Free Caught Up In You by Kels Barnholdt

me.”
    “I don’t have an attitude problem. If you
think I do that’s your issue, not mine, so you fix it.”
    The problem with trying to reason with
someone who’s still angry with you is that it’s never enough. No matter what
you say or do it won’t really matter, because deep down they don’t really care.
All they care about is what you did then, not what you’re doing now. And that
was what was going to happen with the article. I was going to throw around as
many ideas as possible, all of which Nathan would tell me were horrible. (Even
if he liked any of them he wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of letting me know
he liked them.) Then when he finally half-heartedly let me use one of my ideas
he would complain about it the whole time, saying it wasn’t good enough. This
article was important and if he let our past be involved in it then it would be
a disaster.
    “Okay, well, then I guess there’s nothing
left to discuss.” I stand up and pretend to head for the elevator. It takes
every inch of my soul to do this, but I know I have to make him think I’m
serious if this is going to work. As I get closer and closer to the front of
the hotel I pray that he’s going to call out to me, but he doesn’t. I hit the
button, waiting on the elevator doors to pop open. “We can find someone else to
write the article, it wont turn out good if we’re like this with one another
anyway.”
    Nathan leans back on the couch and
crosses his muscular arms over his perfect chest. “Oh, isn’t this typical,
Victoria running away from her responsibilities. Shocking.” He shakes his head
back and forth like he can’t even begin to express how disappointed he is.
    I swing around and put my hands on my
waist trying to show him I mean business. “Nathan is this or is this article
not as important to your future as you say?”
    “You know it is.”
    I feel myself starting to soften. I can’t
help it, he may be treating me kind of shitty right now, but I understand why.
And deep down inside of me the girl who still cares about him deeply doesn’t
want to be mean to him, even if he’s being that way with me. “Then you have to
put the past aside and let me write it. You don’t have to be my friend or
anything. You just have to let me do this for you. Like you said I owe you,
right?”
    Nathan uncrosses his arms and doesn’t say
anything for a second. And for a second I think I’m screwed, I think he’s going
to tell me to forget it, to go fuck myself. That I’m right this is hopeless and
he will never be able to be somewhat normal with me, not even for this article.
But then he just shrugs. “But we aren’t friends right?”
    I swallow. “Right.”
    He crosses the room in a few easy strides
and sticks his hand out to me. “Deal.”
    “Deal.” And for the second time today I
feel weak from his touch.
    ***
    “Oh my god! You were beyond cute.”
    It’s the same night and I’m with Nathan in
my aunt’s office looking at his Facebook trying to
find some good pictures to print out for the article. It took all of my
concentration to not look at his main page while he was scrolling through to
see if any girls had written on it recently. Not that it matters since he has a
girlfriend, but still, I’m sure there’s plenty of girls who wouldn’t respect
that just for a chance to get with him. I mean, look at him. Anyway, somehow I
had managed to act like I didn’t care what was or wasn’t written on his page.
    We had already printed out a ton of
options to choose from. Nathan going up for a layup to win the game, Nathan
taking a three point shot to win the game, Nathan taking a foul shot with no
time left on the clock to (what else) win the game. We also had tons of
pictures with him and his friends and of him at countless basketball camps and
tournaments. And of course a few cute ones of him and his mom, there was even
one of Nathan with his old dog who they had to put to sleep, the perfect set up
for the