Authors: Anna Belle
"Where do you want me to put it?" The delivery man asked Nathan. He held a large bouquet of flowers that Nathan ordered earlier for Marie, but in light of recent events, he had no interest for them.
The delivery man stared at Nathan as he walked around his penthouse in his pajamas and an empty cup of, what used to be, coffee. The man that he looked at, at that moment, didn't look like the type that would enjoy flowers.
"Come with me." Nathan said as he stared walking towards his office. "Put them there." He pointed towards a stand next to his table.
He gave the delivery man a tip and showed him the way out. He went back into the kitchen to pour some more coffee in his cup.
"I didn't know that you liked flowers." Maria commented as she was getting ready to head home.
"I don't." He answered as he stared at her with his lifeless eyes.
"I still don't understand how you could have fallen asleep on the terrace." She changed the topic quickly.
Nathan told her that he slept on the terrace because he wanted to be outside and relax a bit from all the work that he had; that's why he felt so sick at that moment. Luckily for him, she believed the story and spent her whole day trying to make him feel better.
Nathan really enjoyed her company, all the soups and tea she made for him truly made him feel loved.
"I was tired and it sort of just happened." He continued to lie.
"But it was so cold last night." She said as she looked at his red eyes and face. "Looks like you have a fever. Do you want me to stay?"
"No, thank you."
"I made a lot of tea for you and left it on the stove to cool."
"Thank you." In his voice, just like on his face, Marie noticed how genuinely thankful he was.
"No problem." She said with a smile.
"I hope that you'll feel better tomorrow." She added as she grabbed her things and headed home.
Nathan left his cup of coffee on the marble island as he grabbed another cup and poured himself some tea. He walked over to the living room and sat on a comfortable sofa. He threw the blanket over himself and turned on the TV. He heard the large penthouse door open and close, thinking it was Maria, he yelled out.
"I'm in the living room. Seems like you forgot something again?"
Marie stopped at the entrance to the living room. She felt guilty when she saw him, laying on his sofa, all draped in his blanket with a cup of tea in his hand. The guilt she felt didn't allow her to think about anything else than what she did to him.
"Mar..." He started to say as he felt someone standing behind him. He turned his gaze away from the TV to see Marie standing behind him.
"The door was unlocked so I just came in." She said softly as she motioned towards the front door.
"I came to see how you were doing." She added quickly, trying to push her mind away from the time an open door meant an invitation to her lover's embrace.
"Amazing!" He said as he coughed loudly. Tears appeared in his eyes from the flurry of coughing fits he had. "See, nothing but tears of joy." He added ironically while he wiped away his tears with his hands.
"Can I come in?" She stood in place, unsure if she should just come in or not. The courage she's been building up to see him was completely wiped away at the mere sight of him.
"Yea, just as long you're not hiding some weapon behind your back so you can do even more damage to me. Actually, might as well finish me off while you're at it." He continued with his ironic jokes.
"Nathan, I'm so sorry." She came closer to him and sat next to him. "I'm sorry." She said again, the look of guilt was clear on her face.
It was enough for him just to look at her and understand that she truly was sorry for what she did.
"I accept your apology." He said. "But, on the condition that next time, when you have something against me, tell me so I can prepare myself. I think all the water went up my nose." He said with a smile.
"I was pretty bad." She said, the look of sheer guilt still plain on her face.
"Hey, I forgave you." He caressed her face, wanting her to smile for him.
"Much better." He said as a shy smile appeared on her face.
"You didn't tell anyone that you wouldn't come in to work so my dad was worried." She said as she tried to push her feelings for him away.
"I didn't want to talk to any O'Conner's today." He admitted how angry he felt.
"I'm sorry." She said again.
"Tomorrow, when I feel a bit better, I'll go back to work."
"If there's anything I can do, just tell me."
"If you could just bring me the pillow from the couch over there, I'd be so thankful." He joked.
She stood up right away and grabbed the pillow, which he put behind his back.
