Chapter 13: 13. Crazy, Stupid Love

Crazy, Stupid, Love. is a 2011 American romantic comedy film starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon. It follows Cal Weaver, a recently separated man who learns how to be more romantic and charm women. [Source: Wikipedia]

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FFANC: While watching this Daniel, his older brother, said he wanted to be ripped like Ryan Gosling. Nathan laughed at him and said he could never. Daniel said Nathan couldn't get it either.

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Chapter Thirteen: Crazy, Stupid Love

“He ate your lipstick!” TJ exclaimed from the other end of the call.

“No, he didn't,” I replied, giggling, “Did you even hear what I said?”

“He did, though,” TJ argued. “He wiped your lips and then sucked-”

“Oh my gosh, shut up,” I said as my cheeks heated up. I looked around to see if any of my friends were around. I was walking towards the debating club. We had a meeting today.

It was Friday. In chemistry, me and that culprit who apparently ate my lipstick didn't have any chance to talk. Actually, I didn't even look at him.

Because Wong was right there.

So I kind of avoided Nathan Callahan and ran as soon as class ended. Then, on my way, I remembered it was Friday, and I'd see him again.

“He's so in love with you,” TJ said.

“You are even more delusional than I am,” I leaned against the wall outside the clubroom.

I knew TJ would blow things out of proportion. But I couldn't tell any of this to Leanna. She would shoot Nathan straight through his heart.

“Fine, he wants to sleep with you,” TJ said, “You can't argue with that. What guy wipes a girl's lips if he doesn't have any intention like that?”

“Someone who loves ice cream and doesn't want it to go to waste,” I replied. I was trying to be a realist.

“You can't be serious,” TJ grumbled. “You looked cute and sexy as hell, in your little black dress and cute boots. Very few people can achieve the cute slash sexy look. I bet he could barely hold himself together.”

I laughed, “I shouldn't have sent you the photos of my outfit.”

“You bitch. Next time, send them to me before you leave,” TJ said.

Then she added, almost as an afterthought, “It's working, Em.”

I sighed. “I don't know.”

“Yes, you do.”

Someone was singing inside the debating clubroom. I could hear shuffling.

“I'll talk to you later, Jamieson,” I said into the phone.

“Aye aye, captain.” She hung up.

It was probably a Drake song, and whoever was singing, he didn’t have any sense of rhythm. I peeked inside the clubroom, and there he was; Landon McArther.

Usually, I would have waited for Leanna. But I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Landon turned towards me. As soon as he saw me, he smiled.

“Emily,” he said.

I almost smiled back. Almost, because at that moment, I thought of someone else who smiled at me, but never innocently or with goodwill, but as if he was hiding something or being polite or mocking me. Never because he was happy to see me. I pushed that person's face away from my thoughts.

“Hi,” I said, shifting my weight from one foot to another.

“Sit down,” he motioned as he did the same, taking a seat across from me.

“How have you been?” he asked.

Social situation: one-on-one setting with a senior guy with a girlfriend, whom I considered my crush.

“G-Great,” I mumbled and fidgeted with my hands. I thought of looking at my phone, but that might seem rude.

He nodded and looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to carry on talking. I could think of nothing witty to say.

“So, how was the debate?” Landon continued, thankfully.

“Uh, right, g-great.”

I knew only one word, it seemed. I cursed at myself internally. He cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Great?”

The debate did not go great, I remembered.

“Oh no, it went horribly,” I said, glancing at everything in the room but him.

“That's a pity.”

“Yes.”

Having nothing better to talk about, we both fell silent. I thought of crawling out of my skin. That way, he would have something interesting to look at. Horrendous but captivating, nonetheless.

I never really struggled like this when I was with my friends. They were extremely talkative and never ran out of things to say. When I felt comfortable around people, I could talk a lot as well. Then there was Nathan, the only other person I talked to. He frustrated me so much, I never got the chance to hide in my head for long.

Wait, Landon was saying something.

I looked at him in confusion.

“I was in New York.”

I nodded. What was I supposed to do with that information?

“To look at my options for colleges. I visited a few campuses.”

“Oh, that's nice,” I nodded.

He nodded back.

He looked at the door behind me. I thought of doing the same. Someone, please come in. And they did. The door opened, and Leanna Miller walked in. I sighed in relief. Thank God.

