Getting Under Nathan

10: "Tell me if you didn't like it."

Chapter 10 - "Tell me if you didn't like it."

**Although this chapter is important for the plot of this story, it does contain some strong sexual content.**

I slid my key into Nathan's lock and twisted it. The door clicked and then swung open automatically to reveal his deserted apartment. For the past year, Nathan had been living by himself in his family's home and I'd never noticed any mess in his house; in fact, I remembered thinking how tidy it was considering that he was a teenage boy living alone. 

However, the sight of Nathan's flat almost caused me to gasp out-loud. Dirty dishes piled up high on the counters, and I tried not to think about how long they might have been there. Newspapers cluttered the coffee table, and when I looked at the date of one of them, it was over a week old. Various pairs of shoes were scattered about the room and a few different jackets were flung over several different chairs. His dining table was covered with papers, and upon closer inspection, I realized that it was work; most of it was in Italian. I took a deep breath and then headed into the bedroom.

The whole room was a tip. Clothes were strewn all over the floor. His wardrobe doors were open and even the clothes stored in there weren't arranged neatly; they were screwed up and falling off hangers. His bed wasn't made and the sheets were twisted in such a way that it would be impossible to sleep. An ironing board leaned against the far corner of the room.

The biggest surprise, or rather the thing that shouldn't have surprised me, was the fact that his bathroom was immaculate. All his various hair products, aftershave and colognes were lined up neatly on the shelf above the sink. Judging by this and the ironing board, Nathan clearly took more pride in his own appearance than the appearance of his home.

I couldn't just sit back and let Nathan live in this dump. His flat was pretty basic anyway – even the worst accommodation was still expensive in London – but it wasn't helped at all by the amount of mess that he'd managed to create. 

Checking the time, I noted that I had about an hour before Nathan was due back from work. I began gathering up his clothes and shoving them into his laundry basket – not taking the time to work out which ones were dirty and which would survive another day. Then I stripped his bed and dropped the sheets with the dirty clothes before putting on fresh bedding. 

While one set of colours spun away in the washing machine, I tackled the kitchen, spending a good half hour doing all his washing up. As the dishes were drying on the drainer, I recycled all of his newspapers and hung up his jackets. I placed his shoes neatly by the door and then ironed his clothes before hanging them up correctly in the wardrobe. The only things I left were his work papers, because I didn't want to mess them up.

It took me over an hour, but Nathan was yet to return home. Exhausted, I collapsed backwards on the bed and sank into the comfy mattress. God, this was so much nicer than my mattress at university. I was asleep within seconds.

-

The sound of keys hitting a surface woke me. 

"Bella?" Nathan called.

I sat upright, forgetting where I was for a moment before I remembered that I was in Nathan's flat. Nathan himself strolled into the room, loosening his tie, and my breath caught in my throat upon seeing him. I'd seen him in his suit on Skype plenty of times, but it didn't beat seeing him in the flesh. He looked like he should be on a catwalk with the way his crisp, white shirt clung to his body and his black tie swung from around his collar.

"Hey." He smiled, drawing my attention away from his body and back up to his face. "Having a kip?"

I laughed sheepishly. "Yeah. Sorry."