An Impossible Attraction

Chapter ten

“Dude, why would you turn her down like that? You know it’s not easy for a girl like Cindy to swallow her ego to ask a boy to the dance,” Steven grumbled as they walked to his car after Nathan had brutally said no to Cindy.

Nathan feigned ignorance at his words and just got into the car. Steven sighed after staring at him and shook his head, and then he got into the car as well. He started it and drove off and they were both silent in the car. Approaching Nathan’s house, Steven spoke up, “dude, there is a party tonight, you interested?”

Nathan rolled his eyes, “who has parties on Mondays?”

“Tyler, it’s his birthday and he said he is not having it any other day,” Steven shrugged, “I have wanted to tell you since Morn but you have that face of an angry wife all day.”

“Not interested.”

“Yeah, knew you would say that,” Steven was annoyed, “you know dude I don’t understand you anymore, you hardly spend time with me again. Listen, I get it, you are a lovelorn, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw all your friends away. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that everyone is avoiding you, I mean, who would love to be told no every single time. I didn’t want to tell you this but you know I can’t just ignore you. Maybe you are this moody because you don’t spend your time any other place than practice. Maybe the reason you are always missing her absence is because you lock yourself every time at home and don’t come out unless she’s home.”

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “all these because I said no to a party, right?”

“No, all these is because you have made ‘no’ your best friend. Seriously, you call me that but people hardly see us together anymore. And do you know another thing? This morning Tyler and Carl betted that I can’t get you to come to the party, do you understand the gravity of this now?”

“What?” Nathan was appalled.

“It’s true, I just figured you should know,” he parked in front of his house and glanced at him, “seriously dude, I’m pretty sure if you give yourself sometime to hang out with friends, you won’t miss her much, you won’t even…”

“Fine Steven, I will be at the party,” Nathan grunted just to get him to shut up.

Steven grinned, “that’s my man, I will pick you up at eight, and if you are interested, I heard there will be booze and girls,” he winked and then zoomed off, shouting, “see you tonight sucker.”

Nathan chuckled with a shake of his head, he turned and walked up to his front door, glancing briefly at the house beside his and sighing before pushing open the door. “Mom, I’m home.”

“Nathan,” Lucy walked out of the kitchen fully dressed, she kissed his cheek briefly before reaching for her car key that was hanging on the wall, “it’s good you are back, I left some rice in the microwave for you. I heard that Mirabelle had a relapse so I will be working night again. If you can’t think of what to eat at night, I left some money on the kitchen counter, you can order pizza or something.” She was at the door by the time she was done and as she pulled open the door, she turned to him, “oh, I almost forgot, your driver’s license has arrived,” she smiled, “it’s on the coffee table, and yes they apologized for the delay. Take care son,” she waved and walked out of the door.

Nathan sighed, “bye mom,” he said when the door was already closed before entering the living room. Like she said, there was an open envelope on the coffee table. He picked it up and brought out the license, he smiled softly and left the living room with it. He climbed the stairs in twos and as he pushed open the door to his bedroom, he heard his phone ringing. He sighed and brought out the phone but seeing the caller ID, all manner of tiredness was gone and he smiled sheepishly and dumped his backpack somewhere on the floor. “Hey,” he breathed.

“Are you calm now?” Tracy’s gentle voice drifted from the phone.

Nathan chuckled softly and hopped into his bed, “yeah, I’m calm now and I am really sorry for acting like a baby last night.”

“Aw,” Tracy giggled, “but that’s okay, you will always be my baby, no matter how tall you are or how old you are.”

Nathan smiled, “really?”

“Yeah, and guess what, I will be driving home tonight. Told you it would be a to and fro trip,” she giggled.

“Yes,” Nathan shouted happily, kicking up in the air, “so that means you will still stay till Friday?”

“Till Saturday actually.”

“Yes!” he shouted again.

Tracy laughed, “hey, your eighteenth birthday is coming up, where do you want to celebrate it?”

“Where?” Nathan was surprised, “where else but Midville?”

“No, that is so old school, I am thinking about something different this time. How about going to Hawaii?”

“Hawaii? Trace, that’s money you know?”

“Don’t worry about that. A night to your birthday, I will be going to Hawaii and I can spare three days. Your birthday is on Saturday, we can leave on Friday and be back on Monday.”

“Wow, that’s interesting, but Trace, I still insist on the money.”

“Oh come on, how much is it going to be that I can’t spend on you?”

Hearing her say that, Nathan felt embarrassed, he should be the one saying these kinds of things to her, not the other way around.

“So, I have already talked with my colleague that she would cover for me on Monday,” Tracy continued, “now as you can see the vacation is all set, all that is left is for the birthday boy to agree.”

Nathan chuckled, “of course I will agree, how could I refuse?”

“Aw,” Tracy chuckled, “see you tonight then,” she hung up.

