Nathan

by C. L. Stone

  He reached for it, trying not to tug on any loose strands of hair, and pulled it away.

  “You’ll be fine,” he said, holding the smirk. “Unless there’s a fallen tree.”

  She blushed. She was moving her lips but nothing coming out.

  She was fun to talk to, even with her broken voice and not talking much. She expressed exactly what she was thinking right on her face without even saying a word.

  “Think you could do it alone? As you wish. Next time, I’ll leave you,” he said. He let go of the leaf, letting it glide down to the ground, and started down the path again. He wasn’t going to leave her, of course. He was just teasing.

  Her feet rustled the leaves along the path, and he slowed just a bit so she could catch up.

  “How do you get over there?” Her voice was a whisper.

  Like hell he’d tell her. Not when she couldn’t even cry out for help at all. “Nope. I’m not telling you now.”

  She frowned and then pouted.

  Aw. That was harsh. How could she do that to him? He made a face and then pulled his fingers over his lips, zipping.

  “Ugh,” she grumbled. “I’ll figure it out.”

  “Sure.”

  She rolled her eyes. Maybe he was teasing her a bit too much. He didn’t want to annoy her. He just wanted to get her to relax around him so she’d want to go on hikes.

  Nathan stopped at a point where the trees thinned where he could recognize the roofs of the houses, including his own.

  The fence was hard to spot from this angle until they got closer, but he wanted to point it out. He’d walk her home but wanted her to know where he lived. “This is my stop,” he said. He wanted to add “come by any time”.

  But that wasn’t true.

  She shouldn’t come by whenever.

  Maybe this was a mistake.

  Now that he’d taken her this far, maybe he should do something... say something mean. Make her mad at him so she never came over. Because he didn’t want to tell her about his dad, and he didn’t want to start disappointing her at other times when he wasn’t available.

  With the Academy in his life, and his dad, and now add the school they’d be going to and being there on false pretenses, things were complicated. He’d been through this before with friends and girls he’d tried to date. It just didn’t work. He needed to distance himself from her. Protect her from it all.

  She studied the fence and then seemed to note the ditch and the tiny, wood slab bridge Nathan had created to get to the wood easier. It wasn’t clear there was a gate, but it kind of made it more obvious with a bridge that there was something there. Still, Nathan felt it was a risk worth taking, since most of the danger for him was inside...with his own father. He didn’t worry too much about someone else finding it and getting too curious.

  Her nose suddenly wrinkled. In a cute way. “You have a pool?”

  He was surprised she could tell. He couldn’t spot it from here. But he hesitated to answer her.

  Don’t tell her.

  Say it’s a neighbor’s.

  Say it’s broken.

  Say anything. Send her off...

  But he found himself nodding instead.

  And the moment he did, she grinned and seemed to...rise a bit. Like almost standing on her toes. “Is it big?”

  He jerked in reaction, his brain practically shutting down and his heart tugging him in one direction: toward her, anywhere near her. “Come and look at it. You tell me.”

  He knew he shouldn’t. His father was gone, sure. For now. But one day...

  And yet as he crossed the plank, he was glad to continue teasing her, hoping she’d follow.

  Her footsteps behind him approached the bridge and stopped. She was hesitating. He stopped on the other side, turned to her and reached out with a hand in offering. After the tree incident, he didn’t want to risk her falling off the bridge. Maybe he should make an actual bridge here. And without thinking, the teasing question escaped his lips. “Or do you want to do it yourself?”

  She made a bit of a goofy face but then reached for him.

  His heart skipped. He held his breath.

  Her touch was gentle.

  This time, even after she crossed the bridge, he held on for a moment longer.

  He couldn’t let go.

  He didn’t understand it. His brain seemed to be incapable of relaxing his hand.

  It was worse when she didn’t tug away at all. She kept holding his hand, her fingers curled around his palm.

  And then he had to let go, because he had to open the gate to the fence.

  He almost didn’t want to. He preferred to stand there and keep hanging on.

  3

  Once the gate was open, he stepped aside, allowing her in.

  He got an eerie feeling his dad might be here. Because he’d been there recently, it still felt like he was watching, about to be critical of his every move. It usually took days to really shake that feeling off and trust he was truly gone for a while.

  But it wouldn’t be possible for his dad to be here. Not without someone alerting him. Someone would call if father had come back for whatever reason.

  He never did double check with Silas about if his father made it to the airport and on a plane.

  Sang seemed very curious, her eyes taking in the house and yard and especially interested in the pool. She walked right up to it, staring at the water.

  It was mesmerizing when it sparkled like that.

  With her back to him, his breathing seemed to ease, since she wasn’t looking at him. This wasn’t so bad, was it? He was overthinking it. She was a neighbor. School would start soon. She’d make loads of friends. Maybe he could make up some excuse why she couldn’t just come over any time? Parents were weird for everyone, right? He could make up some house rule or say he wasn’t always home so she needed to call before just coming by...

  Would it be weird to her if he only let her come over whenever his dad wasn’t around?

  “How deep is it?” she asked without turning around.

