50 Ways To Spend Your Christmas, Stuck With an Annoyingly Hot Emo Delinquent [14]

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Keira had to leave early because his uncle was...kind of calling her endlessly to get back home. So after uttering her foot-long speech about how she was sorry and how she wanted to meet me again sometime tomorrow or the next day after that, I went outside.

The weather wasn't that cold yet but to move from safe and warm to cold and murderous (okay, I was just exaggerating) was discomforting nonetheless.

Without saying anything, I sat down next to Nate. "What's up?" I asked.

I had to admit, even though I was having so much fun with Keira, what he said before he walked out of the house to the backyard made me curious. Apprehensive, even.

He turned towards me and smiled.

"You have to stop doing that," he said. "Doing what?" I asked. "Turning red so much people would mistake you're Sebastian from The Little Mermaid."

"You watch The Little Mermaid?" I joked and nudged his side. "I'm just kidding, but it's not like I want to."

"Am I that incredibly hot?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't say I blushed because you look...hot," I said, spitting out the word as if it was poison. It was true, somewhat. I was blushing because it was rare to see him smiling like that to anyone.

And it made me somewhat thankful.

"Jean would be coming," he said. Upon looking at my odd stares, he laughed and said, "The creepy-looking bastard from the detention center."

"It's suprising they're letting you guys loose."

"Because they know we're not going to do stupid things or anything. Those people are ruthless."

"So I've heard," I answered, remembering the time when my father told stories about McClain Juvenile Detention Center - about how strict it was and how much of a reputation it got. No one dared to escape from the facility. In one way or another, it sounded worst than hell itself.

"Charlotte," he said. "Jean and a few others in the detention center, they know I didn't do anything wrong."

My heart skipped a beat. What was he talking about?

I felt a sudden burst of outrage. "Then why are you still in there?!" I yelled. Even though I didn't know Nathan's past that much since he won't tell me, I found myself slowly beginning to believe that this guy was somehow, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Or something like that.

He laughed. "Because Jean and those few others aren't completely stupid. They knew Kevin bribed them to keep me in that detention center for as long as it was required. His father's a powerful politician too. None of us wanted our family reputation to be tainted."

"That's just stupid. Sue them."

"I got disowned remember?" he said, grinning sheepishly. "That's why Jean comes only twice a week. The rest got their guards on their back 24/7. But he's still pretty strict with me. God knows why he chose the job in the first place. He's a teddy bear inside."

My fist clenched the grass. It was not fair. And I felt so helpless. "There's nothing anyone could do really. This is McClain we're talking about," he said, giving me another smile. But his smile, this time, was forced.

He was hurt.

Nathan, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry shit happened in your life.

As I thought that, a pang of...something grew in my heart. All of these emotions came rushing in at once that I didn't even knew what I was feeling. "Don't look so sad," he chuckled, placing a finger under my chin and bringing my face up.

"I don't like it when you look so sad."

Tears were starting to form in my eyes once more, and he was taken aback by it, I could tell. "It's not fair," I muttered, wiping my eyes vigorously with the back of my hand. He removed them a while after, planting soft kisses on my hands.

I blushed harder.

"Life, it's like that sometimes," he sighed, slowly letting go of my hands. "It likes to screw people over."

"But it screwed you up a lot," I answered, pouting. His lips trembled. "You're so cute," he said, laughing. His hand now moved from mine to the back of my head, playing with my hair as he brought my face closer.

And suddenly I knew what he wanted to do.

My heart beat went 2 times as fast.

"Nate," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Charlotte, I think I'm falling in love with you. I've been ignoring it all week but it was hard. It was so fun just being next to you, just to tell you all of these stories and making you laugh. Sure, I lost a shoe in the making."

Despite myself, I laughed.

"I hate it at first. It was new and a foreign feeling," he mumbled. "And after I met Jason the other day and we didn't talk, it felt like I was going insane. I wanted to tell you about how much of a bastard he is. I wanted you to make me laugh again."

"Interesting," I said. "I feel the same way too. I was worrying about you so much, did you know that?"

He smiled. A sincere one.

Unlike him, I was more afraid. I tried dating once, just to see what the fuss was all about. After that date, I put an entire new meaning to 'epic fail'. For one thing, the guy ate spaghetti through his nose.

For another he stole my cab, even though both of us were going to the same place - Catherwood International Boarding School.

And here Nathan was. No dates or anything, but he did said he likes me once and I thought he was joking then. And we spent 90% of our time now just talking to each other and having fun. I could see that in his eyes, he was still unsure about the feeling himself.

That's why his sentence started with "I think."

But it could be the start of something. I was sure of it.

And just like that, our lips touched.

12) Kiss the emo delinquent.