Chapter 6: 6. Teenage Dream

“Teenage Dream” was released as the second single from Perry’s studio album of the same name. While discussing “Teenage Dream,” Katy said that the song is about recapturing the dizzying, thrilling feeling of first love. [Source: Genius Lyrics]

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FFAEK: Even though Emily didn't like covers of songs, she liked the Stephen Dawes cover of Teenage Dreams. It made her want to fall in love twice as much.

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Chapter Six: Teenage Dream

I spotted a sweet-looking middle aged woman coming towards us with a ten to twelve year old girl following her.

“Nathan-” The woman stopped talking when she saw me. She and the girl stared at me like I was some sort of alien.

“Mom!” The girl said, pointing her finger at me, “Nathan brought home a girl!”

She said it loudly enough that a boy - I couldn't tell where he materialized from in the narrow hallways - exclaimed, “ A girl!”

I was feeling less like a girl and more like a zoo monkey.

I glanced at Nathan, and even though I couldn't see his face, I knew that he was rolling his eyes.

“Oh, enough with the drama,” he said, “Mom, this is Emily.”

Emily. Right. That was my name. Nathan never called me Emily.

“Hey there, you sweetie,” that was all I heard as I stared at him, and he tried to warn me before the woman- his mom - hugged me.

She smelled like flowers and cookies, homey and soft. My mother never smelled like that. She smelled like lab fluids.

She pulled back. Nathan was watching me, leaning against the wall. I was never good at the meeting-the-parents thing. I still remembered when I met Leanna's parents for the first time and didn't know what to talk about. Thankfully, Leanna's mom was lovely. I hoped Nathan’s was too.

“Umm, hi?” It sounded like a question, “I am ..um.. Emily. We go to the same school?”

Why was everything sounding like a question?

Bear, the boy, I thought and the girl- whose name I didn't know -were still staring at me.

“Nathan never brings his school friends home,” his mom said. “So we are kind of surprised.”

He didn't have any friends at school, I thought to myself.

She threw Nathan a look over her shoulder. Nathan shrugged, “I brought one this time.”

“I-ah-I thought it might be okay if we studied together,” I added, “So..”

“It's definitely alright. I am actually glad you came over,” she said and looked at the girl, “I am taking Sawyer out to her friends, and I'll be late. Bear needs someone to watch over him. So you and Nathan can study while keeping an eye on Bear.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. Sawyer was narrowing her eyes at me. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn't.

“Let's go, we'll be late.” Their mom said and grabbed Sawyer's hand. Turning to Nathan, she said, “There's food in the fridge. Don't give Bear more Skittles, and give your friend some snacks.”

I stepped out from in front of the door. Nathan followed his Mom, saying, “Yeah, I know, I know” and closed the door behind her.

Wow.

There were not as many people in my entire house as I encountered in his hallways.

“Is there anyone else around?” I looked to my left and right.

“Why? You want me all to yourself?” Nathan asked as he came back. We were in front of a staircase.

There was an opening to a kitchen and living room on the side.

“My room's upstairs,” he said and then looked at Bear. He was holding Nathan's hand and hiding behind his leg.

“What?” Nathan leaned down on his knees and met his brother’s eye, “You're shy now?”

Bear whispered something in Nathan's ear, which made him laugh with his head thrown backwards. I stared at both of them. Bear didn't look so much like a small version of Nathan as I'd imagined. His hair was a few shades lighter, and his eyes were blue.

“He just said-” Bear attacked his brother, trying to stop him from saying something. Nahan stopped, and then there was more whispering.

“Are you sure?” He asked his brother while I waited awkwardly.

Nathan finally looked at me, “He says he'll be watching TV in the living room. Let me set it up. You can wait in my room.”

I shook my head and decided to follow him into the living room. Bear let go of his brother as soon as we entered and jumped on the couch as Nathan made his way to the kitchen. He brought out a can of milk and poured it into two glasses.

He slid one to me. I took it and sat on the kitchen stool as he got out more snacks. He opened a box of choco chip cookies and lent them to me. I saw him set up the TV and talk to his brother.

This day was so weird. I was having cookies and milk in Nathan Callahan's kitchen. Leanna would never believe me. I would have to tell TJ. I would have to tell someone.

By the time he came back, I was done eating.

“Those cookies were so good,” I said to him.

He smirked, “Oh, were they?”

His smirk made me wanna ask him if he baked. I didn't, in case he got all cocky again. I didn't know how to bake at all.

I washed my hands and followed him upstairs. While climbing the stairs, I stopped as I spotted wedding photos.

“I almost forgot these are here,” Nathan said, stopping a few stairs ahead of me.

All of the family members looked dazzlingly happy. I spotted the bride and the groom.

“That's Daniel, my brother. And that is Elaine.”

Daniel didn't look as close in looks as Nathan, but they had almost the same type of face- the same nose, the same cut of jaw and the same eyebrows. I spotted their mother and father. I found Bear and Sawyer. Then I found Nathan.

Nathan Callahan in a tux.

I quickly looked away without giving that view much attention. I looked at the bride and groom again. They looked happy in love.

“Let me guess,” Nathan’s voice felt close, and I realized his face was right next to mine, “You love weddings.”

I crossed my arms, “Yes, I love romances and weddings and Taylor Swift and all things nice, sue me.”

He didn't need to know how many wedding videos I had watched on YouTube. I watched wedding videos of influencers I didn't even know. Those videos were always so magical and beautiful.

He shook his head, “It was so chaotic and loud.”

I could feel his breath on my shoulder, “Yeah?”

He continued, “At the last moment, we couldn't find Dane's shoes. Nobody knew where they went. It was a disaster. Then we learned Eline's veil had somehow ripped. And nobody could find the photographer guy. He was drunk out of his mind.”

