The Handcuff Effect

14

Over the next three weeks, Nathan and I had become closer and closer, until I could safely say were were beyond simple 'accquaintences'. I found out that Nathan wanted to get into radiology, that he was a science nut because he loved facts, proving things. He had a mum and a dad, one younger sister named Suze, who went to a different highschool, two cats and a goldfish. As a joke, he'd called the fish 'Cat'. His sister had stopped him from idiotically doing the same things to their cats.

In return, he found out that I enjoyed reading, not because I liked pages and pages of words, but because it was an escape for me. That I couldn't deal with the crap my mum got dealt sometimes, so I'd just jump into someone else's life. He didn't know the specifics about my mother, but eventually, I'd cracked and given him a piece of cheese. I'd told him that her bosses never went by the book, and she suffered for it. He seemed happy with that little piece of information, which had relieved me more than anything.

I found myself talking to Stace less and less. If I called her, more often than not, it went to voicemail. We texted sporadically, but somehow, my first port of call had become Nathan, rather than Stace, which was weird since I never really told him anything at all. We still talked and hung out at lunch, but I found myself keeping things from her, that I normally would have shared. It was strange and more than a little unnerving, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her things anymore.

Nathan finally got the hang of dinner runs a week and a half after he first came to stay at mine. The night before last we'd had chinese tacos, since neither of us particularly felt like doing any dishes that night. It certainly was the strangest thing I'd eaten, but neither of us could complain. Well, I couldn't complain. All teasing aside, I've never heard an actual, genuine complaint cross Nathan's lips. I was starting to wonder about that boy; he had no qualms letting people fall into bins, but couldn't find a genuine complaint to hold againsnt my toast making skills?

I found writing daily updates in that little notebook was slowly shedding light on the deepening of my feelings towards Nathan. He might have been the class clown, but he had an attentive side to him, a caring side, that had stunned me. It certainly wasn't helping my little crush. I didn't know what falling in love felt like, but I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be it. The flutterings that used to raid my stomach had turned into swarming, mutant butterflies. They appeared when I saw him, when he look at me, when he laughed with me, and more importantly, when he defended me.

Anna hadn't been a one time thing, despite Nathan's deterrant. She'd struck again another five times since, and I finally understood why. She wanted Nathan, and I was exactly where she wanted to be. Did that make her scathing comments any less hurtful? Of course not. I wasn't IronWoman. But it made it a little harder to dislike her for her actions; I can't say I'd go about it the same way, but hey, crushes do strange things to people.

'Where's your head at, Burg?' Nathan grumbled, grudgingly cutting up the chives for our hospitality prac. Shaking my thoughts away, I looked over to the tall strawberry-blonde, saw a rather large pile of finely chopped greens, then back to my much smaller pile of grated cheddar. Oops.

I started grating again with renewed vigor, not bothering to answer Nathan with more than a simple, 'Sorry.'

That made him stop entirely, grabbing my shoulder with his uncuffed hand and spinning me to face him. Stooping down to meet my eyes, rather than tilting my face up, Nathan studied me. I felt like he was seeing much more of me than I wanted him-- or anyone-- to see. He kept watching me for about five solid minutes, something flashing in his bright blue gaze. It was times like this that I sincerely wished I was as good at reading people as Nathan was. I needed some clue as to what he was thinking.
Finally, he let me go, muttering something under his breath as he looked away, back to his chives. I didn't want to think too hard about the fact that the twirling in my tummy was due to the prospect of him caring more than a little bit about how I was going.
On the down side, Stace went about it the exact same way, which was disheartening. I was probably the equivalent of a sister to him, which sucked unbelievably much.
As I was working, a thought crossed my mind. Turning to face Nathan, I continued to grate. 'You haven't pranked anyone in a while,' I observed.
I heard, rather than saw him chuckle. 'Someone's keen,' he retorted slyly, tipping his chives into the bowl before leaning against the bench to face me in return.
I scoffed, looking back at the grater. 'I was just pointing it out!' I exclaimed defensively, my extraordinary reserves of wit coming up a bit dry.
Nathan didn't bother to reply, instead letting a small smirk at the corner of his mouth do all the talking for him. The telling smile was enough to make me a strange mix of nerves and anticipation. As much as I dreaded his pranks going wrong, I desperately wanted to see what his next creative genius was. I was weird like that.
The rest of the class passed in a painfully average manner. When the bell finally rang, I was beginning to think Nathan had just been messing with my head. I shook myself. Of course he was meeting with my head! He wasn't going to pull a prank just because I asked him to. I hasn't even asked anyway. No, Nathan did things when he wanted to, not when he got asked. I'm sure it stroked his who when people did, but Nathan Montgomery didn't take requests.
As we walked out of the classroom, I watched Jared and Stace bicker somewhat loudly across the way from us. Jared was beaning and Stace looked less than impressed, so it wasn't hard to imagine who was winning that argument.
'I wish they'd shut up and go out already.' I commented softly to Nathan. 'They'd be cute together.'
Nathan scoffed at this. 'Sure,' he replied blithely, 'if he wasnt interested in someone else.'
'How do you know that?' I demanded, staring up at hin". He looked down at me with a raised brow and an amused lift to his chin. 'We're best mates,' he said slowly, like I was a child. 'We talk.'
That made me feel more than a little guilty. Nathan made room for his best friend, but I'd been doing the opposite. I felt so shallow and.. Mean. Like Anna. 'When have you spoken to Jared?' I asked, honestly curious. 'I've never seen you text him, and you just talk crap at school.'
An amused glint lit his eyes. 'I wasn't aware you were observing me so closely, Burg.' Nathan grinned, and embarrassment enveloped me. I felt my cheeks actually heat up from sheer humiliation, which probably lit my cheeks to a similar hue as my hair.
How embarrassing.
We met up with Jared and Stace before I could sputter out some type of dignity ruining sentence, which was a relief. I overheard the last of their conversation, not that it made much sense to me, and I wasn't about to ask them to explain. Not if what I heard was what I thought I'd heard. Jared saw my face, scrunched up in alarmed confusion, and he snorted immaturely, not bothering to clear my assumptions, of course.

