"You mean to tell me that he slept with the telescope?" Milk threatens to come out my nose while I choke out the sentence. Nate's face is beet red as his family and I laugh at his dispense. "For over a month!" Lucy giggles, looking fondly at her son. She reaches over and squeezes his forearm. He doesn't jump out of his skin when she touches him. Why only me? "Nathaniel was so happy when Tim and I surprised him on his birthday with it. You would have thought we bought the kid a space shuttle.""Which he pouted about for another month because we said no to the space shuttle," Tim, Nate's father, butts in with a mouth full of his wife's meatloaf. "Can we please move on to a topic that doesn't involve embarrassing me?" Nate pushes his green beans around on his plate, refusing to lift his head. "Yes, sweetheart," Lucy hiccups from trying to silence her laughter, "of course. We're sorry.""I'm not," I tease and look over at my anxious bio partner. I'm pleasantly surprised when Nate rolls
I stand at my locker with Alyssa yapping my ear off about this weeks upcoming game against our rival team. There's going to be a big bonfire before and she wanted to know if we were going to carpool. But I am not paying attention because walking down the hall in his awfully slow pace is Nate.I had dreaded seeing him today considering what happened last night. I had admitted to him that I liked him in more ways than one and he pretty much shut the door in my face accusing me of pulling a fast one on him in the sake of society's horrific humor. It stung to think that after the time we had spent together that he still thought this about me. But I needed to move on, to be closed off from this moment forward and leave him to his life. It is just a silly crush, afterall. He's sporting a faded denim jacket instead of his usual dark grey hoodie but he still wore one of his marvel tees, the captain america logo peeking under the rough fabric as he moved gracefully down the hall. It was li
I slump at my desk as I wait for the first bell to ring. I really want to go to the nurse and claim sick but I have a calculus test and I can't afford to miss it. My stomach is hurting at the thought of seeing Nate again. That is if he even shows up to class. But with what knowledge I have of him, I know he would never skip a class. After last night--and now this morning--what I really want to do is talk Mr. Faunt into giving me a new lab partner. We haven't even started on our project so I didn't see the big deal in doing so. But a little piece of my mind knew that if I did that, then I wouldn't see the caramel eyed boy and I don't think I can stand that. Sure, he's in a few more classes of mine but we don't get to talk like we do in this one. It's strange how you can become obsessed with someone even after such a short amount of time. Because that's what I am: obsessed. But I am also stubborn. Which means that I'm not going to aid to Nate's ego. He didn't like me the way I liked
Nate's head is buried into his iPad and his headphones are in their usual place, wedged into his ears. I stop about a three feet away from the little circle that they had formed around the large tree in the center of campus.Trent smiles up at me when he sees me standing in front of him and the rest of his friends. His braces catch the sunlight as he does and I have to squint my eyes. "Hello Trent," I politely say returning his smile. My eyes scan to Gavin who has frozen with his sandwich brought halfway to his mouth. Nate's body goes rigid when he hears my voice but his face lifts up towards the sun. "Gavin," I add my eyes narrowing with humor. Then I manage to smile at Molly. "Hey," I say to her before I add, "mind if I sit?" My voice is off, more timid than usual but I am hoping they don't notice. They look around their little circle, eyes speaking for them. I shuffle my feet against the dirt, my lunch tray in hand, waiting to be accepted. My focus is mainly on the boy leaning ag
The night is chilly and my light denim jacket is not cutting it. I am also not wearing the right shoes to walk in mud. The constant drizzle of autumn is falling upon us and my white Chucks are hating me for it. "Why are we walking so far out?" I ask as I move a branch out of my face. I hold it back until Nate has passed by as well. We have been walking through what is known by the public as Lover's Land, an open grassy field that is surrounded by forest which can easily hide the canoodling bodies that inhabit it on Friday nights. I've never considered it a creepy place until tonight. The moon is only a sliver in the sky, casting a shadow over the black painted scenery that is soon going to launch a homemade matchstick rocket. My stomach is in knots from the what-ifs of endless scenarios. I arrived to Nate's extra early to drive him here and watched carefully as they assembled it. Nothing seemed to be ammiss. I know what to look for. "You don't want to start a forest fire, do you?"
