Forty minutes.

Nate is forty minutes late.

I sit outside the Haynes' house on their front steps contemplating on calling Nate for the tenth time. Where is he?

I had knocked on the door almost an hour ago and Tim answered, no longer surprised to see me when I did this. He had said Nate went to the library, which shouldn't have me worried, but it did. He knew we had our date tonight and knowing Nate, his punctual self would have been here. He didn't seem like someone who would stand me up.

I check my phone again, sighing when it goes straight to voicemail.

Bright headlights turn the corner and I stand up. The car screeches to a halt in front of Nate's house and I begin to walk towards it. Molly steps out of the car.

At first, jealousy rears its ugly head and I stop in mid stride. What was she doing here?

Movement out of the corner of my eyes near the passenger seat catches my attention and for a second I stop breathing. My chest tightens to the point it feels like fire sears straight to my heart. The sight of Nate hunched over invades my sight and my world starts to darken around the edges.

"Oh my God," I gasp, rushing towards the car. I knew something was wrong. I knew it. "What the hell happened?" I ask Molly who has already wrapped her arm around Nate's waist and hoisted him out of the car.

"Kelly," Nate says before Molly can speak. But I'm surprised he can speak. Blood gushes out of his nose and his lip is split in two different places leaving it swollen and crusted in blood. A sharp intake of breath is the only give away that his ribs are bruised if not broken under his bloodied, ruined, Captain America shirt. He loves this shirt.

"What happened?" I grit out through me teeth, the words nearly choking me as I ask a second time. Tears have already collected in my eyes and I try my hardest to reign them in. I can barely see through the pouring down rain that has soaked my clothes as it is. I try and look away from the ground as the puddles turn pink from the excess blood running down Nate's body.

"Your boyfriend happened," Molly pipes in, a snarl on her lips. "Him and his hooligan monkeys. I have the right mind to go back there and kick their dumb jock asses."

I try to keep my feet moving so we can get him into the house, but I stumble and almost take Nate down with me. He howls in pain and the sound shoots straight to my heart, chipping away the pink and sending it to my ears. The sound is deafening.

"I-it's okay. I'm okay, Kelly, just keep moving," Nate assures me as I choke out a sob. It was very much like Nate to be worrying about my now skinned knee instead of the fact that he looks like he just got jumped in some alleyway.

"I'm not going to ask again," I warn. "What did my ex boyfriend do?" Molly scoffs and I have the urge to rip Nate out of her hands and yank all of her hair out. I know she doesn't necessarily play for Nate's or any other male species team but that doesn't help the fact that she thinks I'm Satan's spawn.

"I already told you."

"Details, Molly!" We were pretty much pretending Nate wasn't there and for the matter, he was silent, grunting out at times we shifted him wrongly. The stairs were proving to be the hardest.

Before either one of them can clue me in on tonight's misfortune, Lucy swings open the door, a horrified look on her face. "Tim!" She shouts over her shoulder and her husband runs up behind her.

"Get him inside," Tim instruct, holding open the door wider. He takes my hold off of his son and swiftly brings him to sit in one of those pretty mahogany dining chairs at their table. I stand in the archway and watch, too afraid to approach everyone.

Danny. Danny did this. I felt like I am going to be sick.

"What happened?" Lucy asks, her face pale and eyes shining bright with worry.

Nate gasps when his mother lays a hand on his shoulder, wincing at the lightest of contact.

"We were signing up for the NASA summer internship at the library," Molly finally says, her breathing rapid. "Nate said he needed to go to the bathroom and asked me to save his spot but when he didn't come back after twenty minutes, I went to look for him. I barged into the men's restroom to find him on the floor looking like this."

More tears run down my face and I angrily wipe them away. Stop crying!

"It's not as bad--" Nate whimpers when his mother pressed a disinfectant to his lip-- "as it looks."

"Who would do such a thing?" Tim asks, his face grim and taught from the image in front of him.

