I Hate To Love You \\ Nate Novarro \\ 04

"I wanna go to a club." Danielle announced suddenly.
It was Saturday night and everyone was hanging out in our apartment. Everyone being me, Nate, Danielle, Gabe, Alex, Laura, and even Garret- our lanky fair-skinned "emo" friend.
"Let's do it!" Gabe agreed automatically, jumping up from his seat on the couch.
I rolled my eyes and looked over at Nate. He was standing behind the couch holding a beer in his hand. He met my gaze and shrugged.
"I suppose we could..." I said. Gabe's face brightened- I rarely said yes to clubs or bars.
"How about you two?" Danielle asked Laura and Garret.
Garret shrugged. "I guess."
Laura grunted. "I can't. I've got work tomorrow."
Everyone rolled their eyes or scoffed in some way. Laura was nothing but whiny lately, and it was highly getting on everyone's nerves.
"Okay, where do we want to go then?" I asked.
"I'll call Liz! She always knows great bars to go to!" Gabe announced, immediately grabbing his Sidekick from his pocket and dialing her number.
We all waited a little bit until she answered. "Izzy! Baby! What's going on in the clubs tonight?!" Pause. "Awesome! You want to come over to Danielle and Elyssia's apartment and paaaaar-tay with us?" Pause. "Yeah! Okay, very cool! Be here within the hour?" Pause. "See you soon! Bye!"
He hung up and told us all to get ready, for tonight we'd party.
I laughed at him briefly before making my way to my bedroom and changing into a pair of jeans and a very club-appropriate shirt.
I came out of my room and waited with Nate who also wasn't bothering to look too amazing. Garret was in the bathroom making sure he looked okay since he couldn't do anything about it, either way- he lived too far away- and Alex and Gabe had went back to their apartment to get changed. Danielle was in her bedroom getting ready and Laura had stormed home.
Nate and I discussed whatever for about ten minutes until Danielle came out looking like she should be in a Panic! At The Disco video. She wore a bright blue fitting dress shirt that perfectly hit her black dress skinnies and black suspenders. She wore her favorite dramatic purple and black eyeshadows in a manner that slanted her eyes more than they were naturally.
Nate raised his eyebrow at her and I couldn't help but feel slightly angry about the look he gave her momentarily. Then it hit me.
"Who are you meeting?" I asked skeptically.
Danielle didn't usually dress like that, and it had been her idea to go to a club. She was often air-headed, but she had to have been planning something.
"No one." She snapped, stuffing her phone into her pocket.
"Then let me see your phone." I said, holding my hand out.
"No." She answered bluntly.
I frowned. "C'mon Danielle. What are you hiding?"
"Nothing. I'm single, I'm allowed to dress up." She glared at me.
I would have replied if Gabe and Alex hadn't both came bursting into the apartment loudly.
"Who's ready to party?!" Gabe asked excitedly.
"Me!" Danielle shouted out smiling.
Garret shrugged as he walked into the room. "Maybe I'm always ready Gabe. Did you ever think of that?"
"Of course! Only that's me, not you." Gabe flashed him a giant smile.
I rolled my eyes, when Nate suddenly hopped up.
"What about me?!"
"What about you?" Alex asked sarcastically.
We laughed, but Nate pressed on.
"What about me always being ready to party?"
Alex and Gabe glanced at each other "thoughtfully" before turning to Nate and rejecting the idea. I broke out into serious laughter, because back in high school Nate was a slight "party animal" how did you think he met Mariquita.
Garret looked at me in confusion. "What's so funny?"
"The idea of Nate being a party animal!" I lied jokingly.
He shook his head at me and looked on in disbelief. "Bite me." He snapped rolling his eyes at me.
Everyone laughed. When we heard a female voice from behind Alex and Gabe.
"LET'S GET OUR PARTY ON GUYS!"
Alex and Gabe parted to reveal our good friend "Izzy" standing in the doorway.
Smiles broke onto mostly everyone's faces.
"Listen up guys!" She continued, stepping further into the apartment so she could see everyone. "My friend just opened this awesome club downtown, very nice. We're heading down there. Everyone ready?!"
Everyone nodded, we assembled, and left the apartment. We managed to flag down two cabs. Gabe, Alex, and Garret got into one, then Izzy, Danielle, Nate, and I managed to squeeze into the other.
"So, who are you exactly?" Izzy asked, leaning over me, to get a good look at Nate.
He backed up slightly, clearly not expecting that. I rolled my eyes and let him introduce himself for once. I pulled out my cell phone to set it to vibrate.
I knew how Izzy was, and I knew that to her "very nice" meant "very nice for banging Gabe in the bathroom and having no one notice or care". Together that also meant music so loud you could barely hear yourself think, let alone your cell phone ring.
