Ain't No Sunshine

Chapter Ten

Cory

Ishouldhaveknown that keeping up appearances wouldn’t be easy. I had planned to spend the month focused on studying. To catch up on the work and reading I’d been neglecting since Nate and I got together. But, no. Of course, Summer and Dylan would become best friends that spend every waking second together at the same time Nate and I need to spend time apart.

“Cory!” one of the guys yells from across the bar as soon as Summer and I step inside. Because, yep, she somehow convinced me to go to a bar with them. I take a deep breath and put on a smile. I can do this. Just act normal.

When we approach the table, the guys clear a spot for Summer but nothing for me. I internally cringe as I realize why. I always perch on Nate’s lap. Trying not to make a big deal out of it, I sit down and give him a quick smile and hello. His hands wrap around my waist, pulling me closer, and I flinch.

Nate sighs and releases his hold ever so slightly. Enough that he’s barely touching me, but it still looks like he is. God, this is going to be a long month.

“Nate was just saying that you missed our killer game on the weekend,” his teammate, Luke says, waggling his finger at me with a tsk tsk.

My eyes flash to Nate’s as I wonder what exactly he said. He gives me the faintest head shake, as if to say nothing else was said, so I turn back to Luke with a grin. “Did he also mention that I had a family engagement party?” A lie. “And that I secretly watched the game on my phone.” Not a lie. Well, the phone part is. I watched it on my laptop.

Nate curses quietly behind me, and I regret my words. I didn’t say them to make him feel bad. I move my hand to squeeze his leg but think better of it. If I expect him to keep his hands to himself, I have to do the same.

The conversation moves on to other topics as our group all come and go between the bar and the dance floor. Dylan and Summer talk like they’ve been best friends for years, and I smile at their happiness.

I’m just convincing myself that the next month won’t be so bad when Luke opens his big mouth again. “Not dancing tonight, Cory? You and Nate are always on the dance floor.” Shit!

I should have prepared myself for this. “You’re right, Luke, but—”

“I told her I wasn’t feeling it tonight. I felt a twitch during training today and don’t want to make it worse,” Nate offers, saving me from coming up with an explanation.

“Fuck! I hope that’s a joke, Edwards. We need you out there.”

“I had it checked. Nothing to worry about. Just have to take it easy today. We’ll be back out there before you know it,” he says, waving his hand toward the dancers.

“I guess that explains why you’re a bit off tonight, too, Nate,” Dylan adds, and I flinch. “Make sure you keep on top of it.”

Maybe keeping up appearances is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

The next few weeks are hard. Really hard. All I’ve wanted to do, for every second of every day, is to be with Nate. Just hold his hand, or hug him… with meaning. When we’re around friends, I continue to keep up the facade. But to be honest, the time around friends is becoming few and far between. I can’t stand the lies, or seeing the tortured look on Nate’s face. A look I know is reflected on mine. The whole thing just about kills me.

Technically, I’m the one who got us into this situation, so I could easily get us out of it, but I just want everything to be sorted before we’re truly us again. I need it for my own peace of mind. Am I asking too much?

Tonight, we’re supposed to be having dinner with Dylan and Summer. I tried to get out of it, but Summer put her foot down. Saying they’d barely seen us. They organized it for seven pm. Nate arrived on time, but Dylan and Summer are MIA. If I didn’t think we were doing such a good job at hiding our issues, I’d think they had planned this. But they’re probably out somewhere, enjoying each other’s company, pretending they don’t want more than just friendship and have forgotten the time. Do I sound bitter? Oops.

Being alone with Nate feels different from how it used to be. There’s a tense energy surrounding us that’s impossible to miss, and our once comfortable silences now feel anything but.

Nate runs his hand down his face before starting to speak, but I shake my head. “Please don’t apologize. Let’s just enjoy our time together and try to forget the crap that’s going on,” I say, because focusing on our situation, on Liv, is the last thing I want to do.

Nate raises an eyebrow and smirks.

“I don’t mean completely forget,” I laugh. “I just mean, let’s not talk about it.”

Nate rolls his eyes jokingly and smiles. His playful expression helps ease the tension a little as we stand on opposite sides of the counter and talk. With Nate’s football and the fall semester starting, we’ve both been busy, so avoiding alone time has been easy. It’s only now as we casually chat about everyday mundane stuff I realize how much I miss the friend that he’d become, as well as the boyfriend.

We’ve just branched off into deeper conversation when Summer calls. My brows furrow in confusion as I put the call on speaker. I haven’t even said hello when she speaks.

“Cory, hi. I’m so sorry. I know you were expecting us, but we were halfway home when I realized my phone was missing. Turns out, I left it at the bar. Lucky, Joel remembered me putting it down. Anyway, we went past that theater I love, and… Oh! Did you know Dylan’s never seen The Wizard of Oz? Crazy, right? It’s playing here in twenty minutes, so Joel and I told Dylan he had to watch it. If that’s okay? I’m sure you’re enjoying your alone time with Nate, but I wanted to ask…”

I huff out a frustrated laugh at her rant, because how could I have possibly known that. And I can’t even be annoyed because she doesn’t know what’s going on.

Before I can respond that it’s fine, she giggles uncontrollably. Is she drunk? Well, she did mention a bar.

“Have you been drinking?” I ask, standing up and walking towards the kitchen to pour a glass of water. I pause and look at the liquid in my hand, realizing my natural instincts to take care of Summer are in full force, even though she’s not here.