He's Worth It to Me

Chapter 3: It's You

Once Riley pulls away from the hug, she notices the flowers.
"Who are those from?", she asks me with a suggestive smirk.
"They're from the guy who saved my life", I say as I smile widely.
"Does this mystery man have a name?"
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"Well... Are you going to tell me his name or not?"
"Okay. Fine. His name is Nate."
"Ooooo", Riley says while raising her eyebrows and winking at me.
"You want to know something really weird?", I ask Riley.
"What?"
"He looked familiar."
"Huh."

~A Couple Days Later at School~

As I'm walking into school on my first day back since the incident, Riley is talking nonstop to me about what gossip I missed while in the hospital. But my mind is elsewhere thinking about the mysterious Nate.
Riley notices my attention is elsewhere and immediately stops.
"Okay Megan, what's going on?", Riley asks me.
"I'm sorry Riley. I just can't help but try and figure out where I know Nate."
"I know you will figure it out. You are the master at figuring things out!"
"Hahaha."
We walk to our lockers, which are right next to each other. I am immediately met by my group of "friends" asking if I'm okay and telling me how much they love me, which I know is all fake. Out of the corner of my eye I see Riley roll her eyes and let out a breathy laugh, but no one notices this but me. After talking with them I finally make it to my locker. I am greeted with a significantly big amount of cards, flowers, and gifts taped to my locker and on the ground in front of it. They all say "Get Well Soon." My parents were too embarrassed by their daughter attempting suicide, so instead of telling the truth, they told everyone I was in the hospital because I had a kidney stone. Only Riley knows the truth.
Riley and I are talking at our lockers when I see a guy staring at me from the other side of the hallway. I instantly recognize him. It's Nate. He's here.
I think he knows I recognize him because he quickly turns and walks away.
I tell Riley I need to go do makeup work and I start running after him. Damn, he's fast. He's in the library. That has to be where he is. That's the only place in this area of the building. As I open the library door, I am immediately met with a breeze of cold air and the smell of books. I quickly walk in and start to search for him. I look everywhere. I look between bookshelves, in different study rooms, and anywhere else I can think. Well, I guess he's not here. Then I remember something. My hiding spot! The place I go to have time to myself without my fake friends. I peer around the corner slowly with my fingers crossed in the hope that he's there. He's there! I thought only I knew about this spot.
He looks up from his book and meets my eyes. His eyes widen in shock.
"H-How...D-D-Did...You...F-Find...M-Me? No one knows about this spot", he stutters.
"This is my spot", I tell him.
"N-N-No. This is my spot."
"Let's cut to the chase. You're Nate, right?", I say with the courage I somehow managed to summon up.
"Yeah. And you're Megan. Why are you here?"
"I'm here to talk to you."
"Why would you need to talk to me?"
"You saved my life."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
We continue back and forth like this for a couple of minutes until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Nate, I know it was you, so you can cut the act", I say with much force in my voice.
"Okay. Fine. It was me, ok", he says, looking defeated.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my life and thank you for the flowers. You gave me a second chance at life and I owe you big time."
"You don't owe me anything. I was just doing my job."
"Come sit with me at lunch."
"I like to fly under the radar and...", he starts to trail off.
"Pleaseeeee...", I beg.
"But...", he starts to say, but I cut him off.
"Pleaseeeee...", I continue.
"Ok. Fine. I'll sit with you at lunch", he says with a look of defeat yet again.
"Thank you! You won't regret it! I promise!", I say with glee in my voice.
And with that, I give him a big hug.
Huh, that was weird.
We both froze and that told me that we both felt the same thing. We felt safe.