"Nathan Zamora. How does all of this make a little too much sense now?" Shane asks, looking at our old yearbook. After the run in with Nathan and Marcus the other day, Shane was on a complete mission to find out old year book.

"Yeah, that's her brother." I groan.

"That guy was dumber than a sack of potatoes and I'm pretty sure a cardboard box had more personality than he did." Shane laughs.

"This isn't good." I say.

"Why?" Shane asks.

"Because, the guy that we absolutely hated in high school just so happens to be the brother of the girl I'm dating. Oh, and he hates both of us." I remind him.

"Okay, but who cares. It's not like you have to see him any more. You said he's from Miami, yeah?" Shane says.

"I mean, yeah. But still. that's her brother. Everything she's told me has been nothing but positive. She thinks so highly of him. There's no way I can say something good about that guy." I say with a grimace.

"Okay, then don't. Tell her the truth. Just say that you and Nathan never really got along in high school." He says.

"And when he started to mention Sofia I wanted to absolutely-"

"Hold on, hold on. What the fuck did he say about Sofia?" Shane says, standing up from his spot and holding his hand up in a pause.

"Well they asked if I still knew you. And I mentioned that you were seeing my sister. Basically, they were referring to you as the guy who never touched his dick and-"

"I think I know where this is going and I want to kill them already." He says.

"They said that since you're dating my sister you definitely don't get your dick touched." I say, finishing anyways.

"Joke is on them! I touch his dick all of the time!" Sofia exclaims.

"God, I don't want to know." I groan.

"Fuck those guys, seriously. Let me see the picture of him again." Sofia says, skipping over to the couch to be by Shane. Shane points at Nathan and Sofia squints to look at it.

"I mean, he definitely looks like one of those pretty boys that every high school has." She says.

"Who the hell would marry this guy?" Shane asks.

"Who the hell cares? Come on, you guys are so much better than those two losers. I mean it. Look at what you two have and look at where these guys are at. You're successful and handsome. Let's not forget to mention that your dating his sister and his best friend's ex. You're winning, Gray." She tells me.

"I guess so." I grumble.

"They're still assholes, though." Shane says.

"Well, duh. I'm just saying don't let someone like Nathan even get under your skin. You're twenty eight. You need to let that shit from ten years ago go." She says.

"I guess you're right." I sigh.

"I'm always right. Don't let something like this ruin what you have with Natalia." She adds.

"What has she said about all of this?" Shane asks.

"She said that she had no idea why Nathan was being so rude. She said it was completely out of character for him." I say, repeating her words.

"Out of character? Yeah, right." Shane grumbles. Sofia hits his arm and rolls her eyes.

"Well no matter what the reason may be, you need to be the bigger person. Ignore him and just remember that he's leaving. You won't have to deal with him after this." Sofia reminds us.

"Yeah, don't let him ruin things for you and Nat." Shane adds.

"Especially after all of the things you two have already done." Sofia laughs.

"You told her?" I groan, looking at Shane.

"He tells me everything." Sofia shrugs.

"Clearly." I huff.

"Oh come on, we're your best friends." Shane laughs.

"Yeah, and she's also my baby sister." I remind him.

"I would have been pissed if he knew and I didn't. Nothing to be ashamed of! I was proud to know that you got her off." Sofia smirks.

"Oh my God." I say, shaking my head.

"Be proud, big brother."

"We're done talking about this." I say.

"Oh come on! Why!" Sofia pouts.

"Because it's disrespectful to talk about Natalia this way." I say.

"He's right, let's leave him alone." Shane says, pulling Sofia into his lap.

My phone goes off and I see Natalia's name across my screen.

"I'll be right back." I mutter as I head towards the other room.

"Hello?" I say.

"Hey." Natalia says softly. "I haven't heard from you in a minute." She points out.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." I say, shaking my head in frustration. I don't even know why I've been avoiding her. This isn't her fault. She had no idea.

"I just wanted to make sure we were good." She says.

"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry if I've been acting weird." I say.

"No, you're fine. I hope you don't think I'm crazy for just calling you out of no where like this." She laughs.

"Of course not." I reply immediately. There is no way that I could ever think Natalia is crazy for wanting to talk to me.

"I'm really sorry about the other day. I had no idea Nathanial was going to act that way." She says.

"No, it's fine. Really." I assure her. But is it okay? I'm not really sure yet.

"Well, I should probably go ahead and let you get back to what you were doing. Text me, yeah?" She says.

"Of course." I smile. "Bye, Nat."

"Bye." She says before hanging up the phone.

I sigh in relief at even hearing her voice. I have no idea why I thought that avoiding her was the answer to this issue, but it wasn't. It still isn't. It's not her fault that her brother is such an asshole. I shouldn't have punished her for his mistake.

"Was that Natalia?" Shane calls.

"Yeah, we're good." I answer.

"Good. Now come here. I'm going to rip Nathan's swim team picture out of the yearbook. We can burn it on the stove." Shane laughs.

Despite the fact that we're adults and should be taking the high road, there's something about burning a picture of Nathan that sounds like too much fun to pass up.

-

"I'm sorry, Nat." Nathanial says in the phone.

"You were an absolute asshole. So, it's not okay." I snap.

"You're right. I shouldn't be so hard on your boyfriend." He laughs.