“Hi?” She said, looking from me to Landon. Landon smiled and stood up. He went to the table where we kept our supplies as Leanna took her seat beside me. She gave me a look. I shrugged.

Soon after, the room was filled with club members. Landon was talking to them about his visit.

“God, he is so infuriating,” Leanna mumbled underneath her breath.

“What about that?” I said, keeping my eyes on Landon.

“Trust fund money. He can attend any college he wants,” she replied.

“Oh,” I mumbled.

“But have you heard? Trouble in paradise,” she said with a delighted smile.

“What trouble?”

“Girlfriend trouble. He and his girlfriend want different things, and none of them really want long distance,” she replied. Landon didn’t look troubled to me.

“So they uh-” I glanced back at Leanna.

She whispered, “They might break up.”

“Oh.”

“You really can't have everything, it seems.”

*****

I pushed the doorbell and stood in front of Nathan Callahan's front door. I had debated whether to skip today's lesson.

I hadn't seen Mom all day. I got out of my bedroom when she had left for college. So we hadn't had the chance to talk.

To put it bluntly, I was hiding.

Mrs. Callahan opened the door with a smile. “Emily!”

I smiled back nervously. “Um, is Nathan at home?”

“Yes, yes,” She invited me in. “Go up. He’s in his room.”

As I passed by the living room, I saw Bear and Sawyer fighting and screaming at each other. Mrs. Callahan avoided them and went towards the kitchen.

I reached his bedroom and knocked. There was no sound inside. So I knocked again.

“Mom! I told you-”

The door creaked open. I looked up at him. He was wearing a black shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants.

“Oh, look who's decided to show,” Nathan said, leaning against the doorframe.

“It's Friday,” I mumbled, eyeing him all over. Something about seeing him like that felt intimate.

“Come in,” he said without a care.

He sat down in front of his desk. I took my seat on the edge of his bed.

I could see the sleep lines on his slightly red cheek. His hair was messier than I had ever seen it, pointing in various directions. He rubbed his eyes and yawned a little.

“Did I wake you up?” I brought out my chemistry textbook.

“I was just about to win against LeBron James.”

“You what?”

“It was such a nice dream, Kingsley. And you had to ruin it,” he said, opening his textbook.

I rolled my eyes. We arranged our lessons and cross-checked with each other what we needed to review. He was looking through his notes as I was reading mine.

We worked our way through the awful lectures. As we finished, Nathan leaned back in his chair and stretched. I saw his shirt riding up and looked away. I leaned back too and thought about taking advantage of his bed. Then I stopped myself.

“So, back in freshman year,” I started. I had been thinking about this for so long.

“You really can't let it go,” Nathan laughed, with twinkles in his green eyes.

“As if you know what I'm going to ask,” I said, grumbling, “it could be anything.”

“Yeah, it's definitely not me punching that guy, whatever his name was,” Nathan said.

I huffed, “How could you even do that? You were a freshman, he was a senior.”

Nathan looked bored, “So what?”

“So what? I always wondered if you got bullied after that.”

Nathan shrugged, “I grew up beating Daniel. That asshole was nothing.”

My mouth fell open, “Isn't your brother like, umm, ten years older than you?”

“Eleven,” he said, “but he's such a wimp.”

I eyed him over, “Does Bear beat you up?”

He barked a laugh, “Nope, that one is a wimp too.”

“Oh, so you are the only one who enjoys smashing their fists into other people's faces,” I said.

“Nope. Georgie always gave me a hard time. I have enough scars on my body from her scratching me or giving me a jab.”

“You can't be serious,” I said, “Georgie was so sweet.”

Georgie was the perfect girl who had ever graced the grounds of Newton High. I still remember when I was in freshman year, and she was a junior, she used to walk by the hallways, her silky black hair fluttering in the wind, in her cute outfits and with the headphones around her neck. She was everybody's dream girl. I had heard the football team wanted Georgie to be in the bleachers because they'd win for her no matter what. She was the moment.

Nathan laughed, “Yeah, sure. She is the one who scared off all those seniors who would've come after me after I beat that jerk up.”

“Wow,” I said, “She's such a good sister. She protected you.”

