Sharing a Memory

Chapter 11

*Paige's POV*

Alex was out of the car as soon as it was in park and I got out quickly as well, noticing the black car parked by the curb behind us and assumed that it was Nathan's car.

I grabbed our bag and headed in, not bothering to knock and met Madison and Hayley in the kitchen.

"Hey, you're here," Madison smiles, "And hello Alex, the guys are out back if you wanna go out there with them."

He nodded and headed outside, leaving me alone with Madison and Hayley.

"I swear, now that Nathan's back, Jack can't do anything without him by his side, it's like they're attached at the hip," she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Alex does just fine doing stuff without me, so it's not just a sibling thing," I joked, kinda laughing.

She nodded, "Yeah my sisters are just-," she rolled her eyes, "you know how they are."

I nodded back, "They're really.. something."

"That's putting it nicely," she smirked and went back to chopping vegetables for a salad.

"Do you need a hand?"

"Everything is about done I think, but if you could start taking stuff outside to the patio that would be great."

I nodded, "I can do that, Hayley you wanna give me a hand?"

She shook her head and hugged Madison's leg, I looked at Madison and she shrugged, "It was worth a try."

I started stacking my arms with dishes of food, carrying more than usual because of my waitressing experience and headed out of the already open door. And that's when I saw him, looking casually perfect in jeans and a black shirt that was just the right size so that is showed off his muscles. He noticed me staring and I looked away quickly, headed to the table and tried to be graceful, but stumbled a little thankfully not dropping anything. But successfully making myself look like a clutz in front of Nathan for the second time in two days.

I looked over while setting the plates down and caught him chuckling along with Alex, probably because of my almost disaster. I looked away before I got caught watching him again and a moment later I felt a hand on my shoulder. Luckily for me, I'd just put down the last plate of food so nothing crashed when I spun around quickly, startled.

I spun so quickly that I stumbled a little and met a laughing Nathan who put his hands on my shoulders to steady me.

"Easy killer," he said still smiling.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the smile creeping across my face.

He grinned, dimples showing, "So do you try to fall all the time? Or does it just come naturally?"

"Oh I'm a natural-born clutz, just ask the kid," I nodded toward Alex.

"I already did, he said the same thing. I just wanted to see if you'd try to change your story," he teased, smiling.

"Not this time, I can't deny this one. I assume he's already managed to fit a few embarrassing stories into the few minutes you had alone?"

He nodded, "Just a few, but he assured me that he'd be honored to share more any time I asked."

I looked around Nathan and gave Alex a dirty look and he shrugged as I looked back at Nathan, "That will absolutely not be happening any time soon."

He laughed and shook his head as Jack and Alex walked over to us, each carrying a plate of food from the grill to add to the table.

Soon after, Madison and Hayley joined us and we ate lunch, all of us laughing and enjoying the time together.

--

A/N:  Thanks for getting this far and if you're a person who reads author's notes, thanks! I've put a lot of time into making this little story  and I'm really happy with where it's going. Tune in next chapter for a bit of Nathan's perspective.