Nathan Prescott x Reader

Chapter 32

~Three weeks later~

I looked around in Nathan's room to find some aspirin because my headache was killing me. Today was gonna be the day where Mr. Jefferson would announce who would fly to San Francisco for the 'Everyday Heroes' contest with him. I entered my photo of the man, whose name was Frank as I found out later, carrying his dog one and a half week ago although I knew that I had no chance against all the other people who knew a lot more about photography than me, including Nathan, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be able to say that I tried.

I went through every drawer of his desk, when I found a photo titled with 'EHC' It must have been his photo for the contest, so I looked at it. It showed a man working at a graveyard at night, digging out something. It was pretty dark, but it had style. I put it back as I noticed a black portfolio turned around so I took it out to read the title. 'Photos of my muse' I had to smile as I opened it. There were photos of me that Nathan must have taken when I couldn't notice. At the lighthouse, the beach, the diner and even one photo of me dancing at the Vortex club party. Then I realized that it wasn't that hard to take a photo back then, because of all the lights and flashes. One more flash coming from the camera didn't attract any attention and I've only noticed him when he had already taken it.

Suddenly the door opened and Nathan came in and saw that I was looking at his secret photos. "You found them?" He sighed, slightly blushing and looked at me worriedly. He probably thought that I might be mad at him for taking shots without me knowing it, but I was actually flattered. I walked towards him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. When I pulled away, I looked deep into his wonderful blue eyes. "Why do you have that?" I whispered, smiling at him to calm him down. "I thought that... um... if I feel bad and you're not around... I can look at them and calm down. Um... that's stupid, I know." Nathan told me, looking sad and worried. "No, Nate. It's not stupid. I actually think it's really cute of you." Nathan sighed in relief and pulled me into a long and tight hug. "These are great shots, but... I never noticed you taking any of these." I chuckled. "It's the power of a good photographer." Nathan said and smirked.

~Some hours later~

"Time to announce the winner of the contest." Mr. Jefferson said, standing on the stage next to the pool. Nathan sat on a small couch with me, wrapping one arm around me and holding me close. People around were shouting things like "You're so hot!", "Please me!" or "Say it already!". Mr. Jefferson held a sheet of paper in his hand and sighed a he unfolded it. "Oh my, what a shocker... Victoria Chase!"Of course it was her, who else? The threats must have actually worked out. Victoria came on stage and held a speech that absolutely did not seem like she already knew she was gonna win and therefore practised the speech three times before. I actually didn't care that she won, I wouldn't have won anyways and I knew it, I just thought it was amusing how people shouted at her. "Yeah, Victoria! Totally deserved." but also "Fuck you, Victoria!" I had to laugh, but Nathan didn't seem to have as much fun as I had. He just looked at her with no expression in his eyes. 

"Her plan worked." He said to me and I nodded. "What else?" I asked. "Let's get outta here." Nathan stood up, grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me out of the pool building. I looked back at Victoria, who wasn't on stage anymore. She was already talking to other students again like nothing happened. She was also looking at me, or at Nathan and she seemed upset but also worried. But before I could clearly see the expression on her face, I was already dragged through the door.

Nathan was angry, but I didn't exactly know why. It was none of his business and he already told me that he just entered a photo because he had to, not because he wanted to win. No, it was something else.

He dragged me into his room and closed the door behind us. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, sat down on his bed and gestured Nathan to sit down next to me, which he quickly did. "She could've won because she took a great photo. Now, I can't look at her without seeing who she really is anymore." He explained and sighed. "I know it's hard, but..." I didn't know how to continue. "I think I just need some sleep right now." Nathan said. "Can we cuddle?" "Of course." I smiled calmly and changed my clothes. I've brought some of my clothes to his room so that I didn't always have to borrow his clothes. Then, I lay down in his bed, wrapping my arm around him which he slightly stroked with his hand. And after a while I started feeling tired as well and finally fell asleep.