Getting Under Nathan

9: "He seems like a keeper."

Chapter 9 - "He seems like a keeper."

I stared at the blank page in front of me. Five hundred words. Five hundred words was nothing really. It was probably less than a page, and yet I still lacked inspiration. 

What was I supposed to write about language-learning strategies? What was the best way to learn a language? Hmm, having a gorgeous, fluent boyfriend who could teach you a whole range of vocabulary that you wouldn't learn through university...? I smiled to myself, thinking about the kinds of phrases that Nathan could teach me. Then I remembered that it perhaps wouldn't be appropriate for my first university essay and my smile immediately dropped as I realized I was still no closer to starting this damn thing. Starting an essay was probably the hardest part of the whole process. I knew that as soon as I got words onto the page, the rest would just flow and I'd be fine.

Sighing, I shifted my eyes from the laptop screen to the window. It was such a beautiful day outside and I'd have much rather been sitting in the sun instead of cooped up in my room, forcing myself to complete this essay. 

From across the corridor, I could hear Hayley and Gemma chatting away to each other. They'd formed a pretty strong friendship already, mainly through sitting in each other's rooms and talking instead of sitting in their own rooms and doing their work. God, I felt so boring.

"Izzy?" I heard Jack yell from the other end of the corridor.

"What?" I yelled back.

"Can you come here please?" he requested.

My essay wasn't really going anywhere so I hopped up from my chair and wandered down to Jack's room. He was lying on his bed with his eyes closed.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Can you pass me my phone, please?" he asked. "It's on my desk."

I glanced across at his desk and saw his iPhone sitting neatly on top of his laptop lid. Was he for real?

"Are you serious?"

He grinned, opening one eye. "Sorry, babe. But I'm so comfy."

I shook my head to myself but picked up his phone anyway. "Catch," I instructed.

That made him sit up in horror, his arms automatically stretching outwards in a reflex to catch his phone. I smirked to myself, still holding it firmly in my right hand with no intention of throwing it across the room to him.

"Panicked a bit then, didn't you?" I teased. "Horrified at the thought of your precious iPhone being dropped."

"That was cruel," he said, reaching across to take it from me. "I'm so bored though. Do you want to do something?"

"I'm trying to do my essay," I told him pointedly. "Have you done yours yet?"

"Nah. It's not due yet, is it?"

"It's due on Friday."

"Exactly. Today is Wednesday. We've got plenty of time! I don't know why you stress about these things..."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, at this rate I still won't be done by Friday. What are you gonna write about?"

"Izzy, it's really simple. Just get out a piece of paper and brainstorm ideas. Think about how you learn Spanish. Do you read newspapers? Do you listen to Spanish music? How do you force yourself to improve? Literally just jot down stuff like that and the five hundred words will come easy."

"Hmm," I said, the cogs in my brain turning as I began to think of how I'd answer the questions Jack had suggested.

"Cool. So now that's sorted, can we go out and do something?"