8: Beefy and Meaty

My dream was finally coming true. Ever since the beginning of the week, I had dreamt of the moment I was finally in the comfort of my pajamas, logging on my couch, watching potentially too many romantic comedies. And for the past hour and a half I've been watching The Notebook with tears in my eyes, texting Stephanie to ditch studying and come hang out with me.

Blankets were draped all over the couch, keeping me bundled and comfortable. I had the house to myself: my mom was out with Dianne and Luke was out with his friends at some party, so I took full advantage. I was unexplainably comfortable and ecstatic with my position, completely content- until my phone started ringing. I expected it to be Stephanie, so I grabbed it with my eyes still glued to the screen and clicked answer.

"This better be good," I mumble into the phone. "You're interrupting my time with Ryan Gosling."

Instead of the quiet I expected to hear from Stephanie's dorm room, loud noises came from the other end, and a deep voice that is definitely not Stephanie answered. "My sincerest apologies, I'll be more considerate next time."

I froze when I realized that Nathan had called me, and a blush rises to my cheeks immediately in embarrassment.

I grab the remote and turn the volume down a few notches before asking in confusion, "Nathan? Why are you calling me?"

"Well," He starts, and from the sound of his voice, I can tell that I'm not going to like what he has to say. "Your brother is in a bit of a predicament, and he needs you to drive him home. I'd do it myself, but I've been drinking."

My brow furrows in confusion as I ask, "Where are you two?"

"A party. I can text you the address," Nathan's voice sounded even deeper over the phone. "Are you coming, Collins?"

I thought of the pajamas I had on right now, and threw the abundance of blankets off of my body before scrambling toward the staircase. "Yeah, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

I ran into my closet and traded my yoga pants in for a pair of jeans, my slippers for tall lace up brown boots, and my oversized tee shirt for a tight maroon v-neck with crosses against the chest. As I tugged on the uncomfortable clothes, I silently cursed Stephanie for insisting that I looked good whenever I stepped foot outside of the house, because otherwise I'd be wearing my pajamas.

I pulled my hair out of my ponytail and barely grabbed my bag before I raced back downstairs, both curious as to what Luke's predicament was and the fact that Nathan was looking out for him. Sure enough, I had a new text message from an unknown number that was presumably Nathan, merely containing an address. 428 Chancellor Street. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I ignored the fact and hurried to my car.

I drove the entire way with The Beatles blasting in the background, so loud that I couldn't even think about what trouble Luke had managed to get himself into. Chancellor street was in the outskirts of the city, where the nicer, larger houses were. The tree lined streets and Victorian houses seemed familiar from my childhood, but still, I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

When I got to the 438th duplicate of the large Victorian houses, I saw teenagers loitering outside, some with cups in their hands, and some trying to help their friends into a car. I pulled over and got out of my Jeep, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I walk up a brick pathway to the large, light blue front door. I push my curiosity aside and let myself into the house, unsure what to expect.

An unfamiliar song was blaring through the speakers somewhere in the house, and people all around me were stumbling about from room to room. I saw heads turn when I walked in, and some girls whom I didn't recognize greeted me over enthusiastically while guys I barely recognized looked me up and down with predatory smirks.

I ignored the hellos from both the males and females and pushed through the party, looking around for a familiar face, but to no avail. I move into the kitchen and feel relieved when I see Asher's goofy smile over by the keg as he leaned against the counter talking to a girl. I make a beeline toward him, surging past a crowd of people until I reach the counter.

"Asher!" I call to grab his attention, and he looks around in confusion before his gaze lands on me.

When he notices its me, Asher grins boyishly. "Hey, Lauren, it's good to see you."

I smile back at him. "You too. Have you seen Nathan around?"

"You and Nathan huh?" Asher whistles, and I suddenly notice that his eyes are dilated, and he was leaning against the counter more for support than to look cool. "I didn't think it would happen, 'cause you two are just so different. But I guess Nathan is good at charming the ladies, huh?"

I shake my head quickly at what he was insinuating and explain, "Nothing is going on between me and Nathan. I just want to find him because he's with my brother."

Asher's face lights up in his typical, easygoing smile. "Luke? He's a cool dude."

Instead of asking how he and Holden had come to be acquainted with Luke like I desperately wanted to, I stay on task. "Do you know where he is?"

"Luke or Nathan?" Asher tilts his head to the side in confusion.

Impatiently, I cry, "Either of them!"

I watch Asher's face closely as he appears to think about this and attempts to conjure up an answer. I wait, not so patiently, with my head on a swivel as people walk past us. I ignore the stares from classmates and instead try to spot Nathan or Luke, but they're nowhere to be found.