  He came up behind her, and in a moment of pure insanity, and mostly brought on by what looked like her desperately wanting in, he touched her gently on the back.

  And he pushed forward.

  The moment he pushed, he was terrified. What the hell did he just do? Why?

  But she didn't flail about. She sunk down a moment, letting herself go with the momentum.

  It was almost frightening, like she was lifeless.

  Until she touched the bottom and adjusted herself, rising slow. Not in a hurry. She was more than comfortable in the water.

  At this, Nathan quickly took off his shoes and his shirt, made sure his cell phone was away enough from the water's edge to stay safe, and then dove in.

  The water had a crispness to it after the rain the night before, but more on the surface level. He rose up quickly after the dive in.

  She was smiling, or at least almost was, when he looked at her floating in the water. “Did you find out?” he said, unable to help the quip escaping his lips, hoping she knew without saying it he'd only meant to push her in for fun.

  She broke out in a bigger grin, and instead of responding, she splashed him.

  He liked that. Willing to play, he partially ducked from her slashing and held a lazy arm up as if to protect himself from it. “Hey there, little mermaid. You don't want to start that game with me. I win every time.”

  She made a face, something cute with puckered lips and a little tongue peeking out between them.

  And with a wild, fun look in her eyes, she splashed at him.

  Daring. That's what he liked about her. She was daring. Diving into a tree. Wanting to take hikes alone. Willing to take him on in a splash fight. She might be shy and a bit timid, but she wasn’t afraid.

  “As you wish,” Nathan said. Instead of splashing back, which he knew he could relentlessly, he disappeared under the water and dove after her.

  She tried to turn to escape, but b
ecause she was still wearing clothing she moved slower. He reached for her to pick her up around the waist. He lifted her, and then looked where he could toss her where it'd be safe, and then did, back into the water.

  She was giggling the moment she surfaced, wiping at her eyes.

  Cute. Absolutely adorable.

  He liked her. He couldn't stop himself. His head kept telling him it was a mistake, but that voice was also weakening. He laughed with her and swam a bit closer.

  She backed off just a bit and motioned with her hands. “Not fair,” she said. She pointed down to the street clothes she was wearing.

  Like she still had a chance without them? “Take them off,” he said.

  Her mouth popped open. “What? No!” she said, although her voice broke a bit in the middle and came off a bit high and warbled.

  “Then lose,” he said. Lose at what, he wasn't sure. But to tease her, and to encourage her to take the shoes off to be able to swim a bit easier, he inched closer to her. He teased with wiggling fingers, like he'd splash or grab at her again.

  When she started to take off a shoe, he stopped, waiting. She flung the wet sneaker to the concrete off to the side, and then threw the other one next to it.

  “I’m not taking my pants off,” she said, although her voice was much softer now.

  He hadn't meant that. At the thought, he did end up laughing, and put his hands on his hips. “You'll wear a bikini that has less material than you're wearing now with that shirt and you won't take your pants off,” he said. “You're wearing underwear, right?” He was joking with her on this, but she's the one that suggested it first. He occasionally went into the pool in just his boxers.

  She appeared nervous, on her toes in the water to keep her head up. “Yeah...”

  Aw. He didn't mean to sound like a weirdo about it. He just wanted her to be comfortable wearing whatever she wanted. “You could run back to your house and grab your bathing suit, I guess.”

  At that point, she still hesitated, which confused him. She stood there, thinking. Was she worried she’d get in trouble coming home with her clothes all wet? Maybe that was it. Some parents were like that.

  In a strange moment, it seemed she made a decision to not go home, but instead reached for the button on her pants, like she'd just take them off.

  “No!” he called out to Sang, holding up a hand and laughing. Whatever the reason was she didn't want to go back, he wouldn't make her, and he certainly wasn't going to let her swim around in her underwear if she was uncomfortable. “Stop it.” He swam to the edge of the pool, getting out. He walked over to the edge near where she was and waved her over. “Come on. I've got an old pair of shorts that might fit you. If you tie them, they'll probably be okay.”

  She came over to the edge, and when she was close, he took her by the shoulders, pulling her out. He suspected getting out would be more difficult in the jeans and she could use the boost.

  Only, when she was on the ground next to him, he held her steady. He made sure she didn't fall over.

  When she seemed steady on her feet, he released her and headed to the house.

  The moment he was away from her, he was mentally screaming at himself in his own head.

  What was he doing?

  Now he was bringing her inside?

  And yet, he couldn't help it. He rushed to his bedroom and reached into the closet, thinking of where there might be some old clothing... or Luke's or Kota's old shorts. He wasn't sure what was in his closet any more. When he pulled out a pair, he realized they were probably still a bit big for her. But at least with the tie, it'd be easy enough to secure.

  He couldn't help but smile. Crazy girl, was she really going to swim in underwear if he hadn't stopped her?

  When he came back to the living room, she had her nose in the doorway, waiting for him but curious about the house. He brought the shorts over and shifted the glass door aside more, looking at her. “Want to come in?” Even as he asked, he was resisting the urge to push Sang away, to get her out of his dad's house. He'd be so mad if he saw her here. He resisted that, trying to look normal.

