Downhill From Here (#1)

50. Nobody likes a Secret

Saturday, January 14th
2 weeks later

2 days till the competition

1:03 pm
Nathan's POV

How does time go by so fast that you forget the things you used to worry about?

The last 2 weeks had been a mix of new routines and conversations. Bowie slept over at my place almost every night, and Lilo was getting used to her tucking her into bed at night.

It was the 3 of us eating breakfast every morning on the days when she didn't have practice at 4 am. She drove with me to drop Lilo off at daycare.

We'd go over to the house to hang out with her sisters after practice. They were going back to school after her competition and Scarlet would be coming back from New York by then.

It was almost as if we were a...family unit.

So much to the point of familiarity, that I woke up and reached out absentmindedly, expecting to find Bowie there. And for once in my life the thought didn't scare me.

I never thought I could be so close to someone before. To know their habits, fears, and quirks. And with all of my type-A habits and my quiet nature, she liked me as is.

And maybe I was moving too fast--I mean we'd only been together for less than a month--but I was already envisioning our future together.

We hadn't had any kind of sexual interaction since the first one but I wasn't pushing for it. The kind of intimacy that I gained from just being around her and sharing each other's space was enough for me.

I pressed down on the horn of the car twice, smiling to myself. Opening the driver's side door, I climbed out, stepping into the garage.

The door that was connected to the house opened and Bowie walked out, Stitch climbing around her feet to get a better look at what was going on.

"So?" I grinned, holding onto the open door. "What do you think?"

Her eyes roamed the new vehicle with surprise and she slowly made her way toward it. "What is going on? Did I miss something?" She chuckled, passing her hand on the emblem in front of the car. "Since when did you decide to get a new car?"

"I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now," I admitted. "I was talking with my dad about it and I wanted a bit of a change."

With both her hands on her hips, she smiled. "But I thought you loved your truck?"

My black pickup truck had been good to me for the past couple of years and having an open trunk came in handy for holding snowboarding gear. "It's not gone...I still have it. I actually have to go pick it up from my parent's later. My Dad drove it home." Holding onto the open door, I added, "I just wanted to get a car that's safer for children."

She nodded her head, moving around me and pulling open the back seat door.

I bought a brand new Ford Bronco. It was white and great for the snow, fitting up to five people.

"Wow, leather seats," She sat in the back, running her hands along the upholstery. I stood in between the open door and the inside of the car, leaning in towards her.

"It's got little monitors on the back of the chairs for if Lilo wants to watch a movie and stuff." She pressed the buttons absentmindedly and looked down at the carpeted floor.

"And a nice floor for Lilo to drop food on," She chuckled, leaning up to look in between the two front seats. "Gosh, look at this dashboard. Looks high tech."