"Thank you Nate." Natalie said as they parted ways. It was sweet of him to bring her to an ice cream store. He stayed until she was feeling better.

"You shouldn't show him you're affected. You'll only make him hurt you more."

Natalie nodded. She wasn't crying anymore. She didn't want to. Nate was kind enough to walk with her until they reached the school. It was getting dark and he wanted to make sure she got to her room safely. It wasn't a problem for him since he lived near the school.

"I think I should go in now." Natalie said.

"Yeah. You should. Don't think about it too much, okay?" He patted her shoulder and headed to the parking lot. She went straight to her room and to her surprise Camille wasn't there. She quickly laid on her bed and hugged a pillow. She stared at the ceiling as if it had the answers to her questions. What happened? Was it because of the kiss? Didn't he like it? Is it because he couldn't get over the fact that she's a friend? Is she really just a friend? She closed her eyes and decided to stop. She can't cry again. She can't be affected. As she laid there motionless, her phone suddenly vibrated. There was a text message.

                    Jake Harper

                  Text message

              Close            View

She didn't want to look at the message but her hand went for the view button.

                  Hi Nat. Asleep?

She decided not to reply to his message. She set her phone aside and tried to close her eyes again. Another text arrived.

                        Nat?

She examined the text one by one and closed her phone again.

                Nat. Can we talk?

                I really can't sleep.

She wanted to text back. She wanted to say a lot of things. She wanted to show him that she's important too, but as she was about to type all she wanted to say to him, she remembered what Nate said. She shouldn't show him she's affected. He'll only hurt her more. So she turned her phone off and covered her head with a pillow. She promised herself not to give in but to accept the fact that she can do nothing but to give up. How will she ever get over someone she loved in an instant? How will she act as if everything was okay? With all the questions in her head, she didn't realize she dozed off. While on the other hand, Jake wondered why Natalie never bothered to reply. Was she mad because he stood her up? Was she upset about the kiss? Or did she know about what he and Rachel did that morning? She shouldn't know and he shouldn't bother caring. Besides, Natalie knew how he felt for Rachel anyway. She'd understand.

It was a Saturday the next morning and Natalie woke up at around 9am. She laid on her bed like a lazy cat. She wanted to act as if she was sick but something tells her she should stand up and scare her depression off her system. So she quickly took a bath and decided to jog after. She wore her favorite jogging attire and took her iPod with her. She left a note for Camille and headed outside. She jogged around the campus until she was exhausted. She decided to walk when she realized she was over doing it. As she walked and listened to the music, a car's horn startled her. When she turned to face the car, she saw a black Porsche Carrera GT. She wondered why it stopped. She was quite angry at how inhumane the driver was but when the car door opened, out came a tall, hard looking Nate Walters. He wore a tight fitting gray shirt that formed his upper torso and a pair of loose jeans. As he went out the car he took off his shades and grinned at Natalie.

"You look quite ugly today." He smiled some more.

"Crazy! I'm not ugly!" She said trying to gain her pride back.

"Yesterday you weren't so ugly, but now, tsk tsk tsk. I think you need to freshen up. Come on! Let's go to my house." He took her hand and dragged her towards the car. He opened the right car door. He forced her inside and went to the driver's seat.

"I'm not going at your house! You might do something to me!!!!" She said as he laughed at her statement. He shifted the stick to D or drive, and pressed on the accelerator. The car's machine rumbled. He looked at her and smirked again.

"Men with assets like mine don't date girls with faces like yours." He looked forward while still wearing a smile on his eyes while the car quickly moved in a smooth direction. "What an ," Natalie said while rolling her eyes.

They arrived at a big house. It looked like a house from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, only better. Natalie was apalled. She didn't expect him to be so rich. There were three more cars parked at a mini parking lot at the side of the house. He even said two more were used by his father and his older sister. They weren't ordinary cars. Most of them looked like one he brought with him. He showed her inside their house and everything was well arranged. The floors were clean, a statue of a greek goddess even stood at the center. Everything was perfect. 

