The Girl In The Night

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Nate's P.O.V.

I'm so confused when Lex runs away from me. I have no idea what just happened. That girl is certainly keeping me on my toes. I like her, but sometimes she drives me darn crazy. She never makes anything simple. As if it's not bad enough that I have feelings for my best friend's sister, she's a whole pile of crazy messes. I'm not saying I'm going to walk away from the challenge, but she's not making it easy. If Caleb discovers my feelings for Lexi, then I'm pretty sure it'll ruin our friendship. I just have to figure out if whatever I'm feeling is strong enough to risk losing my best friend and all those years of friendship.

I can't get out of my mind the look Lex just had on her face. She looked so torn and lost. I don't know how else to prove to her that I'm telling the truth. Maybe I should bow out and let her do whatever she wants to do. Maybe if I show that I'll support her with whatever decisions she makes, then she might start to accept my friendship.

I guess that plan is as good as any, so I make my way back to my house with purpose. I need to find Caleb and talk to him. That's not going to be much fun, I can tell you that.

When I step into our house, Caleb is sitting at the table eating his breakfast. He glances at me and I can see that he's calmed down some already.

He raises an eyebrow, "Any luck?"

I shrug, "You know how stubborn she is, man. I think she understands that you're bein' protective though. You wanna know what I think?"

"Shoot. I'm obviously makin' a complete mess of it here..."

I sigh, "You're not makin' a complete mess, but I think we're both goin' about this the wrong way. We've been so set on gettin' her to stay that we're kinda doin' the opposite. I'm thinkin' if we back off and show her that we support her, then maybe she'll be a bit more happy to be here. She's not a little girl anymore, Caleb. As much as it might pain us to think about that, she's not a kid. She grew up in New York; she must have. She was on her own in a big city, at college, man. You think she stayed the little girl we knew back then?"

He groans, "I don't wanna think about that, Nate."

I chuckle, "I hear ya, but you have to think about it at least a little. Even your dad has accepted the fact that she grew up while she was up there. I guess we have to do the same."

Sometimes it shocks me how well I can play this game. It's in my favor that I've had to hide my feelings for a very long time. I've almost mastered the art of acting like it's brotherly care when talking to Caleb about Lex.

He grimaces, "It's sayin' a lot that my dad is more acceptin' than us, right?"

I laugh, "Yes sir, it does. Now, your momma is a completely different story..."

That causes a little laugh to escape from him.

"I don't think my mom will ever accept that Lex has grown up or is different to the rest of the girls in this town. I bet she hit the roof about those tattoos alone..."

I pinch myself hard to distract my thoughts from the images of the tattoos Caleb hasn't seen. I'm sure no one else in this town has seen those and I certainly hope they never do. If I can help it, there will be no one else to view those ever again.

"I ain't gonna bet against you in that. I know I'd lose. Don't be angry with Lex, man. We're all in the wrong here. We need to relax a little coz she's a grown woman and you shouldn't have blown up at her like that. She shouldn't have reacted the way she did, but I can understand her point. Let's just be a bit more supportive and see how that works out, huh?"