Chapter 5

Through all the talking and staring at Nate, I did not notice that it was raining steadily outside. The sound pitter-patters against the large windows of Linc's so loudly that I am extremely surprised when I walk out into it. 

Nate breathes a deep breath through his nose. I can imagine that the smell was strong and found myself doing the same. 

"I love the smell of rain," I comment as we both stand under the striped canopy of the diner.

"I don't very much like navigating in it, though," Nate nearly groans. He has yet to take his walking stick out. It was as if he was delaying spending alone time with me. 

Strangely, I am more excited than nervous. 

This is a first around him.

"You stay here and I'll get my car brought up to the door." Before he can answer, I take off into the pouring rain. 

I return drenched with my hair sticking to my face and my light jacket clingying to me like a second skin. I quickly get out of my car and run back to where Nate is standing. The rain has yet to touch him and yet he looks miserable. 

Before I can talk myself out of making him come with me, I lightly grab onto his upper arm and lead him to the passenger side door of my car. 

Once we are both seated in the car, I flip on the heat. Nate visibly shivers. I push my soaking wet hair out of my face and quietly giggle. 

"What?" Nate asks. His head is cocked slightly to the side so I could see his sharp jaw line. 

My giggles grow louder in the compact car. He looks like a wet Garfield the cat with glasses as he shakes off the water from his hair and clothing. 

I'm not sure if it's the musky smell of him or if it is that fact that my worst nightmare was happening around me with being trapped in a confined space with the boy that is always on my mind, but I think I am becoming delirious. 

"What are you laughing at, Kelly?" 

My laughter stops abruptly at him using my name. I think I stop breathing. I grip the wheel of my car harder until the threat of ripping it off makes me snap out of my stupor. 

"You've never said my name before."

Redness crawls up Nate's neck and paints his pale skin. The bubbles of giddiness rise in my chest once again at the fact that I made him blush but I push them back down for the sake of both of our feelings. 

I don't think I have ever made a boy blush as much as the kid sitting next to me. It was a sight that could fuel any woman's ego. 

"I'm sure I have," he awkwardly mumbles. He rubs his hands together to warm them up.

"No, you haven't." I turn the heat up more for his sake. "I like it." 

I bite down on my lip at the fact that I said that sentence out loud. Now it is my turn to blush. Thank the raining heavens above that he can't hold it over me like I can him. But then again I wonder what Nathaniel Haynes would think if he made me, the Kelly Henderson, blush like a madwoman. 

"Why are you doing this?" His words make my breath halt painfully in my throat. All playfulness has been sucked out of the window.

"Doing what?" I manage to choke out.

"Being nice to me."

The heat and the smell of rain and the smell of him is now making me feel queasy. Here he was, the one person who I cared about when it came to someone thinking what kind of a person I am, sitting here asking the question Danny and the rest of my friends kept asking me. 

Was it because I kind of liked the way it ticked Danny off? Definitely not. No one wanted to see Daniel Greyson mad.

Was it because I was genuinely a nice person? Sadly, that answer to that is also, no. As much as I am trying to change, no human is perfect.

Was I being friendly towards him because I feel guilty? Strangely, that isn't fully it, either.

Truth is, I just really wanted to be around him. I don't know the reasoning behind it but that much is true. I like the feeling I get when I receive a rare smile from him. Or the way that his face lights up when he talks about something he likes, like the stars or his love for a book that I despise. 

I simply like him.

"Nathaniel, have I ever done anything to make you think we can't be friends?" I watch him, wishing his glasses weren't darkened right now from the unnatural street light stationed outside my car. When he doesn't say anything, I sigh inwardly, taking another breath. "Have I ever come off as mean or unfriendly towards you? Because if I have, I'm so very sorry."

"N-no, Kelly. You seem very nice."

I smile at that but I'm still disappointed about this conversation. I did my best to shake off the gloomy vibe and turn it back to friendly bantering. "Good. I find you nice too, Nate." 

Nate ducks his head and he pushes his glasses further up his nose. 

"In a very broody, mysterious, hormonal teenager type of way," I add with a smile. It becomes even larger when Nate grins too. He shakes his head, embarrassed all over again and turns his face towards the window.

I can't help the thick coat of charm covering my words. I was always told that I could talk my way into or out of anything. It has something to do with the way I look at them, Alyssa always said. She said something about the way I flirted with my eyes. But in this case, that was false because of the obvious. 

"So where are we going?" My new acquaintance questions. We haven't moved from the spot in front of Linc's Diner because I am still mindlessly staring at him. He must have felt my eyes too because Nate shifts uncomfortably in his seat. 

"Oh," I practically shout at him, catching myself. "Well, I was thinking you could take me some place that you like."

I think it would be better to go somewhere that he felt comfortable.

"I-I don't think that's a g-good idea."

"How come?"

Nate hesitates. 

"Nathaniel, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?" I try to make my voice feel as fakely hurt as possible but about fifty percent of it is real. 

"No."

"Liar." I huff and cross my arms over my chest. 

"I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you, Kelly." 

"Then what is it?"

"I'm afraid you don't want to be seen with me."

Well, that's crazy considering I am asking him to go with me some place. But my heart goes out to him. "That's just ridiculous."

"Is it?"

"Yes, Nathaniel. It is!" I practically shout at him. Why is he acting like this? All I wanted was a nice Wednesday night spent out of the house not doing homework and having an actual conversation with a guy who seems to care in something other than the norm. "Now, are we going to drive or are we going to sit here holding up traffic?"

When he doesn't answer I roughly put my convertible in drive. I don't know where I am going but it seems better to metaphorically drive away from the tension then just sit there in silence. The sound of the rain beating against the windshield is almost therapeutic. I try to match my breathing with the swishing of the wipers. 

"Are you mad?"

His voice makes me jump slightly in my seat because I was not expecting him to be the first to talk. I had been sitting there for minutes trying to find something to say.

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because you called me Nathaniel. You have a habit of calling me Nate. Plus, my mom calls me Nathaniel when she's mad at me."

This had me laughing all over again. My moods were going up and down and I have a feeling that Nate is playing me like a fiddle.

"Good one." I turn my attention back to the road which is easier to see because the rain was subsiding. "Now, Mr. Smartass, where shall we go."

Nate sits quietly for a moment before he mummbled something. 

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you."

He rolls his eyes and says it again. 

"One more time." I cup my ear in exaggeration which makes him crack a smile. 

"The arcade."

A bantering remark is on the tip of my tongue but instead of sharing it, I make a U-turn and head towards the only arcade in town.