River, Sun, Freedom

There's a new girl on the block

This is the last of the completed chapters I had done earlier. From here on in I'm gonna be uploading much slower. Please don't hate me (:P). I have a lot of school work and things to do before the holidays start, but if you are really patient, I promise I'll be uploading a lot more regularly over the summer holidays.

tigerLily_x

Chapter four: There’s a new girl on the block.

Nate stepped into the crowded room with a bottle of wine in his hand - courtesy of Anisha - and took his place beside Marianne and Nicholas. Hari, Kaede, Angela and Rick all surrounded Marianne's battered table each holding a set of battered, ancient playing cards. Nate picked up the cards dealt to him by Marianne and began sorting the cards into a set. The room, which had been filled with quiet banter, was now silent, and he felt several eyes on him.

“What?” he said, not looking up from his cards.

Nickolas chuckled and poured everyone a cup of wine as he spoke. “So...” he trailed his voiced, encouraging excitement to build up in the room. “That was a pretty nice catch you had there.”

Nate looked at him over his cards. “What do you mean?”

“Och, I’m talking about a pretty young lass by the name of Jordon River.” Nicholas replied, winking at him, taking on a Scottish accent

Nate looked back down at his cards and carefully placed a card on the table. “Number one,” he began, “You’re Irish.” This evoked laughter among the group.

Marianne leaned in. “And number two?” she said, gesturing him to continue.

“Number two ... she’s not my type.”

The entire group groaned now and shook their heads. “Nate,” said Richard. “You’re past the end of the world! There aren’t enough women for you to have a “type””

“Besides what wrong with her?” Angela spoke up.

“I think she’s very pretty.” Said Kaede. “And talented.” A few other's in the group nodded in agreement.

Nate opened his mouth to speak, and the rest of the group leaned in closely to listen. “I think...” he trailed. The group nodded eagerly. “I think ...”

“You think what?” Nicholas said impatiently.

“I think it’s your turn Nicholas.” Nicholas rolled his eyes and placed a card on the table.

“But what do you really think about her, Nate?” Marianne looked at him over the top of her cup of wine.

Nate looked at her, and then allowed his eyes to inspect the faces of all of the group. He didn’t like what he saw. “Are you all trying to hook me up with her?”

Immediately, the group leapt back from him, trying to hide their sheepish looks. Nate suppressed the urge to groan. He knew that these people cared a lot about him; everyone here did, as this was a group that appreciated and valued skill, but he found that this was trying his patience.

He placed his cards on the table and got up and left the room, ignoring the cries of protest coming from behind him. He walked downstairs, which was now bathed in moonlight.

Halfway down the stairs he noticed movement in the meadow, on the other side of the room, near the pond. Perhaps it was irony, or just a mere coincidence, but the movement turned out to be her; Jodi.

Silently, he sat down where he was and watched her. She appeared to be playing with the border collie dog, Jack. Or it was playing with her. It had what appeared to be a jacket in its mouth, probably hers, and she was trying her best to get it back. She kept lunging for it, and Jack kept darting out of the way. Nate watched amused when she gave up, threw her hand in the air and dropped to the ground. The dog, noticing the change, carefully approached her, dodging about, trying to gauge her reaction, but she didn’t move, just stared at it.