Tate? Neegan?

It had been two weeks since the dance and Teegan had been avoiding Nate. It wasn't because she was angry at him, but more that she was angry with herself. She had made this whole relationship of theirs' to be something big, when all it was, was a silly friendship. It had been her choice afterall to make him happy, but it wasn't an easy task. Teegan was embarresed to see Nate, after running out in such a dramatic fashion.

So the only way she knew to get over it was doing what she always did. Dance out her frustrations. One might have thought she would've known better than that now, but it was early on a Sunday morning and not many people were up. The only thing that might not have been smart was that her IPod was blaring out her feeling in her ears. It was Tristian's, but she had found this one song she just couldn't help but relate to. So voila, here she was.

You have to admit, dancing suddenly and alone is a little strange, especially when you're the only one who can hear the music.

Nate had actually been out in the yards for quite sometime. He usually wasn't an early riser, but something about the morning had seemed real refreshing, something he'd want to enjoy - that is after he cursed the daylight for waking him up... He didn't, though, expect to see anyone he really knew out. Especially not her.

"Teegan?" He called, wondering if she had even heard him, seemingly lost in the music. He supposed it kind of figured. Nate had thought it would be a good idea to give Tee some space for a few days afterwhat had happened at the dance, but after that it was like whenever he tried to find or talk to her, the girl disappeared.

And here she was. With a small smile on his face, he shoved his hands in his pockets and stood, waiting for her to notice him.

It was quite strange, that was true; but when one couldn't express herself through words dancing never seemed to fail. Minus the fact that no one could hear her music and she must've looked like quite the idiot.

Only while other people couldn't hear her music, she could hear outsiders. All of which meant she could hear exactly when Nate called her name, but doing exactly what she had been doing the past days ignored him. Not exactly sure where Nate was, but sure he was there Teegan stopped dancing. This didn't have to be awkward, but being who she was it was easily turned awkward. Stopping her music and taking her earbuds out of her ears, Teegan turned to the spot Nate's voice came from and imedeantly blushed at the sight of his face. "Hi." She said breathlessly, shifting her gaze away. "Did you n-need something-g?" She asked him in a shakey voice, her lip slightly trumbling, only she forced a slight half-smile.

"Hey." Nate rubbed the back of his neck, smiling to see her flustered, but still feeling a little shamed of himself... Did he need something? Well, nothing in particular, just... "Kinda, yeah." The young man said, putting his arm back down and taking a few steps up closer to her. Still, though, the smile was unable to leave his face. It was nice too see her again. "I've been looking all over for you. Where've you been, girl?" He asked lightly.

Honestly, Nathaniel had been worried about her ever since the dance. It was great getting back with Melody and all - not just great, wonderful and amazing and everything - but he still had that guilt tearing at him from the back of his mind of what he had done to Teegan. He was seriously worried about her, if not as some girl that he might have possibly liked, then surely he was concerned for her as one of his closest friends. Something had given him the feeling that it was because of that clear reason he didn't see her in the cafeteria anymore, or passed by her like he usually did in the hallways. Even Tristian had seemed to be getting a little distant from him... or maybe it was the other way around...? Eh.

There were parts of Nate that Teegan loved, his smile, his kindness, his charm; however just as there were good parts there were bad ones too. Like the fact he was such a lady charmer, but at the same time oblivious to the feelings of the girls around him. Unfortunately Teegan was that girl, only instead of her usual doe-eyed appearnce she opted for a more distressede and I-just-realised-that-the-guy-I-love-thinks-of-me-as-a-sister-and-I-have spent-the-last-weeks-feeling-sorry-for-myself look. It didn't fit her personality or her life style. She was red with sadness, not embarressment. She was often angry and only wanted to start a fight, as opposed to the hippie she was before. Nothing seemed right, nothing for her was at least a little bit normal.
It seemed the only good thing that had happened to her, wasn't because of Nate. It was because she was starting to move on and unfortunatly this meant leaving her love for Nate behind. Only one thing she couldn't leave behind was Nate. She could try her hardest to ignore him and eat lunch alone in the water closet, but he always seemed to be there. Because now he admitted he had been looking for her, which meant he missed her or did it? Teegan wasn't completely sure lately, but nevertheless he HAD been looking for her. So how was she supposed to reply to that "Oh, well I've been sort of ignoring you" or maybe a subtle "Really? LETMELOVEYOU"? Nah, neither showed what her feelings were right now. "Oh, well-" This wasn't going to be easy, Teegan realised as she started blushing again. "I didn't know you wanted to see me." She said finally, looked stressed and as though she had aged ten years in only a couple of weeks. "I've been really busy I guess. With my dat--" She stated and caught herself before she spilled the beans about her little date she had, had. Shifting in her place she stood there miserably, with an awkward stance and a blush.

Ironic, wasn't it? He could feel every single emotion that was pouring out from Teegan's heart and yet the boy still managed to be left completely and utterly in the dark of her emotions. He left her completely clueless, and honestly, he couldn't figure out why. There were strange people here, at least to him. Some people were completely plain in there feelings. Others were so bottled up, it was a wonder that they had felt anything at all. And some were so jumbled they had their own book-for-dummies just to try to understand them. And now, when he had looked at Teegan, he had been expecting to see the usual happy girl who'd always turn red and trip over her own words, but instead she looked completely miserable and... lost, maybe? And yeah, he didn't have to stop to realize that he was the one that probably did this to her. He was afraid this would happen. That's one reason he wanted to see her so badly; not to save his own conscious, but because he was indeed worried about her.
"Well, I have..." Nathaniel answered back, his tone casually light. "I mean, it's like you disappeared off the face of the - wait... what?" He started at her for a few awkward moments before suddenly getting defensive. "Teegan, who...? When did this happen?" He suddenly asked, a frown on his face. Uh-uh. Ain't NOBODEH dating this girl without Nate's permission. >:c oh heeeeeelllll to the naw. /shot.

