Uninvolved (42 page)

Becka had always exuded a flair for the melodramatic
. Halfway home
,
she proceeded to have a stern internal lecture to herself about how not to behave like a raving mad woman. Yes, the movie was sad
,
and no, it was not likely
Nate
w
ould perish in World War II as neither of their parents were even alive during
that time
. When the drink cart came around
,
Becka forked over the seven bucks for
a
miniature bottle of rum to go with her
C
oke
, h
opeful it would take the edge off. Once they landed
,
Becka was somewhat sane, except for almost knocking over a toddler on the way to the ladies
’
room after deplaning. Maybe her rum and
C
oke on top of the caramel
Frappuccino
in light of her abhorrence of airplane bathrooms was a bad move.

Becka saw
Nate
before he saw her. She watched as he studied the faces of people approaching him
,
looking for her. When Becka saw his face break into a grin, his eyes locked on hers
.
S
he felt like her heart had floated up into the base of her throat and stayed there, thumping wildly. Becka quickened her pace, wary
this time
of trampling any stray toddlers. When she reached
Nate
,
he pulled her into his arms,
his
mouth on hers, lifting her off of the ground.

"Hey
,
kid
,
" he breathed into her ear as he playfully nipped at it.

"Hey
,
you."

Nate
took over the pulling of her carry
-
on suitcase as they made their way to baggage claim. There was a delay with the offloading of luggage so they stood there,
Nate
's arms around her as they waited.

"So what are your plans for the rest of today?" Becka inquired.

"You, all day long."

"
I like the sound of that."

The buzzer sounded to notify passengers of approaching luggage. Becka's mother had tied a pink bow to the front of her bag before she left to help make it more easily identifiable. It ended up being a huge help or it would have otherwise been lost
in
the sea of other black rolling suitcases. Becka took over pulling her carry
-
on while
Nate
handled her suitcase. When they got to his car
,
Becka stood to watch him load her bags in the back of his Nissan.

All mine,
she thought
as she
watched his muscles coil lifting her heavy suitcase.
Nate
caught her eye and tugged her to him for another kiss.
Becka could not help but feel nervous for what he had in store for her.
On e
very re
d light on the way to Becka's house
,
they would just look at each other. The tension in the car was almost palpable
.
The
look in his eyes made her stomach flip.

W
hen
Nate
got t
o her house
,
he parked behind her
car. Becka
got
out, heading to the back of his SUV to help with her bags
. S
he yelped as he picked her up instead. Holding her fireman
-
style
,
he carried her straight into the house
,
and she giggled and did her best to hold on.

Dave was sitting on the sofa playing Halo w
hen they walked in.
“
You guys are gross
”
was all Becka heard as
Nate
went directly to her
room
. Slowly lower
ing her in front of
him
,
Nate
reached behind him to lock her door.

Why was Becka nervous all of a sudden?
Nate
peeled her jacket off of her, kissing her neck as it slid down her arms. Becka stood there, almost frozen.

"You okay?"
Nate
asked
,
pulling back.

"I feel weird"

"
Weird?"

"Yes, weird."

"So how do I make you not feel weird?"

"Are we really doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Like us
.
Like
being together."

"I hope so."

"
Okay
.
You
know how normally when we see each other we do stuff and then you leave?

"Yes."

"
Can we just talk for a while first?"

"Anything you want."

So they sat on her bed
,
and while
Nate
absentmindedly trailed his fingers up and down her arms
,
he told her about himself. He told her about his childhood in California, his parent
s’
messy divorce
,
and his
still
strained relationship with his mother.
He told her about college and meeting Mike.
He told her about girls he dated, including the girl he was dating when they met.

Becka was surprised when he told her about his ex
,
Lisa. Becka knew that she had cheated on
Nate
with that Ian guy.
Nate
had met Lisa in college. They had a class together and had friends in common.
Nate
was attracted to her
,
and after a few months
,
built up the nerve to ask her out. Becka wasn’t surprised Lisa went out with
Nate
.
He
was hot. He was also a great guy so
,
not long after
,
they became exclusive.

