Chapter 8

Nate’s POV:

I sat on the couch watching her walk up the stairs. Something had definitely changed in her. I swear I almost died when she said she didn’t want Marcus anymore. From here on I was satisfied enjoying the chase to get her. She seemed to be paying more attention to me than she did before. Last night’s party was killer and she looked amazing. This afternoon when I walked in and she was half naked I could have died a happy man. I mean it’s not like it was any different from seeing her in a bikini but it was passing a wall. I knew she’d be getting dressed but I still had gone up there. I turn off the TV and the light. I make a bee line for the stairs and head to Drake’s room. Before that though I went and grabbed my phone. She was sleeping on my bed peacefully. I smirked and grabbed the phone of the desk and closed the door. I went to Drake’s room and lay down on the bed. I knew sleep wasn’t coming any time soon. I checked my phone. I had no messages. I sigh and put the phone under the pillow and turn to face the wall. Just through the wall she was there lying down. I put my hand on the wall trying to make a sense of feeling her. I had an idea what she felt like. I’d picked her up in my arms and jumped into the water with her. I sigh knowing the feelings were probably mutual. I mean I only wanted her because she was unavailable but now that she was she was still super appealing. I knew I needed to take my time with her. She was a virgin and they needed time. You absolutely needed to know they were ready or they’d regret it and blame you for everything. It was amazing what two simple weeks could do. I was lusting so badly for her and she had no idea. I groan and my boxers tighten. Finally the sleep comes and gets me. Finally, the world of dreaming takes me in.

***

"Nate" someone calls out and I peek through my lashes. I frown and squeeze my eyes tightly shut.

"Nate, wake up" somebody touches my arm and my eyes fly open. She’s closer than I thought. She was only a couple of inches away. Best wake up, to have her in my face. Her eyes were wide and her lips were open a little.

"Come on its 7 o’clock" she says standing up and my hand twitches to pull her back to me. I groan sliding out of the bed and standing up. Her eyes flick to my chest and then back up to meet my eyes.

"You overslept too?" I ask her and she nods moving out of the room. She goes through the bathroom which was conjoined with my room. I follow her and she sits down on the bed pulling on her jeans. That was when I realised she was only in her t-shirt and underwear. I scold myself for not realising and I take a shower. When I come out fully dressed in jeans and a random top I quickly gather my phone, wallet and keys and move downstairs. She stands by the door holding her bags and she smiles.

"Finally, I was thinking maybe you’d passed out" she says smirking and I remember when I’d woken up to alcohol being poured on my face. I groan and follow her out to my car. Quickly racing to her house I wait in the kitchen eating some bacon which was among some of the other breakfast laid out perfectly. Considering her parents were already at work and her brother wasn’t here it was all laid out just for her. She returned to the kitchen in record time. She was wearing a flowy dress and it looked amazing. Instead of heels, like I was expecting, she was wearing converses. I smiled; she didn’t seem like the killer heel type. The belt that sat just under her boobs made the boobs look amazing and I could feel myself getting hard. I groaned as she sat down and began eating. After we ate, we left at 8:15. We arrived at school by 8:30 am, and we still had half an hour until class. She conveniently followed me to my locker and waited. While I got my stuff out I caught her full on checking my face out. I smirk when I turn to go to her locker. I hear her groan, and she follows behind me. When she got her books we moved to the cafeteria. Kyle, Derek and the twins were the only ones at our table.

"Sup Nate" Kyle says and I shrug looking up sarcastically. He looked up and got it. He laughed and shook his head. I sit down next to him and put my books on the table.

"Say what did we do last night?" Derek asks looking at me knowingly.

"Nothing" I smirk and glance at Arianna who was talking to Tracy. She looked like an angel the way the light reflected onto her. Her jaw line stood out and her eyes sparkled. Kyle slaps my arm and I look back at him glaring.

"Dude focus. Derek asked you if anything happened?" he says and they were both smiling deviously.

"No but I..." I trailed thinking about her amazing bare back, no bikini in the way.

"But what?" Derek says when I look back at the perfectly covered Arianna. Besides her cleavage everything was covered. I smiled when I vaguely remember licking up the salt and then the tangy alcohol sliding down my throat. Then the best part of my life was taking the lemon out of her mouth. My lips barely touched hers but I craved them so bad. It made everything worst, knowing the brief feeling of them but not quiet knowing the feel of them. I groan thinking about it and then look back at the guys.