Nathan grinned and threw his fists in the air happily, his brooding mood already better as he climbed out of the bed to take a shower.

***

When Steven picked Nathan up that night, he couldn’t help but mention about his mood, “dude, what happened, I mean, when I dropped you off earlier today, you looked like a nagging wife but now, you look like a teenager.”

“Shut up and drive,” Nathan rolled his eyes, he was not ready to let anything ruin his mood. At the party, he was surprised to find out that all of their classmates turned up, guess no one cares about what day the party was holding as long as it was a party.

He met Cindy at the party as well but unlike the other times where she would approach him and try to stay with him, she totally ignored him and Nathan found himself really happy about that fact. Although he was enjoying himself at the party, he was constantly glancing at his phone and wondering why Tracy hasn’t called him yet to notify him that she was home.

Before he knew it, minutes turned into hours and with still no call from Tracy, he got worried and found Steven to take him home. “Come on dude,” Steven groaned while being pulled away from his female companions, “things were just starting to get interesting.”

“Then give me your key, I will pick you up in the morning,” Nathan suggested.

“Hey, it’s school night,” Steven said.

Nathan nodded, “glad you remembered.”

Steven sighed, “fine, fine, let’s go,” he turned and winked at his girls, “until next time babies.”

They giggled flirtatiously at him and he grinned before leaving the house with Nathan. Approaching Nathan’s home, Nathan noticed a sight he didn’t expect to see. There was Tracy’s car but there was another one. With the help of Steven’s car headlight, he could clearly see Tracy trying to get away from the grasp of a man, “f**k, Steven faster,” he yelled.

“Dude, we are at your place already.”

Not waiting for the car to fully stop, Nathan jumped out of the car, ignoring Steven that was yelling his name. “Hey, let go of her,” he shouted at the mystery man that was holding Tracy as he ran up to them and without caring to know who or what was happening, he threw a punch at the man’s face who immediately let go of Tracy at the unexpected blow. Seeing that Tracy was now safe, Nathan threw another punch at the man but this time, he was expecting it and dodged the blow, then surprising Nathan with his own fist which landed on his face.

“Nathan,” Tracy shouted in shock, “what the hell do you think you are doing Gary?” She yelled at the man.

Nathan didn’t let him answer as he rushed him, picking him and smacking on the ground. Then he tackled him right there. Gary wasn’t ready to lose as he turned him over and started punching as well. Nathan didn’t care, he was giving his all in the fight, he has always wanted to hit Gary, if not for anything but for hurting Tracy.

“Enough,” Tracy shouted as she rushed and pulled Gary away from Nathan. Nathan got up and rushed him again, “Nathan stop it!” she stood in between them, “that’s enough.”

Gary wiped his bleeding nose, “damn, kid got a good punch.”

“Oh yeah, well there is plenty more where that came from,” Nathan yelled, ignoring his bleeding mouth.

Gary scoffed with a light chuckle, “where did you get this kid, Trace?”

Tracy turned to him then, “Gary, get out of my property.”

“Tracy, come on,” he said.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, hitting a seventeen year old kid, really Gary?”

“Come on Trace, don’t be partial, he threw the first punch, you were here.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to get into a combat with him.”

“Jesus Trace, you are judging this wrongly. Listen, I know you have a soft spot for this kid, but he threw the first punch and as a man, I have to defend myself. And if you don’t know, kid has been trying to fight me since you brought me to his house.”

“That was because I knew you were a bad news and turns out, I was right,” Nathan shouted, breathing heavily.

“Nathan please,” Tracy said to him, “let me handle this.”

Gary wiped his bleeding nose again, “you know what, I think I should go, you were right, this wasn’t the right time.”

“That’s right, get out loser,” Nathan said.

Gary scoffed with a chuckle, “damn, you are one weird kid,” he chuckled and glanced at Tracy, “I will call you Trace, I’m sorry.”

“Just go,” Tracy replied and turned her back at him.

Gary exhaled and then walked back to his car, ignoring the frozen statue of Steven who had jumped out of his car when he saw Nathan threw the punch. He got in and drove off without a backward glance.

Tracy glared at Nathan then, “what was the meaning of that?”

“I saw you being attacked; I did the first thing that came to my mind.”

“That was wrong Nathan, you don’t just punch people. If I wasn’t here do you have any idea what Gary would have done to you? He is a boxer for crying out loud, Nathan, you know that. How could you throw yourself into a fight like that, look at your face?”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, not liking the fact that she was angry with him.

Tracy sighed, “Come on, let me clean you up,” she responded before turning to Steven, “Are you going to stand there all day?”

“Huh?” Steven said, waking up from his shock, “no, no, of course not. Um…see you in school tomorrow dude,” he said to Nathan, “Hi Tracy, bye Tracy,” he dropped and rushed to his car.

Tracy chuckled and turned to Nathan, seeing his bruised face, she sighed and led him to her house where she unlocked the door and let him in. What a night, she thought.