It wasn't that she wanted to always feel so down, but in a way it was true. Nate had caused most of this, but maybe it wouldn't be as dramatic of a reaction if in fact Teegan had reacted differently. If only she had been so blissfully ignorant and could've continued dancing making the night the best night of her life. Only one again in her life Teegan had felt as though she had had someone she cared about ripped away from her. It was a terrible feeling but it had happened to her before and made her the shy child she was today. So maybe it was strange how the outcome this time made her more social, except almost sad as the first time. At first she just wanted to shut the world out, especially Nate, but there was not stopping now because he had found her and she had to pretend like she wasn't as upset. Although it was useless, because Nate could read her expressions like a book.
"I'm sorry." Was all she could muster staring at her toes and trying to force back her tears. She suddenly felt dirty and almost like she had betrayed Nate for moving on, despite the fact he himself had moved on first. "I'm so sorry Nathaniel." she sobbed verbally, despite no tears running down her face. It was almost like an inward cry, coming from the deep pang in her heart. "It wasn't anything... Tristian was trying to help me and--" She couldn't finish, she was shaking with a mixture of fear and unfaifthfulness.
Teegan couldn't do this. She couldn't put herself through the most heart-renching experience and pretend that nothing was wrong. She was a mess, she was broken and despite her plee for help no one knew how truely broken she felt. She had no parents to talk to, no friends to go to, now only a brother who didn't really care. Why couldn't she just get over this?

At first he had seemed a bit irritated, maybe even a bit offended that she had indeed moved on so quickly, but in all reality he was simply worried about her. It wasn't himself that he felt all to protective over, after all he had been the one to run off with Melody, but it was Teegan that he was truly concerned for; Much like an elder brother wanting to look out for his little sister, to make sure she had the best choice, and that she wasn't dating some uncertain, teasing, flirtatious douchebag... Like Nate. Though, the on-edge expression quickly washed away once the sweet girl was letting her emotions spill out, and he had caught every bit of it. He suddenly felt worse than he had in a very long time, feeling an empty pit in his stomach. "Teegan, don't -." He tried to stop her at first before choking on his own words. It was kinda funny how that work, his power putting her on the same level that she was. While she didn't cry, he felt his eyes start to water threateningly.
The boy quickly moved to her side, "Don't feel bad. It's okay, just - stop..." The boy gently put one hand on her shoulder, testing the waters to how she really was, if she minded at all being this close. No matter what awkward or unruly thing was happening between them, even without his empathy, the state she seemed to be in right now was killing him. "It's okay..." Nathaniel lightly put his arms around her, inviting her in for a hug. He couldn't really, truly understand how she was feeling, though; and even if he did, he wouldn't have a clue of what to do about it. How could he fix what he had a large hand in breaking? But that was all that he wanted to do right now. He wanted to help. God, you're stupid, Nate.

Teegan suddenly felt sick and terrible and everything bad a person could feel all rolled into one small girl. She had caused all of this, all of this pain and saddness for her and all of the troubles for him. Needless to say she couldn't imagine how Melody felt. She probably hated her and quite frankly Teegan didn't blame her. She was this girl trying to make Nathaniel love her, when really he was Melody's and Teegan was nothing more than the "other girl".
Now here she was standing here in front of him and making him cry. Never once had she even seen him cry and never again did she want to. He was trying to comfort her and she was pushing him away, something she did very well lately. Only however mentally and emotionally she pushed him away, Nathaniel found his way by Teegan and still attempted to comfort her. A true gentlemen to whom Teegan didn't deserve. "I'm so sorry Nate, I'm just so sorry." She said and kept repeating shaking her head along with her body. She blushed as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but in her head she wondered how Melody would feel and it just didn't seem right, but she didn't stop him. "I don't deserve someone like you." She whispered to him as he pulled her in for a hug and once again Teegan didn't stop him. Slinging a thin arm around him and burrying her face awkwardly into his arm, still shaking like a chihuahua. This was so embarressing, but it was true. She just didn't deserve Nathaniel.

Nathan honestly wasn't sure at all what think of in those few moments. Ahem. He wasn't really concerned what with Melody would think, at the moment, and if he had been he hadn't a clue of how she'd react; but it wasn't all to important to him at the time. "Stop it... It's okay..." He kept on trying to repeat those words of reassurance, letting her bury herself in, he held her tightly. He had heard the words that were mumbled under her lips, but said nothing, for he had absolutely no idea how to answer something like that. No, if anything, he didn't deserve her. He had walked away from Melody once before and he had walked right away from Teegan back to her; while he didn't regret his girlfriend, he sure as regretting how he had hurt the sensitive soul in the process. The young man took a deep breath, wanting to wash away all her anxiety. "Relax." He said, and while these words were masked with extreme gentleness, there was the silent order behind them. If not him trying to help personally, his power would definitely leave a calming aura around her, which would at least stop her shaking.
He waited a for minutes longer to speak after that, "Don't be sorry - It's fine, I'm happy for you." Nathaniel insisted, trying to look down at her. "Just - who the hell is this guy...? I don't want you getting hurt." ... Again.