The Fading Oddities of Nate Smith (A NateWantsToBattle Fanfiction) --COMPLETE--

Chapter Eight

Æ~Nate~Æ

It was Sunday, two days after the crash.

"It's Dr. Mendez's day off today," the nurse that I saw when I first woke up told me, shutting the door behind her as she walked into my room. "so I'll be filling in for him. The name's Tiffani Ophelie, by the way."

Tiffani's outlook was as intimidating as I remembered it. Her tight bun was replaced with a loose ponytail, which revealed her to have exceptionally long hair. I could now see that she had deadly cobalt blue eyes, and with it a stare that I swore could've belonged to a serial killer waiting for their next victim if it wanted to.

"Nice to meet you," I reply quietly, half sarcastically, half meaning it. She ignored me, checking the clipboards and jotting down notes from the pen that was earlier perched behind her ear.

"My cousin was a fan," she said after a brief silence, not looking up from her notes.

"A what?" My eyes squinted slightly at her statement, not knowing what she had meant.

"She used to talk about you all the time with her friends. Had all your music and everything."

A subscriber. She was talking about a subscriber; her cousin. I nodded slightly in understanding.

"What do you mean by 'used to'?" I asked.

"I dunno," she shrugged, looking back to me. "I guess she just...stopped watching you. I haven't talked to her in a while...probably because she's starting college soon."

Her eyes examined mine for a moment, and she stepped backward with a smug look on her face.

"Don't think I'm stupid," she continued. "I know exactly who you are, Nate."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled a bit. How ironic; what're the odds of getting a nurse that had a family member that subscribed to me?

"Tell her I said hello, then," I replied jokingly. "I mean, the next time you see her."

Tiffani smirked a bit as she returned to her clipboard. "I can try."

Neither of us said a word to one another after that.

~~~

The door flies open as Tess comes shooting in, panting loudly as she slams the door behind her.

"Problem?" I ask, not wanting to move from my comfortable sitting position on the bed.

"Other than wanting to get here fast enough and make sure nothing went down while we were gone?" she retorts as she puffs a strand of hair out of her face. "Nah, I think I'm good."

"Alright," I rest my head against the wall again, keeping my gaze on her.

Tess drops her bag on the floor as she walks around the room, slowly taking a look at the unchanged dorm. She then looks back at me.

"What'd you do while we were gone?" She asks.

"Nothing," I reply truthfully. "Literally nothing at all."

She raises an eyebrow at me, then turns back around and sifts through her bag. "I bought lunch," she says.

"Good, I'm starving," my sarcasm is clear as I get up, stretching tiredly and striding up next to Tess, who I can see has an irritated look on her face. Trying to ignore my remark, she hands me a chicken wrap and grabs one of her own. I open my wrapper, and the two of us exchange looks.

"Well, dig in," she finally says, taking a large bite into her lunch.

We stay silent as we tear into our sandwiches, not realizing how hungry we actually were. Halfway through mine, I can see a black blur hop down from the swivel chair.

Uh-oh.

The cat hops up onto the bed next to Tess, who looks down in surprise as it rubs its head against the sleeve of her faded green jacket.

"What the?!" she laughs a bit as it continues to snuggle against her. "Aw, how cute! Hey, little guy!" I sigh in frustration as I take another bite, watching the two in an unamused way.

"Who's this?" she asks, petting the vermin with her free hand.

"A little demon from the very depths of Hell that's out to get me," I say as I glare at the black ball of annoying.

"Don't say that!" Tess puts her wrap down on her nightstand and picks up the cat, holding it close to her face with a pouty expression. "Wook at hiiiiim!"

"Oh, jeez, don't even start," I tuck my left arm into my elbow and take another bite. "That thing's like a ghost; it's haunting me like crazy."

"Well, he is a black cat..." she glares teasingly at me as she lunges the cat forward a bit. "Boo!"

"How scary," I grumble, crumpling up the empty wrapper and tossing it into the trash bin. "And how do you know it's a he?"

"Well...it looks like he," she turns the thing around to face her, and it meows quietly. "I dunno...maybe we should ask Olive."

"Or throw it out the window before she even sees it," I roll my eyes and slump back against the wall. "Either one's fine."

"You're so negative!" Tess puts the cat down and crosses her arms. "What's so bad about a cat, anyway?"

"Well, if it's been following you for a whole year in a row, maybe you'd feel the same way."

"Ooh, travel buddies? That's a new one."

"We're not travel buddies," I glare at the vermin. "This guy decided to just tag along one day."

Tess pulls her legs into a criss-cross position, exchanging looks with the cat. "For a whole year straight?" She questions. "This cat must really love you to have followed you for so long..."

"I don't really care about it," I grumble. "I don't see why it'd love me, to be honest."

"Hm..." She now sets her gaze on me. "Well, I don't think he's ever gonna stop following you. And now that you're with us...I guess he'll stay here, too." She glances at the cat, whose head is now resting sleepily in her lap. "Maybe we should give him a name."

"A name?" I ask.

"Yeah...something nice. Not an old cat-lady name like Captain Doodles. Something like...Chasseur."

"Chasseur?" I repeat curiously.

"Yeah...it means something in French...I forgot what it was though. I think it's 'fighter' or something. I could be wrong, though."

"Chasseur's a good name," I state. "It fits him."

A hesitation. Tess smiles at me victoriously.

"...N-Not that I would ever say that he's a good cat!" I snap in a frustrated tone. "I just think the name suits him."

The cat - which I guess is now named Chasseur - then lifts its head up, meowing and hopping off the bed. He then scrambles up mine and hops onto me, purring and smearing its face on me. Tess laughs as I sputter in disgust.

"I think he's good," she argues between giggles. "I guess you're just gonna have to get used to him now."

"Whatever," I reply as I finally manage to pry the cat off my chest. I hold Chasseur in front of me and sigh. "Never in a million years would I get used to...this."

"Yes, you will," Tess raises her eyebrows in a motherly way. "Because whether you like it or not, I'm sure Chasseur isn't going to be leaving you anytime soon."

We're stopped by a knocking at the door, which causes us to whip our heads toward it. My heart practically stops when someone's voice says:

"Hey, little sis! Open up!"

And that voice was definitely not Olive's.