Sweet Caroline

#58 Too intense

I thought that with Angelo and me on good terms, the rest of the night would go smoothly, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The evening is enjoyable enough. We all drink wine and play games, mostly Pictionary. Gina and Angelo are both insanely competitive, but I'm actually pretty good at this game since I've played it with the kids many times and I actually know how to draw almost anything in a way that Nathan understands, even though I'm not very artistic. In the end we still get our asses kicked, but at least we don't suck as badly as Sean and Jillian.

We're all tipsy, even Nathan. Hell, Nathan might even be a little drunk. I haven't seen him drink like this since New Year's. Not that I mind. He's just a little louder than usual and he laughs at everything, even when it's not that funny. It's probably just his way of dealing with all the stress of the past couple of weeks and the upcoming trial. He deserves to let loose. Besides, it's not like his friends are still sober.

Around midnight, Jillian and Gina are both exhausted and they retreat to their bedrooms. I am not even close to tired, but I want to give Nathan some time with his friends, so I kiss him goodnight and go upstairs for a long, hot shower. I try to sleep after that, but I'm still revved up, so I end up watching a movie on my phone with the lights out. It's a bit stuffy in the small room, so I open the window and lay back down, praying I will get some sleep tonight even though my body seems to want something very different than sleep. If Nathan wasn't still downstairs and we weren't in his friends' house, I would be all over him right now.

Suddenly, I hear a door open and close, followed by laughter. Apparently, the men are in the garden and their voices drift up through the open window.

"I wish you'd quit that filthy habit," I hear Nathan say.

Angelo responds, but he must be a bit further away, because I can't hear the exact words, only recognize the deep rumbling of his voice.

"She smokes?" Sean asks, sounding surprised. "Damn, Nathan, never thought you'd ever date a smoker."

"She doesn't smoke." I can almost hear Nathan roll his eyes. "Angelo is obviously full of shit." I wonder what he'd say if he knew that while I'm not addicted, I do enjoy a cigarette every now and then. There's still so much we don't know about each other. I didn't even realize that smoking might be a dealbreaker for him.

Again, Angelo's quiet answer doesn't quite reach my ears, but I'm sure he's talking shit about me, because Nathan's tells him to shut up while Sean laughs.

"Last time I saw her, I didn't quite realize how intense she really is," Sean says, his voice pensive. "I get what you mean now."

"Yeah..." Nathan sighs loudly. "Way intense. I honestly don't know what to do about that."

Intense? I'm intense? I rack my brain to figure out what he's talking about, but I honestly thought that everything was okay between us. And apparently, whatever they mean by intense is bad thing. I can tell from the way they say the word. What did I do wrong? Is this about me always speaking my mind? I thought he liked that about me.

Angelo speaks for a while and Nathan seems to agree with him. Damn, why can't that Italian asshole speak up a little more?

"Honestly..." Nathan's the one talking again. He sounds like he's about to spit out something he's not sure he should even be saying. "Sometimes I think that it may be a good thing that I can only see Caroline every other week. If it wasn't for Rose..." He pauses while Angelo says something in his deep voice, making Nathan laugh. "Yeah, definitely. We'd never make it to the summer if it wasn't for those weeks with Rose."

What. The. Fuck. Is he seriously telling his friends that the only way he can handle being in a relationship with me is by being away from me for a week on a regular basis? I thought he missed me during those seven days without me, just like I miss him. Guess not.