stay with me

Chapter 15

Grey:

It's Friday. My "date" with Hunter is tonight. I'm nervous. I didn't remember until after he asked me that Nate is going to be here today. I'm sure Hunter won't mind though if Nate comes along too. I mean he did say that Sam and Daniel could come. The idea that Nate will be there helps to calm me a little. When I told Sam about Hunter asking us to hang out she went ballistic she was so excited. She has been picking outfits for me to wear the past two days. I love her but she's insane.

It's a little after twelve when I hear a knock at the door. I know it's Nate and I run to answer with a smile on my face.

"Nate!" I say when I open the door and I throw myself into his arms before he can say anything.

"I missed you too" he says with a hint of laughter in his voice as he wraps his arms around me holding me tightly. It feels good to be in his arms again. It's comforting. These arms have held me as I've cried over a hundred times. They've also held me at times of joy.

"Come in" I say once I finally detach myself from him. He follows me inside and he puts his stuff down.

He walks over to me and puts his hands on my shoulders and says "Alright hold still and let me get a good look at you". He runs his eyes over me and I can't tell what he's thinking.

"What?" I ask when he still hasn't said anything.

"Well I see you still have all your arms and legs so that's good" he says revealing a smile and laughing. I swat him in the arm playfully. He can be such a kid sometimes.

"Are you hungry?" I ask him once we finish laughing.

"Starved" he says.

We leave to go get food and we walk there. Nate has his car but he knows how I avoid them when I can so he doesn't even suggest driving. It's a beautiful day today and I breathe in the autumn air and think briefly of Jason as I feel a leaf crunch beneath my foot.

We talk about his drive and trivial things like the weather as we walk to the restaurant. I end up taking him to this popular burger place near campus. I know he'll like it. We walk inside and sit down and order our food as we wait I decide to strike up conversation this way I can direct it away from me as long as possible.

"So how are you?" I ask him and it's not the typical how are you. When I ask him I really want to know how he is.

"Good" he says nodding. "School's good. Some of my classes have been a little difficult this semester but I'm doing alright. Not all of us can be geniuses" he says teasing me.

"Oh stop" I say smiling. He's ridiculous. Nate goes to Yale so he's no dummy. He graduated 5th in our class. When Nate, Jason, and I decided on where to go to college they made jokes about kicking each other's butts at the Harvard V. Yale football games. I told them I would root for both of my guys. "How's football?" I ask.

I see the stunned expression on Nate's face and I'm not surprised it's there. I haven't talked about or watched football since I lost Jason. I used to love it, but like most things I loved I said goodbye to it when I lost him. It hurt too much otherwise.

"It's good" he says once he regains his composure.

"How are you Grey?" he asks gently as he reaches his hand out and puts it on mine. I don't shake it off. I let it rest there because I know he's worried about me.

"I'm okay" I answer honestly. "Things aren't perfect not even close but I'm working on it" I say trying to be strong.

He asks me about school and I tell him it's going great. That I have a 4.0 so far this semester but this doesn't shock him. He understands that school is the easy part of my life.