Aimed At You

Chapter 24

Interrupted.

Every single time Nathan and Lexie were on the verge of succumbing to each other, every single time they were about to cave in to the invisible string pulling them together, they get interrupted. It's almost as if the universe is laughing at them. As if they were in chains, gradually pushing toward each other, then when they're about to touch, the universe pulls their chains and says, "Nope. Fuck you. Suffer." 

Right when Nathan shifted even closer than before, their lips only inches away. Right when he raised his left hand up to caress Lexie's red cheeks, her phone rang loudly - the universe laughing at them yet again. 

Lexie turned away to search for her phone on the couch, and Nathan wanted nothing more than to grab her wrist, hold her breath-taking face, and kiss her plump cherry lips until they both ran out of breath, because who needs air anyway? Lexie was the air inside Nathan's lungs, and Nathan was the pounding of Lexie's heart. 

He watched Lexie's flushed face form a scowl when she saw the caller ID. She stared at her phone for a couple of seconds before she answered it, holding the phone by her ear. "Vance," she answered. Her voice was as cold as Nathan was, now that Lexie's warmth wasn't there to blanket his perfectly sculpted body. 

Nathan started to notice Lexie's clear disdain over Vance, but he couldn't figure out why. Not that it's any of his business. He watched her as she stood still, her brows pinched together, voice utterly flat as she answered him with "Yes", "I know," and "I won't be late." 

She hung up the phone and turned to Nathan, almost saying "where were we?" when she saw the look on his face, but she didn't.  Rather, she grabbed her guitar and sat beside him again. "Wanna continue?" she asked, staring at her guitar. She didn't look Nathan in the eye, who was staring at her with amused eyes. He nodded, a small grin plastered on his painfully irresistible lips.

They continued to play killing me softly  for about another hour. Nathan would occasionally hum along, and Lexie would stare at him dumbfounded. They had the same schedule for work at the diner, and it was their day off. They spent the rest of the day together, pretending like they didn't almost kiss earlier. Nathan made them dinner - not pasta, but some sort of chicken - and they watched The Shutter Island  together. At around 11 pm, they said goodnight, withdrew to their rooms, and laid in their own beds, endlessly thinking about each other. 

***

The next day, Nathan drove themselves to Vance for Lexie's first game as the champion. It was slightly awkward in the car - the fact that they're alone together in such a small space - but neither one of them mentioned what almost happened yesterday. Leo and Louis were already there when they arrived, and Joe and Shane turned up 15 minutes later. They apologized for being late, saying that they stayed up last night. Sure.

People cheered for her when she arrived, and she was faintly nervous. She didn't want to screw it up and disappoint Nathan. Her competitor was a short guy named Denis. He looked young and nerdy. He wore glasses with frames too big, a blue flannel, light washed jeans, and converse. 

Lexie looked down her body to check her clothes. She wore a red bomber jacket, a corset top, black pants, and chunky shoes. She looked up when Anthony started announcing shit to the crowd, and saw Nathan checking her out. She smirked, tilting her head to tease him. He noticed her eyes on him, and his face instantly flushed. Busted. He chuckled from across the room and raised a brow, smiling.

Denis' clock dinged, and he started to shoot the targets. He was nervous. He missed the first 3 targets on the first set, missed 2 on the second, and missed 2 again on the last. Lexie closed her eyes, feeling bad for him. She stepped up beside him and smiled politely. She shot every single one of the targets without breaking a sweat, and the crowd cheered and howled. She turned to Denis and extended her hand, trying her hardest to be friendly. He took it, "My God, you are astounding."  

Lexie chuckled timidly, "Thank you. You did great, too."

"Yeah, sure."

"No, seriously," She laughed. "If you practice some more, maybe we could compete again next time."

He stared at her for a second and smiled, "Alright. Alright, I'll see you soon then." Lexie nodded, and he walked away while her friends ran up to her. Louis ruffled her hair, smiling proudly. Leo pressed her cheeks together, and Joe was wiping away fake tears. She saw Shane pull Nathan to the side, and he whispered something to him. Nathan grinned widely and nodded. 

***

They all went home after a while, and now Nathan was sitting on the couch, strumming Lexie's guitar. She was swirling a cup of coffee on her hand and walked past a fan in front of Nathan. "Hmm," he hummed, looking up at her. "You smell like apples." 

Lexie knitted her brows together, smiling slightly. 

"What perfume do you use?" he asked. 

"I don't use perfume."

"Oh?" he tilted his head. "Why not?"

"They make me want to vomit." 

"Maybe you're pregnant."

Lexie scoffed playfully and chucked a throw pillow straight to Nathan's laughing face. She sat beside him and grabbed a book, The Hating Game. Suddenly, she felt her hair that was previously tied in a messy bun falling on her back. She turned to Nathan and saw him holding her hair tie in between his thumb and index finger. "Keep reading," he said softly. 

She turned to her book again and started reading when she felt Nathan's hand brushing her hair. She froze. He continued to brush her wavy red hair with his fingers, and Lexie forgot how to breathe.

"I like your hair," he whispered. 

"I like yours too," she whispered back. "I think I'm going to change my hair color."

"Why? Red suits you really well."

"Hmm," she thought for a second, even though she could barely think of anything other than Nathan's long fingers on her hair. "I'm tired of red."

"Dye it pink, then."

"Pink?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I dare you."

She bit her lip and turned to him. He dropped his hand from her hair and smiled innocently, "You want to go to the Zoo?"

"I've never been to the Zoo."

Nathan's jaw dropped open, "You've never been to the Zoo?"

"That's what I said, yes."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know. They're weird." He tilted his head, urging her to continue. "I just find it weird that they're practically forcing animals to be in close proximity with humans, who they're not used to. They're using animals as if they're displays, you know what I mean?"

Nathan stared at her thoughtfully, "Yeah. I get that. Although, zoos provide them shelter. Safe habitat and all that."

"Mhm," she nodded. "But giving them shelter doesn't mean they have to be used as displays for people's entertainment."

Nathan stared at her again, smiling. He was clearly amused. He raised both hands up, "Okay, you win."

She chuckled and shook her head, "Do you want to go, though?"

 "I asked you first."

"Well, I'm the one asking now."

He laughed, "Damn, Lexie. I really can't win against you, huh?" He stood up and grabbed his keys from the island. "Let's go, champion."