Rehabilitation

78

Things were normal with me and Nathan again. We were friends and that was it. I liked it. Even though neither of us admitted it to the other we both knew that we'd missed each other.

We'd been staying in the hotel for a week now. We often hung out at each others hotel rooms. We watched movies together. I wrote and read and after lots of convincing, I managed to get Nathan to read a book I'd recommended. He'd read the first few pages then groaned and said he couldn't do it because he was already bored.

I'd been sat on the bed reading my own book while he sat on the arm chair across the room.

"Just keep reading, the first parts always slow but trust me it gets better," I said.

He'd only groaned in response but opened the book again. He didn't get very far over the next week but he was trying.

Sometimes Simon and Alisha would come round and we'd all watch a movie together. It felt right. Everything felt good.

Me and Nathan sometimes walked to community service together and it reminded me of when we used to live together.

Community service ended soon and honestly I was dreading it. It kind of felt like a safety net. Without it I was free to do anything, which was a good thing but also terrifying.

I didn't have many friends before I'd started community service but that hadn't mattered, I got by fine on my own. But now that we were all friends I liked it and I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if we'd stay friends without us doing community service together everyday.

We had another probation worker now that that cock ran off. She was honestly the best one yet. She didn't seem too bothered about what we did but still made sure we got stuff done.

"I don't think we should kill this one." I said to Alisha after we'd met her. Alisha laughed at my joke. I glanced behind us and saw Nathan grinning at my joke too.

Things weren't all that different now that we were kind of famous. I was surprised I hadn't heard from my mum but also grateful because I couldn't deal with her on top of everything else.

I still went to work, and Nathan would sometimes stay in my hotel room while I was there. When I'd get back he'd ask me how it was and listen to me explain every last detail about my day.

The job had been getting better. I'd been giving some other roles and me and Aria had gotten even closer. I hadn't let her meet Nathan yet, I thought their personalities might clash. The job still didn't feel right but I was doing what Nathan had suggested. Give it two months.

One day when I came home from work I dropped onto the bed. There was a lump beneath my back and rolled over so I could see what it was. There was a stuffed toy where I had been lying and I was surprised I hadn't seen it before I'd jumped onto the bed. I picked up the toy and realised what it was. It was a stuffed turtle.

I hadn't put it there, I'd never seen it in my life. This had to have been Nathan. He had practically stolen the spare key card to my room, so he was the only other person who would have come into my room. I looked at the teddy in my hands and frowned. Nathan confused me when he did stuff like this. Sometimes he seemed so unbothered and then other times he was so thoughtful, like that time he'd surprised me with Chinese food.

"Hey."

I jumped up and threw my hand to my chest.

"Shit! You scared me." I yelled at Nathan. He'd just come from the bathroom.

"Sorry." He laughed.

"What's this for?" I said, showing him the turtle.

He shrugged, "I saw it and thought of you." He jumped onto the bed and made himself comfortable. I frowned at him because I didn't know why a turtle had made him think of me but then I remembered. When we'd first slept together. The socks I'd been wearing. Turtle socks, really? I couldn't believe he'd remembered that.

"Oh, thanks." I smiled. I sat up beside him in the bed, hugging my legs close to my chest. Now I was thinking about that night, our first time together. He wasn't speaking so I figured he was thinking about it too. Not in as much detail as me because he must have thought about it earlier, when he'd bought the turtle.

I was still holding the teddy, stroking it subconsciously as we sat in silence. I wondered what Nathan had been up to recently, where he'd found the teddy, what he'd been doing outside of community service and hanging out with me, whether he was still getting laid by all his fans.

I also had been wondering whether him and his mum were okay after what Nathan had told me. He hadn't mentioned it since and he seemed fine now but I was still worried about him.

"Are you okay?" As always my tone tone came across all wrong. I meant to ask it casually but my mind had been racing so it came out as a loaded question.

Nathan must of noticed because he turned his head to the side at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said casually. Then to change the subject he asked, "What film do you want to watch?" I guess he didn't want to talk about it so I didn't ask. We just put on a movie and watched it. I tried to pay attention, to distract myself but I couldn't concentrate. My eyes kept drifting to the turtle that was now sat in the middle of the bed between us.

Half way through I turned to him and said. "You really are great." He seemed surprised but listened. "It's not the immortality or the accent." I smiled. "Okay it's the accent a little bit."

He laughed and I continued. "Its not even that you are devastatingly charming," I joked. "It's that I feel like you understand me...and I think I understand you too. People listen to me but it feels like you really hear me. I don't know if that makes sense but it's just a nice feeling. Feeling like you're understood."

I looked into his eyes after I'd finished.

"That makes sense," he breathed. "I don't feel like many people understand me. Hell, I don't even understand myself sometimes. So yeah, this is nice."

"Exactly." I smiled and he smiled back. This is nice. He agreed, he thought I got him. Knowing that made my whole body relax. It calmed me in a way I didn't know it could.

I suddenly had the urge to kiss him, not a hot passionate kiss but just a peck. Like we were a couple. I didn't do it though. The thought didn't scare me either. I just smiled at him and turned my attention back to the movie.

Even though Nathan and I were just friends I was glad he was back in my life. I was glad everything was good between us and we could just enjoy each other's company without worrying.

We had fun sleeping together but maybe this was all our relationship was meant to be. Just friends. Good friends.