I Knew I Loved You

Chapter 3 - A Complicated Thing Called Love

That same evening at Zoe's house, she was eating dinner with her mother as she sat and ate quietly, prompting a concerned look from her.

"Everything's okay?" Her mother questioned.

"Honestly, that wouldn't be the word that I would use in this situation." Zoe answered.

"Let me guess, you and Nate had an argument." Ms. Starling said.

"Not really." She told her.

Zoe explained that Nate suggested that they should explore different options as if he was making decisions for her after she asked if he was going to play football again.

"Well, I don't think he was trying to make any decisions for you, but he also has a point because you do tend to focus on cheerleading and it wouldn't hurt to try something new, like you should at least join a club or something." Ms. Starling stated.

"Well, I kind of want to get back into drawing." Zoe told her.

"Okay, so maybe you can join the art club, but the decision is mostly yours and let Nate decide what's best for him."

Taking her mother's advice, Zoe finished dinner and then went upstairs for a shower and to wash her hair so she can do it for school as she didn't want to rush in the morning. Over at Nate's house, he arrived home as he stepped inside the house and walked into the kitchen with a sigh concerning his mother, Ines Santiago, who was preparing dinner.

"¿Qué está mal?" She questioned.

"It's nothing to worry about." He answered.

"You're our son, Nathaniel, so your father and I both know when something's bothering with you." Mrs. Santiago conveyed.

"It's Zoe, like I told her that I don't really feel like trying out for the football team this year and I also suggested that she should try something new as she probably doesn't feel like cheering and she got upset about it, so I left to let her be." He explained.

"All I'm going to say is that it's your life and only you can make the decisions for yourself." She responded.

Nate took his mother's advice into consideration, he decided to make his own decisions despite how Zoe or anyone else felt about them.

Elsewhere, Alexandra's other best friend, Rosalina Mendez, was in her room straightening her hair after washing and blow drying it after changing into a shirt and pair of shorts to lounge in from a shower as she received an incoming call from their friend, Mia Romano, who legally moved to the States from Italy with her parents and answered the call.

"Hey, Mia." Rosalina greeted.

"Hey, how was your summer?" Mia replied.

"It was alright, as I didn't do much since both Alexandra and Danny were busy with the youth summer job program, Diego was doing his own thing that I knew I wouldn't enjoy, and you being in Italy, I was basically the lone wolf of our group." She explained.

Mia apologized for Rosalina feeling lonely over the summer and told her that she, Alexandra, and Diego could always text or FaceTime her when they have a problem as Mia were like the mother in their friend group and the second group leader whenever Danny wasn't there.

"So, have you spoken to Danny while you were in Italy?" Rosalina wondered.

As Rosalina asked, Mia dodged the question by telling her that it was getting later and she still needed to get her stuff prepared for school in the morning as she was avoiding her friends finding out that she and Danny broke up after being together since freshman year. After Rosalina ended the call and hung up as she left Mia to her thoughts, Mia decided to text Danny to ask him if they could pretend that they were still in a relationship for the sake of their friends. After a few minutes, Danny replied to her message as he agreed to pretend that they were still a couple.

Back at Nate's house, he was lying down on his bed after a shower and changing his clothes and took his phone as he opened his Instagram. Scrolling through his feed, he saw one of Alexandra's posts and pressed on her username, redirecting him to her page. Scrolling through her posts, he smiled to himself that she was the type of person who was down to earth and wasn't worried about being in the center of popularity. While going through more of her photos, he decided to follow her page and then closed the app as he opened his messages and texted one of his friends. Over at Alexandra's, she was in the kitchen with her mother and Eli putting the groceries away after Diego left to head home for the rest of the evening to get ready for school as they were conversing if Eli found a house to purchase for him and Nina to move into.

"Have you and Nina found a house, yet?" Dr. Rivera asked, placing the box of trash bags under the kitchen sink.

"We found a few options, but there's a problem as one of the houses we looked at is way out of my way for work, which means that I have to keep straight ahead on the freeway instead of merging onto the exit that I usually take." Eli answered, placing the milk inside the refrigerator.

"Ooh, that's rough, but the bright side is that you don't have to worry about me taking a long time in the bathroom in the mornings." Alexandra chimed.

"Oh, trust me, I'm looking forward to not waiting for you to come out of the bathroom." He remarked.

"What a coincidence, I'm looking forward to that as well." She said.

After talking about Eli plans to buy a house, they changed the subject to Alexandra beginning her last year of high school as he gave her some advice about controlling the things that only she could control as the end of the day, there's always consequences to your actions.

"I couldn't said it better myself." Their mother declared.

"Don't worry, I told myself that this school year is going to be all about my studies and graduating." Alexandra proclaimed, putting the last bit of groceries away.

After all the groceries were stored, the three of them prepared their dinner plates with food that their mother picked up from a restaurant. Later that night, Alexandra was lying in bed scrolling through her Instagram after changing into some clothes after a shower and washing her hair. While scrolling through her feed, she saw that she had a new follower and pressed on it to see who it was, redirecting her to the activity section which was Nate who followed her as she was surprised since she always had a crush on him, but with him being the star quarterback and Zoe's boyfriend, she just kept her feelings to herself as she didn't want to be in another love triangle especially when she was already in one with Cierra and Jayden.

Remembering that she told Diego about putting relationships on hold, she was deciding between following Nate back on Instagram or holding off for awhile, but knowing that she shouldn't punish herself over something that didn't go well with someone else and to follow her heart, she followed him back to see where things go.

"Love is so complicated." She said, charging her phone and turning off the light.