Tears of July | √

21. Intoxicated

Chapter 21

Nathan Evans was back after two weeks.

And he was walking towards me- scratch that, he was sprinting towards me. And I was leaning there on the railing, staring at him like he was some kind of alien from another planet. The next thing I knew, his arms were around me, holding me tight and spinning me around like a ragged doll.

"Nathan!" I yelped as he finally set me down, giving me a bit of space.

"Cass, I missed you." he exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief. I gave him a smile and leaned on the railing again, turning to examine his face. I studied his clean face, the way he'd say something as if he was running out of breath, and I also focused on the bags under his eyes. Suddenly, I remembered the loss of his father and tried hard not to imagine what I would feel if it happened to me.

"How are you, Nathan?" I blurted suddenly as he was talking something about British landmarks. His face suddenly turned sullen, and I was debating whether or not it was a good idea to have asked him that question. But it was just a simple question, looking at it, though sometimes simple things were the most complicating.

"I'm okay, I guess." he replied, immediately looking at the ground. Somewhere in the field, Lyle and the others were cheering and laughing. "But, I'm going to return back there in a few days to... collect my father's stuff."

I bit my lip and closed my eyes, hugging him when his voice cracked in pain.

"You're turning into a strong and brilliant man, Nathan. Your father would be proud." I whispered quietly to him as he hugged me back. We pulled away a few seconds later as I heard familiar coughing. I turned and found Lyle beside me, his face looking wary and cautious.

"He would have wanted to meet you." Nathan said, giving me a small smile as he stared straight into my eyes. I saw Lyle's fists clench and unclench beside me as I was about to say something to Nathan.

"Cass, we need to go." Lyle started, placing his hand on mine. My eyes flickered to his and I shot him a look.

"How's your mom?" I asked Nathan as we looked at each other.

"She's getting better as the days go on, but I don't think she'll ever be okay." His voice faltered at the thought of his mother.

"Tell her-"

"Cass, let's go," Lyle hissed, tugging at my hand. I ignored him and fixed my eyes on Nathan.

"I'm sure your mom's glad you're there for her, Nathan. Talk to her whenever you have the chance so that she'll know she still has you, and she needs you more than ever now that your father's-"

"Cass, it's going to rain any minute now."

I shot Lyle another look and pulled my hand away from his. How could Lyle be so inconsiderate knowing that Nathan just lost his father?

"I know. It's just that sometimes I feel as if I don't have anyone to talk to either."

"Nathan, are you done?" Lyle snapped, standing in front of me and sending Nathan an irritated glare.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away to the side, shaking my head.

"Call me if you need anything. I'd be happy to help you, Nathan."

He looked at Lyle cautiously then gave me a weak smile.

"Thank you." he whispered as he gave me a wave then walked away to his car.

As Nathan went away, I stared at the empty field and averted my eyes away from Lyle's. Yes, he had every right to be jealous, but I thought that it was going too far. Lyle kept calling my name, but I ignored him, walking towards the exit.

"Cass-" Lyle exhaled, turning silent. Then I felt his hands on my waist as he threw me on his back, my legs dangling behind him as he gripped my waist tight, walking to his car. I didn't say anything; I just kept on punching his back repeatedly then gave up afterwards, knowing it was pointless.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" Lyle murmured as he put me on my seat.

I was mad at how insensitive he was. The guy needed a friend, and even that was forbidden?

"Cass." he called, looking at me as he put his hands on the steering wheel.

I didn't answer him.

"Cass, I know you're mad. I'm sorry, okay?" He paused. "Cass, come on, please, just say something."

Silence fell above us for a few seconds until I heard him sigh loudly and inch closer to me, taking my hand and placing it over his lips.

"Nathan lost his father, Lyle. He needs someone to talk to." I paused, pulling my hand away. "You didn't have to get that far, Lyle! When you were with Amber, I didn't say anything, even though deep inside it was hurting me."

Lyle looked perturbed.

"How did this conversation get to Amber?"

My lip trembled as I prepared to yell in frustration.

"When we were at Nathan's party, I acted like I didn't care that Amber was practically begging for you to touch her. Don't you think I was jealous?! I felt worse than that, Lyle! But I controlled it!" I stopped, breathing for air as I let out my anger. "Back at the club, what did you and Amber do?"

Lyle's eyes averted mine and he stared at my hands which were now curled in fists.

"I- we kissed. It was just a simple peck, and I can't see how Amber's in our topic anyway. She was-"

I put my hand on Lyle's chin and forced him to face me, even though I knew my expression was masked with hurt and anger.

"This is why I'm relating the topic to Amber, Lyle! You can go on mentally killing Nathan, while I can't go and just literally punch Amber on the face?!"

"That's not what I was going to say- Wait, Cass, are you... jealous of Amber?"

I wanted to smack his head on the hood of the car already.

"I am so not having this conversation with you! You are so clueless! Boys are so messed up and clueless and everything about you is so frustrating-"

"Cass, you know you're the only girl I've ever loved, don't you? Amber's not like you. I love you, Cass, and only you. I can't help but get jealous whenever a guy tends to look at you the way I do-"

"There you go again! I am so sick and tired of you saying that about Amber and you don't know how much of a total bitch she is, and I am just so mad at-"

Lyle let out a laugh and towered over me, kissing me full on the lips.

Words left me after that. I didn't kiss him back though, I was too shocked and fumed even when he pulled away and started the car already.

"Silly Cassandra." he chuckled as the car drove away. I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh too, thinking of how silly we were.

"Now, how about let's go and ask Marly to cook us food?"