Chapter 6 - A Night with Nate
"You guys killed it." Elisa said, wrapping her arms around me in a hug once I returned from the dance floor. The music was still playing loudly around us as people continued to talk and drink.
"I think Mr. Wells over there wants some of the action too," Lexxie said, winking at me.
"Where is he?" I asked her, finding it hard to believe that he would be at a place like this. She gestured her head behind me, causing me to turn around. And sure enough there he was, looking directly at me with a straight face. I smiled slightly at him and he nodded his head.
"That was so weird," Alyce said, breaking my gaze away from him.
"What was?" Lexxie asked her, taking a sip of her drink.
"How quickly Dennis disappeared," she replied, chuckling slightly.
"Wait, you know him?" I asked, slightly surprised. They all looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Yeah, he's the one who danced with you when Nate had to leave. Remember?" Elisa asked me. I looked back at them utterly confused.
"No that was his twin Dylan," I mumbled to myself.
"No I'm 100% sure that was Dennis, he's the one that always comes to the salsa class when Ryan needs someone. Dylan couldn't be bothered to come." Elisa explained.
But that didn't make any sense. He had clearly told me that he was Dylan, so why were my friends saying something different?
I kept that thought in my head as I looked around to see if Nate was still here─but he was gone. I returned my eyes to my friends who were in a heated conversation. I sat back and watched but as I did so, I couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching me from a close distance.
* * *
The next morning, I sleepily got ready for work. I had gotten home late and hadn't been able to get any sleep as thoughts about my dance with Dennis stormed my thoughts. It had been so exciting having all those people cheer for us as we danced─it almost made me wish we could do it again.
I quickly finished my bowl of cereal before placing the empty bowl in the sink and leaving the house. I got into my car and after making sure that I was ready, I backed out of the driveway and onto the street for my usual drive to work.
As soon as I entered the office building, Dan waved me over.
"Morning, do you need something?" I asked since this had never happened before.
"Mr Wells said he needs to see you as soon as you come in." I raised my eyebrows at him because that was the first time he had ever called him by his last name and it was also the first time he had called for me so early.
"Mr Wells?" I asked him. He chuckled slightly as he looked up from his computer screen.
"He didn't seem to be in a good mood earlier so he asked me to call him by his surname instead of his first name." Hearing that made me slightly afraid to walk into his office. If he had been like that with Dan─someone who was basically his best friend at the office─then what would he be like with me?
I quickly dropped off my jacket and bag into my office before walking to his office and knocking on the door.
"Come in."
At the sound of his voice, I opened the door and walked in. Instead of gesturing to the chair across from him like usual, he continued to look down at a pile of sheets on his desk.
"I need you to stay later tonight. I just got a last minute project and I need your help," Nate said, a blank expression plastered onto his face as he finally looked up at me. Although I didn't have any plans for tonight, I was tempted to ask him why he didn't ask any of the other workers instead. I felt like he was always asking me to do most of the work when there were other people who worked in the same area.
Regardless of these thoughts, I simply nodded before leaving his office without saying anything. I sighed as I entered my office, slumping into my chair, and beginning what I had to do before I would be needed later.
"Someone seems unhappy," Elisa said, walking inside and taking the seat across from me.
"Nate wants me to stay late to work," I mumbled and sighed. I looked at her to find a large smile on her face, causing my eyebrows to draw together in confusion.
"Why does that make you so happy?"
"Because maybe it's his way of asking you out," she said, as her smile─although it had seemed impossible─widened. I ran my hand through my hair as I looked at her with an expression which I hoped was showing my obvious disbelief.
"Oh don't look at me like that Cady. You know he likes you." I immediately laughed as her ridiculous statement reached me.
"You're joking right?" I asked her rhetorically. After seeing his behavior in his office earlier, there was no way that was the face of someone who liked me.
"No I'm serious Cady; you just don't see it. I saw the way he looked at you and held you at salsa. He definitely likes you."
Instead of saying something to what she had said─which I thought was completely absurd─I picked up a few folders on my desk and busied myself with straightening them out.
"Is that all you came for?" I asked, hoping that she would take the hint and leave it alone.
"No, I came to remind you about lunch. You have to come today because Lexxie might have more crazy ideas that we'll need to stop her from going further with." I chuckled slightly and nodded, making a mental note of what she had said.
* * *
It was officially five o'clock now, the time that I would usually leave work. But unfortunately, today was the day that I would have to work overtime. I heaved a sigh as I stood up to walk towards Nate's office.
"See you tomorrow." Elisa and Dan both said to me and waved. I waved back to both of them and continued my journey.
I knocked on his door and after I heard his voice, I walked in, closing the door behind me. When I looked up at him, he was gesturing to the chair which was usually across from him, but it was now beside him, behind a laptop. I nodded and walked towards it, before taking my seat and placing my phone beside the laptop.
He handed me a pile of sheets before I could settle into my seat and judging by the size, he wasn't kidding when he said that he would need my help.
