Nuri: Oh, come on!
Nuri: I’m her best friend, I can give you some advice!
Nate: I don’t need any advice.
Nuri: I take all the credit for you FINALLY making a move.
Nuri: So excuse me for being excited about it.
Nate: It’ll be fine.
Nuri: Oh, by the way… I think she doesn’t want Jack to know.
Nuri: At least for now.
Nate: Fuck.
Nuri: Yeah… When she finds out that he already knows, she might get mad.
NATE
I feel like it’s becoming a recurring situation between the two of us. Me, saying stuff that upset her, and her getting mad and yelling at me. In my car. Funny how I’ve tried to poke Jack by implying the possibility of Prue and I having sex in here, but all we do in this damned car is usually argue.
I might need to change it. It’s obviously cursed.
“You can’t go aroundpunchingpeople!” She groans, massaging her temples.
“I did notactuallypunch him,” I counter. “Just… Scared him a little.” She rolls her eyes and I straighten up in my seat, leaning towards her. “Come on… I was young, having a sort of repressed crush on you, and he was talking shit. About youandJack.”
She sighs. We’ve been sitting in the car for ten minutes. Me, telling her exactly what happened, her processing and getting upset with me. And herself.
“I’m going to ask again, but why the hell did you nottellme?
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I? Look, I can’t change the mistakes I made back then. But I can make them right, now. I’ll answer anything you want to know, but I need you to stop getting mad at me for my past missteps. I mean, they’re all related to how I clumsily tried to protect you. You’ve already made your point about how you felt about that. Trust me, I’m mad enough at myself for the two of us… but please, Prudence. Give me a real chance.”
I’m not sure if that little monologue got through to her, but she finally lifts her eyes to look at me then. Her whole face tight with doubts and insecurities. Both feelings are suffocating her because of me and my actions. And god, I want nothing more than to erase and replace them with something else. Something better.
“Fine,” she concedes, albeit a little reluctantly.
But I smile nonetheless as I finally start the car, before reaching to grab her hand in mine.
“Thank you,” I say, bringing her hand to my mouth giving it a quick peck.
I don’t let it go as I start driving, keeping her hand in mine over the center console. She doesn’t try to pull her hand away, and I take it as a small victory.
I’ve never been one to crave physical touch like I do now. I can’t seem to keep my hands away from her, like if my brain needs tofeelher constantly toknow it’s real. That I’m not back in college, dreaming or fantasizing about her.
“Random feeling of the day,” she says, her voice a little unsure. “I’m still really excited about our date, even though I’m still a little mad.”
I chuckle, giving her hand a little squeeze. “I was an anxious mess all afternoon.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to show you a hobby that is important to me and that I’ve kept to myself for a long time.”
She scrunches her nose in confusion, turning her face away from the road to look at me.
“I’ll try to keep an open mind, but if it’s taxidermy or hunting, I’m out of here.”
