Summers & Starbucks - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Kaiden
"Oops, not the room we're looking for!" Sasha laughs, holding Nathan's arm.
My eyes barely register her. I look at Nathan, his expression is neutral. Vanessa laughs, reaching for her dress and gets dressed under the blanket.
"At least have the decency to knock?!"
"It's a party man, we didn't know this room was going to be taken!" Nathan says dryly, rolling his eyes. His indifferent attitude is pissing me off even though I have no right to be mad.
But I am. And he's providing me a reason.
"I'm disgusted at you! You know what Daniel is going to feel when he finds out you're messing about with her! What happened to not leading her on?" I ask icily.
Sasha frowns at me.
"Daniel Beckett ?! What's the relation with him and us?"
"Uh, what is going on?"
Daniel and Ryan stop in the passage, a cig in both of their hands. Daniel looks from me to Vanessa to Sasha and Nathan. Then his eyes land on their intertwined hands.
Great.
"What the fuck?" He snaps, pushing Nathan against the door. "How dare you touch my girl?"
Ryan drops the cigarette in surprise. Sasha looks absolutely gobsmacked.
"Wait, your girl?" She asks. Daniel ignores her completely.
"What the fuck man, aren't you a fag?" he snaps at Nathan. "Now you wanna hit on girls too?"
My jaw drops in surprise.
"People like you are disgusting. Isn't that why you got kicked out? Because you shoved it up someone's ass?" He sneers.
Everything happens very fast.
Nathan punches Daniel right in the jaw, who falls backwards, stunned. Sasha screams. Vanessa stares, eyes wide.
Running to him, I grab hold of Nathan's hands and pull him away from Daniel who is a writhing mess on the floor. Nathan breaks free from me and punches him again and blood spurts from Dan's nose.
"Fuck, Nathan, stop it you'll break his face!" I yell, pulling him away with all my strength.
Ryan pulls Daniel away. He is whimpering and cursing loudly.
"Ryan, get him to the bathroom. Vanessa, get him ice! Sasha, see if you can locate a first aid kit!" I yell, thankful for the loud music.
Nathan is still struggling against my grip, trying to get to Daniel. I drag him away from the room, on to the adjacent terrace and shut the door, turning to him.
My mind is whirling right now, unable to rationalize the whole thing. Wasn't I just buried deep in a girl and now I'm breaking up a fight between my closest friends?
"What the fuck Nathan?! Why did you punch him?!"
Nathan looks beyond angry, his teeth grinding against each other. His hands are balled into tight fists, breaths coming in short spurts, a glaze in his eyes. His knees are bouncing rapidly and I realise he's close to having a panic attack.
"Hey! Nathan, Nathan - look at me!" I grab his shoulders, making him focus on me.
"It's okay! You're okay! Take slow deep breaths! Listen to me. Like this see?"
I inhale and exhale slowly until he starts to copy me. Thank fuck.
I take his hands and pry open his fingers, still breathing rhythmically. His nails have dug dark crescent moons into his palms and his knuckles are bloody.
"You're okay, it's alright. It's just me, I'm here. Everything is fine, see?" I whisper softly, running my fingers through his hair which are damp with cold sweat.
His manic gaze calms and his breaths slow down. I smile at him a little. I have a thousand questions in my mind but now is not the time to ask them.
"Shh, it's okay Nathan! It's alright!"
He blinks, registering his surroundings.
"Kaiden?"
"I'm right here!" I say softly. "Feel better now?"
He nods.
"Please don't let me near him again or I'm going to kill him."
The venom behind is voice is hard to miss. He looks terrifying right now, the earlier vulnerability completely gone.
"You're not going near him. We're going home."
I hand him my jacket to wear. He thanks me quietly, zipping it up.
"Just stay here for a bit, I'll go check if Daniel's okay. Please?"
He nods. I run back inside.
Daniel is pinching his nose to stop the bleeding, there's a bandaid on his jaw and his lip is torn. Sasha is icing his jaw.
"Kaiden! What happened?" Vanessa says, stopping her pacing. Ryan looks grim.
"He's okay, just angry. He had a panic attack. It's best if we keep him away from Daniel."
Daniel glares at me.
