❝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: Because of you - Kelly Clarkson
........................................
Hailey
Being back in Nate's building was... weird. I'd been here just a few times, but it was like taking a trip to memory lane, back to seventeen and eagerly nervous to see his place. Now I had a different vision of it. It hadn't been his home, it had been his jail. A place he was forced to turn to. The place he ran away from.
And he was seizing this change too. He was more tense and fidgeting the more we advanced. Crossing the building's front door, up these set of old stairs and until we stopped before a known door.
But he then just stood there. And stared. And stared...
"You okay?" I wondered softly and he hummed but still didn't move an inch.
Seeing he wasn't going to knock, I raised my hand but before I even got to touch the bell Nate seemed to snap out of it and intercepted it. "No, wait."
"Sorry." I mumbled but let him take my hand in his, without thinking, just like it was natural. The way his chest puffed out and slowly down as he released the breath made me ache a little. This was hard for him. And so he just glared the door making up his mind before confronting what was behind it. "We can go back later, too."
"No." he frowned, not tearing his gaze from the wood before him. "I wanna do his now but... I need a second."
"'Course." I kissed his shoulder, leaning closer and hugged his arm, letting his fingers intertwined with mine.
Nate breathed in deeply, taking courage or patience and his chest swelled and fall with it. My thumb caressed the back of his palm and his hand twitched, squeezing mine involuntarily as he shook his head. "This is stupid."
"It's not." I reassured gently, my heart aching for him as well.
"It is." he breathed slowly again, leaning against the railing of the stairs as if to keep himself balanced and I followed his as we were still attached. "Last time I couldn't even get to my old room." he said quietly then, almost rushedly and I tried to meet his gaze, but he was frowning forward. "She's probably thrown everything away. I don't know... I don't even think I want to know."
"Maybe you should?" at my whispered words, Nate did look at me and I swallowed. "I mean, it could give you some kind of closure."
He hummed, looking at the door intently and leaving me to wonder if I'd overstepped my place there. I was here to be supportive. To listen and be there. Not to push, right? But it could be a good thing that he ripped this experience at once, like a band-aid. Painful but swift and be done with the trauma.
