Motorcycle Girl

Chapter 25: Caught Red-Handed

The last part of this chapter is rated R, you've been warned. You'll be able to figure out when you should stop reading if you are not comfortable reading it.

Chapter 25: Caught Red-Handed

Nathan

"Come on, talk to Uncle Gabriel." Gabe says, smirking at me through FaceTime.

"Shut up." I grunt, setting the spoon on the counter.

"No, seriously Nate, what's wrong? Why do you have a black eye?"

I huff.

"Brenda kissed me three days ago." I inform him.

"What?" He gapes at me. "No! You're lying!"

I start stirring my noodles again, scowling at him.

"I'm not lying. She basically forced me to kiss her and Harper, Mason, and Odette were over. They were sleeping but when she kissed me they walked in. Mason punched me twice, and then Brenda lied saying I came onto her."

Gabe scoffs loudly. "As if you'd come onto Brenda. You fucking hate her."

"Thank you!" I exclaim, lifting my spoon from the boiling water. It splatters onto my arm and I hiss, running it under cold water.

"So what happened?"

"I got them to believe me, Odette cleaned my face up and gave me an ice pack, and then she left with Harper saying she had to work. We're official, by the way. Or we were. Now she won't talk to me and I went to her apartment and she won't let me in. Mason said he was going for a drive to 'clear his mind' after Odette and Harper left and he's been gone for three days and he won't call me or text me."

"They're all ignoring you?"

"Brenda is ruining my fucking life, Gabe." I practically growl. "I'm going to lose Odeletta and Mason in one sitting."

"Well, did they believe you?"

"They said they did." I huff. "But I don't know. Gabe, tell me what to do."

He sighs.

"Call Harper. She probably knows about Odeletta."

"Tried that." I mutter. "She sent me to voicemail...six different times."

"Fuck." He says. "Well I don't know dude. So you're all alone?"

"Pretty much." I say, picking up my pot of noodles and dumping it into the strainer. I shake it around until all the hot water cascades down the drain. "I can't lose them, Gabe. They're all I have. Odeletta..." I trail off, thinking about her brown eyes, her gentle touch. I dump a splash of milk and a scoop of butter into my noodles, mixing it until the butter is melted. "I can't do this, Gabe."

I tear the macaroni cheese powder and dump it into my noodles.

"She's probably taking time to wrap her head around it." Gabe says as I pick up the spoon and start mixing the cheese into my noodles. "And Mason is heartbroken."

I know he's right, but still. Mason tells me everything. If he was heartbroken, I'd want to be there to be the brother he doesn't have.

"I should be with him, man." I say seriously. "I mean, what the hell am I going to do?"

"Well, for starters-"

The front door slams and I jump, pausing my mixing.

"Is somebody there?" Gabe whispers.

I whip around. I hear footsteps, and then Mason walks into the kitchen.

"Hey brother." He says, slapping my back. He glances into the pot and at my phone. "Gabe." He nods. He has two twelve packs of beer.