If I Fall |NEW|

21. Nothing much

I slept in my car for the night, I needed to figure out what my next move was.

I wasn't going back to my parent's place. Amir didn't want me anymore so that only left one person I could call.

The phone rang three times before he answered, "What's up Nay?" Nate asked.

"Uhh- I need to talk to you in person," I said.

"Everything good?" He sounded concerned. I wanted to lie and say it was but I couldn't even hold it together when he asked me. "No." I cried.

I pulled up to his house
prepared to tell him what had taken place last night. But when I made it in everything went different than I imagined.

"What the hell?" He examined the bruises on my neck making me cry again. I was an emotional wreck right now, my life kept getting worse even when I thought it couldn't.

He pulled me into a hug and shut the front door behind me.

"It's gonna be alright." He held me tight trying to make me believe things would get better.

I cried harder because I didn't believe that.

My life was a rollercoaster that only kept going down, "better" wasn't in the cards for me.

I woke up in an unfamiliar room. The sun was shining through the sheer yellow curtains. I yawned looking around the room.

The bed comforter was dark blue with yellow accent pillows.

I got out the bed and walked out bumping into what felt like a hard wall, "My bad." Nate chuckled, "I was coming to check on you. You were sleeping for a long time." He said.

"Yeah, that bed is comfortable," I said as we walked down the hall going towards the foyer.

"Glad you slept well. I made some food if you want some." He led me to the kitchen which smelled delightful.

"Let me find out what you can cook," I said as he opened each pot showing me what he made- salmon, mashed potatoes and green beans.

"Some like that." He chuckled.

"I'll take a plate," I said. "I, I'll bring it to you. You can put something on TV." He instructed.

"Okay." I went over to the living room and scanned through the channels before deciding to watch 90210 newest season.

"Oh, you like white people shows." Nate came over with our plates. I laughed, "It's a good show, I wish you could watch the older seasons." I said.

He gave me my plate and sat next to me with his, "Whatever you say." He said.

I started to eat, "Dang you ain't even gonna say grace?" He asked.

It's been so long since I said grace, or prayers in general. Life had been moving so fast that I didn't even have time to do so.

I chuckled embarrassed, "My bad, lead us?" I looked at him.

"God is great, God is good, thank you lord for our food. Amen." He said making me the side eye him, "Really Nate?" I gave him a stale face.

"What?" He frowned.

"You still stay say that prayer? That's so kiddy." I took a bite of my food. He waved me off, "At least I remembered to say mine, plus a prayer is a prayer." He shrugged before taking a big bite of his food.

Eventually, we ended up talking about everything that happened and he offered to let me stay with him. "Thank you-trust me I won't be in your hair for long," I said.

"Come on now, you know I'm not trippin'." He waved off what I said.

I chuckled.

Being here felt right, we talked all night-well I did and he listened. He knew I was working in the club, but I was still hiding the fact that I did coke. Though he didn't seem like the type to judge it just didn't feel right telling anyone about that part.

The next day I continued my apartment search. "This is our fabulous, loft apartment. I guarantee you'll want it." The lady said as she unlocked the door.

Everybody kinda had the same pitch so of course I didn't feed into what she said. "Everyone says that." I chuckled.

"See for yourself."

She opened the door.

Immediately I see tons of space and windows that open the space even more. To avoid a "told you so" from the lady I hid my slight excitement as I walked around.

I knew I was going to sign a lease with them. This is what I've been looking for the whole time.

It felt like things were finally looking up for me. Hopefully, nothing ruined it.

I went back to Nate's place and shared the good news with him, "That's great. When are they talking about letting you move in?" He questioned.

"Well I signed the lease and I should receive an email with all the information by the morning," I said. "That's what's up. I'm proud of you peanut." He said making my face fall.

He started laughing. "Don't call me that," I said. It was my childhood name.

"Why? I like it." He smiled. I rolled my eyes and began to walk off.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into him, "I'm just playing with you." He chuckled looking down at me.

Being this close to him felt weirdly comforting.

He squeezed me a little tighter before letting me go.

"You got plans for tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, I got a date around 8." He said. I raised my brows, "That sounds fun, what is y'all gonna do?" I inquired.

He told me they were going to a drive-in movie and hopefully dinner later. After, he started to tell me about her and how much he liked her. They'd been talking for about two months now, but the way he talks about her makes it seem longer.

"I'm happy for you. Finally doing what needs to be done." I said.

He frowned a bit, "What does that mean?" He asked. "I just mean that as long as I've known you it's always been hard for you to communicate your feelings," I replied.

He shrugged, "Yeah, that's true." He smirked. "But I'm about to start getting ready." He said.

"Alright, see you later." I watched as he walked away.

I guess I have the house to myself...