Wrapped

Chapter 45

~Pierce

I look over at Zack's friend, Nathan, closely. I've seen him before, I just can't remember where. Well, I have to admit, Nathan is pretty attractive, I wonder if he's in a relationship or if he even likes guys. . .

"So, what do you want to do first?" I ask, breaking the silence barrier between us.

"We could just walk around for a bit and talk I guess," Nathan shrugs and holds out his hand in front of me. "Sound like a plan?"

My cheeks heat up as I grab his hand. "I suppose," I mutter as we begin walking.

This Nathan guy seems pretty cool, surprisingly. I thought he would have been like the two brothers that live in the apartment above mine and Zack's; strangely enough, he isn't.

"So, Nathan, how did you and Zack meet?" I ask as we continue walking down the mall, hand in hand together.

Almost instantly Nathan began talking, as if he remembered right away, "We met at the airport," He grinned happily and swung our hands around, "We sat net to each other on the plane, he was very kind to me."

I noticed as Nathan spoke, his cheeks turned slightly pink, making him look quite adorable.

We walked on for a minute, not stopping at any stores. I felt small butterflies in my stomach form as I looked down at our hands, both of them intertwined together. Was I starting to develop a small crush on someone that I just met? I don't think its that weird. Even though I barely know him, he is cute, that adorable smile, beautiful eyes, his laugh. . .

"I never asked," Nathan said, breaking me out of my thoughts, "How old are you?"

My face began to feel a little hot, embarrassed by my thoughts. "Oh," I began and looked at my shoes, hiding my face, "I'm sixteen, almost seventeen."

Glancing up at Nathan, I saw him looking directly at me, a small smile plastered onto his face, "I'm eighteen," He said proudly and chuckled a small bit.

I was taken back. Eighteen? He seems like Nick's age. Now that I think about, Nathan does remind me a lot of Nick. Is that maybe the reason I'm attracted to him?

Nathan soon began to giggle uncontrollably, I gave him a confused look.

"You seem like you don't believe me!" He said, his laugh slowly started to fade, replaced with a few 'whews' and sighs.

I smiled myself, "You do seem young," I added, "younger than eighteen I mean."

"Well, how old do I look then?" Nathan asks kiddie - like and swings our arms back and forth.

I shrugged, not wanting to make him feel bad, "Like fifteen," I said quietly, looking closely to see if I hurt his feelings in anyway.

"I get that a lot, actually," He said, his tone showing that he was not - so surprised.

We were then left in silence. The only sounds were kids walking around, laughing loudly or adults talking into their phones. What was there to talk about now? I don't want to seem super quiet around him, but nothing came into mind.

"So," He chirped, saving us both from the awkward tension, "Got any girlfriends?"

As he asked me that question, he spun around and grabbed my other hand with his free one, making me blush crazily.

"Uhh. . ." Was all that I could get out. I stared down at our hands, only making my face feel as if it's on fire. I quickly cleared my throat and looked away, trying to calm myself down. "N - no."

I mentally slapped myself for stuttering. Why am I getting so nervous around Nathan? He is just another boy. Nothing special. . .

"Oh?" He asked with a questioning look upon his face. He sat down on a green bench, yanking me down with him.

As I sat, our knees brushed against each other and he wouldn't let go of my hand, keeping our fingers intertwined together.

"I would expect you to," He said with a small shrug, still slightly smiling at me.

"Why would you think that?" I asked curiously, leaning back on the bench, making is squeak loudly.

His cheeks turned bright pink and he widened his eyes, "Um, " He began, letting my hands go, "Well you are just -" He paused again searching for his words, "Really good looking."

As the words left his mouth my heart began to skip a beat, making a wide smile come across my face. I could feel heat rise up from my neck to my face but I didn't care, he thinks I'm good looking!

Nathan shoved his face into his hands, muttering under his breath, "I didn't mean to say that out loud," He said shaking his head, "Sometimes I'm so silly!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his last comment. Calling himself 'silly' was different for my hearing.

"Don't laugh at me," Nathan pouted, sticking out his bottom lip.

My eyes grew wider as I looked down at his lips, causing me to bite my lower lip. Trying not to distract myself for anything, I ask, "So, what about you? Are you dating anyone?"

His cheeks became redder and stopped pouting. "Uh, yeah, I have a boyfriend. He said he's out of town with a friend or something, I don't know," He shrugs and sighs. "I don't even know if we're really together or not. We're so off and on all the time. The last time we spoke he seemed like he didn't even want anything to do with me. So, I don't know, anymore."

I felt my heart fluttered and I felt like anything could happen now. Maybe if I put myself out there again, I could have a chance with Nathan. Still, we barely even know each other, but I feel so. . . comfortable with him.

Before any other thought coming into mind, I lean over close to Nathan, as he does the same. Both of our eyes close, our lips about to touch --

My phone rang in my pocket, making me jolt up. Nathan moves away, embarrassed, covering his face with his hands. Angrily, I take out my phone and look at the caller I.D.

Incoming Call: Zack

I sigh and press the 'talk' button. "Hello?"

"Hey, Pierce! I have great news!" Zack chirps through the phone.

"Do you really need to tell me now?" I ask through gritted, glancing over at Nathan, who was still blushing and smiling.

"Well, I'll tell you when I come and pick you up which will be in a few minutes," Zack says nicely, "Are you and Nathan getting along?"

"I'll tell you later. See you," I say once more then press the 'end' button. I stand up and look over to Nathan and he was still smiling. "Well, it was nice hanging out with you."

"You, too." He smiled and stood up next to me.

Before I had any time to reply, Nathan wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me close to him. My cheeks burn and my heart thumbs heavily in my chest. He's actually hugging me!

While wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I feel his hand slip into the back pocket of my jeans, causing me to gasp. "Call me sometime, okay?"

My smile grows and I nod as we pull away from the embrace. "Of course, I will keep that in mind."

As we walked to the entrance of the mall where we met up at, Zack was sitting on the bench Nathan was earlier. We all said our goodbye's and went our ways.

Zack smiles at me, "So, how was your little date?"

"Better than what I had expected."

I'm back! I told you I was going to post in about a week and I now did! As always thank you so much for reading! Much love! -Luka