  She made a face, pointing to her soggy pants and shirt. “I'm dripping,” she said, her broken voice barely a whisper.

  “So am I,” he said. He was dripping all over the floor, but he'd done that so much he'd made sure to coat the floor in something a bit more water resistant to help protect it. He'd just mop it up later if it didn’t dry completely on its own. He opened the door wide, motioning to her. “There's a bathroom right there. You can put the shorts on if you want.”

  Sang nodded but didn't say anything. Saving her voice? Did it hurt?

  “Do you want a T-shirt?” he asked. “It'll probably be big on you.”

  She touched the shirt she was wearing. “It'll give time for this to dry.”

  Good thinking. “I'll toss them in the dryer after you're done.”

  He motioned toward the bathroom in the hallway. She walked in, closing the door behind her.

  Nathan riffled a hand through his hair, brushing his fingertips along his scalp. What a crazy morning. He closed his eyes, taking in a long breath and letting it out slow.

  A crazy, beautiful girl in his house. One who liked hiking. And swimming.

  And he was slowly coming to the desire for her to stick around.

  Maybe...he could at least tell her about his father, and she’d be more understanding about why she couldn’t come around whenever. He was trying to figure out how to make it work.

  4

  When Sang didn't come out of the bathroom for a while, Nathan knocked at the door. He had a shirt ready for her, pulled from his own clothes. He figured a bigger shirt wouldn't matter too much. Should he have found at tank top?

  “I've got a shirt,” he said to the door.

  She opened it. She'd put the shorts on but left the blouse on. He handed the shirt over to her.

  “Does your dad fly helicopters?” she asked softly.

  He tried not to jerk in reaction. How did she know? But then he remembered his dad put in photos of airplanes and helicopters in the bathroom for decor. Nathan left them up but he kind of hated it. “Yeah,” he said.

  Sang closed the door on him. He leaned against the edge of the frame, waiting. “He makes trips between here and New York. Sometimes to Florida. He's gone a lot.” Why was he telling her this?

  There was movement on the other side of the door. He remained still as she opened it and then realized it might have looked like he’d been trying to hear her...in a creepy way. Oops. He hadn’t been trying to do that. He stood upright. “It fits?” he asked. Not like it would really fit, but good enough hopefully.

  She had the shorts tied off at the waist. The material bunched up a lot but it held. Although it was a little hard to tell, since the shirt was so big it covered most of it except for where the shirt was gathered up on the side above the hem. “I look weird.”

  Sang looked tiny in the clothes. Gabriel would have a fit if he saw this. He laughed. “You're actually kind of cute. You should totally wear that your first day of school.”

  She made a face, narrowing her eyes, but then she lost it in a giggle.

  He took the soggy clothes from her. “Go jump in. I'll put these in the dryer.”

  He hurried to the dryer to put her clothes in and returned to the kitchen for a minute.

  For some reason, the torn letter he'd gotten in the mail stood out to him. He’d fished it out but got into the middle of cleaning up and forgot about it.

  He went to it. He normally didn't get any mail except ads and flyers. But when you're Academy, anything that wasn't normal was usually something going on within their world.

  He checked it out and took a quick minute to piece together the torn pieces. It wasn’t a chain letter, like his dad suspected. It was code. Luckily, his dad gave up on it quickly. It was about recruiting, he guessed. He wasn't totally sure.

  He should ask Kota about it. He wasn’t sure how long the letter h
ad been in the bundle. He should respond.

  But Sang was outside...

  Was it an emergency? not. They sent it by mail, so they probably had a bit of time to react. He wasn't even sure they could do anything to help whoever it was.

  If it could wait, and he suspected it could, maybe it was good enough to leave here until tonight? At least until Sang had to go home.

  He took the torn bits of paper to his room really quickly, tucking them into a drawer. He'd have to remember later to show Kota so he could help decipher it.

  He was in the middle of something else right now... something a bit more immediate.

  When he got back outside, she was swimming.

  What he'd said about her being a mermaid was a joke, but here she was in the water, arching her body in a way that resembled a mermaid swimming. She touched the wall, and came up, wiping at her eyes.

  “You could get faster,” Nathan said. Not that it was important if she was having fun, but it looked like she was trying to go fast. He stood by the edge of the pool and tried to motion as he talked. “Pull your hands to your chest.” He moved his own hands in a similar way. “Shoot them out above your head as you do that thing where you bring your head up. Then as you're moving your feet, spread out your hands and pull like you're crawling through the water.” He couldn't totally mimic what she'd been doing. He only knew the stroke from what he'd seen with professional swimmers on the internet. He’d researched for a short time when he was trying to beat Kota in swimming races a while back.

  She didn't respond out loud, only nodded, and then readied herself at the pool edge and took off again.

  She was a cannon ball shooting into the water, and then gliding like a fish, going super fast and reaching the other end in no time.

  He hooted in excitement. “You're good,” he said. He meant it. She could totally put practice in and join a swim team. Did they have a swim team at Ashley Waters? He didn't even know.