"You aren't even sorry." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, okay. I really am sorry, okay? I was just trying to look cool in front of Marcus, you know that." He says.

"Yeah, well you both looks like very successful assholes." I reply.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Listen, I was just taken by surprise. That's all. I shouldn't have made the school shooter comment to you. That wasn't fair. In all honesty, he seems nice. If he makes you happy, then that's all that matters." He says in a serious tone.

"You owe him an apology." I add.

"No way." He answers instantly.

"See! Then you aren't sorry!" I exclaim.

"No, I just don't think we need to go and open an already healed wound." He counters.

"Okay, except this wound was never healed. You have no idea how tense things have been with us. I don't want him to assume that my brother is an asshole after I've spoken so highly of you in the past." I say.

"You're right, Nat. It wasn't right. I'm sorry. The next time I see him, I'll apologize." He says.

"You're only saying that because you think I'll forget about it." I say.

"And why is that so bad? Can't we just let it go? Nothing like this will happen again, I swear." He says. "Grace has already been pissed at me about this. Can we please just let it go? It was childish, I know. You should be proud of him, though. He handled it with complete maturity." He says.

"Yeah, unlike you." I say.

"Unlike me, you're right." He says. "Now stop being mad at me and look at the picture I sent you." He says.

I put him on speaker and go to the picture he sent. An ultrasound photo fills my screen.

"You two went to the doctor?" I ask.

"Yup. Not too much longer until we find out the gender." He says with pride.

"I'm happy for you two." I say, finding all anger slipping away.

"I'm glad. I just wish mom and dad would come around, too." He says sadly.

"They are. You know them. They just need time to get used to it." I defend.

"Mom would barely look at me at the party." He says. "Not to mention the fact that she didn't say a single word to Grace."

"You need to sit down and talk to her face to face. Maybe plan a trip over here where it's just you." I say, knowing he'll hate that idea.

"I can't just leave Grace." He sighs.

"She's not made of glass, Nathanial. She'll be fine for a few days. I think everything is so weird just because Mami and Papi haven't seen you alone in years. Grace has always been with you. Maybe they just want one day with their son." I say.

"I'll look into flights later today. I don't know. I just want things to be civil, you know?" He says.

"I know." I sigh. "Listen, I need to go. I have a lot of work to finish before the day is over. Let me know if you find a flight." I say.

"Will do. Love you."

"Love you, too." I say before hanging up the phone.

With everyone out of the office, I figured today was a better time than ever to get some of the work that Shane has given me done. I'm not really used to having things to do since working for them, but Shane definitely keeps me busy.

"Knock, knock." I hear from my door.

I look up and see Brian looking at me sheepishly.

"Oh, hey." I say, looking back down at my laptop screen.

"I haven't heard from you in awhile." He says. "Can I sit?" He asks.

"Of course." I say, nodding towards the chair in front of my desk. "I've just been busy. Shane has me doing all types of stuff." I say.

"Shane?" He asks. "I thought you were working for Grayson."

"Yeah, things have changed a bit." I sigh.

"How so?" He asks.

I can trust Brian. He had a moment of jealousy, but he's my friend. I need to let everything go. I'm sure he's sorry about it now that he knows that I heard him.

"Grayson and I have been seeing each other." I shrug.

"That's awesome, Nat. I know you were really into him. I just hope he's treating you well."

"Yeah, he's really great." I reply.

"So Shane is making you work for him instead?" He asks.

"Well it was that or go back down to my old team. We all know that didn't really go too well. Plus, I don't really want everyone to know. They'll start treating me differently. It's hard enough to be taken seriously around here." I sigh.

"Can we talk about what happened?" He sighs.

"There's nothing to talk about." I shrug.

"There's a lot to talk about. I know you heard my conversation that one day." He replies.

"Yeah well, it doesn't really matter now, does it? You won the competition so it was nothing to even worry about." I reply.

"I think you and I both know that you deserved to win." He says.

"It is what it is, Brian. I'm happy for you. They'll be other opportunities." I say.

"You're right, but this one should have been yours." He says.

"I'll survive." I assure him.

"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry." He says.

"Sorry that you said it or sorry that I heard you say it?" I ask.

"I'm sorry that the words even left my mouth. I was jealous and I had no room to be. I've missed talking to you and these last few weeks have been totally boring without you in them. How can I make this better?" He asks.

"I forgive you. I've missed you, too." I sigh. "And if you really want to make it up to me, you'll help me finish this last bit of paperwork from Shane." I laugh, handing him a pile of the documents that have to be sorted.

"I think I can help out with that." He laughs, taking the papers from my hand.

"So how is the app coming along?" I ask.

"It's coming along, that's for sure. I wanted to know if you wanted to be a part of the team. Grayson wanted me to collect a team and I really want you to help me with this." He smiles.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, absolutely." He says.

"I bet Shane would be thrilled. He's been trying to find things for me to do with other engineers. He's worried that I've been hiding up here and avoiding everyone. He wants me to 'put myself out there'." I laugh.

"He has a point. I think you'll have fun on my team." He says.

"I bet I will, too. Listen, if I look at this page for one more second I'm positive I'll go insane. How about we head downstairs and grab some coffee?" I offer.

"Lead the way." He laughs in reply.