking about her non-stop and how the twins knew her.

"I did. After the shots I kind of dragged into playing beer pong a couple times" she blushes looking at the ground. I laugh. First rule is to never mix your drinks around because you were definitely going to throw up.

"Oh god really?"

"Yeah I know. Worst mistake of my life"

"You can say that again"

Just then I hear a couple of giggles and look up to see the twins descend the stairs. They look like they’d done something they really shouldn’t have.

"What did you do?" I say narrowing my eyes at them. They approached us and sat down on the stools.

"What? No hello?" Stacy asks and Tracy glares at me.

"No I want to know what you did"

"We kind of put cream in Kyle and Derek’s hand. You know how when the wake up after being totally wasted the slap their foreheads because it was big mistake?" Tracy asks me and Stacy giggles.

"Oh you didn’t?" I could help but laugh. Suddenly we hear someone yell out and Kyle runs out. He looks down at us.

"Stacy!" he yells and both twins bolt when they see Derek come out. Both guys run down the stairs and after their girlfriends. I laughed and hoped no one would ever do that to me. I look up to see Arianna laugh and almost fall over again. I smile at the thought of her clumsiness.

"So what did you have planned for today?" I ask her, standing to put my cup in the sink, which had a few empty bottles in it. I pull them out and stick them on the bench.

"Well the twins said they’d take me to the beach" she shrugs like she honestly didn’t care.

"It ain’t that special. Just something to do" I shrug too. It wasn’t the best beach or special or anything. Just a plain ol' beach in my eyes.

"So what do you suggest then?"

"Huh?" she was looking at me intently and I was speechless. Was she suggesting I take her somewhere? Oh this is exactly what I wanted. Okay Nate thing of something.

"Where are all the good places in town?"

"Um well there’s the arcade or the movies. Huh oh no the best place is over at forest point. Maybe I could show you" I shrug looking away but making sure I could see some of her reaction. She just shrugged and passed it off.

"Yeah maybe" she says putting her cup in the running water. His arm brushes mine, and I step away towards the fridge for something to do.

"Hmm yeah?"

"But not today. I promised the twins"

"That’s cool maybe some other time"

"Yeah definitely. Sounds like a good place"

"Yeah...it is"

I remembered back when I had my first kiss. It was on the bench at forest point and it was with lily Macintosh. It had lasted a while, and then she went on to be my first, but then she also went on to be my first ex several weeks later. I guess that girl liked to be everyone’s first then. I look at Arianna and remembered she was a virgin. I gulped as I thought of the bet. I wasn’t ready to take her virginity if we were going to be friends in the long run. I wasn’t going to do that to someone. I look at her again and realise there was no way she’d even kiss me. Although I sure as hell wanted to kiss her, and bad. My body ached to be with her. I was pretty sure not just anyone would do anymore. It was going to take a lot of work to get Arianna and for some reason I was prepared to do it. I was in for the long yards. I mean I was living for police academy two weeks after graduation. Yeah, two weeks of awkwardness but I was gonna avoid her. I decided I was going to take the bets claim the night of prom, also the last night of high school. I wanted her to remember high school for what it really was. Just a sleazy excuse to win some money. I shake my head and look at her again. She smiled and I frowned. What was I saying? I wasn’t ready to do this. I shake my head; I wasn’t ready to let my pride be hurt either.

"Say Arianna in two weeks there’s this volunteer car wash thing. You interested in helping out?" I ask her and suddenly remember this had been my idea. Just before I broke into sleep I’d thought of it. It all came flooding back like I wasn’t meant to have the thought before but I could now.

"Car wash? Oh I love car washes. Sure I’d love to"

"Cool then I’ll put you down"

"What day is it?"

"It’s on a Saturday and don’t worry I’ll drive you"

"Thanks"

Conversation died down when Stacy and Tracy bolted up the stairs screaming as Kyle and Derek lunge into the room. I laugh as I watch them bolt up the stairs and I hear the twins lock their doors and then I heard banging and threats. Arianna grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. We were still laughing when we approached her house. She pulled me up to the deck and told me to stay and wait. She disappeared and returned with two clubs and two golf balls.

"Oh so you’re ready to lose again?" I ask her, standing up with excitement. Putt-putt was definitely going to be our thing.

"No way. This is my game!" she smirks and runs off into the course area. I smirk following after her. I laid off on the flirting. I decided that I was gonna fight fair. If she was into me, she’d begin the flirting, not me. So I was testing her. We were on the third last hole. I could tell she was watching me as I lined up the shot.

"Say Nate, you know when you mentioned you’d show me forest point?" she asks and I look at her. She bits her lip.

