Love is for Show

28 - Be Careful.

I don't have a clue what led to our current situation of my feet pattering along the pavement in the direction of Kalen's place where his visitor, his sister, currently resides. But this is where I find myself.

Maybe it's the cheerful message from Elias who practically begged me to come over. It's actually been another thing on my loaded mind too. – Why Elias seems so adamant on me being with them as often as possible. He has no logical reason to do so, I just find it a bit strange...

In any case, as per Aiden's instructions, I carefully push the door open. I only had the guts to do so, despite what happened last time I did this, because I could hear clattering and laughter coming from the kitchen as soon as the door creaked open.

At least this time, I know for sure I'm not walking into anything scandalous... Unless they're into doing it in the kitchen, which I'm seriously hoping isn't the case.

"No lie- I literally told the guy to shove it 'cause who does he think he is?" The words spew from Jade's mouth and that precedes another crowd of laughter all coming from somewhere in the kitchen.

I feel like I'm intruding again...

Maybe I can somehow sneak back out and pretend I was never here-

"Nathan," Kalen's voice creeps around the corner before his face shows up as he looks down at me crouching when I originally tried to take my shoes off.

"Does it take that long to pull your shoes off?" He raises a suspicious brow and I just shoot him one back.

"How did you know I was here?"

I finally stand up and put on the spare pair of slippers that I seem to have claimed as they sit in the same spot where I left them the last time I was here. I conciously ignore the little smile that little fact gives me.

In his usual fashion, he leans his side on the wall right  in front of me, much closer than necessary.

Silently, he pulls out his phone from his jeans and holds the bright screen up for me to see. A security system notification letting him know someone opened the door five minutes ago. Lovely.

I run my fingers through my tangled hair and hold back a snort at the situation. Of course a freaking phone-sized security system would rat me out before I could even get the chance to flee the scene.

"So," he pushes his phone back into his pocket, "are you going to answer my question now?"

Reminding me of the first we met, his eyes stare daggers through mine, those unique greens of his piercing right through my soul as a tint of, what could be, mischief glints in them. He's so close-

"Um... I didn't wanna intrude," I admit, tilting my head in the direction of the kitchen where the conversations enthusiastically continue.

He hums and takes another step closer, successfully closing in on me and blocking my view of anything else. That singular step and his body's enough to create an invisible bubble around us, forcing my attention on him and nothing else.

"What's it going to take for you to feel like you're not intruding here anymore?"

His question knocks me back. How do I respond to a question I don't even know the answer to?

"I... don't know," I mumble.

Fingers gently grasp the top of my collar and tug. I look down and notice how far my loose shirt slipped down, effectively letting my chest and part of my shoulder peek through my top. A small influx of breath into my lungs and then his eyes are back on me.

"Let me remind you then," his fingers loosen and his hand drops back down to his side. "You're never intruding,"

I open my mouth to protest, but a hand goes up in the air and effectively stops anything from leaving my mouth.