"I want to believe
but all that I know
is smoke and mirrors"
"Can I borrow your cell to call Matt? I don't have any signal." Em asks me.
After the movies, she decided we should all go to the mall and shop. Matt ended up going a seperate way when we entered Sephora. Typical boyfriend. But he's a really nice guy and I'm glad she's with him.
As I grab my phone, I check it and see I have several text messages. I had forgot to take it out of silent after we left the theatre. I see they are all from Nate. I decide to ignore them for now and hand over my cell.
"Thanks Audrey." She starts to call him while walking around the store. I'm not much of a makeup person so I just go to the other side and look at perfumes. My mom's birthday is coming up so maybe I could get her one. I start smelling the scents to see which one smells nice. Eventually they all start smelling the same to me so I give up. Now I feel like sneezing.
"Can I help you?" A worker comes up and asks me. I just smile and shake my head no. I always feel awkward when they approach you in stores. Just let me shop in peace.
"Just so you know some of our makeup brushes are on sale. This one is only $25 dollars." She shows me the pink fluffy brush in her hand. What? I don't even want to know what it costs full price.
"Oh, um I don't need one but thanks." I turn and start looking for Emma. She's been on the phone for awhile it seems.
"There you are. Here's your phone. I'm going to go checkout then we can leave. I forgot I have an essay due." Em is studying history at a community college and wants to become a teacher.
"Hey, these are on sale!" She points at the $25-$30 brushes.
"That's their sale price? I could buy alot of stuff for that amount." Matt says on his way towards us.
"They're a good brand. Back me up on this." She turns and looks at me.
"Eh... Sorry but I agree with Matt on this one."
He then high fives me.
"You guys suck." Emma pretends to pout.
Matt chuckles and gives her a kiss on her cheek, that makes her smile.
After checking out, we go to the parking lot and soon we are off on our way home.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On the way I start feeling sleepy so I decide to close my eyes for awhile as I hear Emma and Matt talking about whether ghosts are real or not.
"Wake up Audrey. We're here at your house." I hear Emma say. I didn't think I would actually fall asleep.
Then I think I hear her mutter "Please don't be mad at me."
"Why would I be mad at you?" I question as I fully open my eyes and get my purse. I'm about to open the car door and leave when I see someone familiar at the front door of my house.
"Did you have something to do with this Emma?" She had been acting weird after leaving the mall.
"No. Okay, maybe. Just a little bit. So when I borrowed your phone, I saw the texts he sent you. After I checked on Matt, I kinda called him."
"You don't kind of call a person Emma. You do or your don't." Crap, he's coming towards the car.
Is it to late to run?
"Just listen to him, he explained some things. I wouldn't have told him to meet up if I still thought he was a lying asshole. Now get out of the car."
"Wow. Okay, not sure how to respond to anything. Especially you kicking me out of your car." I murmer.
"It's for your good!" Emma tries to reassure me.
Matt smiles and waves at Nate through the window like a toddler.
"Traitors. You don't even know him Matt. Why are you waving?" I whisper-shout in shock.
Matt shrugs. "Just being nice."
I finally open the door and Em adds "Don't forget to call me after."
I don't say anything but tell Matt bye and ignore Emma. I start walking to my door and hear the car leaving.
"Can we talk?" Nate asks with hesitation in his voice.
"More lies or some truths?" For all I know he's a prince in some country. Maybe not that, but who knows anymore.
"I never lied to you."
I just raise my eyebrows and cross my arms.
"I just omitted some pieces of information. And I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry and regret it now. Just let me explain and you can ask me any questions you want."
I should tell him to leave and that we can't be friends anymore. But at the same time I'm curious to what he has to say.
My curiousity ends up winning. "Fine. You can come in." I say reluctantly.
I open the door and see my mom and Kay walking away from the window to go sit down on the couch. You can obviously tell they were watching us.
"Oh hey, Audrey. Who is this?" My mom asks. Or pretends. I know Kay told her.
"Not sure really. It's either Nate or Chris." I know I sound petty but he lied about it or "omitted" at best.
"My name is Christopher but I like to go by my middle name Nathan or Nate. Nice to meet you." He shakes my mom's hand and Kay hugs him and says hello.
"Ah, so you're the famous Nate. Nice to finally meet you. Kay and I were actually going to leave to buy some groceries."
"We were?" Kay asks.
"Yes." Mom gives her a look as she stands up. "Anyway I'll be back in a bit. C'mon Kay."
Kay slowly gets up and starts to leave. "Bye Nate!"
And then they're gone leaving me and Nate alone.
"We can talk on the couch." I tell him and sit down.
As soon as he sits he starts "My full name is Christopher Nathan Kingston. But I prefer to be called Nate. I work at my dad's company which is called Kingston Inc. He is the CEO and owns many successful theme parks around the country. Right now I'm here on business because we want to buy Kemah boardwalk. I only know Aimee because her parents own the boardwalk. I didn't know she worked at the same place you did and no, I'm not dating or interested in her." He takes a breath and adds "What else do you want to know?"
I just blink at him."That was alot of information you just threw at me so I need time to process." Honestly, the only thing that sticks out is that he is not dating Aimee. Which still doesn't mean anything.
"Why were you at the store then? It looked like you were there to see her. She kept talking about you. Though she calls you Chris."
"I actually went to see you. I was going to see if we could go eat on your lunch break. If I knew she worked there I wouldn't have gone. She annoys me. Also she calls me Chris because she's not my friend."
"The other day I heard her on the phone with, well you, saying she couldn't wait for the date at night." Just remembering now makes me sick. I don't tell him that though.
He thinks about it for a moment then says "It was probably when I was meeting with her parents about buying them out. Her parents can't afford to keep up with their three parks, so their selling them. She tagged along, I think her mom wants us to get together. But like I said, I'm not interested in her. She calls me just to talk about herself. Most of the time I just put the phone down and let her talk. I'm not stupid, I know she's only interested in my money."
It reminds me, "Why did you keep your job a secret from me? You were always vague about it."
"I just wanted to be normal for a little bit. Not be known as the future CEO of a company like how others, like Aimee saw me. When people find out they just see dollar signs."
"I'm not like that. Did you think I would be like Aimee?" If he did, I would be offended.
"I know that. You're nothing like her. I trust you. But after avoiding the question, I didn't really know how to tell you. I should have and again, I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything. Do you forgive me?"
He looks really sorry. I want to hug him and say it's okay. But I refrain myself.
"Yes. Just be truthful from now on." I sigh.
He gives me a big smile and it my my heart skip a beat.
"Okay, we'll there's one more thing to tell you. Just don't freak out." There's more?
"What?" I hope it's nothing bad.
"I like you and I want us to go on a date." Well, I was not expecting that.
"Emma said you like me too but that you didn't think I felt the same way. But I do."
I make a mental note to kill Emma later. I don't know what to say. I just feel like hiding. But at the same time I feel like jumping up and down while throwing confetti because he just said that he likes me.
"I don't want to ruin our friendship." What if this doesn't work out. Plus what if he doesn't stay here and goes back to California? I-
"We won't. I care about you too much to lose you. Look I'll give you sometime to think about it. Okay?"
I just nod my head.
"I'll see you soon." He hugs me goodbye and I watch him leave.
Chapter Note: What do you think is going to happen?