"Last I saw, they were outside," Asher finally answers.

I nod and begin to walk away, barely calling out, "Thanks Ash! I'll see you later."

After unsuccessfully looking for the back door, I eventually push my way back to the front and exit the front door, then round the house. Upon reaching the back of the house, I noticed two things: first, that it faintly smelled like burgers; second, that there was a large crowd gathered a few feet away from the shed. The second I saw the crowd, a bad feeling set in my stomach.

I immediately advance toward the drunk, rowdy group of people as they cheer something on, and push my way into the middle. Luckily, everyone was intoxicated enough to let me squeeze through the bodies until I could see what was going on. And what was going on made my heart drop.

Once again, I saw Nathan and Holden on one side of the fighting circle, but unlike before, my little brother was standing behind Nathan. His eyes were hazy and I could tell from his stance that he was struggling not to stumble.

My eyes darted to the other side of the circle, where two meaty football players stood. One was taller and had a buzz cut, but the other was larger and kind of scary looking.

"Why don't you want to fight, Rhodes?" The beefier one rumbles as he takes a threatening step toward the middle of the circle. "Because you know we'll whoop your ass?"

My gaze darts to Nathan, who is standing in front looking surprisingly clam. I hadn't seen him since we skipped class and got Angelo's, and I suddenly realized why he hadn't been in school. His left eye was bruised, but it looked like it was old and healing rather than new, yet it still looked awful. He stood confidently in front of the group, but somehow I could tell by his rigid stance that he wasn't ready for a fight for once in his life.

"Listen, Andrew, nobody wants a fight tonight," Nathan's voice is deep, authoritative, and I admit, mildly sexy.

"The kid didn't know what he was talking about. Just walk away."

Luke frowns at this, but Nathan shoots him a sharp look when he starts to say something, which effectively shuts him up. Beefy and Meaty exchange glances that I knew all too well, like they were ready to start throwing punches, and I decide that's as good of a time as any to do something potentially harmful and step in the middle of this.

I suck in a deep breath and push through the final bodies to break into the middle of the tension filled circle, effectively catching everyone's attention. Beefy looks surprised by the sudden interruption while Meaty has a disgusting smirk on his face that makes me want to let Nathan beat these guys up. Unfortunately, I knew that wasn't a good idea.

I turn to face Nathan, who looks surprised by the intrusion as well, and let his gaze bore into mine. "Nathan, we should leave."

Chatter emits throughout the crowd, but I ignore it, only paying attention to Nathan. I notice up close that in addition to his old black eye, there are cuts peppering his chin, the skin still agitated and red there. His gaze is hard and, as always, it's impossible to tell what he's thinking, but his eyes flash from me to behind me, and I can't suppress the urge to turn around.

Meaty smirks at me disgustingly, his eyes looking me up and down as he drawls, "Aw, come on babe, you want to leave now? We're just about to have fun."

Beefy lets out a throaty laugh as he says, "Yeah sugar, stay and watch the show."

"We can show you what real men look like," Meaty has the audacity to add with a wink.

Before I can snap obscenities at them, I feel a hand close around my wrist and pull me backwards, and then Nathan steps in front of me. Luke is fuming, Holden is smirking, and Nathan is glaring daggers at Meaty and Beefy. I put my other hand on top of his to get his attention, but he suddenly drops his hand from my wrist like my skin is on fire, but focuses his attention on me again.

"We should leave," I repeat, more confident this time, and can't help but let my eyes flash to Meaty and Beefy as I emphasize, "I don't want to be around these boys any longer."

A small smirk tugs up on Nathan's lips before he nods, and we start to back out of the circle. As we start walking away from the almost-fight, I hear groans of disapproval from the crowd, like Nathan had let people down for not participating in a fight. But, most importantly, I hear Beefy's discomforting voice.

"This isn't over, kid."

But we still walk away, and Holden walks away from us to go inside instead, like nothing that happened bothered him at all. We walk silently around the side of the house, where a few lights came from the ground to illuminate the walkway, when something caught my eye. I stopped in my tracks and bent down to see an indent in the side of the house, etched in the concrete.

The little indent read "N.A." and "L.C."

Briefly, a memory overtook me, and my mind flashed back to elementary school, when it was a nice summer day and there was construction going on all around me. I was sitting with Nina, crouched down behind the bushes so we didn't get caught carving our initials into the side of her house, something she said we had to do to solidify our friendship.

Now, looking at the indentations in the darkness, I realized why this house felt so familiar. "This is Nina Alexander's house." I wanted to face-palm for walking in my enemy's front door to attend her party without realizing it. "You've got to be kidding."

