Nate’s POV
I leaned on the door as Tory kept insisting that I tell her friend not to eat the food at the restaurant.
I didn’t buy it, she was just making it up so I would let her go.
” Nate please…. please” she said, her voice now shaky.
” Are you crying?” I asked feeling very uncomfortable.
At my question, she launched into full-blown sobs and I immediately pocketed her phone and unlocked the door.
” Umm, Tory?” I called when she sat there crying.
” Geez it’s just a date, I’m sure Rex will take you someday” I said very uncomfortably.
” Is that what you think this is about!” She suddenly yelled, pushing me with so much power that I almost stumbled backward.
” I told you that she’s allergic to shrimps but you won’t listen!”
” The fuck Tory? I’m not the one who ordered something they know will kill me!” I retorted.
” You could’ve let me have my phone so I could call her not to eat the damn thing!”
” Who the hell gets allergies from eating a Fucking shrimp?!”
” Give me it!” She yelled and I gave her the phone. She tried Rachel’s number several times but Rachel didn’t answer, it kept going to voicemail.
Tory turned around her heels, her hair making a sharp movement as she glared at me. Her face seething with anger and then all of a sudden her features softened as tears dropped from her eyes.
” I don’t know….” She said at first, her voice trailing off before she spoke again. ” I don’t know why you’re such a pain, Nate! You hurt people without even trying.” She said her voice now shaking as she sobbed vehemently.
That made me feel so uncomfortable, why was she crying?
” You didn’t really mean that Rachel is allergic to seafood? If she is then why the hell did she eat it?!” I said trying to defend myself.
” She’s allergic to shrimp! only shrimp you, idiot!” She hissed hitting my chest with her small, delicate hands, I had the feeling that she was the one who was going to get hurt from all the slaps she was landing on my chest so I held them when she winced.
” Don’t touch me!” She shrieked when she saw me rubbing her hurting hands! And she was initially enjoying it, what the hell is wrong with her?
” If Rachel dies, I’m gonna kill you I swear!”
” She’ll be fine!” I roared at her, unable to see why she’s blaming me for this.
” You’re just a fool! A selfish, evil, devilish bastard! All you do is cause people pain!” She said causing me to stagger backward in shock as she said those words to me before she turned around and started walking, wiping her tears with the back of her hand then she stopped abruptly.
” You couldn’t even apologize! I’ve been friends with Rachel for two years and she’s the only person that gets me asides from my now late father – whose death I could conveniently blame on you because you’re just bad luck!
Now I told you she’s fatally allergic isn’t that supposed to tell your fucking brain that she’s gonna die if I don’t stop her?!” she said turning around and I froze. I had never seen anyone so angry before, never had anyone’s angry words shatter me in pieces the way Tory’s words did.
” No wonder Tiffany hates you
..” she continued ” She always said her son was just a misery. You wanna know what I think, you wanna know what me getting to know you is like?”
My jaws clenched as I quietly let her speak ” it’s like a beautifully wrapped gift that a kid wants to open but when the kid opens it, the kid is sad cause it has another wrap – an ugly one. The kid decides to see what’s inside and it’s yet another ugly wrapping preventing him from seeing his gift and then he goes on and on and on and still the same ugly wrapping and when he finally opens it, the gift is an ugly, broken, toy. That’s how knowing you has been to me. You’re just a wrap after wrap of misery!”
Damn,
That….. hurt just as much as my mom saying that she hated me and wished I had never been born. In that instant, as Tory said more hurtful things, I remembered why all this started. How I liked Tory the second I saw her two years ago, how I tried to impress her but she never liked me, much like how nothing I did was ever good enough for my mom.
How I had skipped my football game because Tory didn’t come to watch just so I could convince her she’ll love football if she watched me play. Damn, I was so infatuated with Tory despite her gloomy nature.
My infatuation and hardcore crush turned into hate when I found her that same day after searching the whole school for her. She was with Rachel and was telling her how much she despises me, calling me a misery. Saying that she could never like me!
Sure, I was cocky and an ass, but never to Tory, I adored her!
Then Tory said the worst thing ever about me to Rachel, the exact words that my mom had said to her friend one night that we got into a huge fight – ” I wish that bastard had never been born”. I remember feeling as though my heart was bleeding from inside and instantly hating her.
I never knew what I did to Tory, in particular, to make her hate me so much, at least I knew my mom’s reason – even though it sucked, but what was Tory’s reason to say that about me?
Since I couldn’t find a good reason, I vowed to make her hate the remaining days of her life at Oakwood. It’s been two years of endlessly and subtly bullying and mocking her, purposely wrecking her science projects, I also made Isabella date Rex to hurt Tory, and more recently, I broke Troas’s arm because I wanted her to fear me. All that because I wanted to punish her for hating me. It’s only made her hate me more.
Hearing Tory say these awful things to me made me feel awful for the first time… I’ve hurt people and never cared whatever they said about me but Tory’s words hurt worse than if hot coals were poured on me.
A tear she didn’t see dropped from my eyes when she said ” I fucking hate you, Nate McClain!” As she walked out through the door. Still, I followed her like a lost puppy, as she dialed Jake’s number, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently until he picked up.
I saw the grip on her phone tighten as she asked ” Jake where’s Rachel?”
” Tory?” He asked and she impatiently said ” yeah!”
” She’s in the hospital. I’m so sorry Tory, I didn’t know she was allergic to seafood. Her tongue is swollen so bad and she’s in so much pain… I – I don’t want her to die” Jake said over the phone and I could feel his distress.
What have I done? Why didn’t I just let Tory text her friend about the food?!
” She won’t die!” Tory assured him but it seemed more like she was convincing herself.
” Please come to St John’s hospital ” Jake pleaded, his voice a little shaky.
” Alright. I’ll be there” she said before she hung up, glaring at me before she slapped me on both my cheeks, flinching as she held her hands in pain.
I wasn’t hurt by her slaps, I was physically numb, my heart too busy being wounded and hurt and just filled with self-hate.
” Damn it! I hit you and I’m the one who’s in pain?” She yelled frustratedly before she walked away and entered her car.
I collapsed on my knees, unable to cry, scream, or yell, I felt like I was bleeding inside….. my heart.
Right there and then, all I wanted was to prove Tory wrong – that I could bring her happiness, not pain. That, I could… I could make her love me, this time doing it the right way!
Because there’s one thing I’m damn well sure of, I’m really attracted to her and I can’t help it.