Rolling With The Punches

5. Nate

"Good morning, Nate," Mom greeted me as my dog and I plodded into the kitchen.

"Morning," I responded groggily, clearing my throat.

"Did you sleep well?"

I nodded. "I did. Slept all night, actually."

She placed a plate full of food on the island. "Game day breakfast is made."

I finished pouring my coffee and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom. Love you."

"I love you, too, Nate. You're very welcome."

I sat down and looked at my breakfast; a hearty plate full of fruits, an egg white omelette with vegetables, bacon, and whole wheat toast. I always have the same thing every Saturday morning because of my game later on.

Ravenously, I started digging into what was in front of me, all while checking my phone for any new updates. I noticed that a "hannah_douglas" on Instagram had followed me a few minutes ago. Naturally, I requested to follow her account. She accepted it right away.

Cool, so she doesn't hate me, I thought. Or does she?

Hannah and I also added each other on Snapchat and Twitter last night. I guess she was putting off Instagram until this morning since she fell asleep on me on the way home from the movies.

Speaking of Snapchat, I checked that application as well. I posted a photo of the two of us in the back of Marcus' truck on my story, and I couldn't help but smile and think about the girl in that picture when I pulled it up again.

She's so beautiful. Just everything about her is beautiful.

Mom woke me up out of my Hannah-filled daydream, causing me to jump.

"Nate, eat up. You need your strength," she told me, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes.

I pushed my glasses farther up onto my nose and laid my phone down. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

Mom looked at my phone. The picture of Hannah and me was still up on the screen. "About her? I didn't know you had a new girlfriend."

I swiped my phone away. "She's not my girlfriend! Mom, I swore off dating after I dumped Bethany, you should know that."

"That was eight months ago, Nate. Your mind could've changed by now."

I sighed and thought about my past relationships. In grade nine, I started going out with Jessica Adams, easily one of the most popular girls in my class. She was awful and abusive to me for fifteen long months. I ended up flipping out in the middle of geometry class because I couldn't take her anymore.

Fast forward to grade eleven. I found another girl to be with courtesy of the hockey team; Bethany White. She's a year lower than me, and I thought I was in love with her during last year. I wasn't. I was with her for roughly six months, if that. I just couldn't keep lying to myself and saying I was in love with who she is as a person, when in all reality I only was with her out of lust and the pressure of my teammates. I told myself after I dumped her I'm done with dating and that I should focus on myself and my sport. And guess who's getting drafted in June? Me. That's who. I think I made a pretty good decision.

"Nate," Mom interrupted.

I jumped. "Sorry."

She sighed. "You like her, don't you?"

"I do not. Why would I like her?"

"Well, she's very pretty. From the looks of her, she seems nice as well. You said you wanted to try to find someone like that, didn't you?"