"You two can have a reunion later, but Luke is heavy and I want to put him down," Nathan grunts from a few feet away.

"Don't call me fat!" Luke groans from underneath him.

I turn around to see Nathan is now supporting Luke's weight. Luke, who looked unbelievably drunk, to the point where he was almost passed out in Nathan's arms, but had to make a remark about his weight. I frowned at my brother and hurried toward the front of the house, hoping not to be seen or noticed as I went to my car. But, of course, what would life be if things went your way all the time?

"Lauren Collins, who invited you?"

Stopping in my tracks, I suppress a groan, and dig my keys out from my pocket. Nathan is standing in front of me, looking annoyed that he was carrying twice his weight, but his gaze suddenly seemed more bothered. I toss Nathan my car keys and tell him I'll be there in a minute, and then turn around to face the devil.

"Nina, it's nice to see you." I plaster on a fake smile the second I see her standing there in a short sparkly dress.

She's scowling at me. "Who invited you to my party?"

I click my tongue in annoyance, only somewhat amused by her unnecessary stress of every other word. Luke was on my mind, distracting me from being able to form a good comeback. "I only came to pick up my brother."

"That explains why you look like that," Nina snickers, turning her nose up. "Nobody wants you here, Lauren, and you better leave."

"I want her here. Actually, I invited her." An annoyingly cool voice says beside me.

I turn and see Nathan, standing on his own, without Luke weighing him down. We make eye contact and his gaze cuts through me, making my heart beat a tad faster. When he looks back at Nina, I decide I should stop staring at him, and look to gauge her reaction. She has a shocked expression on her face that quickly turns into a sick smirk when she shifts her gaze from Nathan back to me.

"You moved on pretty quick, huh? Don't feel special; Nathan used to bring me to parties when he was trying to get in my pants, too." Nina crosses her arms and smirks triumphantly, like she assumed I would back down now.

Unfortunately, it has the opposite effect. I drop my calm demeanor and take a step towards Nina, feeling annoyance and anger surge through me in waves. "Listen, Nina," My confidence takes over the anger as I speak.

"I only came here so I could get my brother, not so I could argue with you. So do me a favor and fuck off, because you're acting like a petty bitch." When her face falls, I smile sweetly. "It was really nice seeing you, Nina, but I'm going to go home now, because I prefer the company of an empty house to yours."

When I turned back around, I was pleasantly surprised to see Nathan chuckling, a rare genuine smile on his lips.

He was watching me, per usual, and I smiled with a breathless laugh as I walk towards him. With Nina behind us, we crossed the street and started towards my car, where Luke's feet stuck out of one door, his head out the other.

"Do you think he's okay?" I question, concern lacing my words as I lean in the car.

Nathan appears on the other side, leaning through the opposite door as we try to position Luke so he's sitting upright. Luke was mumbling incoherently, so I just chose to ignore him, and instead gazed over at Nathan for some kind of answer.

He shook his head. "He needs rest, is all."

I nod and trust his words, believing he had a better instinct than I, even when he was drunk. Getting into the driver seat, I thought again of Nathan's current state of mind; on the phone he said he had been drinking, but he seemed so calm and collected in person. I couldn't tell. Nathan climbs in the car a minute later while I'm turning up the heat. Suddenly, Your Body Is A Wonderland starts playing very loudly, and I jump in my seat as my cheeks warm.

Luke groans from the backseat but Nathan chuckles at my discomfort as I switch the station, and Big Shot by Billy Joel started playing at a normal volume as I turned the dial down. In an attempt to calm down, I start humming to the song, which includes the tapping of my fingers against the steering wheel. My relaxation only lasted mere moments before a deep voice reminded me that I wasn't alone.

"A Billy Joel fan, huh Collins?" Nathan teased, his tough guy facade fading away.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, a grin slipping on my lips. "Of course. I only like good music."

Nathan laughed again, actually laughed, and the sound alone kept the smile on my lips. As I pulled into my driveway, I thought about all the questions that threatened to spill from my lips. What happened to Nathan's face? Did he get in a fight? Where has he been all week? What kind of trouble did Luke get himself into? Who were those two guys? They kept coming, filling up my mind until it was all I could think about.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts with the sound of Nathan's door shutting, and I hop out of the car to help him carry Luke. Nathan supported him completely, and when I offered my help, he refused it, so I made myself useful and hurried in front of them to open the front door. They shuffled inside and I shut the door behind them before helping the boys up the stairs, putting one of Luke's arms around my shoulder so I could support some of Luke's weight.