Stace, on the other hand, looked one part amused and three parts as terrorised as I felt. That made me even less inclined to find out what they were talking about, to be perfectly honest. So, instead of pursuing the topic, I linked my free arm through Stace's and the four of us proceeded to our lockers.

'So,' Stace began softly, leaning towards my ear so only I could hear. It wasn't so much that she had something secretive to tell, it was just her way of being private. I supposed, when you're as popular as she is, word travels fast. 'They're showing my art piece at the gallery.

I turned to her, almost feeling more excited than she did. 'Really?' I cried, throwing my arms (and Nathan's too, much to his chargrin) around her. 'That's great! When? When do I get to see it?'

Stace slanted me a look. 'You've already seen it.' She pointed out, and I shrugged.

'That was weeks ago! I want to see it now! When does it come up?' I asked eagerly, determined that from now on I was going to make time for my beautiful best friend. I couldn't believe how long it had been since we'd spent some quality time together. I made me ashamed, because I was the one who had slipped away from her, not the other way around

Stace smiled at my enthusiasm, before sliding out of my grasp with the ease of one who had been suffocated by my hugs before. 'Opening Night is in three weeks.'

I felt myself frown. 'What day?' I asked. I hadn't talked to my mother since our fight, but that didn't change the facts. That's when she'd be back. She'd told me, and I didn't forget those kind of things. Not where my mum was concerned.

Stace mirrored my expression quizzically. 'Uh, the Friday?' She offered witha shrug.

I felt relief pour through me. Mum was coming back on the Tuesday, or at least, that's what I expected, anyway. Stace watched my shoulders slump in relief. 'Great! I'll be there.' I promised, crouching down to grab my lunch. Or, lack of lunch. Again.

Stace laughed at my crestfallen face. 'I swear, you won't last a second without me.' She snorted as she tossed me a sandwhich. My darling best friend had been packing enough for two people for about two years now, when she figured out I forgot my own lunch more often than not. I totally owed her my life.

'Thanks, Stace!' I sung at her, standing up and kicking my locker door closed. Nathan and Jared both looked less than impressed with our casual demeanour.

'You want to take any longer?' Nathan asked me stoically.

I bit down on a laugh. 'Sure. You know, I think I might have some change floating around in the bottom of my bag if you wanna wait a minute--'

Nathan didn't even bother replying. Just turned around and walked away, jerking me along with him. I hooted out a laugh that time, one that was echoed by Stace and left Jared guffawing beside me before offering me his knuckles. 'You know what? I like you.' He managed to get out as I bumped fists with him.

I rolled my eyes, looking back at Nathan for a second. He hadn't turned around, but Jared noticed and wagged his eyebrows suggestively at me when I turned back to face him. I felt my cheeks turn crimson, and shot him the biggest foulie I could msuter. With a cheeky grin, Jared raised both his palms in the air, in the universal sign for peace.

I felt the insane desire to bury my head in the earth as we walked out of the building towards our table. Now that Jared knew, it would only take so long for Nathan to figure it out. I don't think I looked at Nathan once that enire lunch. Even missed the supposedly hilarious next installment of Nathan's prank list.

I was so doomed.