All the Wrong Reasons

A long weekend

Chapter 12:

“Just how many hours did you sleep last night?”

“That’s a tactful way of telling me I look awful. Thanks for that Nathan, you’re a real friend”

Nathan glared at me over the edge of his coffee cup.

“Just in case you hadn’t noticed, Annabeth dearest, you have bags under your eyes that reach your chin and your hair is an even bigger mess than usual.” 

“Oh, how fickle you are” I cried. “It wasn’t that long ago you were kissing me on a picnic table. Now I can’t seem to do anything right.”

“Okay, first, you were the one who kissed me, not the other way around. And two, I thought we were friends now, since you made it quite clear you didn’t want to hook up. Friends look out for each other, don’t they? So how many hours did you sleep?”

“Not many” I yawned and gulped down some more coffee.

“Did you argue with Jennifer again?”

“No, she hasn’t spoken to me for ages. She just sneers and looks disapproving.”

“Did you argue with your mother?”

“I never argue with my mother”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“I’m just tired of this mess” I said. “And I’m bored of talking about it”

“Well it’s not as if there’s anything else to talk about.”

I stared out across the deserted stretch of grass in front of us. The grass was scrubby and covered with leaves, and there was rubbish everywhere.

“How quickly we’ve become stuck in a rut” I said, pulling my coat tighter around myself. “It used to be all fun and games, and now…”

“Oh, do shut up” Nathan gave me a playful punch on the arm. “You do talk such rubbish”

“This place is depressing” I said. It was Saturday and the park should have been teeming with families out of the day, only the sky was overcast and menacing and a nasty cold wind was blowing. The only other people apart from Nathan and me were a couple walking their dog and a solitary weirdo stumping along talking to himself. We had been sitting there for over an hour,

“You were the one who wanted to come here” Nathan reminded me, wrapping his hands tight around his cup of takeaway coffee. “You said you wanted to get out of your house”

“I didn’t say I wanted to come here exactly. I just said I wanted to avoid the centre of town. You said, okay, let’s go to the park then”

“Tell you what” Nathan jumped to his feet and pulled me to mine. “I know this lovely little coffee shop in a back street where no one will see you and we can get a decent cup of coffee. Let’s go there and thaw.”

“Alright”

“Will you relax?” Nathan hissed at me as we walked down the street towards the café. I kept glancing over my shoulder and starting at sudden noises. “Nobody’s going to see you here”

“You try getting coffee thrown in your face, see how you like it”

“Just calm down, alright, you’re driving me nuts. You’re like a violin string” he slung an arm over my shoulder. I tensed, but didn’t push him off. I even put my own arm around his waist.