"And we have to finish all of this?" I asked him. He nodded before looking at his computer screen. "Whoever gave you this must be out of their mind." I mumbled, not intending for him to hear me. But from the corner of my eye, I saw the side of his mouth twitch into a smile, telling me that he had heard me afterall.
I turned my attention to the laptop before me and swiped my finger across the mouse pad to bring the dark screen to life. I was immediately greeted by the home screen with the wallpaper showing Nate with a beautiful brunette lady, smiling at me. I couldn't fight back the smile which took over my lips as I looked at him smiling with her; he looked genuinely happy.
As I continued to look, I was so entranced that I didn't notice him take the laptop away until he placed it back, open to a blank word document.
"You should start now Cadence." I nodded without saying anything and did as I was told.
We had been busy working on our separate screens when the sound of my phone's vibration pierced through the silence, causing me to immediately reach for it and forgetting about Nate's presence. I unlocked the phone and opened Lexxie's text, feeling my lips turn into a smile as I read the three words: picked a date! I sent her congratulations before returning to my work.
But shortly after I had started, it vibrated again. I opened the text and frowned slightly.
You need to get here. We need to discuss, she had typed. But unfortunately, I wasn't going to leave this office any time soon since we were just over halfway done. So I replied with my situation and returned to my work, making sure to put my phone on silent.
"Something urgent?" Nate asked, reminding me of his existence.
"Oh no it's just Lexxie telling me about her wedding plans." I replied. As soon as the word wedding left my lips, I noticed him stiffen. He nodded timidly before returning to his paper. I continued to observe him, noticing how his smooth movements as he wrote had turned stiff as well.
"Are you alright?" I asked before I could stop myself. Instead of looking up, he nodded his head, mumbling "yeah." But I could tell that he was lying as I returned my eyes to my papers.
"You don't look alright." I whispered to myself, not intending for him to hear. But at the sound of his pen dropping onto his pile of work, I knew that he had heard me this time too. I looked up to find him dragging his hands across his face, as if he was frustrated.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." I said, hoping that I hadn't done anything wrong. I should've just kept my mouth shut. He sighed.
"You didn't do anything wrong." He reassured me. "I just have some things on my mind."
"Oh." Was all I could say. I was tempted to ask him about it but I wasn't sure how he'd take it. He stood up and walked outside the office. I continued my portion of the work until I noticed that he had not returned as I got close to finishing.
Curious as to what was keeping him, I stood up and left the office, wondering where I could find him. As I walked past the break room which was rarely used, the sound of cutlery hitting the floor, caused me to peek my head inside. Bending down, Nate slowly picked up the spoon which he had dropped. I walked closer and saw that he was preparing a cup of tea for himself.
"Taking a break?" I asked, trying not to scare him but from the jerk of his body, I could tell that I had failed. He turned around after he had recovered and nodded.
"Can I join you?" I asked. He looked at me for a few seconds without saying anything before he sighed.
"Sure." I smiled slightly before making myself a cup of tea and sitting across from him. We sat there in silence, occasionally taking sips and doing everything we could to avoid eye contact. But even though I didn't look at him, I could tell that there was something still bothering him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. He looked at me, confused.
"What's on your mind. It looks like it's bothering you." I clarified when he continued to look at me blankly. He sighed and took another sip of his drink.
"Jason's proposal to Lexxie brought up memories that I've been trying to get rid of, about my ex."
From the picture on the laptop, I could never have guessed that something would've happened which he would want to forget.
"What happened?" I asked, to which a small smile appeared on his lips.
"I was engaged once, almost got married too, but she stood me up at the altar." He said, refusing to meet my gaze. Unsure of what to say, I continued to look at him, hoping that he would continue.
"We had met in college. My dad had forced me to do some business classes so I could take over this company one day. And since I didn't have anything else in mind, I agreed. She was in most of my classes, oddly enough, so we got close quickly.
"While my dad was focused on me taking over the company, my mom was thinking about getting grandkids," he chuckled slightly, "so she arranged for me to meet some girls. I didn't really care for it until one day my mom introduced her to me. But the funny thing was we had already met." I smiled at his words.
"Long story short, we got to know each other more and before we knew it, we were engaged. And you know how it ended."
There was an awkward silence as I looked into my now empty mug, unsure of what to say. It was sad to think that the woman who had looked so kind on the wallpaper, could do something so cruel to him; I couldn't imagine how Nate must've felt when it had happened. As I was about to ask him more questions about it, my action was broken when we heard footsteps getting closer, causing us to look at the door to see a familiar figure.
"Did I interrupt something?" Dan asked, looking surprised to see us both there, before walking towards us. We both shook our heads.
"Not really, we were just taking a break. But I think we should call it a night." Nate said as he looked at me. I simply nodded my head and watched him as he stood up to place his cup into the sink, before leaving the room.
Dan took the now vacant seat across from me with an odd expression on his face.
"He's the one who beat me to it isn't he?" He asked as his usual playful expression returned. I felt my lips turn into a small smile as I rolled my eyes at him.
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