none of us were angels [leah!]

[NATHANIEL ALEXANDER DUNNE]

THERE THERE BABY IT'S JUST TEXTBOOK STUFF IT'S IN THE ABCS OF GROWING UP NOW NOW
DARLING DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD NONE OF US WERE ANGELS

It was a long time since him and Ari - his girlfriend of two years - had gone out on an actual date. It'd been a long time since they'd done anything together, really, other than hung out like they regularly did. They didn't go out to eat because they always fought, and she hated making a scene in public, even though she was the one that started things. Well, sort-of. He was the one that called her on her nagging or her bitching, things like that. Sometimes, he couldn't hold his tongue for the sake of peace. Sometimes, he couldn't help it when he needed to call her out on something even though he knew that it wouldn't get them anywhere but arguing. But he was going to try. Instead of going out with her friends in a group, like they'd been exclusively doing for the past couple of months, he'd asked her out to dinner. He'd dress up nice, they'd go to a fancy restaurant, and he'd fork over his credit card because he'd just got paid, and his father was letting him spend some of his hard earned money for once. The man had said that he was nineteen now, and he needed to learn how to handle himself, and if he was ever going to do it now was the time. Surprised at the freedom but welcoming it without a second thought or hesitation, he'd asked Zaria out right away. She'd been surprised, but she'd said yes. He'd taken a deep breath when he'd seen her face, because the fact that she was so surprised that he was asking her out just showed how south their relationship had gone, and Nate didn't want to think of it that way at all, hell, he wished it was perfect like it'd been in the beginning.

With that thought in mind, and the fact that the restaurant they were going to was in the Bronx, he'd gotten dressed and left early. He was planning on buying her flowers, walking around a bit, and then heading over. He knew he'd have time to spare, but that was the way he liked things. Nate was the kind of person that always had to be early, and at the very least, he had to be on time. He hated being late to things, it made him extremely uncomfortable, even the thought of it. Maybe it was a CIA thing - they'd drilled it into his head from the minute he'd been recruited as an agent, to always be prepared. Always be well aware of things, always be prepared, and never get caught off guard. It was all the same thing really, self-preservation at it's best, he guessed. He shook his head as he went into the flower shop, knowing that he needed to stay focused, and try to remember what she liked. Actually, who was he kidding. He knew what her favorite flowers were, he knew what her favorite flowers were better than she did, really. Her Daddy probably did, too, but he wouldn't be bitter. Sometimes, she liked things and she didn't know that she had favorites, more like she didn't notice or didn't think it was important. Things as simple as flowers or colors probably didn't show up in her radar. Not when she had so many other things to think or worry about. Things like school and friends and, he supposed, him.

Getting the flowers was simple. The almost overly tall man behind the counter was friendly enough, and they'd made small talk almost too easily. He knew that some people could be friendly, but sometimes he forgot how easy it was to interact with civilians. He had problems with Ari all the time, and then there were his friends, who he didn't consider civilians, but huge mega-brats. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The bitching about their grades even though they all bought their grades or were smart enough to get A's effortlessly, the whining because they didn't get the car they wanted for their birthday, it all got quite old to Nate, especially when things had never been easy for him and he'd never gotten what he wanted. He'd gotten what he needed most of the time, but never what he wanted. But he shrugged it off, because he couldn't fault others for having more than him. It wasn't right, and it sure wasn't fair. He was walking out of the Flower Bay, and turned to his right to head down the street when, bam! He'd knocked right into a red head and sent her flying. His flowers had been knocked to the ground, too, but they were in their plastic casing, not yet taken out, and in a bag on top of that. They'd be fine. The girl he'd knocked over, however, would not. "I am so, so sorry! I didn't see you." He said, pulling her back up without a second thought. "Are you alright?"

T A G G E D ? ! leah!
W O R D C O U N T ? ! eight seventy nine
M U S E ? ! i think he's close to being dead now oops
N O T E S ? ! xD finally got this started, yay
C R E D I T ? ! graphic credit goes to POINTBLANK! of caution two point oh. lyric credit goes to imogen heap with the song speeding cars.