all too well, n.nelson

𝗧𝗲𝗻🍂

"BETHANY, SLOW DOWN!" Nick yelled after the red head who had taken off running up the stairs.

        "You'll have to catch me!" She shouted back over her shoulder, skidding around a corner and sprinting down a hall. Nick followed after her, laughing. She entered a room to her left and stopped in the center of it to catch her breath. Nick burst in after her, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around.

       "I caught you." Nick smiled at her as he put her back down.

      "I still... I still beat you here." Bethany replied between pants, both of them bursting into laughs. "This place is massive, Harry's loaded isn't he?" Bethany spun in a circle, admiring the ballroom.

        "Totally loaded. He could be on My Super Sweet Sixteen." Nick said back, looking around the room as well. They could only barely here the music up on the third floor, the base pounding below them.

      "And cry when his mommy and daddy get him the wrong color Lamborghini." Bethany added, scoffing. The duo sat down on the floor underneath a window sill in the fancy room.

"Do you, like, still like Sarah?" Nick asked quietly, his eyebrows furrowed. He didn't look the girl in the eyes.

        "No... Maybe... I don't know. It's complicated." Bethany let out a frustrated sigh. "I really liked her and she fucked it up, i shouldn't like her anymore, and i don't. But part of me...always will?" She added, Nick gave her a small smile. Bethany didn't want to give Nick the wrong idea, she liked him. He made her feel important, special, cared for. Something Sarah never did.

"No, I guess that would make sense." Nick replied softly.

       "What about you? Do you like Tara Jone, like Harry said?" Bethany asked, looking over at him.

      "What? No! No, definitely not." Nick shook his head, eyebrows knitted together.

        "So you don't have a crush on anyone at the moment?" Bethany questioned again.

       "Well..." Nick started, looking down at his black vans . He let out a breath and looked back at her. "I didn't say that."

        Oh.

       "Oh..." Bethany let out, trying her hardest not to sound disappointed. She blinked her eyes a few times down at her white converse. "What's she like?" Bethany asked with as much enthusiasm as she could, not wanting to sound as hurt as she felt.

       "She's, uhm-well for starters she's really smart. Brilliant if you ask me." Nick started, his brown eyes locking with her blue ones. "She's witty in the best way possible, she's funny, and to top it all off she's really pretty. I like her, a lot. I just wish I knew how she felt." Nick let out a frustrated sigh. Bethany nodded, this girl sounded perfect for Nick. As much as she wished it was her, she had to pretend to not be a little jealous.

        "She's sounds lovely. You should tell her how you feel, I'm sure she likes you back. There's not anything to not like about you, Nick." Bethany shrugged with a smile, his eyes flickered with something. Was it hope?

        "You think I should?" Nick asked her, Bethany nodded. Nick opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. The duo stared into each other's eyes as they felt a gravitational pull to each other, Bethany could feel her heart skip a beat when his fingers grazed her own.  She looked down at their touching fingers, sparks practically erupting from the touch. Nick only heard the sound of his heart beating in his ears as she looked between their hands, his eyes, and his lips.

       "Nick, you up here? I just want to talk to you, mate!" Harry's voice echoed from the hall. Bethany pulled away from Nick quickly, bring her hand up to her hair to pull at a curl. Nick stood up and looked down at Bethany, who averted her gaze from him. "Why are you hiding?" Harry shouted again. Nick left the room in a hurry, Bethany rubbed at her eyes. Tears began forming.

        "Stupid, stupid, stupid." She muttered to herself, taking out her phone and calling Tori.

       "It's not time yet, what's wrong?" Tori said immediately.

     "Don't ask questions, I'm fine. I want to go home." Bethany spoke quickly, Tori told her she'd be on her way. The red head sneakily left the room and went to wait in the drive for Tori.

        "And, like, it's all just banter, innit? I mean, the lads can see it's banter, you can see it's banter. There's no need to start anything, just cause you're in a bad mood at my birthday party." Harry stated to Nick. Nick was mentally curing himself for leaving Bethany, he had been so close to kissing her. And kissing her would allow her to see that it's her.

        "Yeah, banter. Guess I was just in a mood." Nick muttered in reply. It was not just a bad mood. After he finished talking to Tara, Harry and his mates started talking about Bethany.

         Nick turned away from Tara and her girlfriend with a smile, but found Bethany nowhere in sight.

       "Nick! Where are you going?" Harry called for him, their friends laughing behind him.

     "I'm going to find Bethany." Nick stated, rolling his eyes.

"What, that stupid little gay girl?" Harry laughed

"Actually, she's bisexual." One of the boys behind him corrected mockingly. "Whatever that means."

"Why do you even hangout with her?" Harry asked, their mates chatting behind him.

"She's my friend." Nick replied back simply.

"Wait, wait, wait. Do you think she had a crush on you? Maybe you're her only straight crush, that's probably why she joined the rugby team." Harry laughed again, his crew laughing too. "Ohmygod, how sad." Harry shook his head, Nicks hands balled into fists.

"Thats homophobic, Harry." Nick stated, his voice dripping with disappointment. "Happy fucking birthday." Nick muttered turning away from the boys and going to find Bethany.

"I'm just going to go find the loo." Nick said quickly, Harry's mates laughing as he went to search for Bethany again. He decided he would go tell her now. When he reached the room they had been in, Bethany was gone. Because she was sitting in Tori's room with Tori and Charlie, crying her heart out to them about how Nick liked some other girl. How she thought they were going to kiss and then his friends were looking for him and he just left.

"I mean, he knows I'm bisexual. But right before I asked him about his crush, he asked me if I still liked Sarah. I told him I sort of always will, but that I really don't want to... I don't know! This is all so confusing!" Bethany cried out, throwing her pillow across the room.

"Why don't you try and get some sleep, it's pretty late." Was all Tori could say. Charlie helped Bethany to his room and they climbed into bed.

"I think he likes you, Bethy." Charlie whispered, Bethany's breath caught in her throat.

"Me? No, it's can't be." Bethany shook her head and buried herself farther into the blankets.

;

In the morning, she awoke to the sound of rain pattering against the window. Charlie had already left, so she rolled over to check her phone. No message from Nick.

"Fuck." She whispered, before sighing and getting out of bed. Bethany walked across the hall to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her red hair dangling around her face in lose curls, bags under her blue eyes, and her baggy dark green tshirt hung on her small frame. Her mind replaying the event from the night before on repeat in her head. A knock on the door down stairs pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Charlie, can you get the door please?" Charlie's mum called from the other room. Charlie appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"Can you get the door, Bethy? I'm going to shower." Charlie asked, gesturing to his clothes. "It's probably just the postman."

"There's no post on Sundays." Bethany frowned and walked by him. She bounded down the stairs and unlocked the door. Standing in the pouring rain, was Nick.