trying to make sense of things (nate)

[lucas avery stonem]

Lucas really had to think things through next time. Although it had been a few days, he was still mentally kicking himself for his out of the blue idea to go to Whispering Woods, Maine. Yeah, if it worked out like his initial plan, it would be good… but that was only if his assumptions about his friend Nate were true. And if they weren't… well, it would seem like sort of a waste of eight hours.

But that was the thing. Luke was certain that he hadn't wasted eight hours of his life driving here. There had to be something up with Nate. After Nate left to "help his sister", or some sort of thing like that, many people shrugged it off, but Lucas... He knew his friend better then they did… or at least Luke thought he knew him.

That was why he was here, he reminded himself as he walked into the first coffee shop he could find. Here, Lucas hoped that he could get the first decent "meal" he had in a day, since he has spend all day yesterday driving, trying to find this tiny town. After waiting his turn, he ordered the simplest named coffee, and a raspberry scone.

Standing at the counter waiting for his coffee, Lucas picked away at his scone, which reminded him of home. Of England. When he was at school in New York, he never really missed home. Maybe it was because it was hard to miss home in New York… It was New York after all, but Whispering Woods was different. Sort of eerie in a way.

[nathaniel andrew rosenberg]

There was nothing Nate hated more than being back in Whispering Woods. The entire time he had been in high school, he had wanted nothing more than to get out of the town and never return. There had been nothing keeping him in the town. It wasn’t like he had ever fit in. Nathan was the dictionary definition of outsider in the town. Once he had left for school he hadn’t bothered to keep in touch with the few friends he had managed to make in high school, which had only made it harder to return to Maine. Everyone wanted an explanation as to why they hadn’t heard from him the entire time he had been in New York.

Of course, he had his family, but even they weren’t enough to make him feel less miserable about being back. Nathan loved his family, but not in the way most people did. He preferred to love his family from a distance. Whenever he spent too much time with them, he only felt crowded. Moving back in to his childhood room, his sister just across the hall from him at all times was one of the worst parts of leaving school.

Not that he really should be complaining. It had been his choice to leave school. Between moving back in to his parent’s house and allowing himself to fail he would choose his family any time, but that didn’t mean he was going to be happy about being back. Nate hadn’t told anyone the real reason he moved back to Whispering Woods. Nothing would embarrass him more than to admit that he wasn’t able to make it in New York. So every time his family would start pestering him about his reasons, he would feed them some half-assed lie -- a different one than he had told the few people he cared about in New York, of course.

New York. He had just been starting to feel like he had finally found the place he belonged. It was the first time in his life that he had found people he could actually connect with. But this town had a draw to it. Nathan didn’t know what it was, just that he had finally realized that he was never going to be able to escape it. The thought didn’t make him happy. In a completely uncharacteristic move, he started ... well, sulking to be completely honest at the local coffee shop. He didn’t have to explain himself to anyone there.

Until today, apparently. The first thing he saw when he walked in was a very familiar figure standing at the counter. Well shit. Nate chewed on his lower lip for a couple seconds before walking towards his friend. ”Luke. What are you doing here?” he asked, standing directly behind him.

[lucas avery stonem]

Waiting at the counter took longer than Lucas was expecting. Maybe it was because it was a small shop in a small town. Everything went slower in small towns, right? Standing in the small shop, he looked around seeing how full it actually was. Although it was small, it seemed to be quite full, even though there had to be no more than 15 people in the shop. That had to be part of its appeal though. Small and friendly, like you could walk into anyone at anytime.

The more Lucas thought about the coffee shop, the more relatable it became to Whispering Woods in his opinion. Everything that he had said about the shop seemed like thing you would say about a small town. That although there weren't many people, the town seemed full in its own way. And that you could run into anyone you knew at anytime. Or so Lucas hoped. That was his plan after all, wasn't it? Just to run into Nate? There wasn't much else he could hope on. Luke knew absolutely nothing about this town, or even the exact address where Nate lived, so he had to hope to run into him.

Of course he hoped that this wouldn't take more than a few days. The town was small, it couldn't be that hard. He hoped. Everything came down to hoping, but at this moment, all Lucas was hoping was that he got his coffee soon, or else he'd have no scone left.

Maybe that was why Lucas was startled when he heard his name called out. Because he wasn't expecting it here. Being in the slow-small town for just over a day had already taken its toll on him apparently, since it took Luke a second to connect what was going on. He heard his name. Being said by Nate.

"Nate!" He said, snapping out of his thoughts, and back into the real world. Turning around, and facing his friend, Luke couldn't help but let a smile grow on his face. "Funny. I'm here to ask you the same thing," Lucas said, before turning back to reach up his coffee cup that had just placed down.

[nathaniel andrew rosenberg]

All he had wanted was coffee, and a quiet place where he could sit down and just read. Logically he knew that it was too much to ask for that everyone in his life would just accept all of his excuses, but the thought never crossed his mind that someone would actually do something about it. Not really. No matter how thrown off he was to see Lucas standing in front of him (which was quite a lot; it was like his two worlds were colliding and he really wasn’t sure he liked that idea all that much) he couldn’t stop himself from smiling in return when he saw the smile on his friend’s face. Even though he wasn’t sure his nerves could handle having Lucas in such close proximity to everything he had grown up with, it was good to see him.

Nate took a couple steps toward Lucas, nodding at the girl behind the counter when she asked if he wanted his usual, but his eyes never left his friend. He wasn’t really sure what he felt about Luke being here. It wasn’t part of his plan. He was supposed to leave New York, and forget that he had ever taken the chance of going anywhere. Not that he wasn’t happy to see him. He just hadn’t expected Luke to follow him back to Maine.

”I don’t know what you mean,” he answered, shrugging. ”I told you I had to come back for Amy.” The lie rolled off his tongue as easy as it always had, but Nate couldn’t stop himself from looking around to make sure no one was close enough to hear what he was saying.

[lucas avery stonem]

Lucas smiled into his coffee cup, as he lifted it and took a sip. He was glad to of found Nate… or, as circumstances let it unveil, that Nate had found him. It was weird, the past couple weeks, without Nate being around. Granted, the two didn't live in the same building back at school, let alone the fact that they had very little classes together, but somehow, the two of them always managed to find time to see each other almost daily. Maybe it was because of the lack of friends Nate had, not that Lucas would ever say that to his face, or because Lucas, like Nate, was a bit too much of a homebody. Yes, going out was fun, but Luke was living and going to school abroad. Money is more valuable, and scarce, to him than most of his friends.

After all the time Luke had spent with Nate, it was weird having him just up and leave. And to do it for his sister. Lucas knew that Nate didn't talk about his family much, or Maine even, the whole situation just seemed a bit… fishy to him. That's why, when Nate brought up his excuse once again, he let out a small 'huff' into his coffee cup.

"Seriously mate?" Lucas asked, almost sounding as if he was sick of hearing the same (what he thought to be) lie once again. "Your still trying to sell me on that? I've spent more time with you than I think you've spent with yourself, He told him, maybe being a bit too honest. But it was true, at least to Lucas. He had spent at least enough time around Nate, let alone the human race, to know that looking around was a nervous tic more often then not. "So you should know that I don't believe your 'lie'."