Page 35 of Lost in the Current of You

We stopped in front of Nate’s room and he turned to me. “Thank you for your chivalry. I will see you another time.” He saluted me with a smile before walking through the door and closing it behind him.

I was angry with myself. Felt like I was going crazy at that moment. Every subtle touch and sweet words caught my heart’s attention. And I truly felt like I was going mad because there was no way that forbidden crush I had on Reece was starting to come back in flutters.

I felt even more ridiculous when I secluded myself in my room the whole afternoon with my box of pizza right until I heard him leave and watched him get into his car. He seemed to idle there for what felt like an eternity but was probably only five minutes.

I felt it. I always felt when his eyes were on me. I couldn’t see him through his tinted windows, but I knew. I didn’t care if he saw me watching him from my window and that I didn’t bother to say goodbye. I just watched until he finally drove away.

A cowardly way to go about the revelations running through my mind.

Later that evening, when the sun had almost set and the house was almost eerily quiet, I decided to break from my seclusion and wandered down to the kitchen, thinking Nate was still in his room, having fallen asleep or something. But I was wrong, finding him in the kitchen in front of the opened fridge, eyes searching for something.

“You know, the longer you stand there won’t make anything jump out at you,” I said as I opened the cupboard to grab the mi goreng noodles I had stashed away right before he arrived back home for the month. Knowing him, he would have scarfed them down within the first couple of days. He loved them just as much as I did, but I savoured them whereas he devoured them.

I threw a packet at him as he closed the fridge door and I opened my own into a bowl.

He waved the packet in his hand towards me. “Thank you.”

In silence, we poured water into our bowls and microwaved the noodles before pouring the seasoning on top. It was only when we were both sitting at the kitchen bench, the dim lit lights hanging over the bench the only source of light for us, that Nate had broken the silence.

“So, now that you’re a high school graduate, what’s the plan now for you?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes as I turned to him. “Not you too.”

He frowned. “What?”

“Why does everyone feel like I need a plan after high school? Like can’t I just relax and enjoy not having to get up at six in the morning or have homework to do?”

His eyes softened. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. All I meant is if you were doing anything exciting or if you were, like you said, enjoying the moments. No pressure.”

I let out a drawn out sigh as I lent my chin on my palm propped up on the kitchen bench. “Sorry. It’s just that question always sets me off.”

He smiled reassuringly. “I get it, trust me.”

He was probably the one person who really did get it. I felt bad for getting angry at him like that but that question always has my guard raising and every muscle in my body tensing. It’s so god damn exhausting.

Nate cleared his throat, breaking me from my thoughts as he threw his bowl in the sink and made his way to the couch.“Come on, let’s go watch a movie.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be with you soon. You choose.”

I washed his bowl and mine before loading it into the dishwasher. I joined him after, kicking my legs up on the table next to his and sinking into my seat.

Kicking his foot, I narrowed my eyes, ready to grill him about his dirty dishes. “I hope you're not like that at your house.”

He perked an inquisitive brow while not taking his eyes off the TV while he scrolled through movie selections. “Like what?”

“Leaving your dishes in the sink until they pile up. You were so bad at that before you moved out.”

“You were just as bad sometimes,” he scoffed. “You sound like Maree.”

I spun in my seat. “Who’s Maree?”

He had never mentioned meeting anyone up there, and it had almost been a year.

He scratched the back of his neck. He looked like he didn’t mean to blurt out the name, and it only made me more curious and excited.

“Uh, she may or may not be someone that I’m seeing.”

My grin almost split my face from how wide it pulled. I was happy for him — so happy — and it made me miss having him around because I was missing out on these important things that were happening in his life. I wanted to hear about it as it was happening, not a year down the line.

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