Cupping both of his cheeks, I press my lips against his, savoring the gasp that leaves his mouth when I do so. I swallow it and my mind turns hazy. I instantly want more. I slant my mouth over his, grabbing at his neck to pull him closer. Nate's hands immediately find their way to my waist, the one zone I first showed him was okay to touch me, and I smile against his lips. I press myself closer to him and enjoy the way his lean body feels against mine. His large hands mindlessly squeeze my sides pulling me even closer. I smile again. Happiness is the main emotion I feel when I'm with Nate. Lust is a close second. As I push my tongue against his, I am lit up once again at the response I get, all darkness around us forgotten. His hands press harder against my lower back and I am now flush against him. I wrap both of my arms around his neck and hold him close. Our breathing has turned frantic. Our hands grab at each others clothing, my hands raking down his chest while his fingers gra
Everyone is looking.All attention is on Nate and me as I step out of my car and walk over to his side. He opened the door himself but I am right there to grab onto his hand to walk into the school. It's comical really, how everyone's heads are turned and their eyes and mouths are wide open. Danny and some friends stand in the grass, tossing a football around like they do most mornings, staring, watching, most possibly in shock as Nate and I stroll hand in hand by them. The football hits Danny in the side of the shoulder as he is caught off guard at our public outing. I try my best not to make eye contact because though I feel slightly uncomfortable at the moment, I feel more proud to have Nate holding my hand in public. This was a large step from the shy, timid, boy who stuttered his first and fifth sentence to me. "I don't have to have working eyes to know everyone is looking at us," Nate says low in his throat, his head ducked closer to my ear as we walk across the front court.
Forty minutes.Nate is forty minutes late.I sit outside the Haynes' house on their front steps contemplating on calling Nate for the tenth time. Where is he? I had knocked on the door almost an hour ago and Tim answered, no longer surprised to see me when I did this. He had said Nate went to the library, which shouldn't have me worried, but it did. He knew we had our date tonight and knowing Nate, his punctual self would have been here. He didn't seem like someone who would stand me up.I check my phone again, sighing when it goes straight to voicemail. Bright headlights turn the corner and I stand up. The car screeches to a halt in front of Nate's house and I begin to walk towards it. Molly steps out of the car. At first, jealousy rears its ugly head and I stop in mid stride. What was she doing here? Movement out of the corner of my eyes near the passenger seat catches my attention and for a second I stop breathing. My chest tightens to the point it feels like fire sears straigh
Nate takes forever as I wait for him at the top of the stairs. "Let's go, slowpoke! I only have a few more hours until I have to catch my flight." I spin around and lean against the railing to look sweetly down at him. I can't help but grin as he huffs and puffs, taking one step after the other. "What have you been doing at that Ivy League of yours? Track?" Nate shakes his head and laughs at himself as he makes it to me. "I've actually taken up rowing," I tell him with a smile. I flex my newly toned arms before wrapping them around his neck, enjoying the superiority of being one step higher than him. "Look at you," Nate praises with a crooked grin that makes me lean into him further. "My very own Kate Middleton."My laugher echos off the concrete walls of Nate's dorm building. I lean down and kiss him soundly on the mouth. He sighs into it which makes me feel light and content."Thanks again for staying up late to watch the royal wedding with me." I pull back and look into his eye
This will be the last chapter Nate's POV friends! This last chapter is being taken place after Nate takes Kelly to the dock and they see their shooting star. It's just an on going chapter in his point of view to wrap things up:) Feel the feels, folks.________________________I take Kelly by the hand, loving the way her fingers look tangled with mine as we walk into the lake house. She's smiling. It's soft, like an angel's feather, but it's there, and she's looking at me in a way that makes me feel like my heart is going to explode out of my chest. It almost physically hurts to see just how beautiful she is. Her hair, as soft as my imagination remembers, looks like a halo around her face. Her small baby hairs fly away from the cool lake breeze and the simple sight of it all puts me in awe.My fingers fumble with the key to the house. Kelly's hand is still gripped in mine and like always, she picks up on my anxiety and wraps her other hand around our combined ones and leans in and ki
NATE'S POV"Are you ready, Nathaniel?" Dr. Henderson asks while fingering the bandage that is wrapped around the top of my head in order to cover my eyes."Yes." But was I really? What if the world is darker than what it appeared to be while blind? It felt darker without her in it. She should be here. I had planned on her being here but she had to go and do the thing I most feared. She used me.Kelly lied to me. And that hurt more than the constant pounding in my head since the surgery."Now, I must warn you," her father says as he begins to unravel the gauze. "You will feel discomfort with bright light. Try to continue to wear the glasses or at least a pair of sunglasses for the next week inside as well as outside. Actually," he finishes taking off the wrap, "we suggest you stay away from direct sunlight for the first few days because it could cause more damage but nothing time won't heal."I keep my eyes closed. What if the surgery didn't work? What if I remain in the darkness forev
