Part Twenty One

Nathan and I ambled through the park lazily knowing we had nowhere to be, no-one to answer to and no need to rush. I took the time to lean into his shoulder and he responed by throwing his arm around mine.

"Does this feel weird to you?" I mumbled, playing with his hand which rested just to the left of my ear.

"No" He smiled.

"Me either"

"That didn't make sense"

"Shut up" I laughed and pushed him away from me playfully. "You knew what i meant"

He grinned and pulled me close to him again, swaying from side to side in keeping with our combined balances. "You gonna tell Max?" He asked.

"No, not yet"

"Okay" He nodded.

"I would, it's just with the way he reacted when he thought we were together months ago and the fact that you two aren't speaking-" I stopped to catch my breath "-No, not yet"

"I get it, don't worry" He laughed at my rambling and kissed my forehead.

"Will you try and smooth things over with Max?"

"Yeah, of course. I wanted to anyway" He reassured me.

"I don't want to have to keep us secret" I grinned at the idea of 'us'.

"Me either" He whispered and dragged me along the narrowing path to a small woodland. He then led me to behind a circle of trees and I pushed him back onto one and kissed him.

"You're something special Nath"

"Yeah? You too" He kissed my nose, making me blush.

"Don't you think it's weird? You know, me only being 16 and Amy?"

"Not really. You and Amy are two very different people. Completley different in fact. You don't act 16, well not all the time" He smirked "And i know you like me for me...Don't you?"

"Of course"

"That settles it. Age is but a number, babe" He grinned and took both of my hands in his, swinging them side to side between us.

"Come on lets go, it'll be getting dark soon"

"Okay, one last thing" He traced a circle over the ball of my thumb with his own;

"What's that?" I smiled

"This" He kissed me, deeper than before. Back in the apartment it had seemed more urgent, like it was only lust and now it felt like he really had proper feelings for me. The nerves from before were replaced with butterflies and the thudding of my heart was for the way he made me feel and not my anxiety.

"Come on then" He pulled me back to the main path by my hand, clearly underestimating the feelings i was rapidly developing. "I'll walk you to Max's"

"I was hoping i could stay at yours tonight" I hinted.

"Really? What about Max though?"

"He doesn't know. I'll just fake being mad at him and go back and talk to him tomorrow. He'll think i've slept on the couch"

"Okay" He could barely conceal the grin forming on his lips as we ambled along the path.