"What did you say to him? How do you know about his past?!" I ask, confused.
"Was telling y'all he's shady!" Daniel says, voice throaty. "He got kicked out of his school for feeling up some politician's kid. I don't understand how people like him still exist! Abominations of nature!"
I know he's angry at Nathan but it feels like his words are directed towards me. Am I an abomination to him as well?
I would be, if he knew.
"Daniel, no matter what he is, it is not your place to taunt him about it. You were wrong and you deserved the punching you got. I wish he had given you another punch for the ignorant, homophobic shit you just said!"
"Kaiden, what are you saying? It's not Daniel's fault!" Vanessa gasps. I glare at her, shutting her up.
"Ryan, I need to talk to you."
He nods, following me outside in the passage. I shut the door of the room and let out a loud sigh.
"Is Nathan okay?" Ryan asks and I nod.
"What a crazy party! I wanna go home soon," he sighs.
"Do you mind getting the others in your car? I'm thinking I'll drive home with Nathan first," I ask him.
"Fine, but you owe me!"
I nod and walk to Nathan, who is nowhere to be seen. I roll my eyes. Typical, leaving without an explanation. I walk back to the others.
"Weren't you leaving? Is he okay?" Ryan asks.
"He left already," I shrug. "He'll probably go to my place."
I am too mad at him to bother going after him right now.
"Daniel, why the fuck did you provoke him like that?" Sasha asks, her button nose flaring in anger. "And since when, for fuck's sake, am I your girl?!"
She air quotes with her fingers.
Ryan bites his cheek to keep from laughing. Daniel looks embarrassed. The mood has shifted slightly.
"Never mind that," he stutters.
"No, I want to know!" Sasha presses, vexed.
"You were holding hands! And he was shirtless! Near a bedroom! I couldn't handle it!" Daniel yells.
"That's so lame! I spilled wine on his shirt and I was taking him to the bathroom so he could have it washed off. What the hell does couldn't handle it mean?! You dumbass, why you got so worked up over that?" Sasha laughs in disbelief.
"Because I fucking love you, goddammit!"
Ooooh.
Me and Ryan exchange glances, trying hard not to laugh. Daniel realises what he said and goes red like a firetruck. Sasha's mouth is hanging open.
Vanessa pinches her eyebrows, confused.
"I jumped to conclusions first, okay?" Daniel groans. "I'm sorry. I... I've liked you since freshman year and to see him like that with you, thought you were going to shag. I'm sorry but it kills me when I see you with other guys. I just don't say anything because I'm too much of a coward to ask you out directly," he says quietly. "It's not my place to say who you do or don't date. But not him! Just not Nathan!"
Sasha blinks.
"You love me?"
"Ever since I laid eyes on you," Daniel nods.
I motion to the others to leave the room. I don't think they notice us walking out, too engrossed in their conversation. We go back out of the room and Ryan bursts into laughter.
"At least he finally admitted. He's so corny, my god. I'm gonna go have a beer, the fight was too much!"
He leaves me and Vanessa alone in the corridor.
"What the fuck? That was so unexpected!" Vanessa sighs. "I feel like I ran a marathon!"
Me too. I'm wondering how Daniel found out about Nathan. Is any of it even remotely true? Fuck I need to know. I have to talk to him.
"So, are you sure that was strictly a one time thing?" Vanessa asks coyly, distracting me.
"Definitely, obviously. And don't tell Adrian."
"Ugh please, I've cheated on him multiple times. He's just too much of a pushover and average in bed," she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
Ouch.
"Why don't you breakup with him then? He deserves that much!"
I can't believe I'm defending Adrian after those shitty things he did to me but I literally hate cheaters. With a burning passion. Like, if you don't love someone just break up!
"I guess I don't know if anyone will ever love me as he does," she sighs, looking melancholy all of a sudden. "No matter what I do, he's always there for me. I don't want to let go of that."
"If you realise that he's important, maybe you should finally act like you do."
She nods.
"You're good peeps," she says, smiling. "I hope you know what you're doing though."
"What?"
"With Nathan... What Daniel said, it's true, he really did get kicked out for that."
"Why should I believe you! You're a cheater and Nathan hates you, of course you'd spread nasty things against him!"