He shook his head, “Let me show you what a good sister she is.”

Then he proceeded to lift his shirt over the side of his stomach. I was stupefied, but he did it so casually. Nathan showed me a patch of skin that looked white compared to the golden skin around it.

“She once scratched me with her nails because I ate all of her choco chip cookies,” he laughed as he said it.

I was too busy staring at his abdomen and at how easily and casually he was showing me his abs. I was no stranger to ripped bodies, because of my rom-com experiences, but I had never seen one so close to me. If I extended my wrist, I'd be able to touch that solid band of skin and those ridges of muscle.

Nathan dropped his shirt, “What are you thinking?”

I looked up at him. My cheeks felt hot, “What?”

“Your eyes are so dark right now,” he said with a smirk as he leaned towards me.

“Umm, I was thinking how Georgie is, so umm, what were you saying again?”

Nathan threw his head back, laughing. I swallowed. My body was radiating heat. There was definitely something wrong with me.

“Do you need water, Kingsley?” he asked mid-laugh.

“Why would I need water?” I said, even though my throat felt dry.

“Because you look thirsty,” Nathan replied, laughing even harder. I threw his chemistry copy at his face. He caught it mid-air.

“I have a question,” I said.

He wiped his eyes and set his copy down, “Another one?”

“How did you get that, though? ‘Cause you don't seem like the type who'd sweat out of their own volition.”

“How did I get what?” he asked, smirking.

“You know,” I pointed at his abdomen.

“No, I don't know,” he insisted.

“Yes, you do.” I glared at him.

He made an innocent face, “I don't have any idea what you're referring to.”

I glared at him harder. He smiled, “Use your words, Kingsley.”

“Jerk,” I huffed and closed my eyes, “How did you get your six-pack?”

Nathan chuckled, “You are right. I don't like to work out or sweat. But there was this bet with Daniel, and it was a matter of a hundred dollars. There was just no way I could let him win. He said I could never do it. So I did.”

“That sounds like you, getting a six-pack to spite your brother,” I said, “So what'd you do with the hundred bucks?”

“You know,” he shrugged.

“Tried out new restaurants.”

He smiled. As he was about to say something, there was a thud at the windows.

“Hey, Lover boy!”

Nathan huffed.

“Come out of your den!”

I could tell the voices belonged to the twins.

“I guess we’re done studying?” Nathan said to me.

“Yup,” I stood up, and started packing my backpack.

We left his bedroom. Nathan was ahead of me, with one of his hands in his pocket as he turned the car key with his index finger. His mom smiled at me as we passed the living room and told me to visit again.

As soon as we got out of the house, I heard someone shouting, “Hey, chem girl!”

I looked at Nathan. He sighed. I smiled. “That's me, isn't it?”

I turned around and saw Theo (or Fletcher? I couldn't tell) running towards us, “Hey, Emily, come play with us.”

Nathan was already walking the same way Theo/Fletcher was going back. I followed him.

“Can you tell them apart?” I whispered to Nathan as I caught up to him.

“Yep,” he said, “The one in the green shorts is Fletcher, and the blue shorts is Theo.”

I looked at them as we reached their backyard. They had made a makeshift basketball court. The blue shorts wearing Theo was dribbling already. Fletcher was running towards him.

Had I mentioned both of them were shirtless? I mean, I was no fan of shirtless guys going around being jockish, but I wasn't going to deny what I was given. The gods were smiling upon me today.

“Stop that. You are drooling all over,” Nathan said. I looked over at him.

“Am not,” I said.

“Drooling over the twins. Ew,” he said, like he was disgusted.

If you could take off your shirt, I could drool over you instead. That thought entered my brain out of nowhere, and I blushed instantly.

“Abs really work for you, huh?” Nathan asked, cocking his head to the side.

“No, it doesn't,” I said, “I don't like abs.”

Nathan scoffed, “Sure.”

I looked away. The twins waved me over.

“Are they making fun of me because I'm short?” I asked Nathan, “There is no way I'd be able to shoot any hoops.”

Nathan shook his head, “No, they aren't. They're just being themselves.”

I nodded and dropped my backpack. I might as well have fun while I could.

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A/N: they're playing basketball, oh I wonder what might happen.

Also, thanks to the people voting and commenting. They really keep me going <33