Chapter 2

• “Nathan, if you don’t get up there, you are going to be late for school,” Lucy shouted from the stairs and Nathan lazily got up from the bed. He picked the basket ball on the floor and casually tossed it into the hoop hanging on the wall and watched as the ball rolled back to him. He stood up and strolled to the window, drawing the curtain, he stared at the house right opposite his window and sighed, wondering when he would see her again. Ever since she took up that Job as a flight attendant, he doesn’t see much of her anymore because she was busy flying around the world. He sees her once a week and sometimes twice, while sometimes he would be lucky to spend time with her if she comes for the weekend and sometimes, she just doesn’t come back. Times like now, it’s been two weeks since she last came back.
• He heaved a sigh and licked his lips, the last time he saw her, she had introduced some douche-bag as her boyfriend and the idiot had the got to try to make friends with him while laughing like a moron at things that weren’t even funny. Again he found himself wondering where she found those idiots, probably in planes she attends. He couldn’t help but wonder why she can’t see that none of them are good for her, that none of them deserves her.
• And who deserves her, you? His subconscious asked like it always does and he ran his long slender fingers through his platinum hair. Well, he was sure as hell he would make a more better boyfriend than those douche-bags that clearly doesn’t know what gem they have gotten.
• “Nathan!”
• “I’m almost ready mom,” he yelled back, glanced at the house one more time and entered the bathroom.
• Nathan walked down the stairs ready for school and his basket ball under his arm, as the captain of the basketball team, he was quite popular in the school and every girls’ dream, well, every girl except for one.
• “I was thinking maybe you need me to start preparing you for school again,” Lucy said, setting the table for breakfast.
• Nathan rolled his eyes, “mom, I’m seventeen, I should be in the Guinness book of record if you still prepare me for school,” he joined her in the kitchen and pulled out a chair to sit down, balancing his ball on the table.
• “No, no, Nathan, I have told you, on the floor with the ball, on the floor,” she removed the ball and placed it on the floor and it rolled and hit the wall. She pulled a chair and sat down, “I will be working late tonight, there is cooked spaghetti in the fridge, warm it up for dinner, and don’t remain for me, I will get something at work.”
• “Okay,” he replied, eating his pancake with applesauce and glaring at the plate of broccoli, bearing in mind not to touch it.
• “Lock the doors when you are sleeping and remove the key, if there is any problem, don’t hesitate to call me.”
• “For goodness sake mom, I am not a baby, I can take care of myself.”
• “Good, then you should know you are to take that broccoli before leaving this table right?”
• Nathan groaned, “fine,” he mumbled and hastily finished his pancakes before staring at the plate of broccoli like it was the devil himself. “Have you heard from Tracy?”
• “No dear, the last time I talked to her, she called from Miami. Is there any problem?”
• “She promised to spend the weekend with me last week and this week is already over.”
• “Well it’s still Friday, she can pop up like she often do,” she sighed, “you know dear, you have to understand her, ever since Naomi died, it’s hard for her to be here, with all the memories and all. I know she doesn’t spend much time with you like she often does before but you have to understand, she is an adult now and she has responsibilities. I just hope that guy she introduced to us that time, what’s his name again? Is it John or was it Gary? They are just so much that I am finding it hard to keep up.”
• “Tell me about it,” he murmured, stuffing broccoli into his mouth and immediately felt like throwing up. He doesn’t hate vegetables; he just likes the sweeter ones like carrots and cucumbers.
• “Well, whoever it was, I just hopes he would man up and propose to her, maybe that would keep her in one place and if we are lucky enough, he would be from here and we can finally be with her like we used to.”
• Nathan suddenly dropped his spoon on the table and stood up, “I’m leaving.”
• “Hey, you haven’t finished your vegetable.”
• “Put in the fridge for me, I will eat it when I get back,” he picked up his ball, ready to leave the kitchen.
• “Well, let me drop you off, I’m done too.”
• “Don’t worry mom, Steven is picking me up,” he left the kitchen before she could say something else and ruin his mood further. Of recent she had started her talk about Tracy getting married, well Tracy doesn’t want to get married yet, why can’t she see that and stop trying push her into the arms of any available man?
• A car honk in front of him made him look up, seeing his best friend, he jogged and hopped into the car, “hey, what’s up with the long face?”
• “Drive,” he ordered.
• “Hey, this is my car, you don’t boss me around,” Steven, a brown skinned boy with brown eyes, said but when he saw Nathan’s look, he shrugged, “fine, fine, I will drive,” he stepped on the accelerator and drove off.
• Nathan sat staring at the houses and trees that they passed. He gets angry whenever his mom talked about Tracy getting married but deep in his heart, he knew she was right. Tracy was twenty seven, by all means she is ripe for marriage. It’s just that, he doesn’t know how he can cope with that. It was difficult seeing her with boyfriends, how would he feel seeing her with a husband and children that isn’t his? He sighed and ran his fingers through his white hair, something he often does when he was bothered or thinking.
• “Hey, this has nothing to do with her right? I mean, you are getting moodier with each passing day. She will come back, she always does,” Steven said, glancing at him briefly.
• “What the hell are you talking about?” Nathan glanced at him with a frown.
• “Come on dude, others might not see it but I do, you have a thing for that woman next door. Come on dude, we are best friends, we share secrets. But you have been hiding yours from me for years.”
• “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
• “Yes, go on, hide like you always do. But I know what I’m saying, you are in your brightest days whenever she is around. You smile every time and you laugh at everything, including the ones that are not funny, as long as it came from her mouth.”
• Nathan glanced at him with a frown, is he saying that I laugh like a fool like those douche-bags?
• “And you always look at her with those eyes that screams ‘kiss me, please kiss me’,” Steven suddenly started laughing, “seriously dude, you have got it real deep for her. I have never seen you look at any girl like that. Not even Cindy,” he continued laughing but stopped abruptly, “but dude, let’s not forget an important thing here, she is twenty seven, and you are seventeen, there is no way it’s gonna work between you two, you know that.”
• He has parked the car by then and Nathan climbed out of the car, banging the door shut and Steven could only sigh, knowing he had hit a spot. Nathan strolled to his locker angrily, he hates it when his conscious tells him that obvious fact and he hates it more now hearing it from Steven as well. He means, what is wrong if she is ten years older? Age should never be a barrier when it comes to love, right? He means, it’s not his fault he had to fall for her and he doesn’t give a damn whatever anybody says it. The only reason he hasn’t walked up to her yet and told her how he feels was because he fears what he would see in her beautiful hazel eyes: disgust, mockery and hatred. The last thing he wants is her not spending the little time she does with him now, he would hate to see her look at him like that. Every time he remembers her eyes, all he sees were love, affection and care, he would rather keep remembering them like that for the rest of his life than to see hatred, disgust and mockery replace them.
• He sighed and opened his locker, throwing his backpack into it and resting his head on it, he closed his eyes and her face flashed in his mind. He just wants to be with her, why was it so difficult to do?