Suddenly two white labrador puppies came running towards Nate.

"Oh my gosh! How cuuute!" Natalie took the female puppy and cuddled with it.

"So you like dogs?"

"Do I like dogs? I love them. They're just so adorable!" She hugged the puppy as if it was a stuffed toy. Nate watched her smile and laugh at the same time. He realized how beautiful she was whenever she was happy.

"Señorito. You're back early." A 50s year old mexican woman came in and brought a big gym bag. "I got your uniforme as you asked."

"Thanks Lordes. Can you call for a pizza delivery? And bring us some lemonade, we'll be staying at the patio."

"Yes señorito."

She went back to where she entered and the house was quiet. Natalie looked at Nate for a long time. "What?" Nate asked.

"You never told me you were this rich!" Natalie said as her eyes brightened up.

"We weren't friends, why would I tell you?" he said and she realized he was right. She even remembered their first meeting. She shrugged at the thought and followed him upstairs. The second floor was carpeted. there were expensive furnitures everywhere. In every corner there was a room. 

She never thought Nate was this rich. He was very simple when he went to school. He didn't talk too much since people find him intimidating. 

He wasn't the loner type either. He had friends, but also the rich kind. He also hanged out with Jake before but they started avoiding each other when they found out that both of them were good in swimming. Nate was currently studying business administration since he was expected to run one of his father's companies someday. They arrived at the patio a minute later. The patio was nothing Natalie expected. It had a pool on it and a big Jacuzzi. There was a small garden at the side and a few more dogs played there.

"I think you can relax here." Nate said as he dragged a chair towards her. "You can sleep if you want or play anything you like." He took his shades off and sat on the chair. Natalie wondered why he really brought her to his place. "Nate. Why did you bring me here?"

Nate did not respond.

"Nate? Tell me. Why did you bring me here?"

Nate looked far away. He didn't want to look at her since he wasn't used to saying things in a nice way.

"Ever since what happened yesterday, I realized I was too harsh. I mean, you didn't peek through the showers on purpose. You clearly explained to me why you were there. I was just really furious. I have dated a lot of girls but i have never experienced being watched  all by myself, except if both of us wanted to show our bodies."

"Okay stop. That's you're reason?"

"No. Not really. I was actually surprised to see someone cry so hard over something. I'm not really used to it. Usually, when I break up with a girl or vice versa, everything is okay and the next day, we're still friends. I was just wondering why you cried so much when he hasn't even tried to ask you out. I'm not used to girls crying. When I saw how you cried yesterday, something tells me to take care of you or at least to help you."

Natalie smiled. "So you do have a little halo. Problem is, your tail is too long. Hahahaha."

Nate thought of what she said. "Of course I'm nice. I just get irritated right away. It's like, something inside of me sees the bad in all people."

Natalie smiled. She saw how Nate was as a person. He was mean to everyone maybe because of his father. His parents got divorced when he was five.  He seldom goes home and ever since he can remember, Lordes was the one who took care of him. He had his father’s attitude. The sturdy type; but deep inside, the little Lordes in him always came out when it was needed.

"Your lemonade señorito." Lourdes came with a tray. Nate quickly stood up to help Lourdes carry the tray. Lourdes smiled and Natalie knew she loved him as her own son. Nate thanked Lourdes and she smiled again. 

Before she went back inside, she looked at Natalie's face and signaled at Nate. "Ella es bonita. You know Señorita, you are the first mujer he brought in this casa. You must be very important to my Nathaniel." 

She smiled again and headed for the door.

"Don't mind her. She's a liar." Nate said quickly.

But Lourdes was not lying. She was telling the truth. From all his past girl friends, Natalie was the only girl he brought to his house. It should mean something right? Nate was just still looking for that reason and no matter how he tried, he just couldn't find it.… not yet.