The Quiet Ones

31. The Next Chapter In Our Lives

I bang my fist against Nathan's door for the tenth time. I'm sure he's home. Most Saturdays he stays in bed until at least ten in the morning while his parents work the weekend shift, meaning he's home alone right now. Yet, no matter how hard I slam my hand against his hard wooden door, causing shots of pain to run through my fist and wrist, he still refuses to answer.

Typical passive agressive Nathan.

"Nathan," I yell while looking up at his window. Nothing. No moving curtains or sign of life inside.

"Come on, talk to me!"

"Parker?" He asks as he walks out from the side of his house, his hair disheveled and drenched in water as small droplets cover his body. Besides his swimshorts, his skin is fully exposed and tan - to my surprise.

"Oh, hey," I say awkwardly as I walk towards him while he rubs the excess water off of his body.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"I see," He says quietly as he throws his towel onto the front steps and stands with his shoulders broud, staring me right in the eye. For as much as an introvert Nathan is, he seems to have gotton some bit of confidence since the last time we spoke.

"What's with the water?" I ask as I take a step closer and reach out a shaky hand, only to retreat it when I suddenly realize how weird it would be to rub water off of his skin. We've seemed to drift apart a bit, and touching his bare body doesn't seem to be a surefire way to gain back how close we once were.

"I was swimming out back," He says as he runs a hand through his flat and damp hair, pulling at the ends to get any stray water drops out of it. "I started working out so I thought a pool may be a nice way to cool off considering how hot it has been."

I nod as we stand in silence under the heated sun in his open and empty driveway. We both look down at the concreate and kick the small rocks around, droplets falling from Nathan's body as he leans down to stare at the cement.

"I just came to say I'm sorry," I say in a whisper as I continue looking at my sneakers to prevent myself from staring at his body.

"You know, I thought about it," Nathan starts as he looks up at me and waits for me to meet his gaze, which I refuse. "Maybe we were both wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I shouldn't have put Avery's life in danger and you shouldn't have used me to get closer to another guy when you clearly knew that you liked him while you were dating me. There's many things that we both did that was wrong, and I want to be the first to say I'm sorry," He says confidently, which takes me off guard to hear that he's the one who feels sorry after all that I've done to him.

"Thank you. But I definitly did worse things than you," I say as I finally look up and gaze into his hopeful eyes. "I shouldn't have cheated on you and used you, and I still regret leaving you crying at the church."

His face turns a bright red at the memory of calling out my name as he fell to the pavement with a flood of tears. I can't blame him, I'd be embaressed too. Although, he has been through alot, and I didn't help matters by walking away from a problem.

"I accept your appology if you accept mine," He compromises as he holds out a hand and scans the small details of my face. I nod and place my hand into his, feeling his strong grip swallow my hand as he confirms.

"I'm glad you're back," I say as a small smile pulls at my lips.

"Not as glad as I am," He says with a smirk as he grabs my arms and throws me against his chest and into a hug, causing my clothes to get wet from the water he had been swimming in. I groan and try to move away, but he keeps his arms tightly secured around my waist no matter how hard I try to break away. Though, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than hugging Nathan in the humid summer sun as his neighbors stare at us from their porches. "I missed you," He whispers as I finally calm down and accept the fact that he's not going to let go.

"I missed you too," I say as he finally lets me retreat from our embrace.

"Where's Levi?"

"In Chicago with his dad for the summer."

"The whole summer?" He asks as his eyes go wide in disbelief. I nod as a smile escapes onto my face at the thought of him on a plane, excited to see his father after being separated for a year.

"Well I guess we have the whole summer to rebuild our friendship. Are you ready to spend every moment together until we're best friends again?" He jokes with a laugh.

I nod as I look at him through squinted eyes and fluttering eyelashes. "Yeah," I whisper as I laugh softly. "I'm ready for the next chapter in our lives."