An Impossible Attraction

Chapter nine

Monday found Nathan being dropped at school by his mom because yesterday, Tracy received a call and had to go back to the airport because her colleague collapsed in the plane. One could imagine how angry Nathan was when she told him that. It had been a really unaccepted news, after all she told him that she would stay a week with him and it’s only been two days, what happened to the remaining days of the week?

He had been really angry that he had stormed out of the house and didn’t see her when she was leaving despite the fact that she called him numerous times. Right now thinking about it, he realized he had been stupid, what would he have her do, say no to her work? Because of him? And then what, she would become jobless, they would both be jobless, who would now be providing for her?

He hated to realize that James was right, he thinks like a kid sometimes and kind of selfish as well, maybe that’s why Tracy would never see her more than her baby brother; after all, only a baby would behave like he did. He sighed in frustration again like he has been doing all morning whenever he thought about his attitude. He had tried to contact her this morning but like he expected, her phone was off and he could only groan in frustration.

Lucy glanced at him again and sighed, “you need to understand her, Nathan, it’s not like she wanted to leave. It was work and she had to answer,” she tried to reason with him like she has been doing since last night.

Nathan exhaled, “I know mom, I’m just angry I didn’t see her when she was leaving.”

“Oh,” Lucy was stunned, “I see, well that can be fixed, just try her number in the evening, I’m pretty sure her phone would be on by then.”

“Yeah, I am planning on doing that.”

“That’s great,” she nodded before pulling over in front of his school, “well, here we are,” she smiled at him, “don’t worry, she will understand when you explain to her.” She ruffled his hair, “one thing I know is that she can never stay angry at you.”

“Yeah, and I am often taking advantage of that,” he rolled his eyes.

“It’s expected,” she chuckled, “you are a teenager; you are in your rebellious stage. I can remember when Tracy was in that too,” she smiled, “hmm, how time flies. Sometimes I just wish that Naomi could see the woman she has become.”

Not in the mood to listen to his mom going down the memory lane, Nathan strapped on his backpack and opened the door, “see you at home, mom,” he leaned forward and kissed her cheek then got down from the car.

Lucy grinned, “see you sweetie,” she waved and watched him join a group of boys before driving away.

“Yo man, I heard what happened at the party,” a blonde haired guy said to Nathan as he shook his hand.

“I’m telling you guys, you should have seen how he walked out on Hansel and his guests,” Steven hyped. “At first, I was surprised how he just stood and listen to them say all those things and how Cindy was hugging his arm and acting all coquettishly, yeesh. I had thought he wasn’t gonna do anything until boom, my boy said ‘it would be k********g if I’m not willing,’ and then stormed off,” he laughed.

“Man I still don’t understand why you don’t want to roll with Cindy, the girl is hot as f**k. I don’t even mind throwing myself on the floor for her just to get a taste of that p***y,” another winked and patted Nathan on the shoulder, “too bad she only got eyes for you man.”

“Yeah, but too bad Nathan only got eyes on another person,” Steven shook his head and then felt a cold stare on him. He looked up to see Nathan glaring at him and wondered what he did wrong.

“Whoa, you serious, Nathan have a crush?” The blonde haired shouted, making the students around to glance at them in surprise.

“Uh oh,” Steven said, now knowing what he did wrong.

“Damn man, who is she?” the other boy asked.

“Listen guys, there is no one but Nathan always sees this faceless woman in his dream,” Steven rushed to the rescue, only it ended up not being a rescue.

“Whoa, Nathan dreams about an unknown woman?” the rest of the boys shouted and Nathan glared needles at Steven before storming out. Behind him, he heard one of the boys saying, “damn, this is big news, I didn’t know Nathan m*********s in his dream,” and he just felt like killing Steven.

***

After classes, Nathan went for practice where he wanted to kill Steven by constantly throwing his balls at him. When asked by the coach what his problem was, he said he was just having a bad day and dropped a fake apology to Steven because when the practice started again, he continued from where he stopped.

After practice, Steven met him in the locker room and immediately raised his two hands up when he saw Nathan getting up, “dude, I’m sorry okay, I didn’t know the best reply to give. And if you think about it, it’s better this way, everyone knows you are close to her and if you leave them with the thought that you have someone you like, sooner than later someone is gonna make the connection.”

Nathan said nothing and just walked passed him to get into the shower. Steven sighed and joined him after undressing. They took their showers silently until Nathan spoke up, “I have already gotten my revenge at you at practice, so your reasons now came a bit late.”

Steven smiled, “nah is nothing man, I can take a few balls for you,” he winked.

Nathan scoffed with a tiny smile before turning off his shower. He grabbed his towel and started drying his hair, “I did the most unspeakable thing last night.”

“What is it?”

“She got a call to return to work…”

“Whoa, I thought you said she would be staying for a week?” Steven interrupted.

Nathan nodded, “yeah, that’s what she told me too but a colleague of hers got sick or something and she had to replace her. She said she won’t stay long though, that it would be just a to and fro trip.”

“Oh,” Steven nodded, “that’s understandable. So what did you do?”

Nathan stared at him stunned, “you understand her?”

“Of course,” he nodded. “It’s obvious she didn’t plan for it to happen.”

Nathan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “how I wish I have your understanding.”

“What?” Steven didn’t understand and then after a while he said, “damn, what did you do man?”

“I-I blamed her for not keeping her word.”

“But dude, you said she received a call.”

“Yes.”

“Then?”

“It’s a mistake I did okay. I got angry, I blamed her for not keeping her word, and then I stormed out. When she was leaving, she called me and I didn’t answer. She came to my house and knocked on my door and I didn’t open. I didn’t realize I was stupid and selfish until this morning and now I have been calling her, her number was switched off and earlier before you entered, I called, it went through but she didn’t answer.”

Steven nodded, “I understand you.”

“No you don’t,” Nathan responded and left the bathroom.

Steven followed him, “really I do, okay? Probably the reason I understand her so easily is because I am not the one that spent two weeks waiting for her to come back and neither am I the one to miss her now that she is gone. I probably understood because it didn’t matter to me whether she is around or not but you on the other hand, it’s different. If I should have a girl that I’m in love with and then I stayed two weeks without seeing her and then she came back only to leave again, I will probably be angry and react the same way you did. The most important thing is that you understood that you were wrong and now you are going to work on fixing it.”

Nathan smiled, “thanks man.”

“Anytime,” Steven returned the smile, “you just keep trying her number, she can’t be that angry with you.”

Nathan nodded and they both got dressed and left the locker room.

While leaving the school, they heard someone calling Nathan and turned to see Cindy running up to them. Nathan had to stop himself from rolling his eyes and Steven stifled his laugh seeing his difficulties. “Hi, I have been waiting for you,” she said with a smile when she was close to them.

Nathan nodded once, “why is that?”

“Well, I think you have forgotten,” Cindy bit her lip shyly.

“What?” Nathan asked, hiding the impatient in his tone by looking away from her.

“The homecoming dance, it’s next week Wednesday, remember?”

“s**t,” Steven exclaimed, “I have forgotten all about that.” He said and he wasn’t the only one. Nathan has been preoccupied with missing Tracy and wishing that she was around that he had forgotten about the trending thing in school.

With the look on his face, Cindy laughed, “I know you have, and the truth is, I couldn’t wait for you anymore. I had thought you would ask me at my house on Saturday but you left the way you did and so I waited today as well but…” she licked her lips and then look up at him, “will you go to the dance with me?”