After they both graduated
,
Lisa moved to California for graduate school.
Nate
moved in with Mike
and Ian
and started working. They continued to date with the expectation that they would move in together once Lisa graduated.
Instead
,
after learning her
father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer
,
their plans changed
. His prognosis was good
,
but Lisa's mother seemed overwhelmed with all of his appointments so Lisa had moved back home to Tuscan to help.

Lisa would come up
to Phoenix
on
weekends.
Nate
was working entry level in the
call center. Being new, he had a crap schedule and worked most weekends.
Lisa would hang out at his house until he got off of work. Ian, good friend that he was
,
would keep her company.
When Lisa's father
’
s treatment was over
,
Lisa moved to Phoenix. Instead of getting a place together
,
she surprised
Nate
by moving in with a girlfriend. Lisa told him she didn’t want to rush living together after not having lived in the same ci
ty for over
two
years.

Not long after that
,
Nate
met Becka.
Nate
admitted he was attracted to her from that first day. It was probably wrong of him to email her that following week
,
but he just could not get Becka out of his mind.
Just hearing that made her stop him to kiss him. Then Becka tried to explain her attraction to him. He was sitting there with his mouth hanging open when she admitted sniffing him at her
desk
. She asked him what he had thought of her when they went to lunch together that first time.

Nate was able to tell her exactly what she was wearing and how she had pulled her dress up to get in the car. He admitted he was so quiet on the ride back because he was trying to cover the fact he had a raging hard on. Just talking about this was turning her on
,
but Becka didn’t want him to stop talking
.
S
o she asked him about when they played cards. That was the first
time
Nate
went to Becka's house
.
H
e had actually just left Lisa's
house
. Lisa had picked a fight with him
,
and
Nate
had just been randomly driving around to clear his head.
After that
,
Nate
was plagued with guilt
.
Nothing
had happened with Becka
,
but
Nate
had wanted it to.
Nate
tried to avoid Becka after that
.
He
focused on his relationship with Lisa
, e
ven going as far as
going
ring shopping with Ian.

Nate
had
skipped a soccer game one Saturday
not long after that night
to go take Lisa for a surprise dinner, where he
had
planned to propose.
Her front door was unlocked so
,
just like he had done a hundred times before
,
he let himself in.
Nate
called out her name and went straight to her room. Lisa's door was locked
.
Nate
stood on the other side of it
,
waiting for her to open it. When
Nate
heard muffled voic
es from inside
,
he froze, recognizing the other voice.

When Lisa opened the door wearing only a robe
,
Nate
had looked past her to see Ian pulling on his shirt.
Nate
's anger overwhelmed him but instead of beating Ian to his last breath
,
Nate
turned and left.
After finding out what Ian had done
,
Mike kicked him out.
Nate
was dealing with a lot of emotions at that time and
really tried to st
ay away from Becka
. At Mike's New Year's Eve party
,
he caved after seeing one too many make out sessions.
He knew he was attracted to her
,
but he was still reeling from not only losing a girlfriend but a friend as well.
Nate
's plan
to keep his distance
was to not have
sex with Becka. He thought that as lo
ng as he
could abstain from sex he would not get too attached.

The reason he never stayed the night in the beginning was because he
wasn’t
convinced he had the willpower otherwise.
Nate
knew he was falling for her but could not trust his own emotions. He thought if he jumped into something so soon after ending things with Lisa that Becka would just be a rebound.
Nate
also warred with himself
in an attempt to ignore the
way he felt about Becka. It just about killed him when he had found out she was dating Kyle. That was the hardest time for
Nate
. He felt as though he were no better than Ian because he knew Kyle loved her.

Nate
still felt drawn to her
,
though.
He had wanted to have sex with her months ago but was still holding out because it annoyed her so much. Becka smacked him with a pillow after hearing that. Becka wanted
to
stay
,
but her stomach started grumbling.
Nate
pulled her up and to the kitchen.
Nate
motioned for her to sit on
a stool as he went to make dinner for them.
Nate
looked through their fridge, freezer
,
and cupboards
,
coming up empty
-
handed.