"Forget it" I say shaking my head. They try and beg me to confess but I wanted her to be my little secret. I smirked when the bell went and I thought to myself how great it was going to be having maths with her and her alone. Maths flew by and we continued talking about nothing. A messily talking about anything. Turns out Arianna wasn’t the eldest in her family. She had a twenty-year-old sister who was due here any day. When class ended I dragged myself to English. The class passed by pretty slow and I could see myself racing to get to the cafeteria, I was actually pretty hungry. I got my usual and returned to the always busy table. The twins were caught up in Kyle and Derek so I sat next to Arianna and Olivia. Although Olivia was talking to Tye intently. Turns out she liked him, a lot. Arianna had told me during maths.

"Say maths buddy feeling lonely" I sat sliding the tray down the table and sitting next to her. She looks up from her salad and hides a smile.

"Everyone has someone" she says shrugging and I think it affected her more than she thought it would. Her eyes watered a little and I frowned. She still wanted Marcus, I knew it. I felt my heart sink at the thought but refused to let it show on my face.

"I don’t, you don’t. Let’s hang" I said nudging her and she smiled. I relaxed a little when conversation kicked in. When lunch finished I walked her to class. My class was boring and finally the day finished. I was first out of science and waited outside for Arianna. She was taking her time and so was Kyle.

"Dude, hurry up," I groan to Kyle, who was talking to Tyler.

"Yeah geez I’m coming" he says and someone runs into me. I turn to see Arianna fumble her books and I laugh as she catches them just in time.

"So not funny" she says smirking and shoving me in the chest. I laugh and follow her to her locker.

"Are you coming over tonight?" she asks me when we get closer to her locker.

"Sure and the occasion is?"

"Putt-putt. I can’t get over the fact that I lose to you. I mean come on"

I just laugh and shrug. She puts her books away and we go to my locker. Once finished there we walk outside together. Shortly after talking to the guys I drove her home. We played two rounds of putt-putt. I let her win the second one, and she rubbed it in my face. I laughed to myself as I let her win. I wasn’t exactly the best putt-putt player, but not as bad as she was. I left just before 6 pm and drove home. Kyle was inside playing COD with Drake when I got there. I tried sneaking upstairs but failed.

"Yo dude, get your ass here," Kyle yells out from the bottom step. I turn groaning and look at him, glaring.

"What?" I say rolling my eyes. He walks up the stairs.

"I want to know what you were going on about at lunch. You know, the but..." he says, pushing me into my room. I put my stuff on my desk and turn on my TV. He sits down next to me watching me eagerly.

"It was nothing. I accidently walked in while she was half naked" I smirk thinking about it.

"And what did you do?"

"I fumbled" I admitted looking at the ground.

He just laughs and I hit him.

"No way dude, seriously tell me the truth. What did you do?"

I don’t say anything and he starts making a fuss about it. I groan trying to zone out and I do. Too much actually.

"Dude this bet is epic. Who knew you could falter?" Kyle laughs and my door squeaks open. Kyle had been going on and on about how they should have done a different bet. I look up to see Stacy standing mouth dropped looking between us. Kyle falters and his mouth gaps of something to say. Fuck my life. She was definitely going to go running to Arianna now. I jump up and she looks at me funny.

"You made a bet? And Arianna is involved?" she says it like it was a foreign language. It was actually.

"It’s not what you think" Kyle says jumping up to help me.

"Oh no then care to explain"

And so he does. He goes into detail too and I sit on my bed watching the floor as they sit on the couch. Stacy continued to look at me and then back at Kyle. I was afraid she was just gonna get the story and run to tell Arianna. That was my only fear right now. If Arianna found out she’d never do anything with me. Finally when the story was finished she stood up and moved towards me.

"Seriously, Nate?" she asked me, looking for confirmation like she never really believed it until she had my confirmation.

"Yeah"

"And you took the bet? Why?" she sounded angry as she sat down next to me.

"Because it was nothing then but..."

Kyle had left the room to get drinks and I knew that for some reason I thought I could tell Stacy everything I was feeling. Just a random outburst and I automatically hoped she wouldn’t say anything.