"Yeah" I smile knowing she was tearing herself up inside. She seemed to like it when I flirted with her but when I didn’t she basically went insane.

"Would you take me Sunday?" she asks blushing. Hmm I wonder? Of course I’d fucking take her?

"Sure but I think I’ll have to check with my mum" I say smirking when I watch the smile drop from her face. I was only playing her. I mean of course I could go; mum honestly didn’t care what we did.

"Really? Well if you can’t, then it's okay." She shrugs and takes her shot.

"Well I’m sorry if I can’t go. You know how it is with family and shit?" I say and try and hide my smile.

"Yeah I guess I do. Well it’s a maybe right?" she almost looking pleading that it was actually a yes. I was having too much fun with this. I wondered if she’d get down a peg. Plus I thought she had a boyfriend, what was she doing leading me on? Not that it was working. Okay so maybe it has been working, a little.

"Yes I suppose it is" I shrug and we move onto the next hole. When we finally finished all the holes we put the stuff away and walked out to the pool area. The twins were just walking in. They had a beach bag each and wearing only bikinis. How they’d escaped Kyle and Derek, I had no idea.

"So about before I was actually kidding" I say finally giving it up. I was smiling way too much and this clearly wasn’t healthy for me.

"Huh?" she says moving towards the gate and letting the twins in. Dekan came running out and Arianna followed me to the twin’s house. Derek and Kyle were standing outside waiting for me. They looked at me and waved me over. I nodded holding a hand up.

"About the forest point thing. I can go I was just messing with you"

"What?! Nate why would you do that to me?" she slaps my arm and I laugh. She narrows her eyes at me and then blushes a little. I hear Derek say something to Kyle but I couldn’t hear it properly.

"I couldn’t help myself. Anyway I’ll be seeing you soon enough anyway, we’ll organise something" I said backing up as she stopped in the spot.

"Sure, I’m free all day Sunday, so we have the day to do whatever."

"Sure, bye"

"Yeah bye" she takes off and someone slaps the back of my head.

"Hey!!" I turn and glare at them both.

"Dude, you're getting there," Kyle says, laughing as he climbs onto the boat.

"Fuck me, I’m going to lose another bet" Derek says and it was clear he was the one who had hit me. He jumps onto the boat and I follow after him. They drive over to my house and we enter the house slowly because I could hear voices. I couldn’t believe mum had brought back another guy. My brother and I were spitting images of her and we acted like her too. Which I didn’t like to admit. She pulled in all the good-looking guys, but she'd never found a keeper. Almost every country she returned with a guy. Kyle and Derek look at each other. They hated being here when my mum had her boyfriends over because mum and I always got into fights and I was pretty sure it was awfully awkward for them. I nod to the stairs and they take off up to my room. I move to the fridge pulling out orange juice and I grab three cups.

"Hey Nate, how you been?" mum asks appearing around the corner. She was wearing a big button up shirt and someone else’s boxers.

"Fine and yourself?" I almost growl.

"Great. You really should get to know this one. He’s so sweet and he runs a company in Japan"

"Hip hip hooray for him," I acted like I didn't care, with hints of sarcasm, and walked towards the stairs.

"Hold up right there, mister," she says, and I turn to see her eating a couple grapes.

"What?" I growl at her but she doesn’t let it get to her.

"Something up, you look different" she says raising her eyebrows.

"Nothing's different," I say shrugging. Where the hell had that come from?

"It’s just you looked like...never mind. Have a good day" she says but I was already up the stairs. I walk into the room and we finish off the orange juice. We talked for a little while and then they were off. I watched the drive off down the lake from my room. I sighed turning back to look at Arianna’s house. I let my shoulders slump and I shuffle back to my bed.

"So is it a girl?" a voice says at my door and I jump.

"Shit mum. Privacy" I say and she laughs shaking her head.

"Remember I bathed you" she says sitting down at the edge of the bed.

"Ugh, don’t remind me"

"So is it a girl?"

"Is what a girl?"

"That’s got you looking out your window like your Romeo"

"What?!" I say and my voice crackles a little. Mum laughs and pats my leg.

"Seriously though Nate"

"It’s nothing trust me"

"Hmm...have you met the new girl? She’s supposed to be really nice" mum says momentarily thinking about something. My thoughts drift off to Arianna.

"I have met her. She hangs with the twins"

"Oh she’s in for some shit. So I guess that means she’s hangs with you too?"