Through my tear filled eyes, I can see Molly glare my way. I allow my body to slump against the wall as I look down at my feet. I can't bare to look at Nate right now. From what I caught a glimpse of as he wrenched himself out of his friends car was his lip is split and he has a bruise the size of a baseball on his left cheek. His eyebrow is smeared with blood but I can't tell if that is from the blood on the side of his face or if there is a gash on his head. And you can't mistake the ribs.

"We should go to the hospital," Lucy insists, already bending down to hoist Nate back up.

"No, Mom. I'm fine. Really. I'm fine." Nate's voice is strained as he leans away from his mother's touch.

Mrs. Haynes purses her lips and looks helplessly at her husband. He shakes his head and presses his mouth in a tighter line.

Finding my voice, I sniffle loudly. "I can go get my father?" I want to do anything to make this better.

"No, Kelly, we have plans." Nate bats his mothers hand away from his face as she cleans the blood under his nose. It looks to have stopped bleeding but that doesn't make any of this any better.

"Don't be silly, Nate," I softly scold him. "Our date can wait." I ignore the looks from around the room. No doubt my face would heat under all their gazes but instead my face is red from shame. "Let me run next door and grab my dad to check you over."

I'm already turning on my heels and pushing open their door. My feet hit the wet grass as I run as fast as my legs can carry me to my house, ignoring the sharp pain in my bloody knee. I can't think about that right now when Nate is in the condition he is in.

"Dad!" I yell through the house. "Dad!"

"What?" My father shouts from the other room. He pops his head out of his study and when he sees me, soaked to the bone and Nate's blood covering the right side of my body where he leaned against me, his face goes alert. "Jesus H Christ, Kelly, what is going on?"

"Grab your medical bag."

My father doesn't question me like the professional, alert, doctor he is and races back into his study. When he returns I grab his hand and pull him out the door.

When we are back inside the Haynes' house, Nate is no longer in the dining room but Molly is sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

"He's up in his room," she instructs, moving to the side so my father can get through.

"How did you get him up there?" I wonder out loud.

"No time for questions, honey," My father says, squeezing my shoulder as he moves past me, focusing on Molly to lead him up the stairs. I stay behind.

Tonight was not supposed to go like this. How did this morning, a morning where I woke up excited about the day, turn into the nightmare it is now? Nate is hurt. Hurt because my friends can't take the word no, can't stand the fact that I'm branching out from their tight knit hierarchy. Can't stand that I chose Nate over them.

My grip on the banister slips and I numbly sit on the bottom stairs. I hear someone behind me descend the stairs and it isn't until I see a flash of orange hair settle down next to me to know who it is.

"I never meant for this to happen." My voice is so monotone, I sound dead.

"What did you expect?"

I glare over at Molly with watery eyes. "Not this. Not Nate beaten to a pulp over me."

Molly scoffs. "If it is something as neanderthal as that, than high school boys are dumber than I thought."

I don't respond. Instead I bury my face in my hands.

"Hey." Molly knocks her knee against mine. "Nathaniel is tougher than you think. He'll be fine. Though it's kind of fucked up don't you think? Kicking a blind guy when he's down."

I cringe, the image metaphorical and all too vivid.

I am going to kill them. I will ruin them for doing this to Nate. For doing this at all to anyone. Haven't they done enough by blinding him, unintentional or not? They will pay for this. My anger is boiling over and my palms sting from the indentations of my fingernails digging into the soft skin.

"You should really get your knee bandaged up. You're bleeding all over." Molly has to nudge me again to even acknowledge her.

"I will when I know Nate is going to be fine." I brush my wet hair out of my face and sigh, still having trouble looking at Molly. I stare straight ahead at the white front door, the sound of the rain pounding against the glass windows.

"You really like him, don't you?" Molly asks, her eyes searing into the side of my face.

I can't keep my temper down as I set my glacier gaze on her face. "I more than like him."

Her green eyes go wide momentarily but she looks away before she thinks I can see her surprise.

"He's easy to like, isn't he." Her voice has grown hushed.

I almost smile at that. Almost.

The lights are dimmed in the house, leaving me shivering from not only the cold. A sharp cry makes me jump from upstairs, Nate's voice bouncing off the photo covered walls.

