21st Century Breakdown: Nathan and Ari

12 - Restless Heart Syndrome

Chapter 12

Nathan Pritchard

"Where are you going all cologned up?" Dad asked me, looking up from his phone. I pulled my leather jacket on over the black button down I was wearing, trying to stifle the scent of Ari's favorite cologne. "Gonna fix something...?"

A knowing smile creeped onto Dad's face as I nodded, patting my front pocket that held the little red velvet box that was going to determine, well, the rest of my life, really. "Yep," I sighed, walking over to the front door and pulling on my Converse. "Wish me luck!" I called to him, opening the door and stepping out and looking into the rain.

"Good luck!" Dad called to me. Quickly, he added, "Tell Billie I'll be over later!"

I laughed lightly at the thought of Billie. He's going to flip, I thought to myself, calling back to my dad, "Will do!" I stepped out from under the porch roof and reached over my shoulder in search of a hood, but I found nothing. That's why I always wore a sweatshirt; I was just used to being able to pull my hood up at any random time. And of course, the one day that I actually needed it, I didn't wear a sweatshirt. Damn.

The trek across my lawn and the Armstrong's lawn was short, but I still managed to get soaked. I stepped under the roof overhang on the Armstrong house, shaking my head to try and dry my hair somewhat before stepping inside.

I was greeted by the sound of SpongeBob on TV and Billie and Adrienne talking in the kitchen. "Hey," I said, waving to them as I took my shoes off by their front door. "Ari's here, right?"

Adrienne nodded. "She's up in her room," she said, smiling slightly as Billie leaned over and whispered something in her ear. When he sat back up, he raised his eyebrows at me as if asking, "What the hell are you doing?" I shrugged, continuing my way to Ari's room.

I stopped at the foot of the stairs, turning around to face Billie Joe and Adrienne again, just barely able to see them. "Oh, Billie, Dad says he'll be over later," I said, waiting for him to acknowledge my statement with a nod before going up the stairs and down the hall to Ari's room.

I stopped just outside her closed door. Knocking, I thought to myself, Well, here goes nothing...

______

Ari Armstrong

It was a rainy Sunday here in Oakland, and Nathan and I were still broken up. Mom and Dad were chatting quietly in the kitchen, Jake was out with a few of his friends, and Joey was getting ready for a date he was going on later. Anthony and Amy were hanging out across the street at his house, and I was stuck here with nothing to do.

At that point, I was aimlessly scrolling through my Twitter feed on my laptop, making comments to myself in my head about all of my old friends that appeared here and there, and watching Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. It was pretty funny. I was also listening to music on Pandora, on Panic! At The Disco radio. Unexpectedly, there was someone knocking on my door. "It's open," I said, completely absent minded. The door opened and closed behind the person who just came in. I didn't bother looking up from my computer, thinking it was just Joey looking for fashion advice or something like that.

Instead of seeing Joey's black hair over my computer screen, I saw Nathan's auburn brown hair. The color alone was enough to catch me off guard. "Hey," he said in a faux casual tone. The look of seriousness in his eyes contradicted his tone of voice completely.

"Hey," I replied, equally as indifferent as he sounded. I closed my laptop, trying to be courteous, and sat Indian style instead of slouching like I had been before. "Did you walk here?" I asked, realizing that his hair was slightly damp. He nodded.