"Yeah and mum stop trying to sound like a teenager"

"I’m sorry it’s just catchy. I mean when you come home to two boys who constantly talk like that then come back and tell me you don’t talk like that"

"Mum it’s gonna be years before I even think about having kids"

"I know. I’ve already had the talk with you and your brother. Safe sex" she giggles when my hands go up to my ears. Ugh that was the most embarrassing moment of my life and no one had even witnessed it. I was thankful for that too. I hoped she wasn’t gonna bring it up again. I just wanted to sleep.

"Oh don’t worry Nate I know you’re not that stupid" she says narrowing her eyes at me like she was double checking.

"Of course I am. I don’t want some baby in my life"

"Not just one then can sex you up"

Again I groan and mum laughs. It was nice to have a parent who understood your lifestyle, but not one that liked to flaunt it. Not that she did it in public. She only did it around my brother and I because she knew it got to us.

"Oh Nate you’re so easy to get too. Look I’m going out for dinner tonight I was wondering if you and your brother wanted to join?"

"Is new guy gonna be there?" I ask her and if he was then I was out.

"Yeah" she sighed dreamily.

"Then nah, I’ll stay here thanks"

"Why? Is it because he’s coming? Nate you seriously need to get over this. You do this every time"

"And you get fucked over every time. I’m trying to look out for you but you obviously don’t give a shit"

"Excuse me?!" she yelled standing up. I sat up in the bed and looked up to her.

"You heard me. Why do keep letting them do this do you? Honestly it’s getting a little annoying"

"There is nothing wrong with the guys I bring home"

"Hmm, it’s a wonder none of them stick around, huh? I guess they just don’t want you around. You give yourself to every guy who winks at you or even talks to you"

"Oh Nate get over it. I’m allowed to have a life too"

"Yeah but last time I checked we were in it"

"I know this Nate but I’m allowed to be happy like you"

"You think we’re happy? Mum going from girl to girl is not how I wanna live my life"

"Then why do you?"

"Because I guess I learn from my mother. Hmm, you think this one’s different? That he’s willing to take your crap. And if he does, your just gonna float on over to Japan giving everything up dragging us with you?"

"I would never Nate. You know I wouldn’t. I am always here for you boys"

"Always here huh? Hmm I see you come home for not even a week and you’re on another plane to some other country. Nice mum real nice"

"It’s my job Nate!"

"Your job?" for the first time in the argument I was speechless. Her job?

"Yes Nate. I travel places to earn money. I actually help out my company"

"Your company? Mum what the fuck? See we don’t know half the shit you do"

"You’ve always known about my company"

"No I never. Look mum just get out. I’m over this"

"Well I’m going to give you time to cool down and you’re not going out anywhere tonight. No Kyle or Derek not even the twins. No coming with us either. I lay down the rules here Nate not you"

"Pfft it’d been nice for you to live here to be able to lay down the rules then huh?" she slams the door on the way out and I kick my pillow which was on the floor. I stay in my room for the rest of the afternoon and even most of the night. I sit on my bed having a mental war with myself over the argument but then I flicked on the TV trying to forget about it. Not much was on and it wasn’t really helping. When I gave up I decided to sleep. At just 9 pm, this was the earliest night I’d ever had in my high school life. Even when school was on. My thoughts lightened when I thought about Sunday and then having to go back to school. School was really where I was gonna lain it down thick with Arianna. Her boyfriend was in the way but I was convinced I had this. Once the sleep took over I stopped thinking about everything and just thought about her. Maybe I was whipped like Kyle had said. There was no way I wanted to stay whipped. I needed to sleep with her and get over it. Move on like I always did. Like I always pretended.

I woke to the delicious smell off eggs and bacon. I shake my head to wake up a little but it was useless. I took a quick shower and made my way downstairs. Before I left my room I glanced at the clock. It was only 9 am. The earliest I ever woke on school holidays. I was a real party boy but something had changed last night. I get to the bottom of the stairs to see my mum slaving away over the stove as she rushed to serve up three plates of food. I see my brother eagerly playing COD and then yell out when he lost the game. I finish pulling on my shirt and walked to the stool at the centre bench.

"You're awake dude!" Drake yelled and slapped my back. The controller and game were long gone. He sat down next to me.

"Yeah I am" I said groaning as the pain radiated around my body.

"You’re never awake this early"

"I know"

"What’s up? Sleep deprived?" I knew he wasn’t talking about actual sleeping but sleeping with girls. I nod and feel ashamed to admit it. It had been a whole week since I last slept with a girl. I guess I’d been too caught up in hanging out with Arianna and the others to do anything else.

"Lack of the bunch. My friend Tyson is having a party at his place across town. You should come," he says, nudging me. Mum puts the plates in front of us, and I look up as she starts eating hers while standing up. I eat the bacon first.

