Chapter 23: Embarassed

I sit out by the pool, my leg bouncing uncontrollably as I look at Nathan talking to Mason. They brought the barbecue food and I am angry because Nathan is still wearing a shirt. He has black swim trunks on with a red tie and a white t-shirt that's straining against his muscles.

"Are you going to stop staring?" Harper snickers.

"Why is he still wearing the shirt?" I mutter, looking at Nathan, frustrated.

I mean, my hands are sweating, but I want that shirt off.

I need that shirt off.

Before I know what I am doing, I am on my feet, crossing the pool deck to go over by the grills where Nathan and Mason are discussing what to cook first.

I tap Nathan's shoulder and he turns around, his eyes moving down to me.

"Yes?" He asks.

I find my hands moves to the hem of his shirt.

"What are you-" he cuts off when I pull it over his head.

I toss the shirt on a nearby pool chair and turn around, walking away. Harper is almost peeing from how hard she is laughing. Brenda is scowling.

Nathan and Mason are looking over here, confused.

When I sit back down, Nathan is looking at me.

"Holy shit." I mumble.

His skin is nice and tanned, his pecs fully defined. He has an eight pack so defined, I could run my fingers in the groves. His shoulders look so strong. I see the v-line moving down into his red shorts and I gulp.

Mason says something to Nathan and they both snicker.

"You're staring." Brenda says, nudging me. I drop my gaze.

"It's rather hot, don't you think Mason?" Nathan says with a smirk on his lips.

And then he dives in the pool. I sit up, my eyes widen. His body glides through the water like a knife through jello.

When he emerges, his body is soaked, and he runs his right hand through his hair, shaking his head.

He walks back over to Mason, his back to me.

His shoulder blades stick out with the muscles. He has back dimples, and his booty is so round.

"I had sex with him." I whisper, my voice hushed as I tilt my head to the side. Harper snickers.

His calf muscles are large, his thigh muscles...

I mean, fuck.

"Wait until they're done and then take your clothes off." Harper smirks.

So after a couple of minutes, the stop whatever they are doing, put the food back in the cooler, and walk over to us.

"So are we swimming or not?" Mason asks.

Odeletta has been acting so weird, watching me like I'm a piece of meat.

And I love it.

She's wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts.

At Mason's question, she stands up. I watch as she shed her shorts, revealing black bikini bottoms. Anything here shorts was hiding now shows, and I can fully see her tanned, strong legs. She crosses her arms and pulls her shirt over her head, revealing her tanned chest, her toned stomach, and her sexy curves. My mouth goes completely dry and I watch as she turns around, bending over with her back to me, to pick up her shorts. My eyes trail down to her ass and I gulp. She folds them, and her shirt. Mason and Harper are smirking. Brenda looks annoyed for whatever reason but I ignore her like usual.

Odette straightens up when her clothes are neatly folded and turns around, catching my eye. She reaches up, and with one swift tug, she pulls her brown waves from her bun, letting her blonde hair fall. She throws her head back and runs her fingers through it, putting the black hairtie on her left wrist.

Some guy across the pool whistles loudly.

I mean, this is a college apartment complex, but still, I whip around.

"Don't look at her!" I shout at him. "She's spoken for, thank you very much!"

He silences immediately and I turn back to Odeletta. There's a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Actually I'm not spoken for." She winks, and then she turns around and saunters away.

Oh fuck.

I turn around, rushing after her, catching her hand. She turns around.

"Yes?" She asks innocently.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" I ask without an ounce of hesitation.

She laughs softly, and then bites her lip.

"You are only asking because you don't want that guy to have me." She shrugs.

And then she dives into the pool.

When she comes up for air, she goes to the stairs and gets out.

"Is that a yes?" I ask, following her, watching the water drip down her body.

We're both soaked. I wonder what it would be like to shower with her.

My eyes darken at the thought. She flashes me a smile, but she just shrugs.

"I don't think I can say yes to that."

Mason and Harper's jaws are slack, watching the exchange, but Brenda looks annoyed.

"But..." I trail off. "But why?"

"I can't." She smiles, shrugging.

She has to be kidding.

