Far From Perfect

Chapter 4

Nate carries me outside and makes his way through the groups of people that are standing around talking and drinking. He finds an empty spot that isn't littered by people or their empty beer cans. "This should do," Nate says with a smile and slowly lowers me until my feet touch the floor.

"What happened to your so-called victory lap?" I ask him curiously.

"That was just an excuse to get you outside. Alone," he adds matter-of-factly and I gulp.

"Oh," I respond nervously.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," he says bluntly, making me dread what is going to come out of his mouth. Nothing good ever comes after those words.

"I'm all ears."

"I know you basically hate me and-"

"I don't hate you," I quickly respond, cutting him off. He gives me a look that clearly says he doesn't believe me and I sigh. "I don't. It's just...it's complicated."

"You can say that again."

"Look, I don't hate you. We just got off on the wrong foot, which is mainly my fault and I apologize."

"No, I should be the one apologizing. After all, I took photos of you without your permission."

"Well apologize then," I say seriously and manage to keep a straight face for a few seconds before breaking into. "I'm totally kidding."

"You had me there for a second," he says with a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "But in all seriousness, how about we start over?"

"And how do you propose we do that?" he asks curiously.

"Like this." I extend my hand towards him and say, "Hi, my name is Alexa Williams. What's your name?" He looks at my hand for a few seconds and gives me a rather cute boyish smile before finally shaking my hand.

"I'm Nathaniel Carter but you can call me Nate."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Nate," I respond politely.

"The pleasure is all mine," Nate responds with a wink.

"You don't say?" I tease and he chuckles.

"You just have this way of ruining things," he says with a chuckle and I laugh.

"Well excuse me for wanting to lighten the mood a bit."

"There are other ways to lighten the mood," he says and I don't know where he is going with that, but I am not about to find out.

"So we're good now, right?" I ask him, changing the subject and he hesitates for a moment before finally nodding his head.

"We're good," he reassures me.

"Let's get back to playing beer pong then."

"Yes, ma'am," Nate responds with a fake southern accent.

He grabs my hand and looks at me as if he's asking permission, and I am not about to say no to him. Not now that we had just agreed to start fresh. I smile up at him and that is all the answer he needs. He mirrors my smile and takes us back inside his apartment.

We find a table that is in need of an opponent, and quickly volunteer to play and before we know it the night goes by in the blink of an eye. We manage to beat one team after another and hold onto our undefeated title until the very end. We celebrate our victory with some very well deserved beer and walk back outside to get some fresh air.

We find a pair of empty chairs and sit down for the first time since I arrived at Nate's place.

"That was fun," Nate comments as he stretches his arms behind his back. I watch his every move and see as his shirt slowly slides up his stomach, revealing his abs. I quickly look away, not wanting to be caught staring and wait for him to right his shirt. "Are you okay?" Nate asks and I turn back to see him with his shirt all the way up now.