"It’s more than that now, right? You actually like her?" she asks looking at me. I look away afraid to let her know. What was I thinking? Did I like Arianna? I knew that I didn’t just want her body now.

"You know she dumped Marcus this afternoon and well..." Stacy trailed off standing up. I looked up at her. She knew something and she wasn’t going to tell me.

"And what?" I stood up looking for more answers.

"Well maybe...you’re not the only one" she shrugs and I frown. What the hell did that mean?

"Okay look I’m going to see what the waters like" she stands looking at me knowingly. I knew she didn’t mean the water literally. She was going to help me, why? Stacy was never really one to get into other people’s business. I frowned again.

"You’re helping?" I finally say as she looks at me hiding a smile.

"Well yeah I owe you. I mean without you Kyle never would have noticed me"

"I beg to differ" I shrug getting a little off subject.

"Yeah but you still helped me so I’m repaying you by doing this. Look I don’t want you to hurt her but something’s up with you so I can make an exception. You hurt her...your ass is mine" she says before walking out the door. I looked after her and couldn’t help but feel the excitement boil in me. Now I had a helping hand in all this. I knew that I could trust Stacy now; I was bound to tell her more stuff as we went along. I dressed and had something to eat before playing COD with Drake. Kyle had left with Stacy and so I was happy. I was getting distracted through the game so Drake kept winning. It wasn’t exactly fazing me. I finally gave up and went to bed at 10 pm. Sleep actually came fast, but I was thinking about Arianna. I kept thinking how good it would feel to have her just lay on me. Softly pressed against me as mine. Those were my last thoughts.

***

I woke to my alarm and showered. In the shower I was thinking about her. Why was she always on my mind? I changed for school and realised I had a three text. Two telling me she was going to school with Olivia and one from my mum. She was coming home in a week. I sighed and drove off to school without breakfast. At school I passed by my locker getting my maths book. I only had maths and then gym first. Two classes with her. I sigh as I walk into the cafeteria. Stacy waved to me and Tracy looked at her weird. Sitting down next to her was Arianna and she looked a little out of place. I frowned at I approached the table.

"Sup dude" Kyle yells down the table and I look down the table to see him smirk uncontrollably. I had a feeling him and Stacy had been planning something. When the bell rings ten minutes later I sit down on the table a little longer. The twins disappear with Olivia and the guys rush off to their class. Arianna was playing with her coke can holding her jacket close to her body.

"Plan on going to maths today?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"Yes actually but I don’t wanna go to gym"

"Hmm have fun skipping" I smirk and jump off the table. There were only a few people left in the cafeteria now.

"You’re skipping with me" she says following me and throwing her can away. That’s when I see what she’s wearing. She was wearing a black tank top underneath a white button up shirt which was buttoned up halfway. She wore tight skinny jeans and they made her look amazing. She topped it off with converses. I could feel myself getting excited at the tight clothes. The jacket she held was a cotton one and was all floppy. It was clear she didn’t intend on wearing it. Maybe she was using it to cover up a little. I stop dead in my place and she smirks as she took in my face.

"Calm down Nate" she says her eyes flicking to my chest. She walked pass me patting my shoulder. Oh god the behind view was just as good as the front. I watch her as she walked to maths. I followed intently checking her out all the way there. Maths passed by fast and I was actually nervous that I was skipping with her. By the end of maths I’d scored a detention.

"What for?" I exclaimed looking up away from Arianna. We’d been talking in our own little world. I wasn’t bothered with anyone else.

"Are you kidding me Mr. Williams? You are talking way too much in my class. After school detention"

"I wasn’t the only one talking" I feel someone kick my shin and look over to Arianna to see her glare at me. I try and hide my smile as I turn back to face the teacher.

"Yes I know and Arianna detention for you too"

"What?!" she exclaims and I chuckle.

"Don’t make me double it" the teacher threatens and she goes quiet. I try to escape her wrath when the bell goes but it was short driven when I realised we were skipping together. I waited by her locker for her. I’d just put my books away and was waiting patiently.

"I’m going to kill you" I hear her sweet voice and I turn smirking. She glares at me and I feel slightly guilty but I was happy I didn’t have to do shitty detention by myself. She opened her locker angrily and I couldn’t help but smile.