I'd never been one for clubs, but then again, up until tonight, neither had Danielle, and it was all her idea- reason number one to expect something wrong with her. I always tried to dress down so drunks wouldn't come up to me and try to hump dance with me.
Tonight I at least had Nate. I could recall a few times back in high school when he would try to take me along with him to a party, the kind all the "cool kids" go to. You know, the ones where everyone's stoned and there's a keg set up in kitchen. I would be visibly uncomfortable and Nate would guard me like a pitbull, it was intense- I hoped that motivation was still in him.
The drive passed quickly, with Izzy drilling Nate with questions, not leaving any time for an awkward silence, or allowing us to hear Danielle's cell phone vibrate every five seconds. Whenever I looked over at her her phone was out and she was replying or reading a text message.
When we arrived at the club we could easily spot Gabe and Alex standing outside in their neon colored clothes.
We all got out of the cab, I paid of the driver, and we gathered outside.
The group stood a few yards from the entrance and we could already hear the music blaring inside.
"Who's ready to daaaance?!" Gabe asked, making it obvious he was, seeing as he was already dancing.
"Let's go!" Izzy shouted out, grabbing Gabe and Alex's hands and rushing into the club, barely letting the bouncer stop them.
Garret, Nate, and I exchanged glances, but Danielle was too engufed in her text conversation.
"Well, let's go." Garret said. He began to walk toward the entrance, Danielle followed, then Nate and I were last.
When we got inside Garret grabbed a hold of me, while I grabbed onto Nate's hand, so we wouldn't be separated by the wave of people. On the other hand, Danielle dove in, her cell phone glued to her ear.
I didn't see her again until the next day.
Nate, Garret, and I found our way to the section of the club where all the booths and tables were set up.
The three of us took a seat down at one of the booths and ordered drinks. We caught glimpses of Gabe, Alex, and Izzy dancing in the center of the dance floor. The only reason we could even tell it was them was by how intensely bright their clothes were.
We sat in "silence", which merely meant we didnt bother attempting to talk over the roar of the music, for about a half hour until a drunk man stumbled over to our table.
"How about a dance, Beautiful?" He slurred.
"I'd rather not." I replied polietly.
"Oh c'mon, it'll be fun." He persisted, leaning over the table to grab my hand.
I moved it slightly out of his reach.
He continued to dog me for a few minutes until Nate took hold of my hand.
"I think we'd prefer you leave." He practically growled.
The man surveyed Nate. "I don't believe you two are together." He was beginning to seem more like a sober freak than a drunk.
Nate's eyes narrowed. Then, without notice, he took hold of my shoulders, turned me to him, and pressed his lips onto mine forcefully.
All of my thoughts froze. Even after we parted it took the gears in my mind another minute to warm up.
The man stumbled away defeated.
I stared at Nate for a minute, and when he looked at me his eyes were wide. I looked away quickly, trying to hide the fact that he'd probably unleashed a six-year-old monster.
"Wow, Laura won't be happy if she finds out about that." Garret snickered over the sound of the music.
I looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Nate kissing you." He answered shrugging.
My eyebrows knitted together in confusion as Nate and I exchanged glances.
"Why?" Nate asked, leaning on the table to look at Garret.
"Oh...neither of you knew?" He asked. We shook our heads simultaneously. "Dude, she's got a total thing for Nate."
My mouth dropped open. "Seriously?"
Garret nodded. "She's barely a step away from being obsessed. She's completely infatuated with him."
I looked over at Nate who's nose was srcunched in slight disgust.
"I'm surprised you didn't know." Garret muttered, sensing the mutual dislike for the subject.
We dropped it after that and returned to watching the awkward dancing being exchanged between Gabe and Izzy- Alex had disappeared.
"I'm going to go get another drink." Garret announced, standing from the table.
Nate and I sat in silence for a few minutes until I finally turned and asked the question that had been on my mind all night.
"What happened to the totally crazy high school Nate that would be up dancing right now?"
He shrugged. "It's not as fun when you've experienced married life."
My heart sunk realizing that he was still married, even if he is separated.
In order to get my mind off of it, I looked over to the bar. My eye automatically caught the sight of Garret talking to another guy.
I couldn't see the face of whoever he was talking to, but I could see Garret's and he had that obvious flirty look in his eyes.
I smiled to myself.
"Hey Nate, I think I wanna go home." I announced.
Knowing how Garret operated, I was completely aware that nothing would happen if Nate and I stayed there.
"I'm coming." He said immediately.
I shot a smile at Garret who had looked over at the table. He smiled back as Nate took my hand and led the way out of the club.
I want everything for you.
I need to learn how to end chapters x]