"Fair enough. I just hope you don't get hurt," She smiles carelessly and walks away, sending me a glance over her shoulder as she descends the stairs.
I exhale heavily, feeling my ears ring with the sudden silence.
What the hell, this night was a total rollercoaster.
It's nearly 2 am. I am tired of calling Nathan. He isn't at my house like I hoped he would be.
I got everyone else home. Nathan is replaced by Sasha who is holding Daniel's hand. He looks battered but elated. We told everyone else he fell down the stairs drunk. It was either that or the truth and Daniel didn't mind. It is probably better for his ego than telling everyone he got beaten to a pulp.
At least something good came out of the night.
Raven and Aaron are knackered. Alex is the only one sober. Ryan is carrying a passed out Bella. She was supposed to tell me something... I wonder what it was.
I lead Ryan and Raven to the guest room. He puts Bella on the bed and we bid them a goodnight.
Aaron, Alex go into the other guest room. Sasha and Daniel go into my parents' bedroom. I warn them to not have sex. He flips me off, annoyed.
I still haven't asked him why he called Nathan gay but it's way too late for that conversation. Besides I don't want to ruin the somewhat normal mood.
Ryan follows me to my room, falling asleep immediately after taking off his shoes and shirt.
How the fuck do people sleep in jeans?
I dial Nathan, for the fiftieth time. If he goes home drunk, his mother will disown him. He finally picks up and I nearly sigh in relief.
"Where are you? I've been calling you the whole night!" I snap quietly, going out to my balcony, not wanting to disturb Ryan.
"How nice of you!" Nathan laughs. "I'm not coming to your house Kaiden, I have better friends who don't call me gay slurs!"
He is obviously wasted. This feels like fucking deja vu. How is it less than forty eight hours ago that he kissed me and is now wandering somewhere again?
"Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up right now!"
"Look at you, being Mr. Chivalrous. Fuck you Kaiden, I'm not a damsel you need to rescue! You're better off with your snobby rich friends! You're all the fucking same you know?"
I listen carefully to any sounds of his whereabouts but I doubt there's anything around at this time of night. It's silent.
"Nathan, now is not the time to pick a fight with me. Tell me where you are, if the cops find you, you'll get thrown in!"
He laughs, a slight manic tone to his voice. I'm already out the door, shivering slightly. I leave the phone on, to make sure he's not passing out.
"Don't pretend like you fucking care about me! I already told you that. You rich pests think everything is a toy to you, even people. Guess what, I'm not a plaything! I didn't deserve anything what he did to me!"
I realise he's not talking about me anymore.
"You're the same you know? Like him. Even you watched while your fucking friend said all those things about me!" he says loudly. My stomach clenches painfully.
God knows where he is wandering alone.
Wait.
I gave him my old phone. It probably has the find my device on. I could still locate it.
"I don't know why he said that! It was probably to annoy you because you were with Sasha!" I answer quickly, successfully tracing him.
Fuck yes! I speed off into the night, heart thundering in my chest. I hope nobody sees him before I get there.
"Sasha this, Sasha that. I don't even like her, she's too talkative. I don't like my mom, I don't like my dad. I definitely don't like that bitch Vanessa! I don't like the cold and I don't like being alone!"
I am twenty over the limit but he's close. The neighborhood is familiar, a gated community. To my relief, Nathan is sitting on the curb beside a garden.
"Nathan!"
He looks up from his phone, eyes bloodshot and wide, curly hair messy. The relief surging through me is so powerful, I run and hug him tightly.
"Fucking idiot!" I snap, the worry replaced by fury.
"How did you - ?" He whispers, blinking.
"Get up right now, we're going home," I snap. I grab his hand and he follows me wordlessly to the car.
"Don't make this a fucking habit, Nathan! I know you don't care if you live or die. But I do. And yes I will look for you everytime you run away. If you, even for the slightest bit, care about me, you will not fucking run away in the middle of the night again."
He nods. The rest of the ride is silent. His eyes never leave my face until he falls asleep.
Pulling into the driveway of my house, I rest my head on the steering, exhaustion creeping in.
Since when did my life turn into a Netflix drama?