"Yeah I suppose I will" I shrug. It honestly didn’t interest me at the moment. Actually nothing did. I didn’t want anything to actually interest me at all. I had the sudden urge to play mini-golf.

"You better. I need to clean up the house and all. The house needs a change" mum says looking at me. I could see sorrow and forgiveness in her eyes. Her eyes looked a little puffy and red too. Like she’d been crying.

"What got into you, mum?" Drake asks and she shrugs and looks at me knowingly. There was no way I’d actually gotten through to her. No way!

"Every time I come back it’s the same, even a little messier which makes me question what you boys do here by yourselves"

"Oh you know this and that" Drake says shrugging. He slurped up his runny egg and mum shudders. Mum hated runny sunny side up eggs. In fact she just about hated eggs. Her plate only contained bacon and sauce. Explained a lot about my mum. Which reminded me I had to show her the strawberry and chocolate desert. Drake just about sucked up his breakfast and was out the door in less than fifteen minutes. Mum and I were taking our time. I wanted to talk to her about last night. I shouldn’t have snapped. She deserved to have a life away from us. She finishes off her bacon and slips the plate into the sink. She turns and grabs out her water bottle which surely didn’t contain water.

"So mum about last night I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that—" I try finish but she cuts me off.

"You were right Nate. I have to be more responsible and you’d think after all the guys I’ve had I would learn. What you said was like a slap in the face, I seriously didn’t know that you didn’t know I travelled because of my work"

"Yeah well, our family isn’t exactly the picture-perfect family."

"But that makes us perfect in our own little way"

"Yeah suppose it does. So mum what do you do?"

"I am a photographer. Like model shoots, calendar shoots and all that stuff. I work for myself but I hand them into several companies and they pay me. A few people work for me, but it’s no big deal or anything. Just a few photo’s"

"That’s great mum and look I’m sorry I never really paid attention to you much. I mean with you gone and all it was kind of hard. But Drake and I got used to the idea of having the house to ourselves it just felt funny to actually have someone looking out for us"

"Well I’m glad our fight wasn’t that big and you know I got rid of the guy"

"You what?" I almost spat out my egg.

"I got rid of him. I listened to what you said. I wanted to finally be the one to get rid of someone not the other way around"

"Really mum? Are you sure?"

"As long as I have my two boys I’m fine"

"Thanks mum"

She takes my plate when I slip in the last piece of egg. She starts washing the dishes and I search for orange juice. I was starting to get a fetish for it.

"Yeah mum it is a girl" I say randomly thinking about the conversation last night.

"What? Explain yourself" she looks at me confused.

"You asked me last night if it was girl, it is"

"Oh who? Do I know her?" she was getting giddy and excited.

"No you don’t know her. Look I don’t particular wants to give details but I want to tell you something"

"I’m all ears" she says turning back to the dishes. I move back around and sit down on the stool with a cup of orange juice.

"Well see the guys made this bet with me about this girl. The bet was for me to try and sleep with her because she brushes me off. They were shocked and all that shit and made a bet with me. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway I accepted the bed and now that I’m hanging out with her, mind you I haven’t known her that long, but I don’t want to sleep with her you know. Like I mean I seriously do want to but sex always ruined things for me in the past. I mean look at my first time, she dumped two weeks later"

"Right so you want to do the bet or not?"

"Of course I do. I don’t want to dent my pride but then I learned that this girl is a virgin"

"Who told you? Maybe they were lying?"

"Yeah I doubt it mum because she was the one who told me"

"Oh well then I guess it’s the truth. Trust me no girl lies about her virginity. Who knows maybe if she likes you she’ll be willing to give it up to you?"

"She had a boyfriend"

"Nathanial Evan’s" she growls using my real name and my middle name. I cringe.

"I swear on my life that when I took the bet, I didn’t know, and the guys won’t let me take the bet back, so what do I do?"

"Oh my dear lord. You are travelling dangerous grounds"

"I know mum but seriously I think I like her" I let it slip out and my hand flies to my mouth. Mum drops the plate in the sink with a little clink and she looks at me crazy.

"You like her?" she says not believing it. I couldn’t believe it had escaped my mouth. Fuck me, I’d only known her for a week and a half and this was what I was saying? Dear lord I was totally whipped.

"Did I say that out loud?" I say actually blushing. Shit was not looking good from this point on. Mum moves around the bench wiping her hands on the tea towel. She sits on the stool next to me and forces me to look at her.

