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Chapter Twelve// Don't Cry

My eyes swell up with tears, my emotions pouring out of me as Nathan wraps his arm around my shoulders, sympathising to my pain. I let my phone drop from my hands, the image of Josh kissing Courtney still frozen on the screen.

"He's a jackass," spits Nathan, rubbing my arm trying to console my breaking heart. I rest my head on his chest and he hugs me tight. "He never deserved you."

All the comforting words Nathan whispers in my ear sends a fragment of my shattered heart back into place. His lips are so close, his breathe warming my skin. "Thank you," I manage to gulp, wiping another tear off of my cheek. By now it is undoubtable my eyes are red and puffy with my mascara dripping down the sides of my face.

"Don't cry," Nathan kisses my cheek, letting his lips soak up the tears streaming down my face. His eyes meet mine and I force a smile. He is being so supportive and I really want him to know my appreciation.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here with me," his hand holds mine and he kisses my knuckles one by one.

"I am always here."

"Thank you," I repeat, restraining the tear that is about to seep out from the corner of my eye. Nathan catches it with his finger and kisses it. He kisses my nose then stands up, extending his hand for me to take. "Where are we going?" I ask, sniffling back a sob.

"Down stairs. Let's watch a movie."

Nathan leads us down the stairs and lets me pick the film we are going to watch. I usually don't get to watch a chick flick as Josh never approved of them. But he's gone now. Gone from my mind; gone from my thoughts; gone from my heart.

"You ok with watching Mean girls?" I show Nathan the case with a skeptical glance. Josh had forbidden me from watching this movie, he said it revolted him.

"Sure! I've watched it before with Bailey," he tells me. "It's great." So I set the film up and snuggle up beside him. We lay on the couch with my head on his chest, his arm around my waist. I finally let out a sigh, able to breathe for the first time in the last fifteen minutes.

"Do you know what," I begin. "I sort of suspected it."

Nathan glances down at me. "What? Josh and Courtney?"

"Yeah. They've been pretty close lately and I now know that Josh has been a mistake this whole time."

"Forget them. Forget her. She is plastic anyway." Nathan refers back to the film.

"What, you comparing her to Regina George?" A crack of laughter escapes my lips. For the first time since I saw the Instagram post actually.

"Yweah well, girls like her only get attention for the wrong reasons."

"I just regret one thing..." I drop my head bck onto his chest with the drone of my sigh.

"And that is?"

"Falling in love with him."

"Josh? You don't love him. You never did."

I reposition myself so I can stare up into his eyes. The solemnness that frowns in his eye brows makes me stutter. "What... What are you on about? Of course I... I loved him. We dated for ages."

"So? He may have been your boyfriend and you may have told him you love him but you never meant it."

"And how can you be so sure?" The mood drops with a single heart beat. We connect our eyes and his lips smile, the occasion far from cheerful as he basically explains why my relationship has been a meaningless disaster.