❝We were quite a cliche, weren't we?❞ he smirked but I ignored the pang it spread in my chest.
❝We were. But this is real life. We can't hang on fantasies anymore.❞
❝Then why can't I forget you?❞
Adult life wasn't as easy as Hailey expected. Her jo...
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Song: Hold my Hand - Lady Gaga
........................................
Hailey
I put curtains aside to open the window and let the soft breeze into the hotel room. I breathed it and spun slowly, looking around and considering my next move.
When I got the gut feeling to go check on Nate, I didn't really expect it to follow through. I didn't spected nor wanted for it to actually be true. And much less for Nate to cry.
Nate didn't cry.
Wrong, he did cry. And of course I now every breathing person cry from time to time. But Nate didn't let me -nor anyone else- see him down. He put on a smile and followed the fake it till you make it moto. He did back then, he did now. One smile, his easy-going comment here and there and he diverted the topic until you couldn't remember he wasn't doing well.
But it was different now. Whatever happened in his mother's apartment snapped something within him and he didn't feel like pretending anymore.
And I didn't know what to say or do that wouldn't trigger it all the more or made me overstepped the fragile boundaries between us.
The hotel room he had booked seemed like it wasn't big enough and as he dropped his stuff on the table near the door, I could read the stress all over his stance.
He wasn't crying anymore. And that was good, wasn't it? But he looked off. Like he was on auto pilot and his mind had drifted away. And I couldn't tell if he wanted space, time, a hug or... I don't know.
I'd never seen him like this and I didn't know what shall be the best way to proceed.
"Hey," I tried as he took a seat on the verge of the bed, loosening the laces of his shoes and kicking them off. I stepped closer, unsure. "You... wanna talk about it?"
He frowned and for a horrible moment I really believed he wouldn't even answer, but then he slurred: "Not really."
"Okay..." I glanced around again, brushing my knuckles against the fabric of my jeans. What now? "You want me to... go?"
I didn't want to leave him like this, but he was closed off. Nate dealt with his stuff on his own and was very private about everything. Also, once more there wasn't an immediate answer and I feared the worst. I even feared I was disturbing his train of thought or bothering an already altered mind. But then he hummed.
"You want to go?"
"No. But if you're uncomfortable... or want to be alone-"
"I want you to stay." he said, frowning. His elbows were resting on his knees and his gaze lost somewhere forward. "But I get it if you got places to go."
