all too well/ nate jacobs

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Nate watched Lily grab Josh's hand with such trust and openness. And it kind of made him feel sick, but he ignored it. He looked over at Jessica who was completely out of her mind. She was already so drunk that she was heading towards Daniel Dimarco. To every girl at school, Daniel was the playboy or the school's rat who creeped on every single girl. Jessica was heading towards him and Nate noticed him preparing himself to be a total creep. He was also dressed as Ted Bundy, which really solidified his creepiness.

Nate was already over standing there like a complete idiot, so he decided to leave. There was no one here he wanted to speak to, but Lily Howard. Nate knew that Jules was telling people about what happened with his dad, however he just needed to find out who. There was no way he was going to ask Maddy, Kat or even try and speak to BB. He knew they would go right back to Jules, however he trusted Lily would keep their interaction to herself. Well he hoped so anyway. He stood there contemplating if he should leave and get away from people, but seeing Lily laughing with 'John Lennon' just made him scoff.

He knew why it annoyed him, but he couldn't really think about it. As far as Lily knew, Nate was just an asshole trying to harass her friends. But to Nate, Lily was someone he opened up to and talked about things no one would understand. Tyler was Nate's way of masking himself and being open enough to talk about those nerdy things. Nate would never tell a soul that he was obsessed with chess, history and reading classic novels. He knew no one was smart enough to understand and especially the girls he would hook up with. Given, Nate hadn't hooked up with many girls, but all of them did not spark his interest enough to open up. Jessica was just a past time. Maddy was okay and they had a fun time, but it was nothing serious. None of his relationships with girls ever got serious. He decided to walk out the door without a second thought and got into his car.

...

Nate decided to get out of his costume and pulled a sweatshirt over his top. He started to drive with a drink in his hand. He blasted his music loudly as he sped down the town's empty roads. The roads were so quiet and empty you could hear a pin drop on the ground. Nate drove into Fez's shop to get another drink. He walked in to see Fez standing by the counter with his head down.

'What's up Fez?' Nate asked moving past him to the drink fridge

'What's up man?' Fez responded with his head still looking down at the counter

'Yo, can I get two of the rolling papers, too bro?' Nate asked as he opened the fridge door

'I don't know what's going on with Lily and Lexi and shit...' Fez begin to say, 'But you should know. I really care about them'

Nate was taken back by his comment when he placed his drinks on the counter. Nate stood back and watched Fez finally look up at him.

'Ain't you Rue's drug dealer?' Nate purposefully misdirecting the conversation

'Nah man' Fez responded, 'I just heard from Lexi that something's going on'

'So, you're in a relationship?' Nate responded, 'With Lexi?'

Fezco stood there for a second thinking about his question, but responded, 'Nah man. They are like family to me'

'So, it's platonic?' Nate further asked, 'I didn't expect Lexi Howard to be around you'

Fez looked away every time Nate mentioned Lexi. Nate knew he didn't feel a sense of friendship from her.

'Look man' Fez went on, 'All I'm saying is leave Lily and her friends alone'

Before Nate could think of something to say, he wondered why Fez was saying this? What was Lily telling Lexi about him? He felt a little disheartened, but he didn't want Fez to see his disappointment.

'Is that a threat?' Nate asked trying to mask his disappointment

'Nah I'm just telling you' Fez stated simply, 'I just heard it from Lexi'

Nate bit the inside of his mouth hard and walked over to Fez. He honestly had no idea what to say, but he could feel a little bit of blood filling his mouth. A lot of people believed that Nate liked confrontation, but the truth was that it made him very nervous if he wasn't in control. And right now, Fez was in control by mentioning Lily.

'What have you heard?' Nate asked

'That you are being rude to Lily and harassing her' Fez answered simply

'Fezco let's get this straight' Nate trailed on, 'I haven't been harassing anyone, especially Lily. And whatever Lexi or Cassie told you they are lying. And Rue is a fucking drug addict you can't really believe her'

'Listen bro' Fez spoke with a quiet but threatening tone, 'All I'm saying is if you keep fucking with them... I'ma kill you'

Nate stood there and thought about other things he could say, but the threats or the misdirection of conversation didn't seem to get under Fez's skin. Nate tended to always get on this type of defence when people came at him. He would always try to get under people's skin and sometimes he would take it too far. Although, he didn't always love doing it and he would feel guilty at times. But Nate did truly believe that some people deserved his sharp tongue.

'It's gonna be $5.75 playboy' Fez said as he looked towards the floor once again

Nate wanted to say something else or try to defend himself further, but he decided to instead place the money on the counter. He walked away to his car feeling a lot of different emotions. He was angry, furious but he was mostly disappointed. Was Lily's friends really telling everyone that he is 'harassing her' or being 'rude'? Or did Lily truly think he was being a dickhead? He knew that those comments at the carnival were wrong, but he didn't think it was that bad between them.

Starting his car, he looked down at his phone to see Mckay asking him where he was. He put his phone down not really wanting to respond. He left the party for a reason.