Aimed At You

Chapter 23

"Oh, shit!" Lexie exclaimed after checking her watch. She's been at the diner for almost three hours now. Aiden and Nathan showed her around the kitchen, explained protocols and taught her how to cook a few of the dishes. It was almost 10pm and most of the crew already left.

Now, the three of them were sitting on one of the booths, eating and talking. Lexie could understand how and why Nathan viewed Aiden as a father figure; he was sweet and warm. He was the type of person that you would want to seek comfort from whenever you want to cry and wallow in self-pity. He mentioned how Nathan's constantly talking about this girl that moved in with him a month ago, and he only confessed this mystery girl's name yesterday. Aiden not so subtly asked the two if they were together, and they said "no" at the same time, making Aiden widely grin.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked. He was sitting beside Aiden, and Lexie sat across from him.

"I forgot to give the contract to Vance."

"Have you signed it?"

She pressed her lips together, "Not yet..."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to." She didn't want to sign it, but she was going to for Nathan. She already reviewed the whole contract, and surprisingly enough, Vance would only be taking 12% of her earnings from the competition. Aside from that, the contract mentioned details about the said competition; when she'll be competing, which is every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday; and other details that bored her to death. 

She noticed how Nathan's whole demeanor changed. He seemed... nervous? She wondered whether or not that's because of what she said. "Are you okay?"

Nathan stopped tapping his foot, "Huh? Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You tell me," she shrugged. "You look nervous."

"I'm not."

Aiden chuckled, "It's probably cause you're here, Lexie."

***

She decided to mail the contract instead of going to Vance. It was Monday, and she'll be competing tomorrow anyway. She was now mopping the floors of their apartment, and Nathan was in the shower. She went to her room to mop the floor and heard Nathan humming a song from the bathroom: killing me softly. Lexie stopped mopping and simply stood there in front of the bathroom door, like a creep, listening to Nathan hum. He sounded so good, peaceful and enchanting.

When she finished mopping, she grabbed a guitar that she smuggled in their apartment a few days ago. Her father gave her that blue guitar on her 8th birthday - the last present he ever gave her. She sat down on the couch, eyes closed, as her fingers started to strum the strings in a familiar tune. Jenna needed a guitar for an elective, and she decided to let her borrow it. They met up a few days ago, and Jenna gave the guitar back. Lexie hasn't played the guitar for almost 2 years, yet her fingers remembered every chord.

With her eyes still closed, she started to quietly sing. 

"Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song

I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes"

She stopped singing and her eyes opened - the shower wasn't running anymore. She looked around the living room and saw Nathan standing in front of his bedroom door, a towel wrapped around his lower half, looking at her as if she found the cure to cancer. 

"You're really making yourself look like a stalker, you know?" She said despite the blush emerging on her cheeks.

Nathan smirked, "I was humming that song."

"Yes, I heard. It's stuck in my head, so I had to get it out."

"Uh huh," he smirked again "I didn't know you can play."

"Yep."

"Where'd you get the guitar?"

"It's mine. My friend, Jenna, returned it a couple of days ago."

"Ahh," he nodded and stared at her for a second.  "Can you teach me how to play that song?"

"Sure, if you put on a shirt and dry yourself, cause I just mopped the goddamn floor and you got them all wet again."

Nathan chuckled and ran straight to his room. Lexie bit her lip and started to strum the guitar again. She just had a full conversation with shirtless Nathan.  

Not even two minutes later, Nathan came out of his room fully clothed. He wore a black t-shirt,  gray sweatpants, and he was drying his hair with a towel. Lexie watched him walk towards her, utterly enticed by him. He sat beside her and smiled, "So, how do I play it?"

Lexie stared at him, startled by the close proximity. They haven't been this close since a long time ago, and Lexie suddenly forgot how to breathe. She cleared her throat and handed the guitar to him. "Do you know any chord?"

"Uhh," he positioned three of his ring-covered fingers on three separate frets to form the C-chord. "This one and 2 more, I think."

"Okay," she nodded. "There are quite a handful of chords, so bear with me. First one's E minor, then A minor."

Nathan nodded and placed two fingers on the right strings. "E minor, yes?"

"Correct."

"And this is A minor?" he said after positioning his fingers again. 

"Correct," she clapped. "Then, D major seven."

"Huh?"

"You uhm," she grabbed his hand without thinking and positioned three of his fingers. Nathan's warm hand went stiff, so she had to move his fingers a couple of times till they remained on the correct spot. "Stay," she instructed. 

She slowly let go and turned to Nathan. He was staring at her, mouth parted. His pupils were dilated as his eyes traveled from her blue eyes to her perfectly red lips. Lexie's breath caught in her throat, and she slowly parted her mouth. Their hearts were racing, eyes glued on one another's lips, not uttering a single word. They couldn't think of anything else but each other. Nathan cautiously leaned closer, brows furrowing. It was almost like they could hear each other's pounding heartbeats, it's like they could hear how much they want their lips to touch, how much they want to feel each other's skin. Nathan inched closer. His hands trembled, begging him to caress her blushing cheeks. Held his breath, afraid to spoil the moment.  He wanted to kiss her more than he wanted oxygen.