/ Four months ago /

I got to say, watching Nate getting arrested wasn't at all how I expected tonight to go and waiting in the police station wasn't either how I planned to spend the next hours. I caught his phone when it dropped as he fight that guy. There was a lot of blood... mostly from that other boy's running nose, but Nate got himself a few good hits too.

Just great.

My butt'd begun to hurt from sitting here for this long and my legs are longing to stretch, but I feel like I need to wait here for him. Maybe because I was there, maybe because I felt bad... for whatever reason I didn't find it in me to leave yet.

I'd been struggling between notifying my family or not, but in the end realized my mom would have freaked out if she got a call saying I was in the police station this late, even if it wasn't me the one arrested. So I just let it be. What she won't see, it won't hurt her... Even tho nerves had been eating me from the inside as I bounced my knee frantically and bit my thumb nail.

It'd been a while since they finally allowed me to get in but I still hadn't seen him. About an hour ago or so the other guy got picked by a very pissed man that looked like he'd just woken up to the police call. Probably his father. But no one had come to get Nate yet, which made me suspicious.

Didn't they let them have one call? He didn't used it? They didn't pick it up?

After some insistence the man beside the counter finally got tired of me trying to talk to him and listen enough to realize I got Nate's phone. Luckily it had no password to get in so we could get to his contact list and picked the one saved as 'Mom'. An exhausted, yawning woman picked it at the third tone and the police officer informed her about the situation.

That had been like twenty minutes ago. Now I'm just here, waiting like an idiot for him to finally be released.

The bell over the front door dinged and I lifted my head just in time to see an exhausted woman entering the police station. Her hair was the same brown as Nate and I could easily pick the similarities in their features, but she looked old and tired, like she hadn't slept properly in days and her wrinkles were too pronounced for someone her age. The green basic clothes were a signal she just came from work or was about to head there, probably, and it got me feeling even worse thinking we interrupted her work time.

She walked swiftly to the desk and talk to the same man I'd before, getting him to move way faster now as he call someone to take Nate. Her eyes quickly scanned the place, but since it was empty they didn't last until they found mine. I stood and hesitantly approached her, a small awkward smile.

"Hi, Mrs Herond. I'm Hailey. We've talked on the phone before."

"Oh yeah." she grinned too but it didn't reach her eyes as she scanned me head to toe and shook my hand. I squirmed in my feet, unease. "Hailey Grace. Your mother is Helen Grace?"

"Yes.."

"Mhm." I could sense the force of her judgmental hit me as it came out of her in waves and it made me so, so uncomfortable. "And what exactly were you doing with Nathan?"

"Oh, um, we were just hanging out and this guy began bothering us." I waved it dismissively, but she wasn't having it, judging by the look in her eyes. "Things got out of hand."

"Yeah, I see that."

The door that connected with the cells opened and in they came Nate and the other guard much to my relief. His hair was disheveled and there was a forming bruise on his jaw as well as the light limping, but despites that he looked fine.

When the boy saw his mother there, giving him a hard glare his eyes widened, sobering all the remaining alcohol in his system at once.

"Mom?" he gulped visibly as the man uncuffed him. "I-I can explain it."

"I really don't have time for it now. I got to be at work in ten."

"But-"

"I don't wanna heard it!" she spat, narrowing her gaze in deception and I forced myself to look away, feeling like intruding. "I'm so disappointed in you, Nathan. I was expecting better."

His shoulders sunk and I saw hurt swirling in his expression, even tho he tried to mask it. "I-"

"Sh, not now."

"We're done here, Mrs Herond." Informed the officer tipping the last things on the clipboard and sending her a quick glance. "You're free to take him anytime now. The other part won't be presenting charges since they were the once that started, but if this happen again then Nathan would have antecedents. You get what that means?"

"Crystal clear, agent. But there won't be another time, will it?"

Nate's jaw clenched. "No."

"Good. Let's go."

The woman left as swiftly as she came and both me and the quarterback followed. Outside it was still pitch night, but it was a matter of time the breakdown began. I got out the last, seeing them talking in swift whispers in what looked like the continuations of the little quarrel inside. Nate looked miserable and I felt the guilt in the pit of my stomach, but there was little I could do.

"-yet, please." he was saying with desperate eyes, but the woman keep shaking her head.

"It's done. He's already known."

"Mom..." he pleaded, but was quickly interrupted.

"What did you expect, uh? A phone call in the middle of the night? Arrested for an aggression? Drunk like this? Come on Nathan! You know what? We'll talk about it later. I'm really late by now." she gave me a quick glance, both of them remembering I was there and I squirmed in my place. "Such a pleasure. See you soon."

And just like that Joanne Herond get on the old grey Ford by the entrance and left. Such a lovely woman she was. Nate stood there, stiff, fists clenched and looking the back of her car as it faded in the road. I cleared my throat; but it was as if he couldn't hear me, focused on something else and glaring forward while shaking slightly.