"Good Lord, what is you father doing to him up there?"

I shrug. My dad is the best neurosurgeon in the state. Fixing Nate up will be a piece of cake for him. He's magnificent at what he does and I hope to one day be as great as him.

I bite down roughly on my lip to stop the sob that is threatening to claw its way up my throat. My heart felt like it is breaking in a way I have never felt before. The thought of Nate hurting, physically hurt me.

"He's been watching us," I say aloud for the first time. "Danny. I should have confronted him when I first realized it was him in his truck following me from Nate's house to mine. Maybe none of this would have happened. He's mad because I broke up with him. And he's more mad that I'm hanging out with Nate."

"Why would he be mad about you and Nathaniel being friends?"

I couldn't tell her even if I wanted to. By taking Daniel down, took me down too. And Alyssa. She may not be talking to me right now but she is still my best friend. I could never do that to her.

"His pride is bigger than his common sense." I glance over at Molly to see her watching me with careful eyes as if I'm a snake swaying to pounce. "Are you going to call the police? About those guys attacking him?"

She moves her head to look straight ahead of her at the door as well. With a shrug, she stands up. "That's up to Nathaniel. But then again, he hasn't said who actually attacked him. But him not correcting me when I said it was that asshole of an ex, tells me my assumption is correct."

My gut tells me she is right, too. It was Danny. I'm sure it wasn't only him either. Danny was never the guy to do his own dirty work. My heart sinks at the thought of Nate trying to fend off a group of guys in the dark.

We both turn at the sound of my father's voice coming down the hall. Sure enough, him along with Nate's parents round the banister and stand at the top of the stairs.

"He does not have a concussion but he does have two bruised ribs," My father concludes. He rips off a piece of paper and hands it to Nate's parents. "I have him on pain killers. He can take one every six hours, they're strong stuff. Ice should bring down the swelling of his face and shoulder. It has been reset. Resting is going to be his best option at the moment. I suggest bedrest for five to seven days. If he strains anything, he's looking at a longer recovery. But for the most part, I say he's lucky. If his rib would have collapsed, we would be looking at a punctured lung."

"Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Thank you so much." Lucy sniffles and Tims arm tightens around her shoulder. She then turns to me and mouths a thank you as well. But I look away. I don't deserve her gratitude.

"Kelly, are you coming home?" My dad asks as he walks down the stairs.

"I want to see Nate really fast," I say looking up towards his parents for their consent. Lucy smiles tightly at me and I can tell she would like to talk to me about tonight but what she doesn't know is that I have no clue. Molly is already gone out the door.

"Okay." My father's eyes stay too long on my face and I move away from him before he can read my expression. "Don't bother them for much longer. It looks to have been a rough night." He walks passed me but before he shuts the door behind him, he looks back at me. "And do you mind if I take my baby back so that you don't get blood on her seats?" He winks, as if to lighten the mood, and I toss him the keys to his pickup that Nate requested for our date tonight.

When the door shuts and it's just me and the Haynes, I become fidgety. "Is it okay with you if I say goodbye?"

Lucy and Tim share a look that tells me they don't fully trust me anymore. I can image their son getting beat up and his blood staining my shirt can cause concern.

"I won't be long," I assure them.

Lucy nods at me and I slip passed them on the stairs. I brace myself before I open Nate's bedroom door. All of his lights are off but I can see him sitting shirtless in his computer chair and I walk over to him like a hunter approaching a deer, slowly, and cautiously, as not to make too much noise to scare them away.

"It's me," I say when his head turns at the sound of my footsteps.

Nate's body slags against the back of his chair. "I'm glad you didn't leave."

"I was going to," I admit. "I feel terrible, Nate."

"This isn't your fault, Kelly."

"Yes, it is." I now stand in front of him. I can see the bruising on his chest and abdomen clearly in the dark and that makes me wince. I want to reach out and skim his face with my fingertips but I'm afraid that will only cause him more pain.

"Stop." Nate surprises me by reaching around and gripping my fingers with his. "This is not your fault. I don't want to hear you say that it is. Okay?"

