#number 185

Bianca: did you by any chance leave me that 7 minute long voicemail of you running and constantly tripping into bushes?

It wasn't a bad week spent in California but it certainly wasn't the most ideal. Getting sick was the worst of it and she couldn't help but blame herself for ruining the week. Sure Nathan said it was fine but she knew that it was pretty obvious that she wrecked it. As she stared out the window, she recalled the events of that week as it unraveled even further.

                                                        ***

A picture appeared online of Nathan carrying her out of the restaurant, which sparked a mix of reactions. Since most of his followers knew they were friends, some of them sided with Jasmine, saying that she was so lucky to have a great friend like Nathan. Then there were the jealous ones who angrily called Jasmine out for stealing "their future husband" and besides, she had Ryan and Jimmy already. It gave her a headache just reading the reactions and she was starting to wish that it had never happened.

Then it was two days before Jasmine had to leave for Florida again. Nathan surprised her by taking her to dinner at a swanky speakeasy themed restaurant. A girl who saw Nathan sent over a beer to get his attention and at first, he hesitated to accept it.

"I'll drive," Jasmine told him before he could reject the beer. "Besides you're old enough to enjoy one – don't let me stop you from having it."

"But Jazz, I-"

"I think she would be heartbroken if you didn't accept it," Jasmine said. "Do it for my sake. As a friend who knows that you have adoring fans. Ok?"

Nathan grudgingly accepted the beer and toasted with her before taking a sip. It was a robust flavor with dark hops and it was slightly bitter. He took another sip and watched as Jasmine studied his face.

"How is it?" she asked. She was trying to avoid smiling since she could tell that he wasn't crazy about it.

"A little bitter but its okay," he said. "How's your water?"

"It tastes like water," Jasmine said as she gave him a funny look.

                                                      ***

The rest of the meal was delicious and pleasant. When the bill arrived, Jasmine picked it up and covered the bill, saying that she owed him for taking care of her this week. He had protested at first but it was too late to change things once the waiter took the bill from Jasmine and left.

Nathan admitted that he felt a little lightheaded as they walked to the car. Jasmine guessed that it had to have been those additional 2 beers that the same girl had sent over. At some point, Nathan had gone over to thank the girl and she had tried to ask him if he wanted to ditch Jasmine and hang out with her instead. This resulted in Nathan walking away and leaving an upset female fan fuming at the bar for being turned down by a hot swimmer.

"Thhanks," he said as he got out of the car at the mansh. "Sorry about that one girl. She, uh, she wanted to ditch you and have me leave with her."

"It's all right," Jasmine said as she guided him inside. "Glad we got home safely." She opened the door with his key and nudged it open with her foot as she guided Nathan up the stairs to his room.

"Thanks for an awesome week," she said as she sat him down on his bed. "I'll see you in the morning. You feel okay?"

Nathan nodded and said it was probably because of the extra beers. "I'll probably drink some water before I go to bed," he reassured her.

Jasmine motioned to the door and she offered to go grab the water for him. She slipped out the door before he could say no and jogged down the stairs to the kitchen. She found a glass in the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. Cautiously, she carried the glass up to Nathan's room and knocked lightly.

Nathan opened the door and gave her a goofy smile as he accepted the glass from her. Jasmine returned the smile and felt her face warming up. Nathan had changed out of his button-down and dress slacks into his pajama bottoms with Team USA all over them. His bare muscles moved up and down as he downed the water in a long sip. He sighed contentedly as he finished the glass and Jasmine held out her hand to accept it from him. Instead, he wrapped his fingers around her hand and pulled her close.

"How about you sleep in my room tonight?" he said.

She froze at that suggestion and pulled away from him. "Nathan, I think I'll be fine tonight. Besides, you had a few beers, you're not thinking like you normally would," she said.

Nathan's face had flushed and he stammered, "Whoa, uh no, no, no! Not in that way! I, I meant just sleeping!"

Jasmine took the glass from him and shot him a polite smile as she closed the door. She dashed down the stairs, put the glass in the sink, and she made her way up to her room.

                                                       ***

It was wrong that night. All wrong. She knew that he was slightly drunk from the beers but in her mind, she didn't see Nathan like that. Not any more ever since they became friends the past summer. He was like the brother she didn't have, minus the hair-pulling and troublemaker attitude.

She got ready for bed and opened her laptop to surf Facebook. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Rosie or any of her other friends back home but she wanted to see when Ella was coming back to Florida. After she logged on, she hid her online status so Rosie wouldn't start a private chat all of a sudden. Jasmine went through all of the messages she got on her wall and new information from her friends.

Then she saw the red '1' under the conversations button. She already knew who it was from and her blood boiled. Without reading the contents of it, she went into the conversations inbox and deleted it promptly. She closed her laptop and put it down on the chair in the corner before she crawled into bed and turned off the lights.

                                                     ***

"Ladies and gentlemen, we want to welcome you to Florida," the flight attendant announced. "Please stow all electronic devices, tray tables up, and please put your seats in the upright position. We're about to land."

Jasmine straightened up and pushed the button to straightened her seat up. She returned to looking out of the window and she clenched her fingers into a fist as she rested her arm on the arm rest.