I was getting home later than usual from the hospital. We were down a few candy stripers so I had to fill in during my shift. The lack of staff created an excess amount of work I had to finish giving me no time to change out of the candy striper uniform. I just wanted to get into the shower.
I was fumbling with my keys only to find the door was already unlocked. I opened the door to find Nate sitting on the couch, his feet were resting on the coffee table. I jumped back startled, genuinely having forgotten he was in my home after the long shift.
"Not generally the reaction women give me when they see me." He chuckled to himself and patted the seat next to him. "I'll order a pizza, come watch a movie with me.
I gave him an accusatory look to which he raised his hands in defense. "I already told you, I'll wait until you ask for it. Now come sit."
"I need to shower." I went into my room, closing the door behind me. Thirty minutes later, I emerged in a tank top and sweatpants, my hair still damp.
"Perfect timing, I just placed the order." I took a seat at the other end of the couch.
"Alright, what are we watching?"
"The haunting of Katherine Orick,"he looked at me seemingly proud of himself.
"I don't do horror."
"Scared?"
"No...whatever put it on."
I repositioned myself in the middle of the couch as the movie began showing an old house in the middle of the woods. 'I hate horror movies.' I was fine til about 30 minutes in when a woman crawled from under the house directly at the screen. I yelped, jumping up and ending up practically on his lap. Then there was a knock on the door and I was actually on his lap.
He patted my thigh. "That's probably the pizza, I should grab that." He lifted me off his lap placing me back on the couch and went to pay for the pizza. He returned to the couch offering me a slice. "You gonna be ok?" Don't want you flipping out if something falls over."
I rolled my eyes, sitting back on the couch and accepting the food. "You're acting really comfortable sitting on my couch, in my apartment. What actually happened anyway?"
"It's not a great story. And I'm sure you're just trying to avoid watching the rest of the movie." he motioned towards the tv I had paused when he got up.
"Maybe, but tell me anyway." I leaned in intently. I was banking on got into a fight with a roommate or minor warrant out for arrest.
"Have it your way." He leaned back against the couch. "So, I have a one bedroom out in Polis, been there a little over three years. About a year and a half ago, I started seeing Rayna, some of my buddies introduced me to her. Hit it off, pretty much were cohabiting within a couple months so I asked her to move in. On paper we were perfect together, like this ideal couple destined for marriage. And it's not like in reality we were bad, but something just wasn't there."