The Year of the Great Seventh (28 page)

Nate and Preston were engaged in deep conversation next to the bar. However, I could tell Preston was watching me through the corner of his eye.

“Are you a model?” Addison sipped from her beer bottle.

“I’m actually not that into fashion.” I had to stop cutting off Addison every time she tried to make conversation. At least she was trying to be friendly.

“Are you a model?” I asked her back, since I knew she asked me for a reason.

I held my untouched beer, pretending to be drinking it.

“Yeah, I did a diamond ring ad a while back,” she said, seemingly proud of herself. “I’m working on getting more gigs.”

Two women sitting at a table turned to stare at Preston, and then one of them took a photo of him with her cell phone.

“Oh, I see. I bet it’s hard to get work.” I tried to focus on my conversation with Addison, even though I was looking at Preston and Nate.

I knew for a fact that if the acting world was competitive, the modeling industry was even tougher. You had to be extremely thin and tall to even stand a chance.

Preston kept glancing at me as Nate was talking to him. He whispered something in Nate’s ear and they both turned at once to look at me. This was nerve-wracking. Were they talking about me? And if they were, what were they saying?

I didn’t want to be rude to Addison, so I decided to fully engage in a conversation with her. It wasn’t her fault she was with Preston. “My Dad is a lecturer at UCLA. He’s a historian; that’s what I want to major in. NYU has the best program in the country.”

Nate explained something to Preston, doing hand gestures, and he kept drying the sweat off his forehead. But it wasn’t that warm in here. The air-conditioning was fine.

“What kind of stories does he do?” Addison brought the beer bottle to her mouth and knocked the whole thing down.

How could I answer a question like that without making her feel uncomfortable? She’d caught me off guard.

“Just stories about old stuff,” I explained in the most basic way I knew.

Nate kept shifting his weight from side to side, and now he’d grabbed a paper napkin from the bar to dry his face. He made eye contact with me as Preston blabbed in his ear.

“That’s that actor from the island show,” Addison said, pointing—not very discreetly—at a man at a corner table. “Nate’s really hot. How did you do it?” She scanned me from head to toe as if she couldn’t understand what Nate saw in me.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Nate. He kept glancing at me over Preston’s shoulder.

“I kind of feel that I need to warn you.” Addison checked whether Preston was looking at her and whispered in my ear. “Preston told me that Nate’s girlfriends change often and he never takes any of them too seriously. I met this other girl once when we went out for dinner with him. I can’t really remember her name. She was stunning, but Nate didn’t seem into her at all.”

I was starting to feel sympathy for Addison. She was, in her own way, really trying to help me out. But what I couldn’t share with her was that I didn’t feel threatened by Nate’s dating history. I didn’t care how many girlfriends he had before me. I knew how Nate felt about me and I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone make me hesitate about him. At this point, I didn’t even care whether he introduced me as his friend or his girlfriend. What Nate and I had between us had no name or title. The way he made my emotions stir out of control when he was next to me couldn’t be explained in words.

Nate nodded at me and, pushing people out of his way, darted to the bathroom.

I stepped to go after him; I didn’t want to be left alone with Preston. But someone held my arm. “He’ll be back in a moment. Don’t worry!” Preston grinned as if he’d finally gotten what he wanted all along—some time alone to interrogate me.

“So… you must be very special for Nate,” Preston said as if he couldn’t believe what Nate saw in me.

Preston was here on a mission to bring me down, but what he didn’t know was he had no chance of succeeding.

“We’re just friends,” I said, trying to protect myself from any further questioning.

“I bet you go to that high school, too,” Preston mocked, grabbing a shot from the bar and gulping it down his throat.

“West Hollywood High?” I said, as I wasn’t sure what he meant.

“Huh, I bet Nate didn’t tell you what he said when his parents told him he was going to that public school.”

I looked at Preston, fearing the worse. I knew which way the hit was coming.

“He told them they may as well send him to a juvenile hall. He’ll probably make the same type of friends.”

Nate probably had said that before coming to our school, but I was confident he didn’t feel that way now.

Preston was trying hard to point out that I didn’t belong to his world and never would. He didn’t need to try so hard because I already knew. What Preston didn’t know was that Nate hated everything about his elitist upbringing. And the only person in the world he felt he could be himself with was me. No matter how hard Preston tried to bring me down, he had no chance of succeeding because what Nate and I had was untouchable.

Anyway, maybe there were a few delinquents around school, but just as many as there were at private schools. Maybe the bullies at those schools drove expensive cars and wore expensive clothes, but that didn’t change anything.

“You know, I’m running for the senate.” Preston looked down at me as if he doubted I knew what the senate was. “And the last thing I need right now is Nate doing something stupid to embarrass me.”

He was definitely crossing a line. I wasn’t going to let him walk all over me. “I don’t really get what you mean by ‘something stupid.’”

Preston pressed his lips into a smirk, as if I was exhausting his patience. “The more I think of it, the more I realize you must be very
special
to Nate. I’m sure he’s never taken any of his girlfriends on a trip across the country.”

“Do you think I’m special for him? That’s flattering,” I said, trying to find a way to escape. Where was Nate? Why was he taking so long?

“It’s also the first time Preston has taken me on a trip.” Addison interrupted.

“Just order us some more beers.” Preston dismissed Addison by handing her a couple of bills.

Preston kept getting closer to me, and I kept backing away until I was against the person behind me.