"Nate." I tried gently stepping closer and this time he seemed to snap out the trance, turning his burning glare to me. I gulped, handing out his phone and jacket carefully, almost as a peace-present. "I-I kept this for you."

He kept killing me with his stare some more seconds, before lowering it to his belongings and his jaw ticked.

"I can't believe you called her." he spat, yanking them from my hold aggressively and making me stepped backwards. "I can't fucking believe it." he slid on the jacket with harsh movements and began walking where Letty was, at the end of the parking lot. "Fuck!"

The pang in my chest intensified. Why was he so mad?

"Nate." I called after him, jogging to catch up with his long furious strides. "Come on, you can't drive like this, you're drunk." he still wasn't listening and took his keys instead. I snatched them from him and stepped in front of him to stop him from doing something stupid. "Nate-"

"What?!" he spat lowly, making me flinch, the magnitude of his ire felt like a knife when he yelled: "Hell, WHAT?"

I stammered on step backwards, unprepared for his fury. My stomach a tight, painful knot. "I... I just-"

"You what, Gracie?" he spat, using the nick he knew I hate. "The fuck you want now?"

My lower lips quivered at his harshness and I felt my eyes watering uselessly. "I'm sorry." I stuttered, still clueless at his sudden change. "I know you're mad at me for calling your parents, but they were taking you, and I... I didn't know what else to do."

"What about you go home and stop fucking everyone else's life?"

I gasped, my eyes darting between his glaring ones, struggling to find a hint that told me how to fix this... a hint of regret at least. But there were none. They were so full of cold hatred my chest tightened suppressing a sob.

"I couldn't do that," I brushed it off pushing my hurt to the back of my throat. "We are-"

"-friends?" he finished for me and leaned back folding his arm with a mocking grimace. "You really are pathetic if you thought we were."

Another pang in my heart, this time worst. I thing of the viewpoint. Our moment under the stars. I'd really felt connected to him in a way I never expected to.

"W-we're not?" Yeah, definitely asking that didn't make me look less pathetic as he said.

"Certainly not." he snorted and the sound felt like a freezing cup of water splashed right over my head.

"But- But you defend me..."

"What?" he laughed dryly adding more pain in my already aching chest. "That idiot called me a 'low life'. Why would I risk getting beaten over you?"

My eyes widened at that, embarrassed. Of course, he wouldn't do that for me. Gosh, I'm so stupid! But he didn't need to rub it in my face like that. "Oh." Hurt and humiliations flowing free, but he wasn't done.

"I mean come on, look at you. You're boring as hell, too good to even dare to think of something rather fun. You're plain, and childish. And in case you didn't notice, we've met for like a decade and you have to get me drunk in order to endure you following me around like a brainless puppy." Nate laughed cruelly and the first traitorous tear fell. I just couldn't prevent it. But it was as if he couldn't stop insulting, like if throwing each awful accusation hot after the other could release the anxiety he felt. "So fucking pathetic and lame, dull... Always the second plate. From your mother, brothers... even Justin."

"Stop-"

"And you think we are friends? Ha!" his features darkened in even more anger. Where does he get it from? I was like he got a endless supply of meanness. "Don't you get it, Gracie? I wouldn't be your friend even if you let me fuck you for it." I gasped and stepped back, horrified at his bluntness and cruelty. "So do us both a favor and next time you get lost and found a party, fucking turn around. It would save us a lot of headaches."

I was shaking my head, my vision blurry and wonder when I'd even considered he was nice. All I wanted was to help him... out the party, on the viewpoint, at the police station... Apparently, I overtook the confidence between us. I get that he was mad to have to deal with his parents, but did it really allow him to push me down like he'd just done?

No, certainly not.

Nothing I'd done on the previous hours justified this verbal abuse I just suffered.

Once more, I pathetically sniffled and wiped my teary cheeks. I raised my gaze to see him groaning and brushing his forehead, holding his weight against the truck's side. Guess the headache was more literal than what he meant. But this time, saw his grimace didn't bring mercy on me.

"Now, can you just drive us home so we can call it a night?"

My fist clenched. The nerve of him! He expected me to happily drive him after the bullshit he'd pulled on me? No way, man. So I threw the keys at him, earning a shocked whine when they hit his elbow before clinging melodically at his feet.

"Drive yourself home, you moron." I yelled back at his rage baffled expression. I began walking away but then stopped in my tracks and spun to face him once more. "I'm sorry if calling your parents got you so mad, but it was the right thing to do, okay?" Nate didn't say anything, glaring at me from his spot as I wiped more tears from under my eyes. "And don't worry, I won't bother you anymore, but the same goes for you. Don't you ever come close, nor look at me, nor nothing. And don't you ever speak to me again!"

He snorted, "As if", and leaned to get the keys from where they lay. His apathetic tone only hurting me further.

I hated him.