Getting Under Nathan

39: "Give him the benefit of the doubt."

Chapter 39 - "Give him the benefit of the doubt."

**Dedicated to heyitszahraxox for leaving such a lovely comment.**

[[Contains strong language and drug references]]

Jess doesn't get annoyed about many things; she's a very laid-back person who hates talking badly about others. The only time I'd ever heard her say nasty things about someone was when it unravelled that Matt had cheated on me. I think she assumed that bad-mouthing Matt would make me feel better and, admittedly, it did. Jess was a very diplomatic individual who would never dream of unnecessarily judging someone unless they offered an indisputable reason to be judged. Such an indisputable reason usually involved one of her closest friends getting hurt due to the malicious actions of someone else. Jess may be a peaceful person, but she was an even better friend.

For that reason, I realised that it was my turn to be a good friend when I got home from lectures on Wednesday to see five missed calls from her on Skype.

Without hesitation, I immediately called her back, not even waiting to remove my coat and shoes. She commented on this when she answered the call.

"Are you off out somewhere?" she asked me. She had a pen in her hand, suggesting that she was part way through writing something - presumably an essay.

"No, I just got back and saw I'd missed your calls," I said.

She gave me a small, amused smile. "I could have waited an extra thirty seconds for you to get settled down, Bell."

"I was worried. Are you okay?"

She sighed. "I feel a bit better now. I basically had a massive row with Alex and needed someone to talk it through with."

I immediately felt guilty for not being there for her, even though there was no way I could have known.

"What about?" I frowned in concern. "Is everything okay?"

Jess and Alex were deliriously happy together. At school, they'd tried to play down their relationship, but it was clear to everyone how much they liked each other. I knew that long distance had been taking a bit of a toll on the relationship, but they were strong enough to survive the bumps and hurdles that it threw at them. At least, they had been thus far anyway.

"Yeah, everything's fine, I guess," she replied with a sigh. "It's just the usual stuff, you know. He's still unable to fully commit to meeting up."

I frowned again, remembering that this had been an issue during the beginning stages of the long-distance relationship.

"Still?" I asked. "I thought you'd worked through that?"

"Well, everything was great up to and around Christmas," she confirmed. "We had such a nice Christmas together, and it was almost as if we'd never left each other. He was as sweet and attentive as ever..."

"But it's changed again now you're both back at uni?"

She shrugged, the sudden movement causing the Skype video to freeze slightly and pixelate. I waited until she was back in sync and clearly visible before continuing.

"I mean, it's not that bad," she conceded with a sigh. "This is the first time it's happened since. I think that's why we argued, because I got scared about it happening again."

"So what's he actually done?" I asked, realising that we hadn't actually covered the main reason for the argument.

"We were supposed to be meeting up this weekend," she said. "And then he cancelled on me this afternoon."