Best Friends For Never

Prologue Part 2

PROLOGUE PART 2

It was a month or so later that I began noticing that Nate was acting differently.

He didn't hang out or walk home with me after school anymore. He wouldn't reply to my texts, but when he did, his replies were always short and blunt. Whenever we sat next to each other in school he wouldn't want to have a proper conversation. He would sit with his other friends at lunch so I'd began sitting in the library instead.

I tried asking him if anything was wrong, but his answer was always vague; it didn't stop me from worrying.

One day, after classes, I spotted him at his locker and I decided it was time I confronted him. We didn't argue often and when we did there was always some kind of valid reason for it, but this time I couldn't tell what I had done wrong and it was driving me insane.

"Nate, I need to talk to you," I said, smiling awkwardly at him.

He closed his locker door and turned to look at me. "What?"

"You've just been acting really distant lately, I just wanted to know if you were okay. If you need to talk, then I'm here," I paused, hesitantly. "And if I've done something wrong then I'm really sorry, but please just stop ignoring me."

He sighed in annoyance. "You haven't done anything, Talia."

"Then why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?"

"You're being distant and rude and just different..." I attempted to explain. "If there's something going on, you can talk to me, you know."

"I don't want to talk, okay?" He scowled.  "Just leave me alone."

"But Nate—" I started to say.

"I said I don't want to talk!" Nate snapped, glaring at me. "Just go away, okay?"

Pressing my lips together, I nodded. "Okay," I mumbled.

I walked home alone again that day, still just as confused as I'd been the past month.

Later that evening, there was a knock on my door.

“Are you and Nate going out today?” My mom shouted up the stairs.

“No?” I shouted back.

"Well, Nate's here..."

My eyes widened in surprise and I immediately shot up from where I was lying on the bed.  

I wasn't sure whether to go downstairs or not, so I stood listening for a few minutes as my mom opened the door. “Hey, Nate. Are you here for Talia?”

“Um, yeah, actually I had to talk to her about something, is that okay?” Nate asked, I immediately picked up on the anxious tone in his voice and I frowned slightly. He sounded a lot different than he had a few hours ago.

I decided to make my way downstairs, slowly.

“Of course, come on in,” My mom said, opening the door wider for Nate to come in.

When Nate walked in and saw me, he smiled. I frowned back at him, studying the smile on his face, which didn’t look at all right; it looked forced and strained, even fake. He had been a little off this whole month, but now he was just acting plain weird.

My mom went back into the kitchen and I turned to Nate, cocking my head to the side. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

Nate scratched the back of his head and stared at the floor.