So now it was all about picking up the pieces and seeing if any relationship at all could exist between them. In the simple way of looking at things it would be easy to say Rhi had just moved on. She’d got herself a new boyfriend. Dyed her hair. Things were different now and Nate may have been trying to believe that it all meant things were fine. That he didn’t have to go and test the waters and he’d eventually just be able to talk to Rhi like he used to. If the truth be told it hurt him to know that she was hurting and probably hating him. Forgive him for not wanting to deal with seeing that on her face. It was slightly cowardly of him not to face the music but shit. Did this have to suck so much?
Did she honestly think that was the case? That Nate of all people would even want a consolation prize? He wasn’t even one for relationships until Rhi came along! If he didn’t care about her at all he’d gladly just let her fall. Dump her and not think anything else of it because, yes, Nate could be that horrible if he wanted. He hadn’t kept her around to fill some void, he’d kept her around because (shock horror) he truly cared about her and thought that was the way things were going to be. Sure there’d always been that thing for lack of a better explanation between him and Marlene but that didn’t mean he’d cared for Rhi any less. He’d just dug himself into an extremely deep hole without meaning to. What sucked was what happened when he got himself out of said hole.
… It’s not like he wasn’t expecting for her to yell at some point, in fact he’d been waiting for it but that didn’t make the sudden change in volume any less of a shock. And God did he hate being called Nathaniel. It took him a moment to reply but that wasn’t too unusual. Not everyone let the first thing that came to mind out of their mouth. “ You’ve told me, yes. You’ve said it. Well done seems I’ve said it too,” he knew he had to be very careful right now but holding back the natural urge to just yell or draw back? Kind of hard sometimes. “I’m not pushing you away. I don’t want to do that,” being a man of few words sucked sometimes as well. Actions speak louder than words but sometimes that’s not enough for the other person. Another thing he hated? These heart to heart truth telling talks. They had to be made but… guh.