"Oh don’t be mad" I pleaded and she pulled me away when she closed her locker. She pulled me to her car and she got in angrily. I jump into the car and drive off before we got caught.

"You still want to skip with me after that?" I ask her and she smiles. She looks at me and laughs.

"You know it’s impossible to stay mad at you" she says sighing. I laugh, that was a first.

"I’m being serious Nate" she says and I look at her looking for sarcasm but it wasn’t present.

"Well trust me detention isn’t that bad anyway. You get to hang with me again"

"Oh fun" she says sarcastically and then silence comes. It was uncomfortable and I could see her watching me occasionally. We finally pulled up to the shopping mall. She jumped out eagerly and pulled me to the elevator.

"Come on you stupid thing" she continues pushing the button. When it gets here she jumps into it. I wait a second and she grabs my shirt pulling me in. I laugh just as the doors close and she presses the button eagerly.

"You know you’re buying me something" she says turning to face me.

"What? Why?"

"Because you got me detention"

"Still doesn’t explain why" I said as the elevator doors opened. She pulled me into nearly every store. We skipped the rest of the day and got back to school just in time for detention. I’d brought lunch and a dress. She refused to let me buy it but I brought it anyway. We had tons of fun roaming the mall, level by level. Finally when she glanced at her watch it was last session at school. I laughed at her horrified expression and we took our time getting back to school. I pull her into the office to find out what we were doing. I gave the lady my detention slip, and she took Arianna’s. She disappeared and returned with a clip board.

"Okay so today’s detention will only be you two. Lucky right? Anyway you will be mopping the gym, fishing out leaves and stuff from the pool and apparently washing down the tennis courts. Okay, so you know what you’re doing to drop by the groundskeeper's office at the oval, and he’ll give you the stuff you need. He also needs to sign off each of your tasks. Have a great detention" she smiles handing me the check-off sheet. As we left Arianna was laughing. I shook my head and guided her to the groundskeeper. An hour later we were washing down the tennis court. We’d just finished doing the pool and mopping the gym was our first job done. It was 4:30 already and Arianna was giggling as she sprayed the hose onto me. I jumped away from it and glared at her. I tried to hide my smile. We were having so much fun. She was hosing and I was scrubbing with the broom. Worst job by far. Finally when we washed all three courts we took the stuff back. We got signed off and returned to the office.

"You are so evil. Look at me I’m wet" I smirk and she just laughs.

"Hey, you put dirt on me with that disgusting broom. Feel my pain" she says and walks into the office.

"Well, well I can see you two have been having fun. So did we get everything done?" the lady behind the desk asks as she stands up.

"Yeah" I said casually as I handed over the sheet of paper. She took it and signed something slipping the sheet of paper into a folder.

"Good, well that’s detention. Like I’m always told, I’m told to tell you not to get attention and encourage you to keep up your studies but I have feeling I’ll be seeing you two a lot" her eyes sparkled and I laughed. I pulled Arianna out of the office. When we came out she did something so unexpected. I was not expecting it. She pushed me up against the locker and brushed her lips against mine softly. She pulled away too soon to look at me. A growl rose in my throat and I pulled her face to me kissing her hard. She pushed forward so her body was smashed against mine as my lips moved in sync with her. I had no idea what came over her. She had started this and she wasn’t stopping it either. We stayed like that for a little while but then she pulled out of the kiss. I could feel her breathing on mine.

"What was that for?" I asked her breathlessly.

"It felt right" she said shrugging. She stepped away from me and my arms ached to pull her back. She smirked and turned on her heels and moved towards the car park. I stood there for a second thinking about her lips and then I followed her. The car ride was a little awkward but I continued thinking about the amazing feel of her lips. I dropped her off at her house and drove back to mine. When I pulled into the driveway I saw Stacy’s car parked there. I walked inside slowly and find Stacy sitting at the bench quietly reading a magazine. I’m guessing it was just her, no idea how she got inside. Drake probably let her in before he left.

"Sup Stacy" I say throwing my stuff on the bench and moving to the fridge.

"Hey, where were you today? How come your home so late? I want answers" she closes the magazine and looks at me pleadingly.

"I skipped and I had detention, okay" I roll my eyes making myself a vegemite sandwich.