"You, my dear son, are on thin lines here. First she has a boyfriend for god’s sake, second she’s a virgin so this is going to hit her emotionally too. And third you like her? My son, the so-called player." She puts her hands on my cheeks and forces me to look at her when I turn my face away. I had gone through all these facts over and over in my head and I knew I was screwed.

"Mum tells me something I don’t know. Look let’s just forget that I told you" I said pulling her hands off me and I stand walking away a bit.

"You can’t hide it now" she says just as I hear someone’s heels click at the back door. I look up to see Arianna walk in. She smiles in my direction and looks at my mum.

"Hi, you must be Nate’s mum, right?" she says, walking closer. I gulp when I realise maybe she’d heard our conversation, I hoped she didn’t.

"Yes and you’re the new girl across the lake, yes?" mum stands and nods smiling big.

"Yeah that’s me"

"Well it’s lovely to meet you"

"Yeah same here. So Nate I was thinking maybe you could take me to forest point today? If that’s cool with you, I mean I have nothing to do so" she says turning to face me. She walks away from my mum a little and mum looks at me questioningly. That’s when I realised I hadn’t told her who it was.

"Um...yeah sure. Just give me a minute to change"

"Yeah sure" she says and turns back to my mum. I gulp as I walk up the stairs. Hopefully mum would never work out who it was. I decided to change my board shorts to jeans and pulled on some joggers and made my way downstairs.

"Yeah it’s huge. I mean it’s really big, I actually got lost a couple of times" Arianna says and I see the scene before me. Mum is back washing up and Arianna sits on the bar stool swinging a little. I smile and mum catches my eye. I look away shaking my head. Arianna turns around and looks me up and down.

"Ready now?" she asks me with a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah" she stands and makes a bee line for the front door. Mum grabs my car keys and throws them to me.

"Thanks mum" I say and run off before she can say anything else. I follow Arianna out the door and she stops just before the shed. I almost run into her. I’d been too caught up in watching he legs and hips move. She wobbles when I hit her and then I reach and steady her before she decides she wants to fall again.

"Sorry" I say automatically and she just laughs at me. I pull the shed door up and motion for her to come over.

"The black one" I said and closed the shed door. She moved across the three spaces to the car. I shuffled across and opened the shed door so my car could get out. She gets into the car and I get in. I drive out leaving the shed door open. The drive to forest point was fifteen minutes and the silence was actually comfortable. She played with the CD player and then started texting someone and then she’d talk to me off and on. We finally made it and I showed her around the place.

"Wow for such a dull coloured place it looks nice" she says nodding and then she looks at me.

"If you trek far enough down there you come across this place called heaven’s point. Supposed to be some fancy place with a small lake and waterfall. With some flowers and stuff too"

"Oh cool. You should take me there some time"

"Sure but after school starts"

"Oh yeah of course. We’ll make a date for it. Say a month from today"

"Sure, sounds great"

"So how often do you come here?"

"To be honest when I need to think. Or you know to just hang. Actually lately I’ve rarely been coming here"

"Oh well do you mind if I use this place to think too?"

"Go for your life"

"Cool"

She walks on ahead of me and I can’t help but watch her. She drifts over to the old swings and seat down on one. She holds her heels in her right hand and she has a smile plastered to her face. I was pretty sure I had one too. I sit down on the other swing and just move back and forth a little.

"So what does your mum do?" she asks randomly after I get caught up thinking about her, again!

"Um well she travels the world taking photos of things"

"Cool. Sounds like an awesome job"

"But she’s hardly around so we try to keep her here with us"

"Oh dear. Shouldn’t you be back at home with her then? Oh god I feel like an intruder. I’m sorry" she mumbles getting up. She goes to pull me up with her but I stand up instead.

"It’s okay. She doesn’t mind plus she has to restock our fridge before she leaves again"

She laughs and her hand moves to my chest. It stays there for several seconds and my heart picks up pace. She pulls it away without a second thought and moves towards my car. I follow behind her watching her again. After a little more conversation I drove her to her house. Her driveway was longer than I’d thought. Plus, it was a horseshoe-shaped one, cool much? I stop and let her out. She bends down and pokes her head in the window.

"So I guess I’ll see you later then?" she asks almost pleadingly.

"Definitely. Catch ya later"

She nods and backs away from the car. I honk the horn and take off down the driveway. It takes another vie minute drive to travel over to my side of the lake. I park the car and make my way inside. I open the front door to see the house is empty. Mum must have left to do something. I sigh dragging myself up the stairs. When I get there I see Arianna walking to the twin’s house. I smile and then drop onto my bed. I replayed the whole time at forest point and how good she looked.