Nathan and I somehow successfully maneuvered Luke under his into his bed without dropping him or him throwing up. I set his trashcan and a glass of water beside his bed just in case before Nathan and I slowly backed out of the room. When I shut the door, I pushed my back against it and let out a deep breath. Nathan followed me silently downstairs before I sat on the couch, assuming my previous beloved position, and pulled a blanket over my body.

Nathan watched me carefully as he sat down, a foot or two in between us. I looked at him and almost exploded with questions, but before I could even get a word out, Nathan spoke. "I know that face. Why do you always have so many questions?"

I shut my mouth, deflated, before I tried again. "If you were me, wouldn't you be curious as to why your little brother almost got in a fight with Beefy and Meaty?"

Nathan blinked at me, shocked, before a smile slowly threatened his lips. "Beefy and Meaty?"

My eyes widened when I realized I revealed my secret nickname. Slowly, I smiled sheepishly, and tried to divert the conversation. "Yeah, they uh... I mean, wouldn't you be curious though?"

He leans back and watches me, and I don't fold under his gaze, but instead watch back daringly.

"I found him at Nina's trash talking Andrew and Walker, and stepped in right before he got a punch to the jaw. That's all I know." Nathan shrugged and waited, like he knew I had a lot more where that came from.

"What happened to your face?" I ask next, unable to control what question jumbled out of my mouth.

"If I tell you, will you kiss it to make it better?" Nathan teases, his playful attitude back.

Per usual, he evaded the question with ease. So I asked another. "Where have you been the past few days? You haven't been in class."

"Why? Did you miss me, Collins?" Nathan mused.

Truthfully, I didn't know why I cared but I did, and now that I did, my interest was sparked. And it was bothering me that Nathan dodged personal questions with ease, and that he didn't think twice about it. Like actually revealing something about himself was always out of the question. Instead of being embarrassed by his question, I was actually kind of annoyed.

"I don't think that's possible." I mumble.

When he chuckles, I look back up at him and frown, still wanting an answer. And I think he read my mind, because he gave me one. "I've been working, mostly."

My expression softens, but I'm still wary of his answer. "Are you sure it had nothing to do with the black eye?"

I didn't think twice before I said it, but I guess I should have. Nathan's expression darkened at my words, and I realized then that whatever personal things he didn't like discussing with me only drew me to him more. My curiosity grew tenfold, albeit selfishly, and I watched him as he ran a hand through his hair, looking away. I felt myself relax when, instead of storming out of the house, he leans back into the couch and finally meets my gaze.

"I was a bit surprised when you invited me back to your place." Nathan says suddenly, glancing back at me with a lighter expression

I blinked at him before furrowing my brows, unsure what he was referencing to. After a minute, I realized he meant that I brought him to my house to help with Luke, and haven't offered him a ride home. My cheeks warm as I look away from a smirking Nathan, who's attitude completely changed. He was back to being arrogant and cocky, and I was thankful for the change in mood.

"Shut up," I mutter for lack of a better response.

"You know, " Nathan starts, and something about the sureness in his voice makes me look up. "It was pretty cool, the way you didn't let Nina give you shit. It's sexy when you're confident."

My heart speeds up before my brain catches up and realizes what he had said. I force myself to keep eye contact as I search his cloudy blue eyes, that look more grey than blue due to the haziness apparent in them. Seeing his semi-focused gaze reminds me that Nathan is drunk, and whatever he says is therefore invalid.

Right?

"Why did you used to let people walk all over you?" He presses, head tilted and eyes blinking at me.

I stare at the unbelievably attractive boy in front of me for another minute before I straighten up, caught off guard by his gaze. "I don't know. But I like the change."

"I like it too." Nathan says seriously, and I realize somehow we moved closer, and there wasn't that much space between us anymore. My heartbeat began beating quicker, and I didn't even know why I was suddenly so nervous.

"How come you changed, Lauren?"

Before I did anything stupid, I blurt, "Do you want a ride home?"

Nathan frowned before he deadpanned, "You're not going to answer me."

"You didn't bother to answer most of my questions," I point out.

He sighed, looked away for a brief moment, and then nodded. "Sure, kitten, I'll take you up on that ride."

I don't think I breathed the entire ride home. My nerves were swimming around, and all the unanswered questions were beginning to creep into the corners of my mind, reminding me that I knew nothing. John Mayer was the only noise between Nathan and I the entire ride, but I was so caught up in my thoughts, I wasn't sure I could form a coherent sentence if I tried. When Nathan said goodnight and got out of my car, I let out a deep breath that I had been holding, and let all of the questions burst through my mind.

I had a whole lot of questions, and I was going to make Nathan Rhodes answer all of them. Eventually.