Nathan

❸❽

"Yeah, it's just a no strings attached type deal, nothing serious."
– Peri

The next couple of months of my life were unbelievably stressful. The school year was closing, and finals were all coming up. Add on the stress of college, and you'd make out with an emotional breakdown waiting to happen. There's only one person that I've been turning to, in order to relieve me of the pressure:

Arson.

I used his availability just as how he had instructed, whenever I was feeling it. It worked out perfectly, because he had the weight of school on his shoulders as well. His controversial past made him worry about if he'd impress college officials enough. I keep telling him that freshman year, everyone was stupid, and that it wouldn't matter.

But he wouldn't let it go.

"I'm just saying," He started, having stopped giving me the pleasure that I had asked him for. His head then popped from under my covers, and I went to push him back down towards my nether regions. "I was charged with arson, wouldn't that show up on a background check?"

"It was a juvenile charge, right? It's not going to show up on a check." I answer, staring up at his confused face. "Arson, don't worry, everything will be fine, you'll get in."

The brunette looked back at me, and I could sense that he was a bit relieved that I spoke to him the way I did. I reassured him, and that's all that he needed. Arson went to get back under the covers, but something lit up inside of him. Whatever it was, caused him to check the time on his phone.

"5 o'clock?!" He spoke, astonished, and hopped up from off of me. The boy has to be at the airport at 5:30 in order to pick up his Uncle. His goal was to finish up with me before 5, but we kind of got carried away. I gave him this weird look, hoping that he would see it. When he did, he chuckled to himself while putting on his pants.

"You came 4 times on 3 different occasions, I don't want to hear it." Arson replied with a smile, and I found humor in his words. "That makes me remember, is sex at school off limits, or ...?"

I stood up in order to walk him all the way downstairs. "We don't even go to the same school, how would we do it?"

He shrugged, "I have a free period, and it could have your name all over it if you want it to." and placed a kiss on my lips. I just shook my head and opened up my door so that we could walk out of it. But when we did that, Nathan was walking out of his. I'd done good at making sure the two were never here at the same time. Not because I didn't want to get caught, but because I didn't want to explain our relationship to Nate.

"Oh hey, man," Arson greeted, giving him a handshake. Nathan looked past him to see my expression, but it was blank. "last game of the season's coming up, I'll see you there." They spoke for a bit about nothing in particular before Nate let us go. Well, when Arson passed, he stepped in front of me, keeping me back.

"Together or not ... this is disrespectful as hell." Was all that he said before moving past me to enter the bathroom. I understood his anger, but it isn't what it looks like. I told him a while back that it was too soon for me to date anyone, and it still is. It's what I told Arson as well.

But for him to see me with another person, must hurt, since he clearly has feelings for me. Although he's never stated it, I guess this was one of those things where I'm supposed to just know. I can predict where our relationship will go from now on, he'll start ignoring me until I apologize.

That wasn't going to happen this time, though, I'm going to make sure of it.

X

At school the next day, I was bum rushed by my friend group. That includes Roman, and I haven't even stood face to face with him until today. He looked good, but I knew that it was all just an act. The boy has stopped trying to contact me – much to his chagrin – I'll give him points for that.

"I just want this week to END!" Asher expressed, placing his head in his palms. A few of us agreed, because not everyone was stressed out from finals. Sammie was more on the intelligent side than the rest, so she was perfectly fine. "I can't tell you how many Monsters I've drunk, yesterday alone."

"I feel bad for your brain, it's probably on its last cell." Xavier joked, causing some of us to laugh.

"What about you, Roman, are you ready for finals?" I ask, attempting to include him in on the conversation. Things are going to be awkward between us, especially if we keep meeting up like this. So I was trying to speed up that period of time where we don't speak to one another.

"Um ... yeah, you?" He stuttered, while scratching the back of his head.

"Mmmh, I'm with Asher, we should all go to a spa to get massages, I'm super tense." I suggest, and everyone murmured between each other to talk about my plan. Suddenly, Farrah walked up, unaware of what we were speaking about.

"Peri, I'm so mad at you ..." She trailed, waiting for me to ask her why, so I did. But I soon regretted it, because she blurted something that I didn't want some people to hear. "Why didn't you tell me you and that dickhead Arson were fucking?"

Sammie and Asher knew, but nobody else. I didn't think that this was something Roman should know either, since we're still in a sensitive spot. "We're not?" I report.

"Oh, what, you're fuck buddies or something?"

"Yeah, it's just a no strings attached type deal, nothing serious." I then correct, to make sure that nothing was misinterpreted. "Wait, how did you find this out?"

"Nathan told me."

In an instant, my blood began to boil. Not because of the mention of his name, but because he was sharing my business with other people. Sure, Farrah is aware of my past feelings for him, but he doesn't know that she is, so he couldn't have been trying to confide in her.

"Guys, that reminds me, I know you'll have a lot of questions, and I wish I could answer them all, but I don't even know the answers myself. Nathan and I aren't really siblings, let alone related. Georgina isn't my mom, and Steve isn't even my Dad. I've been waiting on the right moment to confront them about this, but I've been scared." I confess, looking around for their reactions.

Just as I'd expected, they were all surprised, I mean, their jaws even dropped in unison.

"Does this mean that Nathan isn't off limits anymore?" Sammie questioned, it throwing me off guard because I was expecting her to be confused. I mean, from my entire confession, that is the only thing that sparked her interest?

But speaking of it, was Nathan off limits still, or was he officially open to the public? This all depended on me, since I was the reason why he wasn't accessible to my friends in the first place. Now that we aren't related, there's nothing holding me back from saying yes.

Well, actually, there is one thing in particular: my feelings. I can't reserve Nate for myself if I wasn't going to follow through and date him. At this very moment, though, I don't want to commit to him. But I also don't want him to be committed to anyone else.

"I'm just asking ... for a friend." She added, and it made me think back to the kiss the two had. The way that he left her high and dry afterwards affected her way more than she let on. So I was confused as to why this was even a question from her.

"Peri, is he off limits?" Asher questioned, catching onto my internal dilemma. He's aware of my feelings, so I knew that in him asking me that, he was subliminally asking if my feelings were still there. Silence took the group over as I pondered my answer, but everything turned back to normal after I gave it.

"Yeah, he's ... he's off limits." I report, and shut my locker.

X