Wondering Minds

Chapter 12

*Honk* *Honk*

The sound of Braden's truck horn blared through the neighborhood. "Okay... Okay, I'm coming!" I yelled.

I ran out the door with my birthday outfit, which was just a flower dress.

Braden jumped out of the truck to help me get in. "Happy Birthday, beautiful."

I gave him a peck on the cheek, "Thank you."

He ran to the other side and jumped in. "Am I the first one to tell you happy birthday?"

"Nope, my Mom beat you this time."

"Damn... Does your Mom know that you're going to a party?" Braden says concerned.

"Yes, as long as you were going." I could tell he had a confidence boost. He turned up some music and started dancing.

I laughed as I playfully hit his arm, "You're going to make us crash."

We sang and danced all the way to the party. When we got to the party it was in a secluded area with trees all around.

The area had a pond and an inside pool area. There were already people in the pool making out. "This party looks awesome," Braden says excitedly.

We walked down the trail to the entrance. "Hi! Braden!"

A girl with a crop top and shorts ran down and jumped in his arms. They hugged while they ignored me standing there.

Deep down inside I felt a little jealous, but at the same time, he was just my friend. They stopped hugging to finally acknowledge me.

"Maci this is Luna and Luna this is my friend Maci." I could tell she was jealous of me for just standing near him.

"Hi..." Maci says.

I didn't say anything as I felt awkwardness and tension between us.

"Braden, do you have a minute to catch up?"

"Sure, hold on a sec," He looked around to spot Nathan sitting alone. "Nathan!" He signals for him to come over here.

Nathan takes his sweet time but he finally makes it over here.

"Can you please stay with Luna? I don't want to leave her alone."

"Of course." He smiles.

I watched as Braden walked away with this girl.

"I think that girl just ran off with your boyfriend," Nathan says holding in laughter.

"Haha... Very funny."

We found an empty seat at a picnic table and sat down. "Are you thirsty or anything?"

"No, not at this moment," I said looking into his handsome green eyes.

"What are you doing at this party anyway? Are you supposed to be at work or doing doctor things? I said.

"Yes and no... I get a lot of days off because I'm still learning and I have to study for my test." Nathan takes a sip of his water.

"Test?"

"Yep, the most lovely thing about being a doctor, is that you have to take exams."

I chuckled, "Damn."

A group of loud boys started to come our way. "Hey," says one of the boys who stepped out of the group.

He proceeded to sit next to me while the boys behind me laughed and giggled. "I think you're really attractive."

I looked at the guy not knowing what to say. He had on a Nike shirt and sweatpants. "Um... Thanks..."

"I can tell you are playing hard to get." He says licking his lip. He looked over at Nathan who was giving them a death stare. "Is this your boyfriend? I think you could do better... with me."

Nathan stood up, "Okay, that's enough dude."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Nathan walked over to the boy and grabbed him by his shirt. "Or I'm going have to punch you and I don't want to do that."

Nathan aggressively lets go of his shirt. They start to walk away, "I better not see you anymore." The boy shouts as he walks away with his friends.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else," Nathan says. We walked into a hut that had about three bedrooms. Nathan opened a door to one of the rooms. We both walked in, "Wow... This is very nice," I said looking around.

Nathan closed the door and then took a look around too. I picked up a vase to take a look at it. "Isn't this a pretty vase? I turned around to see Nathan checking me out. He quickly looked away, "Doesn't this bed look nice?" He plopped down on the bed.

I put the vase down and then sat down on the bed while he lay there. "Did you know those boys, that walked up to you?" Nathan asks.

"No, but his flirting was weak." We both laughed loudly.

"Why didn't you give him a chance?"

"What do you mean? Maybe if he approached me differently and had a better pickup line." I said.

Nathan smiles, "I think you should've given him a small chance." I rolled my eyes, "So, if a girl walked up to you and hit you with the worst pickup line ever. You'll give her a chance?"

"Yes..."

"Stop lying, Nathan... You're just like all the other boys." I crossed my arms.

"No, I'm not! I want you to hit on me." Nathan says raising to look into my eyes.

"What?" I said nervously.

He lowers his voice, "I want you to hit on me... I want to show you that I'm not like the other guys." His gaze gave me tingles.

"Okay," I cleared my throat and I acted like this was my first time meeting him. "Hey, I saw you from across the room and I thought you were really cute."

Nathan moves in closer, "Thank you, I appreciate that... You're pretty cute yourself."

I looked down blushing, "Maybe, we could hang out and get to know each other."

"Sounds good to me, beautiful." Nathan took out his phone and waited for me to take mine out."

I was kind of confused but I took out my phone anyways. Nathan put his number in my phone and handed it back to me. "There you go and happy birthday by the way."

"Thank you, but you actually put your number in my phone."

Nathan nodded, " I had to... A beautiful girl was hitting on me."