"Seriously? Do you know where Ri was?

"Skipped with me" I shrug like it was normal.

"What happened?" she pressed eagerly.

"Not much but detention was great"

"What the hell is wrong with you? Detention sucks ass"

"Not if you were with Ri" I smirk and her eyes widen.

"What happened? Every detail now" she gasped standing up. She leans over the bench pouting at me. I laugh at how desperate she was coming off as.

"Not much really but after detention she kissed me"

"No freaking way?! Already?!" she almost squealed with excitement and I shudder trying to escape with my sandwich. She follows me to the couch.

"Yes Stacy. Can you drop it now?" I growl at her and she still presses excitedly.

"Did you like?" she asked and I looked at her like she was insane.

"Are you kidding me?" I say smirking. What kind of a question is that? Of course it was good! I didn’t like it, I loved it. I loved the fact that she had pressed up against me; I loved how she kissed me not the other way around.

"Okay so stupid question but still..." she shrugs rolling her eyes as I flick on the TV.

"I have no idea what to do now" I told her honestly after some silence.

"Well what do you want to do?" she asked me, taking the remote off me. She turns the volume down and turns to face me.

"I don’t know I just want to talk to her" she laughs and I feel ashamed to have said that now. I looked away from her.

"Sorry but it’s just that that came from Nate’s mouth. Nate, the so-called legend," she says smiling and forcing me to look at her.

"You’re telling me! Now what should I do" I pleaded and she nodded thinking.

"Well tomorrow’s Saturday. Oh car wash day right?" she gasps clicking her fingers. I nod kind of nervous now. I’d completely forgotten about it.

"Well what about it?" I ask her to see where she was heading with this.

"Don’t make any moves. This is a Nate free day. You’re just going to let her do the work" she said nodding along with it. I looked at her like she was going crazy.

"Don’t look at me like that. Look we’ll know something’s this way. For example if she’s willing she’ll try and get you to flirt. She’ll realise you’re not going to make any moves and you can say you just skipped a few stages" she shrugs and I nod. I could get where she was going. Leaving me open to be flirted with would make Ri go insane and desperate.

"Yeah, but—"

"No but’s Nate. It will work trust me. Let’s just say I know what it’s like"

"Really?"

"Yes. When the guy ignores you or doesn’t flirt back it drives you off the edge. You start to become more desperate to get his attention" she shrugs blushing a little.

"Huh so it fully worked?"

"Ah yes...I lost my virginity that night"

"I don’t want the details"

"I wasn’t going to give you the details anyway. Okay so I guess I should find out if Ri’s gonna take the bait"

"But you just said..."

"Calm down Nate I was only teasing you. Gee you need to loosen up. Kyle was right"

"So you and Kyle have been planning?"

"Kind of. Oh what do you say next weekend we all go camping for the weekend, take Friday off and leave then?"

"That’s your plan?"

"Hmm yep, free time in with Kyle and I guess you can get to Ri even more"

"Sounds like a plan then"

"Ah yep. I’ll just tell the others and we should be cool"

"Right good. So is that the only reason you came over?"

"Yeah and to wait for Olivia. She’s staying at my house tonight"

"Cool"

"Hey um Ri asked me to get black watch from your room. She said she left it here the other night?"

"Oh yeah sure" I said frowning.

"You’re not going to tell me anything else?" she says getting up. She was baiting me. I could tell by her expression.

"Nothing happened dummy" I said and she groaned heading for my stairs. Several minutes she came back downstairs just as someone knocked on the front door. I got up to answer it.

"You have so much shit in there Nate. Clean it up seriously" Stacy says groaning. She grabbed her bag and walked to the door with me. I just laughed and opened the door to reveal Olivia.

"Hey Nate" she says happy than ever.

"Hi Olli"

Olli was the new name the twins had given her. She didn’t seem to care but honestly the twins nick named everyone as if in a bid to remember their names. I noticed that I didn’t have a nick name. Not that I cared because if I did that was a whole new thing to get used too.

"Hey Olli, you ready?" Stacy says pushing me aside. I laughed as Olli did and they moved to Stacy’s car. I moved back inside and played some COD for a while, but I got sick of it eventually. I continued to stare inside the fridge looking for something to eat.