“I’ll give you a piece of advice. I wouldn’t get too caught up with Nate. He’s a bit of a player.” Preston winked at me. “Now that I get to see you up close, you’re actually quite attractive.” Preston stroked my hair. Then he slid his hand down to my neck.

“Don’t touch me!” I grabbed his hand and yanked it away from me.

Preston’s gaze moved to my bracelet. Once he realized I’d seen him looking at it, he looked away.

A wave of relief washed over me when I saw Nate coming back from the bathroom. The front of his hair was wet. He’d probably washed his face.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave. Sophie has an early start tomorrow,” Nate said, dropping some bills on the bar for the drinks.

“But you just got here! And Sophie and I were just getting to know each other.” The sarcasm was palpable in his tone.

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch up in L.A.” Nate hugged Preston and tapped him on the back.

“Nice to meet you, Sophie.” Preston planted a kiss on my cheek without giving me time to dodge it.

I looked around, searching for Addison, but she’d vanished.

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell her you said bye when she’s back.” Preston smiled as if we were best friends.

As we walked out of the bar, I could feel Preston’s eyes on my back. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

“Why are we leaving so soon?” I said, surprised, after we crossed though the red doors.

“Preston was asking too many questions. I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to dodge them.”

The cooks jostled around the busy kitchen, not paying attention to the people cruising through.

Nate seemed intimidated by Preston’s questioning.

“An early withdrawal seemed like the best option.” Nate let me pass in front of him to climb the steep metal stairs. “Did Preston behave himself?”

Nate probably knew that the moment he left me, Preston would try to intimidate me. After all, he was his cousin, and probably knew him too well.

“He was all right.” I lied.

We went outside and waited for a taxi. We stood at the edge of the sidewalk, observing the occupied taxis coming downtown. The temperature had dropped dramatically. I was so cold I couldn’t control my shivering. Now I regretted my fashion-over-comfort decision.

We hadn’t seen a single available taxi, and there were a group of girls next to us, also trying to hail one.

“Take this.” Nate took off his leather jacket and threw it over my shoulders. Then he brought his arm around me to protect me from the cold.

It only took one look at his beautiful face to make me realize that even if it was Nate and me against the world, it was all worth it. It didn’t matter what his family thought. No one could take away from me the special bond I had with him.

“It’s kind of wild that we’re in New York together.” Nate half-grinned, making me feel like the most special person in the universe.

No matter how much time we spent by each other’s side, his piercing dark eyes had the same hypnotizing effect on me as that first day.

I thought the way Nate made butterflies race around my stomach every time he touched me would wear off, but it only exacerbated with time. Now it was more along the lines of a butterfly stampede.

They say an addiction is a dependency on an external substance. If that was the definition of an addiction, I could confirm I had one, and Nate was mine. And it wasn’t going to be an easy one to kick.

Nate hailed a cab that was turning the corner before the girls down the street saw it.

“Hey, you! That was our taxi!” a drunken girl shouted as she turned around and saw us.

We quickly got into the taxi, laughing, and waved at them as we drove away.

CHAPTER XV

THAT NIGHT WHEN I got to the hotel, I couldn’t fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, a siren resonated in the background and I wasn’t able to get the sound out of my head. I didn’t know how New Yorkers lived like this. I guess you probably got used to the noise after a while.

And then there were the lights of the city shining through the window. It was a magnificent idea, the panoramic view of the skyscrapers from the bed, but it was just too bright to sleep.

There were curtains, but of course, they were controlled by that diabolical digital panel that I didn’t dare touch. If I turned the music on full volume by mistake at this time of the night, we were going to get kicked out of the hotel.

I tried hiding under the covers to block the light and to fantasize that Nate and I were in New York strictly to attend an NYU tour. In my parallel under-the-covers world, Nate and I had decided to come to college together. In this world, there wasn’t a stain growing on Nate’s body, and he didn’t make things explode with his mind. We were just two normal teenagers. Nate had decided to go for a double major in biology and environmental studies, and I’d got into the history program with a full scholarship. After visiting the dorms, we’d been put off by the lack of privacy and had rented a three-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg, which we also shared with Megan. Yes, in this world Megan had confronted her mom and put her acting career on hold for four years to complete an undergraduate degree in sociology, specializing in pop culture and the obsession with celebrities. The three of us loved living in New York City and sharing our college experiences.

Frustration took hold of me when I realized that no matter how long I stayed under the covers, none of this was ever going to come true. All I wanted was a normal and boring life with Nate and my friends.

Whatever that stain on Nate’s back was, it was starting to really hurt him. I couldn’t express how excruciating it was to observe the person I cared for the most in this world slowly disintegrate in front of me and not know how to save him.

Maybe it was time to turn for help, but I quickly disregarded that idea. How were we going to explain to anyone what was happening to Nate? Or how was any adult going to believe us?

I felt so sad, and I missed Nate so much. I didn’t understand why I had to stick to his orders and stay in a separate room. All I wanted was to be with him, and knowing he was on the other side of the wall, probably going through the same grief, just made me feel so powerless. I told myself to stay strong and forced myself to stop complaining. If I was going to help Nate, I had to be courageous.

Lately, life seemed to be conspiring against me. Tonight, I’d finally met a member of the Werner clan and, confirming my suspicions, Nate was the family exception. His cousin was a pretentious classist with little respect for anyone who wasn’t rolling in cash. Only the fact that my parents couldn’t afford a private school made me worthless. To make matters worse, I suspected that the rest of the members of Nate’s family were going to think just like Preston.