"No, the room in the basement. My mom thought it'd be quieter for studying."
"He's taking classes?"
"No, but he wants to stay up on what he learned so he's ready for med school in the fall." Nate sits beside me. "Lucky bastard. He's going to make a shitload of money someday."
"So are you. You're a talented designer. Designers make good money, don't they?"
"Depends on the job. I'm not even sure what I'm going to do yet."
"I thought you wanted to work at an ad agency."
"Only because I know I can find a job there." He picks up his soda and guzzles it down.
I turn to him. "Nate, you shouldn't take a job you don't like. Find something you really want to do."
"I don't know what that is yet. And until I do, I need to find a job that pays the bills. My student loan payments will be starting soon, and then there's rent and car insurance and all the other shit that comes with being an adult."
"Yeah, I know," I say, slumping back against the headboard. "Sometimes being an adult really sucks. Remember when we thought it'd be so cool to be an adult?"
"Some parts of it are. Like driving. Staying up as late as you want. Eating junk that's not good for you. Falling in love."
I look at him, smiling. "Are you saying you've been in love?"
He finishes his soda and sets the can on the nightstand, not answering me.
I turn to face him. "Were you in love and didn't tell me?"
"No," he casually says. "But I like the idea of it."
"Why? According to my mom, falling in love just leads to heartbreak."
"Or it could lead to happiness."
"It didn't for your parents. Or for mine, although mine don't count since my dad took off before he even knew my mom was pregnant. That definitely wasn't love."
"But you still believe in it, right?"
"Sure. I mean, I want to believe in it."
"You kinda have to," he says with a laugh, "given that you already love me."
"True." I scoot closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder. "Guess that makes you my first love."
"And you're mine," he says quietly, kissing the top of my head.
This is why people think we're a couple. The kisses and hugs and admitting we love each other...it makes us seem like a couple. But we're not. Nate even admitted he's never thought of me that way. I was surprised when he said that. I thought for sure he'd at least considered dating me over the years, but I guess not.
"So this summer..." I say.
"What about it?"
"It's not going to be what I was hoping."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought it'd be like all the other years. You and me doing everything together. Working at the pool, then going out, or hanging out here."
"We'll still do that stuff."
"But it won't be the same. Not with your cousin here."
"We can do stuff without him. Brad's good at making friends. He'll meet people here and after a few weeks, he'll be doing stuff with them. I probably won't even see him that much, other than work."
"You'll still want to spend time with him, which I totally understand. I was just hoping to have you all to myself. It's our last summer before you get a job. In a few months, you'll move away and I'll never see you again."
"You'll see me again." He puts his arm around me. "I promise. And as for Brad, I'm dragging you along with us wherever we go, even if it's to one of those sci-fi movies you hate."
I groan. "Ugh, haven't we seen enough of those?"
Nate and I are similar in many ways, but not when it comes to our taste in movies. I like movies with fast cars and lots of action and he likes sci-fi and dramas.
"Riley, I know you're worried things will change with Brad here, but I'll do everything I can to make this summer as good as all the other ones. We'll still hang out like we used to, and who knows? You might like Brad enough that you actually want him hanging out with us."
"If he's like you, I'll definitely like him."
"We have a few similarities, but we're also really different."
"Like how? What's he like?"
"He's really outgoing. Popular. Like I said, he makes friends easily."
"So do you."
"It takes me more time to warm up to people. I can be kind of shy until I get to know someone. Remember how shy I was when we met?"
"I didn't think you were shy. You came and sat at my table at lunch before you even knew me. Most guys would go sit with another guy, but you chose to sit by me." I look up at him. "You never said why you did that."
"Because you smiled at me. When I walked in the cafeteria, you're the first person I saw and you smiled at me. I thought you were inviting me over."
"No." I laugh. "And actually, I was smiling at Lana. She was standing right behind you, waving at me on her way to class."
"Lana Kline?"
"Yeah. Back when we were still friends. Before she stole my boyfriend."
"But her stealing your boyfriend is how we got to be friends. So in a way, she did you a favor."
"She still shouldn't have done it. She purposely went behind my back and asked him out." I hear the anger in my voice just talking about it.
"She only did it because of her mom. You know Janelle told her to do it."
"Still doesn't make it right." I turn to face Nate. "Talk about not being able to let stuff go. Janelle is STILL being a bitch to my mom. Just last weekend at the grocery store she told the clerk she saw my mom stealing."
"Was she?" he asks, cautiously.
"No!" I whack his shoulder. "My mom stopped doing that years ago. Janelle made it up because she's jealous my mom's dating Dave. It's the same reason she hated my mom in high school. My mom got the guys and Janelle didn't. Now my mom has Dave, who Janelle has a huge crush on."
"But she's married."
"Exactly. And yet Dave says she flirts with him whenever she's at the gas station." I roll my eyes. "I wish they'd move out of town. Actually, I wish I could be the one to leave town so I could get away from people like Lana and her mom."
Nate pulls me back down beside him. "Forget about them and just be happy you smiled at me that day, even if it was meant for Lana. If you hadn't, I might've been too afraid to sit with you."
"You were so nervous," I say, thinking back. "You barely said anything to me, and when you did, you wouldn't look at me."
"I wasn't used to talking to girls. Most guys aren't at that age. You have to give me some credit for going up to you and sitting at your table. That was a bold move. And then later I went up to you at your locker and asked how your day was going. Another bold move."
"One you probably regret, given what happened."
"Not at all." He hugs me into his side. "If that hadn't happened, we'd never be as close as we are now."
The day Nate and I met was the day Lana went after Ian. I found them kissing in the hallway between classes. I was devastated and went straight to my locker to get my stuff to go home. That's when Nate came up to me and asked how my day was going. He had a big smile on his face, completely unaware of what I'd just seen. He probably thought I'd say my day was fine and that would be it. But instead, I broke down crying. Big loud messy sobs. Nate looked stunned and assumed he was the cause of my tears. He took me in his arms and asked what he'd done, and that's when I explained what happened.