I bite my tongue because if me not saying the truth will make Nate feel better, then so be it. But we both know that it is.

"Okay, Nate."

He lets out a breath and his grip on my fingers lacken. "Good."

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop saying I'm sorry that this happened."

"I didn't think you would comply so easily." I can hear a smirk in his words and through the simple light of the street light outside his window I see him grimace from the strain on his lip. It looks as if my father had to stitch up the cut by his eyebrow. He would no doubt have two scars right above it now. "I'm sorry about our date," he adds.

I shrug that off and try to cover my disappointment as well. "Another day. Maybe when you're feeling better." I take my chances and brush my fingers through his hair. He lets out a shaky breath that makes my insides loosen in restraint.

"Was it Danny?" I can't not ask.

"Kelly..."

"You have to tell me, Nate," I sternly shout at him. I look over at the ajared door and pray that his folks are not listening. "If it was him then we need to go to the police. You could have been extremely hurt tonight. He can't get away with doing this to you!"

"No."

"What?" I gape at him like he has two heads. "No it wasn't Danny or no to pressing charges?"

"I don't know who it was." He points to his eyes and I send mine skywards. He's lying. I can tell and I don't for the life of me know why.

"Why are you protecting them?" Daniel Grayson has been nothing but cruel to Nate. Why is he lying to me?

"I'm protecting you!" Nate's body jolts in his chair like he is attempting to stand. I lightly push his shoulder down, being extra careful with the one in the sling.

Without much thought, I slide onto his lap and straddle his thighs. I keep most of my weight off him but enough that I can glorify in the feeling of him underneath him.

He freezes and at first I start to retract my bold movement but before I can get back off him, his hands come to my waist and he pressed me down more. I settle against him and keep us both steady by latching onto his forearms. I sigh contently when he rests his forehead against mine.

Never in my life has such a simple gesture from a boy make me feel so at bliss. His thumbs skirt back and forth over my hip bones and my body begins to buzz by the gentle touch. It is something magical to see Nate become comfortable with me over the time we have spent together.

"He's not going to do anything to me, Nate," I tell him, knowing I have too much over Danny for him to try something with me. "I care only about your wellbeing. I need you to be safe from the cruel people of this world, Nate, please tell me you understand that not everyone thinks and behaves the way you do. You're too good, Nate. Too good."

"You're extremely loyal to me, Kelly, and for that I am grateful, though still completely confused on how I got so lucky to have you here with me now. But I know you well enough that you will go after him and possibly get in just as much trouble as he would for doing this to me."

Did he admit that it was Danny? Why was he being so stubborn about this? And why was my heart thumping so profoundly in my chest?

"Maybe it is because of the painkillers that's not allowing my brain to control my mouth but now that I have you like this, I don't want to let you go. So please don't do anything. Can you promise me that?"

I stare at him with large eyes. Was Nate now admitting that he has strong feelings for me as well? But though I want to make him happy, we both know that I can't keep that promise. I can't promise him that I won't punch Danny in the face the second I see him in the hallway at school.

"Nate..." I start to get off his lap but his hold grows stronger. Though it doesn't take much to make me stay.

"Please, Kelly. Promise you won't confront him."

Like my brain is contemplating this as much as my heart, my thumb brushes over his cut lip. Nate's lips part and his breathing picks up with each stroke and warm pants kiss the pad of my thumb.

"Okay," I find myself saying. I close my eyes briefly, succumbing to the feeling of defeat. "I promise. I also promised your parents I would be quick so that you can rest."

Both of our voices are quiet as if a louder volume would break the spell hanging around us.

"Can you stay with me for a while longer?" Nate asks and his grip on me tightens whether intentional or not. "I just want to sit for a while."

"I'm not hurting you?"

Nate shakes his head but stops abruptly as the sharp movements. "No, this feels nice."

I manage to smile for the first time tonight since seeing Nate. I kiss his forehead before going back to resting mine against his, his heart pounding strongly against my palm on his bare chest. "Of course I'll stay, Nate."

"Good. I really am sorry about our date."