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"Wha...
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I hadn't turned around yet, but I already knew it was Nate. When I last saw him, he was still being all flirty with Cora. Did he really ditch his conversation with her to come and find me? Either way, I couldn't let him see that I was sad. I composed myself and spun around with a big smile, fake sugar masking my real mood.
"Hey, what are you doing out here? You should be enjoying your party."
"Nah, you're more important." He said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"And why's that?"
"Because you're sad." Nate gave me that penetrating look of his, seeing straight through me.
"What? I'm not sad."
"I saw him leave, Lia."
My breath hitched as I stared back at him, exposed. I couldn't hide my sadness now, but we didn't have to make a whole thing out of it, I just wanted to be alone for a while. Besides, it's not like he had to know that Matt didn't exactly like him.
"He needed to get home and I wasn't gonna stop him." I stated indifferently.
"Is that why you're upset? I—"
"It doesn't concern you, alright? Me being upset doesn't concern you!" I snapped at him. "The rest of the world can't all be like you, Nate! Nothing ever gets to you, and life isn't that perfect for everyone else!"
I quickly turned my back on him, tightly folding my arms against my chest and steadying my huffing lungs. It was silent, and for a moment I thought he had left, but then–
"My life is far from perfect, Lia." He said softly...dejected.
I didn't respond, rather focusing on the dark horizon in the distance, hoping he would give up and leave.
"You know, this kind of feels like déjà vu, don't you think?" He wondered out loud, standing his ground and continuing. "Him leaving, you being sad...finding ourselves on the beach together."
I thought back to Rachel's party, realizing he was completely right. Except this time it was Matt's own choice to leave, and Nate was more than just a friend of my brother's.
"You should get back to your party." I quietly said in the direction of the ocean. "I'm fine, just go."
"I'm not leaving until I know you're okay."
My gut twisted from his words. He was too nice, too caring. "I just said I was fine."
"And I don't believe you."
"Well I don't care if you do or not." I could feel the frustration building up in my chest. He did nothing wrong, he didn't know I was trying to avoid being alone with him. But he couldn't take a hint. Things were going so well earlier when we were in a big group of people, and now that we were alone, he just made me so...so...