I couldn't control my smile and blush. Nathan leans in once again but then backs away. I could tell Nathan was getting nervous.

All of a sudden the door swung open as Ryan popped his head in. " Oh! I'm sorry." Ryan quickly closed the door.

Me and Nathan both looked at each other and then busted out laughing. "It's time to get out of here," Nathan says.

"I agree."

We left the room and walked back outside. My cheeks were still red from the flirting.

"Hey, guys!" Braden comes running from the pool area. "I was looking for y'all." He stopped in front of us huffing and puffing.

"Why didn't you just call one of us," Nathan says.

Braden pauses, "Oh... you're right. They're about to play a game, do y'all want to join?"

Me and Nathan both agreed. Braden takes us to this campfire setting as there were already people waiting.

We all sat down and waited till the game started. I turned to look at Braden, "Who was that girl earlier?"

"Oh, that was an old friend, I haven't seen her since first grade. I promise nothing is going on between us."

I smiled but didn't say anything. I glanced over at Nathan who was smiling at me. My face got warm as I looked away.

The host finally starts the game, "Okay, we're playing a game of Truth or Dare." He says excitedly.

In the corner of my eye, I see Ryan come over to join the game. I could tell Braden is not going to like that he's here.

In the small circle, there were four boys and five girls.

"Who would like to go first?"

Braden blurted out, "I think Luna should go because it's her birthday!"

The host considers that. "Okay, Luna will go first." The host sits down to join the game.

"Truth or Dare."

"Truth," I said nervously.

"Does anybody want to give her the truth?" The host says.

A guy that I've seen around school before says, "Is it true that you and Emma are not friends anymore?"

"Yo man! Chill with that question!" Braden yells angrily.

I rubbed Braden on the arm to tell him that it was okay. "That's true, we're not friends anymore."

"Braden you're next... Truth or Dare."

"Uh... Truth..."

People started mumbling under their breath. "Y'all lame for picking the truth." Somebody yells.

The girl next to him asks a question. "Is it true, that you are in love with Luna?"

He glances at me, "Yes..." He looked away timidly.

I smiled as I tried not to show any other emotions.

Somebody in the circle started clapping then everyone else started clapping. "So sweet."

After the clapping subsided the host continued. "What's your name?" He pointed to Ryan.

"Ryan."

"Truth or Dare, Ryan..."

Ryan smirked, "Dare." Everyone started thinking of a dare. Ryan's friend who was sitting next to him speaks up, "I dare you to kiss... Luna."

Everybody gasped. "If you don't do the dare, you're going to have to strip naked and jump in the freezing pool." The host says.

I looked over at Braden who was ready to lunge. Ryan stood up and walked over to me as everyone sat on the edge of their seats. I stood up as Ryan stood in front of me, "You don't have to do this Luna." Braden says standing up.

"It's just a dare...It's not like I'm stealing your girl." Ryan defensively.

"It's not just a dare! You're literally her ex-best friend baby daddy!"

I started to back up scared they'd start fighting. "How about you mind your damn business?" Ryan says while getting all in Braden's face.

Nathan stood in between them, "Let's all calm down and go our separate ways." I walked up to Braden and took his hand. "Come on... It's not worth it."

"Listen to your girl...Oh, I forgot... you got friend-zoned."

"That's it..." He let go of my hand and then tackled Ryan to the ground. Ryan started punching Braden in the face.

"Stay back!" Nathan yells at me. I took a few steps back as I watched Braden choke Ryan out. Nathan jumped in pulling Braden off Ryan. The host of the game rushed to attend to Ryan who was bleeding.

Nathan sat Braden down to look at his bruised face. I walked over to Nathan, "I'm going home..."

"Wait... Don't leave, it's your birthday." Braden says bruised up. I Ignored him and walked over to Ryan who was still on the ground. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he'll be okay." The guy helped him up while blood was all over Ryan's shirt.

Without a way home, I sat behind a hut in the grass. I buried my face into my knees. I start to sob as I let all my emotions from earlier flow.

I heard footsteps come near me and sat down beside me. I raised my head to see Nathan.

"Are you okay?" Nathan wiped away my tears with his thumb.

I wanted to lie but I didn't, "No..."

He grabbed me and held me close as I sobbed more. "If it makes you feel better, I told Braden to go home and I'll take you home instead."

I looked up at him, "Thanks...I appreciate it." Nathan smiled as he looked into my eyes. I didn't say anything as I stared back.

The s****l tension from earlier was back, but even stronger this time. I leaned in till we touched noses.

"You're really pretty," Nathan whispered. He ran his fingers through my hair making me shiver. My heart beat fast as Nathan leaned in more making our lips touch.

His lips were soft and warm making me love every second of it. I put a little pressure into our kiss causing him to melt.

The kiss ended as soon as it started. We sat there in silence for a little moment.

He cleared his throat, "Um... Let's go home.."

I nodded as he helped me up and into his car.