Not knowing what else to tell him, she stood next to him getting ready to head back home.
"I'm gonna go now." She said in a soft voice, but she didn't move anywhere.
"Thank you for visiting me." He said with a smile. She felt how disappointed he was that he didn't stop her, that he didn't think of a reason to keep her around for just a bit longer.
"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow." She said, still standing in place.
"As soon as this cold passes, I'll be there." He said as another coughing fit hit him.
"Actually, I might stay at home tomorrow as well."
"Just get better." She said as she finally started moving towards the front door.
"Marie!" He called out. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face him.
"That wine I ordered you, I didn't mean for you to see it in the way that you did." He wished that she believed him because in that moment, all he wanted was for her to believe him.
"Maybe one day, I'll believe you." She said with a smile, thinking back how furious she was at that moment, not even thinking that it could mean anything else.
"Maybe." He whispered to himself.
He felt stupid that at that moment, out of all others, he would be telling her the reason behind his actions. The reason why he anonymously bought the wine that he knew she would enjoy and that they both have enjoyed during all the times they spent being in love.
"Friends?" She looked at him.
She felt her heart flutter and stop as he nodded his head. She admitted to herself that she wished he would brush her off than so easily just agree to her suggestion.
In the end, while she was leaving his penthouse, she couldn't believe that he so readily agreed to just stay friends. She just suggested it but it's not what she truly felt in her heart.
Then, angry at her own thoughts, she got into her car, started it and went to meet Bruce. In her mind she kept saying how Bruce was her future and how her story with Nathan is finished.
All of this kept repeating in her head and yet she didn't know why tears ran down her face.
"Where are you going with all those fruits?" Lola asked.
"Going to go see someone." Marie said as she packed a large bag full of fruits.
"Who?"
"Nathan, he's sick." She added, hating the fact that she had to explain everything to Lola.
"I wonder what Bruce will think about your little get together."
"He won't know, I told him I was tired and, please, if he calls just tell him I'm sleeping."
"You started lying again. Please Marie, just because you do it, don't expect me to do it for you as well. No way." She shook her head. "I won't be the middle man again. Don't you remember what happened last time? Or did your pretty head already forget?"
"Bruce wouldn't understand that Nathan and I are just friends, but I'll explain everything to him with time." She defended herself. "But I can't talk to him about that right now!"
"Friends? Nathan and you? Don't make me laugh." She waved her hand away from Marie. "You two either fought or kissed, as far as I know, you were never able to just talk, so ..."
"How can I convince you that all of that is in the past and that now we're just friends?
"There's no way."
"Lola, I feel guilty about what I did to him. He's sick because of me and I'm going to give him some fruits and vitamins and to see how he is because he didn't come to work today either." She said seriously.
"Do whatever you want, just don't ask me to lie for you." She still didn't agree with what Marie was doing.
"Then don't tell Bruce anything." She said. "I won't be long." She waved to her as she left the house.
"You'll get me in trouble again!" Lola yelled behind her.
Marie laughed at the fact that she knew that if Bruce called her house, Lola would lie for her.
Just as Marie left the house, the phone rang. As Lola answered the phone, she could hear Bruce's voice.
"Bruce, how are you?" She asked, pretending to be happy to hear from him. She wasn't happy to be lying to the man Marie was seeing, especially since he was so good to her.
"Is Marie there? She's not answering her cell."
"She's sleeping right now." She said in one breath, angry at Marie for making her do this.
"This early?" He was surprised. The disappointment could be heard in his voice.
"She said that she had a migraine so she took an Advil and went to bed."
"I just wanted to see what she was up to."
"I'll tell her you called as soon as she wakes up." She said as she told him goodbye and hung up.
"Does this girl know what she's even doing?" She asked herself out loud. Lola promised herself that she won't lie for her anymore.
Nathan understood why Marie came to visit him, since it was because of her mistake that he was still in bed, drinking tea and stuffing his face with chicken soup.