"Well...well I won't stop until you say yes." I decide.

She shrugs her shoulders again.

She's so attractive.

_____

I asked her six more times but she kept saying no.

Now that it's around nine, I'm starting to get really upset.

I finally got the balls to ask her and she said no. She said no seven times.

I got rejected by her seven times.

I'm watching her sit in the pool with Harper and Brenda, laughing and talking, and I'm sitting here frowning.

Mason is sitting next to me, eating his chips loudly.

"Brenda is starting to piss me off." He admits quietly. I don't even look at him.

"Why?" I ask. He sighs.

"Last night I bought some lottery tickets and she was telling me I'm not allowed to buy them because they're a waste of money. She literally made me give them to somebody in the gas station."

I frown, looking at him now.

"That's bullshit."

"She told me I need to lose weight on Thursday." He mutters.

"That's ridiclious." I say. Mason might not have a six pack but he almost does, his muscles are large. "There's not really any more weight for you to lose." I scowl.

"She tried to get me to stop talking to you. She tries all the time to get me to stop talking to you. Do Harper and Odeletta like her?"

"Odette doesn't like her." I shake my head, my heart aching at the thought of her. "And Odette told me that Harper told her that she doesn't like her."

"So literally nobody likes her."

"What are you going to do?" I inquire.

"Well..." he sighs. "I don't know. We're almost at our three years."

"Don't...don't suffer because you're worried you won't find somebody else." I say quietly. "Granted I will probably die alone seeing as the girl I love won't be my girlfriend."

"Go ask her again." He says.

"Every time I ask her and she rejects me, a little piece of my heart chips off. If I keep asking, I'll be left with nothing."

He laughs quietly.

"You're dramatic." He says. "Ask her again, but do it...differently."

I sigh, watching her sit in the pool.

I just want her to be mine.

I frown, thinking, and then I pull out my phone. I search something and stare at the screen.

When I have what I need, I stand up.

"Wish me luck." I grumble.

I listen to my phone for a minute, and then I leave it on the table, playing it over and over in my head. I walk into the pool. She's sitting on the second step, so I sit on the first, my legs on either side of her, put my hands on her arms, and I lean down and whisper,

"Veux-tu être ma petite amie?"

But the person who turns around is not Odeletta.

It's fucking Harper.

I can hear Mason laughing from here, his laughter so loud that the other people at the pool turn around to look.

I let out a string of swears.

Odeletta is standing at the side of the pool, in the water.

It was Harper on the steps, but they both have the brown hair and Harpers was parted to the side so it was in front of her so I couldn't tell.

Without a word, I get out of the pool and grab all of my things from the table Mason is choking on air at, and storm out of the pool area.

Fuck this.

"What did he say to you?" I ask when Mason walks over and hops in the water after Nathan literally ran out of the pool.

"I have no idea." She says, red-faced. "But he kinda felt me up, I think." He scratches her head.

"What did he say?" I press.

"It was in French." She says.

Mason start laughing harder than he was before.

"It was meant for you." Harper says. "God, that's so fucking awkward, I'm very uncomfortable."

I feel bad.

He was trying to ask me to be his girlfriend in French.

When I reach my apartment, I realize I left my keys at the pool.

The door is locked.

I'm so pissed off. I hit the front door with force, and then slide down it and bury my head in my hands.

They're never going to let me live that down.

How the hell did I think that was Odeletta? She has hair that goes to her shoulder blades. Harper's hair goes to her ribs.

I don't even have car keys to escape.

"He left his keys." Mason says, wiping his eyes from laughing.

I step around Harper and get out of the pool.

All Nathan grabbed is his phone and his wallet.

I pull his white t-shirt over my head, grab my phone, keys, wallet, pool bag, along with Nathan's keys, and I shove my feet into my lip flops.

I leave the pool area and walk to Nathan's apartment.

When I exit the staircase I see him down the hall, sitting against the wall. His head rests on his arms, which rest on his knees.

I take a deep breath and walk over to him. I dangle the keys in front of him.

At the sound, he looks up. He glances up at me and then at the keys. Silently, he takes them from my hand, his eyes looking me up and down.

