Stars Align

chapter eight

"Stella!" Nathan comes barging into the coffee shop out of breath. He probably ran here.

Instinctively, I stand up startled by his presence. Everyone else in the shop must have been startled too, all eyes curiously on him.

I'm about to start panicking and ask him what's wrong until he breaks out into one of the biggest grins I've ever seen.

"What's going on?"

Instead of verbally replying, he unrolls the paper in his hand holding it up for me to see. My eyes immediately go to the red ink scribbled on the top corner of the paper that reads 93%.

"No way!" I smile excitedly.

"Yep." He's still grinning wildly, nodding his head. "Best grade in the class!"

"Nathan, that's amazing!"

Before I can register what's going on, he pulls me into his arms for a hug. He lifts me off the ground and I let out a yelp of surprise, grabbing onto his shoulders to support myself. Laughing, he twirls me around once before setting me back down. My stomach involuntarily flutters.

When he lets me go I can't help but blush. Everyone in the shop is staring at us.

"I couldn't have done it without you," he tells me solemnly, smile still on his face. "I owe you big time."

"No you don-,"

"Yes." He cuts me off. "Some classmates and I are going out tonight to celebrate. Come and at least let me buy you a drink."

"I can't," I sigh. "I have a job with Angela."

"Oh." His face falls.

"Nathan? What the hell. Why did you run he-,"

Lauren walks into the coffee shop, brow furrowing when she spots me. She walks over to us cautiously, eyes looking at Nathan expectantly.

"Lauren, this is Stella. She actually helped with your birthday party," Nathan tells her.

"Oh." She looks at me skeptically and I can't tell if she remembers me from the chateau or not. "Why are you..." she trails off and then her eyes widen in realization.

It's in that moment I know she recognizes me from our encounter in Paris. She smirks and I can tell she thinks Nathan is talking to me about all things wedding, even though I still don't think he's proposed to her yet. Her ring finger is bare.

"It's nice to meet you." She feigns ignorance, using a sickening sweet voice and fake smile. She sticks her hand out for me to shake and I take it.

"Likewise." I give her a closed lip smile, playing along.

"Well, I'll let you guys talk. I have to get to work. Love you." She stands on her tiptoes to peck Nathan on the lips. Walking out, she sends me a knowing look as if to tell me 'you know what I want so steer him in the right direction.'

The rest of the morning, Nathan and I chat and work over coffee until he has to go to class, like usual. I didn't once bring up anything wedding related. Sorry, Lauren...

When Nathan leaves for class I pack up as well and head home to get ready for some huge sweet sixteen party Angela asked me to work tonight.

The party went on without a hitch, but I was still exhausted on the drive home. Sitting at a red light, I look around at the business, admiring the nightlife. Looking into the windows of a bar, I spot a familiar brunette pushing up his thick rimmed glasses.

Nathan is standing around with some other guys, bantering over something. They're all gathered around the window, dry erase markers in hand. From what I can see, they're writing equations on the glass, some quickly wiping away the others work, changing it.

What nerds.

Are they seriously doing math problems in a bar?

Quickly making a sharp right turn, I find myself pulling into the bars parking lot. I get out of my car and walk to the front. Stopping in front of Nathan's group outside the bar window, I pound my fist on the glass that has scribbled equations all over it. They all jump in surprise and look at me like I'm crazy, but Nathan breaks out into a grin after realizing it's me.

"Are you nerds seriously doing math right now?" I yell loud enough so that they hopefully hear me through the glass.

Nathan shakes his head in amusement, enthusiastically waving for me to come inside. I walk in and his grin widens.

"What are you doing here?" He yells over the crowd and music.

"Coming home from a party. Saw you doing math in the window," I jokingly scrunch up my nose in disgust. "Isn't this technically vandalism?"

"Nah, it wipes off." He smiles, using his index finger to erase a number to show me.

His cheeks are rosy, smile lazy and eyes hooded. Judging by the number of beer bottles on their table I'd say they're all probably tipsy.

"Guys, this is Stella," he introduces me to his friends, slinging a heavy arm over my shoulders, falling into me a bit.

Yep, he's drunk.

"She's the reason why I got the highest grade." He smiles proudly. "Which reminds me, I owe you a drink," he says, pulling me towards the bar. "What do you want? It's on me."

"I'm ok," I admit. "I drove here anyway."

"Still, one drink won't hurt. Come on, stay a while."

"Fine." I huff, giving in.

He grins triumphantly and walks to the bar to get me a drink. Grabbing it from him, we go back to his friends who are back to arguing over a problem.

Nathan grabs me a stool to sit on and pulls one up for himself to sit next to me. While his friends go on, he tries to explain to me what they're arguing about. His hot breath fans over my ear as he tries to talk over the crowd and his hand rests on my thigh for stabilization as he tipsily tries to balance on the stool.

I have to admit, I don't understand a single thing he's talking about. I don't know if it's due to my lack of math knowledge or because he's so close to me.

When his friends settle down I notice them all staring at us, specifically Nathan's hand resting on my thigh. I can't help but squirm under their judgmental gaze, knowing how it must look if they know he has a girlfriend.

I quickly remove his hand from my thigh and awkwardly stand up, straightening out my navy dress. "It's late, I should probably get going."

I'm quick to notice Nathan's slight pout. I can tell he's about to protest until one of his friends agrees that it's late. The all come to the consensus that they should go home.

Walking out of the bar, we say our goodbyes and I go to walk back to my car but notice that they all linger on the sidewalk.

"Do you guys have a ride?"

"No, we'll get a taxi," one of them says.

Deciding to take on the roll as D.D. I get them all to pile into my car, Nathan in the passenger's seat, wanting to make sure they get home safe.

Taking each of them home, Nathan is the last in my car. Drunkenly telling me directions to his house, I finally manage to pull up to a house he recognizes.

"Thanks, Stella," he murmurs and I pray that he can make it up to his front door by himself. The last thing I want is a suspicious Lauren wondering why I'm bringing her drunk boyfriend home so late at night.

He thoughtfully stares at me for a while, looking like he's contemplating something.

"Goodnight, Nathan," I softly urge him to go inside.

"Goodnight," he tells me, finally getting out of my car.

He stumbles up to his front door and I nervously flinch every time I think he's going to kiss the pavement. Finally making it to his door, he manages to pull out his keys to open it, falling inside.

Content that it is indeed his house and he made it inside safely, I pull away from the curb and drive home.