Barely Holding On

Chapter 7

After finding out that Nash watched me changed, I purposely stepped out of the view of my window when I changed out of the clothes I had worn to school.

Mom hadn’t paid the AC bill so closing my window wasn’t an option unless I wanted to sweat to death.

“Aww, come on V! You do have to get all shy!” Nash yelled.

I walked over to my window, “What! It’s not like you ever-oh.” Nash was changing in front of his window. His shirt was off, and he wasn’t bad to look at (whatever the fuck that meant). He turned around and I saw that he had gotten a tattoo of a cross on his back, when did that happen. “When’d you get a tattoo?” I asked before thinking.

He looked over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows, “Why you like it?”

I started blushing, “Uhhh… I was just wondering.”

Nash laughed and threw a shirt on. He then climbed in my room through the window. He did a lot better job than me. “I love how easy it is to make you blush,” he said.

Unfortunately, that only made me blush more.

He could tell he was making me uncomfortable so he said, “I got it a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh cool. So, uh, why are you here exactly?” I asked nervously. He had been making me nervous lately, and I didn’t know why.

“Well, I saw you ogling at me, so I thought we could have sex.” He said in a completely straight face.

My face must have turned into a cherry.

Nash started laughing, “Oh V, you crack me up! No, I figured we could work on our project.”

“Oh…ok,” I said skeptically. We sat down on my bed and pulled our stuff out. I made sure to keep a good distance in between us.

Nash’s phone vibrated, so he pulled it out reading a text. “Oh man, I’m sorry but this is going to have to wait.”

“Why?” I asked a little too quickly. I started blushing again. Crap.

“Cameron texted me saying he wants to do a video right now or some shit,” He honestly looked a little disappointed. Nash stood up and started walking to my window and then he stopped suddenly and turned back to me. “Hey, do you want to come?”

I looked at him skeptically.

“Cameron will be there,” Nash winked. I blushed.

“Fine,” I sighed and followed Nash downstairs. Thank god we weren’t going to climb through the windows, “but not because Cameron’s going to be there.”

“Right. Of course not.” Nash said sarcastically with a big grin on his face.

“Violet!” my mom called out. Oh god. I could tell that she was drunk just in the way she said my name. And of course, Nash was here to witness the whole thing.

I was about to tell Nash to stay there, when my mom rounded the corner and walked over to us nearly falling over. “Where do you think you’re going?” she asked me.

“Out with Nash.” I said dryly. I hated when she did this to me. This was why no one ever came over. Only Maci, but still that was hardly ever.

“Who’s Nash?” she slurred.

“Nash Grier…” I said slowly.

“Nash? Maria’s Nash?” She walked over and pinched his check, “Wow you’ve really grown. You’ve gotten really…handsome.” Oh my god. My mom was flirting with Nash. I could see it in her eyes. Nash had to have been able to smell the alcohol on her breath.

I grabbed Nash’s hand and pulled him out the front door, “Bye mom!” I yelled, slamming the front door closed.

I dropped his hand as we walked over to his car. “What was that, V?” Nash asked me.

I laughed it off, “Oh, nothing. She was just a little drunk.”

He eyed me, “I’d say more than a little. Does it happen a lot?”

I laughed nervously, “No.” He kept staring at me, knowing I was lying. I sighed. “Look, don’t tell your mom. It’s not a big deal.”

“V-“

I cut him off, “Nash, promise me. It’s not a big deal and she doesn’t need to worry about it.”

We stared each other down, but finally he agreed. “Fine. But if you ever need anything, I’m here ok?”

“Ok.” I felt better knowing that Nash was there, but that didn’t mean I would ever go to him. How could I?

We got in his car and started driving wherever it was that they were going to ‘fim’.

“I have a way for you to get Cameron.” Nash said, breaking the silence.

“What?” I squeaked. Where was this coming from?

Nash looked at me as he drove, “Listen, Cameron likes older, mature girls, so you’re going to need to show him that you’re not just some other junior.”

“Where are you going with this…?”

“I’m just saying, if Cameron saw you with other guys around you more, he would be interested…”

“That doesn’t make any sense…”

“Cameron likes what he can’t have, so if you’re taken then he’ll want you. It’s pretty simple.” Nash’s grip seemed to tighten on the steering wheel.

I laughed nervously. Trying to lighten the mood I said, “What, are you trying to offer your services as a fake boyfriend?”

Nash shrugged, and said quietly, “If you want me to…”

Out of nowhere I said, “Yes.”

So far life hadn’t turned out too good for me, so I figured it was about time Cameron Dallas noticed me.