Perfect On The Surface
1153 Words
Chapter 6: Perfect on the Surface
Nate was waiting outside Lily’s dorm when she returned, leaning against the brick wall like he belonged there, fingers drumming against his jeans. He smiled when he saw her, but something about it didn’t reach his eyes.
“There you are,” he said, pushing off the wall. “I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
“I wasn’t,” Lily replied, adjusting the strap of her bag. “I just needed some quiet.”
Nate’s eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second—so quick she almost missed it. Then he laughed softly and reached for her hand.
“Right. Quiet. That’s your thing.”
She didn’t respond. Something about the way he said it rubbed her the wrong way, but she didn’t want to start a fight. Nate had been patient, loyal. He didn’t deserve her frustration.
“I thought maybe we could go for a walk,” he said. "Just you and me. Get some fresh air, talk.”
Lily hesitated, but then nodded. Maybe that’s what she needed—a reset. A reminder of normalcy. Of who she was supposed to want.
They walked through campus slowly. The sky had started to turn a dusky lavender, trees casting long shadows across the pavement. Nate talked about his classes, about some guy on his floor who kept stealing his protein powder. Lily laughed when she was supposed to, but her mind kept drifting.
To the way Blake had looked at her earlier.
To the way her stomach twisted—not with fear, but with something that felt dangerously close to longing.
“Lily,” Nate said suddenly, stopping. “Where are you right now?”
She blinked. “What?”
“You’re not really here with me. "You’ve been checked out all week.” His voice was calm, but there was something beneath it—an edge.
“I’m just stressed. Classes. You know.”
“You weren’t like this before.” He stepped closer, his fingers brushing her jaw. “Is it something I did?”
“No,” she said quickly. “It’s not you. I promise.”
He studied her, his gaze intense. “Then what is it?”
She opened her mouth. Closed it again. She couldn’t tell him the truth—not when she didn’t understand it herself. Not when she was still trying to convince herself that Blake Carter wasn’t in her head, crawling beneath her skin.
“I’m just tired,” she said finally. “That’s all.”
Nate sighed, then leaned down and kissed her. His lips were soft, familiar. Safe.
And yet... nothing sparked.
She kissed him back, hoping to feel something, anything—but all she could think about was a different pair of eyes. A crueler mouth. A darker pull.
Later that night, Lily stood in front of her mirror, brushing her fingers through her hair, eyes haunted by everything she didn’t understand. Her journal lay open on the desk, a line she couldn’t bring herself to finish written in black ink:
He’s ruining me.
She shut the journal.
She needed distance. From Blake. From the storm building inside her.
She needed control.
But control was the one thing Blake seemed determined to take from her.
The next morning, she entered her literature lecture to find her usual seat already occupied. By him.
He didn’t say anything as she approached. Just looked at her with that same mocking calm, like he’d planned it.
“I was sitting there,” she said, arms crossed.
Blake leaned back in the chair, spreading out, all long limbs and lazy arrogance. “Looks like I got here first. Early bird and all.”
“There are fifty other seats.”
“And yet, I liked this one.”
Lily ground her teeth. She could’ve left, but that would be giving him the satisfaction. So instead, she sat in the empty seat beside him, refusing to let him win.
The lecture began, but Lily barely heard a word. She could feel the heat of Blake’s presence beside her, the casual way his knee brushed hers under the desk. Whether it was accidental or on purpose, she didn’t know.
What she did know was that her heart was thudding in her chest like it was trying to break free.
Halfway through the lecture, Blake leaned in. His breath grazed her ear as he whispered, “I like when you try to stand up to me.”
Her stomach flipped. She turned her head, but he was already looking at the professor again, like he hadn’t just said something that would replay in her mind for days.
After class, she escaped to the quad, trying to outrun the confusion crawling through her veins.
She was halfway across the lawn when her phone buzzed.
Nate: We need to talk. Come by my room later.
Her stomach sank. That wasn’t like him. He didn’t usually send messages that clipped, that cold.
She typed a quick reply.
Lily: Okay. Everything alright?
No answer.
By the time she got to Nate’s dorm that night, the air felt heavy. He opened the door without smiling, stepping aside to let her in.
His room was a mess—books scattered, his gym bag overturned, the scent of cologne and something sour lingering in the air.
Lily sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s going on?”
Nate shut the door and leaned against it, arms crossed. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
She frowned. “No?”
He stepped closer. “You sure?”
“Nate, what are you talking about?”
“I saw you today,” he said. “In class. Sitting next to him.”
Her blood ran cold. “So?”
“You looked... close. Like he was saying something to you.”
She stood. “You were watching me?”
“Answer the question.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Lily said, backing up. “Blake just—he sits near me sometimes. I didn’t ask for that.”
Nate laughed—a bitter, humorless sound. “You think I haven’t seen the way he looks at you? The way you let him?”
“I don’t let him do anything. He’s—he’s just an asshole, okay?”
“Yeah?” Nate stepped closer. “Because it seems like you like it.”
Lily’s breath caught.
Nate’s eyes were dark now, darker than she’d ever seen them. His jaw clenched. His whole body was coiled, tense. Something simmered under the surface. Something she hadn’t seen before.
“You’re mine, Lily,” he said, voice low. “Don’t forget that.”
She stared at him, heart pounding—not with longing, but with fear.
Something was wrong.
Something had always been wrong.
She just hadn’t wanted to see it.
- Writer
