The Talk (c)

[Nate]

Nate strolled into the kitchen, poured himself a drink, and sat down at the tiny kitchen table. After what seemed like weeks of trying to sort through his thoughts, he had finally come to a very important conclusion. He just hoped that Rae had the same thought about their "situation." After all, the absolute last thing he wanted to do was hurt her and completely ruin his chances of seeing Sean again.

After what they had done, it was still possible to just remain friends... right?

He sighed to himself as he took a sip of his drink, his eyes lifting when he heard the sound of footsteps in the doorway.

[raven]

Rae appeared in the kitchen with a huge smile on her face, "Hey!" She said and headed inside. "Uh listen...can we talk?" She hoped that he would take what she needed to say well.

[Nate]

Nate nodded and motioned for her to sit. "Of course," he said with a nervous smile. "Actually, I... I was kind of hoping I could talk to you, too."

[raven]

"really?" Raven said to him and took a seat beside him at the kitchen table. "Good...I mean if we both need to talk this is perfect."

[Nate]

"Yeah... Perfect," Nate agreed with a nod. He looked down at his half-empty glass and exhaled slowly. He could practically feel the knots twisting tighter and tighter in his stomach. "So... You first. Ladies first."

[raven]

"Nate, you're a sweet guy and I like you but I just think we're better as friends," she said, locking her hands together.

[Nate]

Nate looked up at her, a smile quickly coming across his face. "Really?" he asked, relieved. "You're going to think this is crazy or maybe that I'm lying, but I was thinking the same thing." He gave her hands a small squeeze and let out a small laugh. "You're great, Rae, you are. And you've helped me more than I think you'll ever know, but you're right. We're better as friends, and I'm definitely glad you feel this way too." He paused, his head shaking in amusement. "I was almost worried that maybe you wouldn't take it too well when I told you."

[raven]

"wow, I was worried I was going to crush you." she said seriously and then started laughing. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "this went way better than I thought it would."

[Nate]

"Me too, Rae, me too," Nate agreed, finally laughing along with her. He paused, his forehead wrinkling. "Can we still bring Sean to the museum, or is that plan out of the question now?"

[raven]

"Course we can! I'm actually really excited about it. He's gonna love it and I've never been there," She was smiling so huge, then she licked her lips. "Um...you think I could invite Spot? I mean you know, Sean's his and we've been talking..." More than talking, but she'd confess that later.

[Nate]

"Why shouldn't he be able to come?" Nate asked in reply. "You're right, he is Sean's father so he has the right to go." He smiled across the table at her. "It'll be good for Sean."

[raven]

"hopefully everything goes well, Spot can be a little difficult sometimes," she said with a shrug.

[Nate]

"Well, can't we all?" Nate replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He reluctantly let go of her hands and, instead, picked up his glass to finish off his drink. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

[raven]

Raven nodded and then smiled at him. "you know, Sean really likes you, I don't care if Spot gets pissy about you hanging out with us...he just never should know about," Rae cleared her throat, "ya know."

[Nate]

"Oh, no, definitely not," Nate agreed knowingly. "I'll take it to my grave."

He looked down at his empty glass and sighed a bit. Maybe he would go down to the bar and treat himself to a couple of drinks after this. "If... If you ever need anything. Help, or advice, or... oh, the hell if I know what you need..." He laughed to himself and reached up, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "Point is, if you ever need anything, you know where I am."