"Thanks." He says quietly, rising to his feet.

"De rien." I mumble. He gives me a confused look and goes to unlock the door. I move in front of him.

Immediately, my heart starts pounding.

He is standing so close to me. His toned body is right in front of me. Slowly, I raise my eyes to his.

He is looking down at me, his eyes digging into mine.

He is not wearing a shirt, his blonde hair is shaggy the way it dried. He has no gel in it and there are a few water droplets on his arm. I stand before him in his shirt, my brown hair dripping into it, making the white of it translucent to show my black bikini top.

My eyes linger on his toned abdomen and chest before I look back up at him. The way the street light enters the tunnel of his apartments casts shadows from his eyelashes on his nose. It makes his jaw line more defined, and I find my mouth feeling dry.

His eyes are digging into mine, my body.

Slowly, he starts leaning down to me, and I know the moment our lips connect, I'm going to lose it.

He gets close, so close, his lips millimeters from mine. I can feel his breath fanning against my lips.

"I can't." He murmurs. His voice sounds strained. He pulls back from me, his jaw is flexing as he grits his teeth. He reaches around me, his hand brushing against my side as he unlocks his door.

I move out of the way as he turns the handle and walks into the apartment, holding the door for me.

I step in slowly, and he shuts the door, flicking on the light. His eyes land on me the moment he can see. He swallows.

"I'm going to go take a shower." He mumbles.

He turns around and heads for the bathroom.

"Tu veux être mon petit ami?!" I blurt.

Stupid, I'm so stupid.

I asked him to be my boyfriend in French.

He turns around slowly.

"What?" He asks.

"Erm..." I swallow nervously. "Will you um...be my boyfriend?" I ask, avoiding his eye.

"Okay." He says.

And then the bathroom door shuts.

_____

Halfway through his shower, everyone arrived back at the apartment. He came out in a towel and went right in his room. Everyone showered after him and Mason took some of Nathan's clothes for me to put on, so now I am in his sweatpants and his t-shirt.

Nathan hasn't left the room, but everyone is showered.

"Are you two spending the night?" Mason asks. He's walking around in basketball shorts and no shirt and Brenda looks mad about something, but I don't care.

When is she not mad about something.

"Are we?" Harper looks at me. I shrug.

"I do not know."

I need to talk to Nathan. I stand up and walk to his bedroom door.

I knock softly, and after a moment, I just open the door enough to stick my head in.

He is laying in his bed on his phone.

When I open the door, he glances over at me.

"Can I come in?" I ask quietly.

"Sure." He says.

I slip into his bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

I stay by the door and he stays on his phone. The tension is so thick.

Nervous, I walk over to him.

"Nathan." I say. He locks his screen and sets his phone down, looking at me.

He's wearing just a pair of basketball shorts.

He waits for me to say something, but I don't know what to say, so I stand there awkwardly.

Finally, I just blurt the truth.

"I miss you." I mumble. "I think about that day when we were at the restaurant outside and I was in your lap...I miss you, Nathan. I miss you a lot. I loved being in France because I was with you all the time. I was so rude to you...and you stuck with me anyways, and I guess I kept saying I couldn't hang out and I kept saying no to being your girlfriend because I...I wanted you to beg, because I was angry you did not want to see me in those two weeks. I'm sorry, Nathan. Really, I am."

His eyes study mine for a long time and then slowly, he nods.

"I wanted you to reach out to me." He admits quietly. "Because it's always been me."

He is right.

"I'm sorry." I whisper, avoiding his eyes. "I am really sorry."

"I forgive you." He says softly. He sits up, pulling me between his legs gently.

"So we are okay?" I whisper.

"We're okay." He nods, reaching up to brush my damp hair behind my ear. "I love you, you know. I know you don't feel it yet, but I do. So I love you."

My thighs are pressed up against the mattress between him.

I find my eyes studying his for a while, and then I step out of his reach and crawl into bed with him.

He turns to look at me, and then he gets under the covers and rolls towards me, his head propped up with his right arm.

I slide under the covers too, rolling to face him.

"Do you know something?" I whisper.

"Hmm?" He hums.

"You're really hot."