Nathan was almost laughing, remembering the incident. He pressed his index finger in the photo, “Dane is wearing dad's shoe. Dad is wearing my shoes.” I looked at their feet. The shoes didn't look any different to me.

“What about you?” I glanced at him in the photos. He was seen from his torso up. He was standing behind his mother.

“I am wearing none,” Nathan said right in my ear. I leaned back and stared at him.

“So you walked around barefoot?” I asked incredulously.

Nathan rolled his eyes, “Of course not.”

“What were you wearing?” I said as I followed him up the stairs.

“Nobody needs to know,” he said under his breath, and I imagined him wearing sandals with tux. He probably did something like that.

As soon as he reached the landing in front of his room, he turned around, “Wait here.”

He went inside his room and closed the door shut.

What was that about?

I climbed the rest of the stairs and looked around. Since nobody was watching me, I went near and placed my ear on the door. There was lots of shuffling, opening and closing drawers happening inside.

I wondered what he was hiding.

Then I heard footsteps. So I stepped back. Nathan Callahan opened the door, then leaned against the doorframe.

“All done hiding the proof of your crime?”I asked.

He smirked. “Uh huh.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Hey,” Nathan said. He walked towards me and leaned down.

“What?” I asked.

“I think you got a lash here,” he said, and without giving me a warning, he placed his thumb and index right on top of my cheek.

I blinked as he retrieved it. He rubbed the lash between his fingers but didn't step away.

My heart was beating like it was in imminent danger. Of course, it was. Getting this close to Nathan Callahan was definitely imminent danger.

I stared at his green eyes when he murmured.

“You know, just an observation,” he said, his green eyes boring into mine, “You're not breathing.”

I blinked. Then I took a long breath in.

He chuckled darkly, then turned around, “Come in, Kingsley.”

Son of a fuckin - damn it, I just met his mom. I huffed as I followed him.

In his room, there was a big open window by the side. His bed was right in the middle, along with a study table on the side. There was a recliner and a little bedside cabinet with a lamp on it.

The whole room looked cozy from the outside, and as soon as we walked in, it somehow got smaller. Because Nathan was one giant of a guy.

I didn't see where I could sit. So I sat smack dab in the middle of his bed.

I felt like my heart was riding up to my throat from my chest. It was the awkwardness of the whole situation.

Mission abort. I was in a boy’s bedroom.

Suddenly, studying here together didn't seem like a good idea.

Nathan sat down in the chair in front of his desk. He opened his backpack and brought out his chem textbook and copies, like it was no big deal- like it was no big deal I was sitting on his bed.

On. His. Bed.

Okay, there was definitely something wrong with me.

I shouldn't have looked behind me because then I saw the pillow and the comforter, which were thrown around carelessly, and imagined Nathan sleeping there. That didn't do me any good.

I quickly turned around.

“Spying around in my room, Kingsley?” he asked, “I thought you were here to study?”

I breathed in, and I realized the whole room smelled familiar. Like something I had smelled before.

It took my brain 2 seconds to place it. Nathan’s room smelled like him. The whole room. It was his scent.

Aak.

“You are looking anemic for some reason, Kingsley.”

I met his eyes. Nathan was smiling slightly. I was entertaining him again.

“I'm just not used to-you know-” I gulped. Why'd I tell him anyways?

“Not used to getting into a guy's room?” Nathan said, looking at me, still smiling, more like smirking, “Why? I thought you had a lot of experience.”

“Me? Experience?” I asked. I realized my mistake of sharing my personal information with him and closed my mouth.

“You read stuff, Kingsley. This should be nothing to you,” Nathan said as he flipped the pages.

“Oh my god,” I opened my own textbook. “You'd never let that go, would you?”

Nathan was pressing his lips together, as if hiding a smile.

“Tell me,” I started, “you used to hate me. Now you are always smiling around me in this sneaky way, like I exist to entertain you.”

Nathan gave me a serious look, “You don't?”

My jaw hit the floor, and then I picked it up and smacked him. He leaned back as if I could ever hurt him.

“You are kinda cute.”

He said it casually and started writing in his notebook, while my heart hammered away like it was trying to break out of my ribcages.

It was okay, Emily. He didn't mean it that way. It wouldn't have mattered even if he did.

Also, kinda cute?

I shook my head and told myself to focus and do the stuff I was actually there for. I opened my chemistry copy and notebook, and started reviewing everything we had learned so far. I didn't know how long it would take, but I was certain I wouldn't even do a single thing if I were studying alone.

We studied in peace for 5 minutes at most before there was some screeching. I looked around, trying to find the source of the sound when the window slid open, which was right by his bed, and a head popped up.

I might have screamed.

So did the head.

It was a guy’s head. He had blonde hair that fell around his face in long strands. His grey eyes were wide as he noticed me.

“A girl!”

What was up with that today?

He looked behind him and shouted, “Theo, come over here, there's a girl in Nathan’s room!”

Then another guy’s head popped up right beside the previous one, which looked exactly the same. Then both of them stuck their hands inside and pointed at me, “A girl!”

I might have jumped and hit my back on the wall behind, had Nathan not grabbed my shoulders. I looked at him with horror written all over my face. He shook his head and mouthed, “Twins.”

Right. Twins. People could look the same if they were twins.

Nathan stood up and went towards the window while the twins kept saying, “How did ya do that, Callahan, how did you-”

They were both talking simultaneously while Nathan smacked both of them on the head. They yelped and held onto the ledge. Theo was trying to climb in.

“No, not today,” Nathan was pushing him back onto the roof.

I was blinking hard, trying to make sense of what was happening.

“Listen, we gotta see if she's real,” said the other one, who was not Theo.

Theo looked right at me, “Damn, right, brotha.”

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