Doesn't she know that it's girls like her that men like to have in their trophy case? And the fact that she is clearly intoxicated just asks for more problems. Why did she drink so much tonight, anyway?"Calm down, Daddy. Would you rather I drove?" My body stills and my heart stops in my chest. Actually halts in shock and a little of something else that I am ashamed to claim. Kelly laughs at my reaction which makes my cheeks heat more if that is even possible. My body burns like the surface of Mars. "I'm sorry," Kelly hiccups and she laughs some more. "Nate, do you happen to have some water I could drink?"I nod and start to get up and away from this predicament my mind and body is having with each other but Kelly forces me back down. "Just tell me where and I will get it myself. I didn't come here to bother you."I clear my throat because her hand print is now searing on my shoulder. "Second cabinet on the top," I say in a rush. I go to push the bridge of my glasses up and over m
NATE'S POVI lay on my giant bean bag and think of her.The way her voice sounds when she's excited about some little thing, such as a the little silver bullet pinging back to the stop of a silly arcade game, or how it turns dreamy when she talks about pursuing her career in medicine.It is strange, because when she talks about becoming a doctor, she sounds cautious, like she's worried that I will shoot her aspirations down. Which is odd because her father is the greatest neurosurgeon in the state of North Carolina. And, who wouldn't want to brag about wanting to save lives?She is bound to be something great because she is great.Which worries me. I have thought every second of every day since kindergarten about this girl and now she actually knows I'm alive. Which also worries me.I feel alive when I am with her--actually, I feel nervous and anxious and all above terrified, but that's only because I don't understand how I can feel all this. It's like I'm the dog and Kelly has finall
NATE'S POV"You don't have to start today," my mother tells me while sitting in her Traverse. "We can try again in another week. There's no rush.""No, I don't want to get more behind."I can tell she is nervous by the way she is chomping her gum. I can imagine her knuckles stressing white as she grips the steering wheel.My mother laughs softly. "You're the smartest kid in this school, Natty. There's no way you could fall behind. Plus," she rubs my back affectionately, "I did a pretty good job on my end last year."I roll my eyes behind the dark framed glasses I have taken a liking to since Trent gifted them to me for my birthday last year which I spent in the hospital. "Now you look like Zac Efron in one of those chick films," my friend had said with what I imagined was a strutt and a model turn around my hospital bed. The raybans may look cliche, but it bothers me when people can see my eyes and I can't see theirs."I would say I was more of the teacher and you the student," I joke
NATE'S POV "Are you even listening to me?" Molly questions as she wrings her hands in her lap. I mumble a yes but my eyes stay glued on Kelly Henderson as she sits by herself on a park bench.Why was she alone? She is never alone. There is always some girl or group of people surrounding her like a swarm of bees. But I guess that's the type of attention you get when you're queen bee."No, you are not. Nathaniel!" Molly waps me on the arm and I flinch back. "This is serious. She kissed me. And..." Molly's face reddens and she gnaws at her lip. Trent talks a lot about Molly's lips. I think he has a crush on her. "I liked it.""Maybe you're Katy Perry," I offer as insight. Truth is, I wasn't really listening. But my cheeks burn a little at her confession. I did hear that.Molly's eyes roll skyward and she doesn't smile like I expect her to. Usually I could make her laugh seeming she found me too geeky to function, as she put it, but I like her. She is a little rough around the edges but
Nate grips my hand tighter as we make our way through the airport. People rush around us, running to catch their planes while Nate and I are clearly hesitant in leaving each other's sight. The clear sound of last calls ring through the vast area, setting the deep tendrils of dread to cling on tightly. These past months with Nate only set me up for more sorrow as the ticking time bomb known as the future krept up like a ghost lurking amongst the living. We have spent every waking moment together and the thought of being seperated for a single second hurts more than I would like to dwell on."Maybe I could stay another week," Nate suggests, looking around the airport as if someone would agree with him and that would make it settled. "We still haven't gotten to that circus movie you wanted to go to. There's still time.""Nathaniel," I say with a smile because the thought of spending more time with him is tempting. "Your summer program starts on Monday. There isn't anymore time.""That'
Nate looks over his shoulder and gazes reverently down at me. "I want to take you somewhere to show you something."I can physically feel the whiplash of tonight's events. "Let me go get my car," I suggest and start to pull him the opposite way but he pulls me so I am flushed against his body. He grins down at me while reaching into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys to dangle in front of my face. "I can drive." My mouth wobbles open and close at the fact that I momentarily forgot that he can see again. Before, I always forgot that he couldn't and now it is the other way around. Nate rolls his eyes dramatically. "I have my license, babe."My mouth snaps shut and my heart warms at the endearment that I will never not fill my stomach with butterflies. I lean up and kiss him longingly before lacing my fingers back with his and allow him to pull me to his car. It seems that his parents have bought him a black pickup, which makes me laugh when he opens the passenger side door for