Social Experiment

25 | Nathans Rules

The muffled sound of an engine woke me up all at once. I sat up in bed and looked around immediately, barely aware of my surroundings, as the haziness from my sleep induced state began to fade quickly. It took a moment of wide eyed staring at the bookshelves filled to the brim with vinyls to remember I was in Nathan's bedroom. 

It took another moment to remember his instructions before I drifted off to sleep, telling me to come find him in the garage when I woke up. I slowly peeled his sheets off of me and shamelessly inhaled his oddly comforting smell that seemed to wrap around me like a blanket. Almost reluctantly, I climbed out of his bed and stood on his hardwood floors.

My jeans were hanging off the edge of his bed and I grabbed them, but kept Nathan's baggy sweats on instead of changing. The waistband was tied tightly and they were rolled several times to keep them from sagging on my waist, but despite this, they did anyway. Clad in Nathan's sweats with my jeans in hand, I left Nathan's room. 

The muffled sound of the engine grew louder as I walked out the front door of the house and followed the sound to the garage attached to the side of the house. The garage door was drawn up and wide open, leaving Betsy on full display on the left side, beside Nathan's Mustang. Nathan was nowhere to be seen, but for the moment, I didn't care.

"I missed you, Betsy!" I cried when I saw my car, momentarily too wrapped up in the familiar sight of my car to wonder where Nathan was. 

A deep chuckle made me freeze where I stood as a blush began crawling onto my cheeks unconsciously. I turned around and there, lying with his back on a skateboard, was Nathan. His upper half had been underneath his car to work on it, but he had slid all the way out to smirk at me mockingly. 

It turns out that I didn't have time to be embarrassed because I was too busy ogling at the grease stains across Nathan's cheekbones and white t-shirt. His hair was brushed back and I was acutely aware of the sweat lining his forearms that almost made me drool. 

"Are you talking to your car?" Nathan's features twisted into an amused smirk as he gets up and wipes his grease-stained hands on his jeans. 

I regain some composure when he speaks and defend, "Don't act like you don't talk to that beautiful Mustang all the time."

Nathan grabs a dirty rag from the pack pocket of his jeans and swipes it across his forehead and cheeks, but it just smears the grease further across his left cheek. My eyes zero in on the grease stain for a moment before Nathan chuckles and effectively pulls me out of my daze once again.

"Yeah, you're right," Nathan concedes, and I try not to let my relief show outwardly that he still hasn't called me out for checking him out. "Well, Betsy is back and better than ever, so you'll be able to talk to her all the time again."

I roll my eyes but feel a smile tug up the corners of my lips at his playful attitude. "Thank you, Nathan. How much do you want for fixing her up?"

This time, Nathan rolls his eyes, and he waves me off. "I'm not taking your money."

"But-" I stop short when I see the look he gives me and instead feel my lips turn into a secretive smile. "Fine, but I'm going to repay you somehow. I'll buy you ice cream sometime."

"That isn't necessary, Collins-" He starts.

I interrupt him swiftly when my gaze lands back on Nathan's car and I realize he's working on the engine for his race tonight. "Are you putting the boosters in?"