When Nate pulled the car up to the outside of his apartment complex instead of her house, Grace just followed him inside silently, suddenly feeling as tired as the hour called for. Despite her nap on the couch at her aunt’s, Grace was just emotionally tired and her plans to grill Nate on his attitude were being buried under her distasted for confrontation. It would be so much easier to wait until the morning to hash it out with him. But Grace knew that was the cowardly part inside whispering and if she was going to tell everyone around her that she was a big girl and could handle herself now, which meant doing something that might be a wee bit unpleasant. 
                              
Nathaniel’s apartment wasn’t what anyone could call spacious. He was a tall, muscular guy and it filled the apartment in a way that had more to do with Nate himself than the actual space available. His bed doubled as the couch and the tv set up was sitting on metal shelves that had been hammered together and held with duct tape. The kitchen was surprisingly clean for a bachelor and the bathroom door couldn’t open entirely since he’d stuffed extra shelving into the bathroom as well. That left very little space to have a heart to heart in so Grace simply sat on the bed and crossed her legs like she always ended up doing. Nate shuffled around, trying to clear what little extra space he could to make it easier for them to move around. And just when Grace was about to spit out her question on why he was so moody lately, Nate stopped her dead in her tracks by stripping off his clothes. 
                              
He wasn’t meaning anything by it, Grace knew that. She’d seen him do the exact same thing seventy billion times by now it seemed. And yet her jaw hung a little loose and she stared at the body he was revealing to her, all while he remained oblivious. Her eyes took in the familiar naturally tanned skin, hard muscles and the almost girlish dimples on his back as he folded his jeans and put them aside. The fact that he had no socks on told her that she’d gotten him out of bed in the first place, the rumpled state of his sheets adding proof to the observation. See, you can be very observant when you want to be. Grace mocked herself silently, finally closing her jaw before Nate could see her ogling him. She sat there a little stiffly as he kept moving around in silence and now she didn’t trust her mouth enough to say anything at all. 
                              
“You going to sleep in that or do you want some of my sweats?” Nate asked, breaking the silence around them without ever seeming to realize that Grace was struggling to speak.
                              
“Ah…” Grace looked down at what she was wearing and realized that her clothes weren’t the most slumber comfortable. “Sweats if you have anything that won’t just gobble me up.” She joked lamely and was a little surprised at Nate’s sudden intense regard. But he didn’t say anything, just tossed a pair of their university sweatpants at her and a gigonormous t-shirt as well. Grace held up the shirt and realized that even though she wasn’t as short as her mother, it could still be a dress on her. “If this was black I could use it as a cape and be Batman.” She joked and saw Nate give a smile.  
                              
“Sorry Graceless, there’s nothing in this place that wouldn’t gobble you up.” Nate joked with a shrug and Grace was glad that her complexion didn’t go rosy as she found the double entendre in his words. She had to stop torturing herself with these kinds of things, it was getting ridiculous!
                              
Grace looked at the shirt again and shrugged, deciding that she might as well just go with that. She was too lazy to walk over to the bathroom, besides her ankle still hurt, so she turned her back to Nate and pulled her top off. Most of the time, she had trouble being in a bathing suit in front of others but with Nate it was easy to be exposed so she’d never really thought anything of it. Like him changing casually in front of her, it never really seemed to mean anything. But as she unclipped the back of her bra to chuck the mostly painful garment aside, she felt the heat of Nate’s body right behind her back. 
                              
“What would your boyfriend think of you getting naked in front of another man? Especially one like me.”  Nate asked, his tone once again self mocking. 
                              
Grace didn’t think about it, she just reacted to his words and his tone. She spun to face him and punched him in the shoulder. “I don’t want to hear you talking like that Nitwit! First of all he’s not my boyfriend; he’s my date to the Ball. Secondly, what kind of man are you exactly huh? As far as I remember, you’re a pretty kick ass best friend and a rather good human being all around.” She huffed and put her hands on her hips. 
                              
It wasn’t until Nate’s eyes looked down and back up that she realized that yep, she was in fact topless and yelling at him. That actually did make her blush scarlet and she spun back around while Nate chuckled at her discomfort. As Grace pulled the large t-shirt over her head to try and cover up, what was the point now? she demanded of herself silently. But even as the fabric of the shirt slid over her skin, Nate’s hand came up and rested on the base of her ribcage. 
                              
“I’m the kind of friend that looks, even though I know it embarrasses you.” His voice was rough. His hands fell away and Grace actually felt a little dizzy from their sudden absence. “I’m the kind of man that some chick thinks she can convince is a horrible person and everyone would believe her.” His voice was harsh and Grace turned to look at him again. 
                              
He had stepped away from her and was scrubbing a hand over his face roughly. “What are you talking about?” Grace asked, not having the slightest clue. 
                              
Nate sat on the bed and stayed silent for a moment. “Get in bed and I’ll tell you.” He finally said with a sigh and lay back to give her more room. 
                              
Grace frowned for a moment, wondering just what the heck was going on in his life that he was keeping a secret from her but her curiosity won over her peevishness. So she stripped off her jeans and crawled into the small bed next to him. She knew he never brought any of his one night stands here so the sheets were clean, and the bed smelled like sleeping Nate, not spunk. But she couldn’t get comfortable and it was just going to get worse once he started to talk, she was sure of it.