"What is that?" He asked as he looked at all the fruit she was taking out of her bag.
"Vitamins, for you." She smiled.
She took a large bowl she found in the kitchen and began putting the fruit in it.
Nathan sat at the dinner table and stared at her.
"Did you eat dinner?"
"Yea."
"You want me to make some tea for you?"
"I've been drinking tea for two days now." He said while making a disgusted face.
"I'll make some anyway, for the both of us." She said. "I hate to drink tea's as well but I don't mind when I have someone else to drink with."
She took the teapot, put the water in and found the tea in one of the boxes that sat in the cabinets. She took two cups to the table in front of him and then, finally, she looked at him.
"You look a lot better today." She told him happily.
"Thanks." He whispered, still not believing that she was in his kitchen and that she was acting the way she was acting right then.
"Anything good on TV tonight?" She asked him.
"Why? You planning to watch TV with me?" Now he really couldn't believe it.
Something happened to her, he figured. That or she felt really guilty about what she did to him and now she's trying to heal the guilt away. Or, he hoped, maybe she didn't feel as strongly about Bruce as she though she did.
"Why not?" She asked, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"What about Bruce? Shouldn't you be with him instead?"
"He doesn't know that I'm here." She admitted.
"Sounds like you changed a lot." He said sarcastically. "At least you didn't try to lie to me too. Last time you lied to the both of us." He reminded her.
"I know. Last time I did it out of fear, which was stronger than the fact that I was lying to people that I cared about." Her face went pale and her voice, dry.
"Seems like it was all a game for you." His voice accused her. "I don't think you'll ever understand how I felt when I found out you had a fiancé." He smiled awkwardly. "That's probably how he felt too, finding out his fiancé has been cheating on him must have been heart breaking." He looked at her in the eyes. "You still have time to stop playing around so that you can save Bruce from that same heart break."
"Nathan, it wasn't a game for me."
She wondered if he would ever know how she felt when she found out that he left to New York. A look of sadness appeared on her face and he noticed, regretting the fact that he brought any of it up.
"Enough of this." He said.
"Maybe it's time that we talk about everything that happened." She sat at the dinner table with him.
"No, I don't want to hear it."
Nathan wasn't ready to hear about the love that she felt for her fiancé and the memories that they shared. He didn't want to know how she ruined that love with him, "the other man".
A couple of days ago he was forcing himself to forget about what he felt for her and forget her altogether. He didn't want to be involved in her life anymore.
He barely kept himself from telling her how beautiful she was when he saw the sadness in her eyes, and from hugging her tightly and telling her that everything would be alright. He knew that talking about the past would put him on shaky ground again and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that just yet.
"Nathan ..." she whispered, feeling like it was finally time to tell him how she felt. She was ready to tell him that she never forgot about him and that she was ready to end things with Bruce if it meant that she could be with him.
All of those thoughts came rushing to Marie all at once. She looked into his eyes and understood that all this time, she lied to herself, to others and most importantly, to him. What she felt for him, it was real love and everything else was just a lie, a lie that she went along because she was scared of the strong feelings that she had.
"We're friends." He reminded her. "Watch that what you say doesn't go past that." He consciously tried to build a wall in between them, knowing that with that soft "Nathan", she wanted to continue talking about what happened in the past.
He wasn't really sure why he did that, but still, something in him was pushing him to say that to her. Nathan was afraid to relive the past and open up a freshly healed wound.
She looked at him in an uncertain gaze, not really sure what to tell him. After what he just told her, she was sure that he didn't feel the same way about her. Him coming to Texas then, it must've been just work related.
"I should go." She got up, feeling like she was about to cry.
"You don't want to watch TV?" He asked, confused at the sudden change of plans.
"Maybe some other time." She managed to let out a smile. In one step, she grabbed her bag and left through his door.
Nathan jumped at the sudden sound of the tea pot boiling on the hot stove. He quickly jumped up and took it off. He turned around and stared at the closed door, confused at what just happened.