"Truth?"I lift my face to angle towards his and wait for him to continue. We still lay in Nate's bed, the aftermath of what we just did setting a warm glow throughout the room."The night that you fell asleep at my place, you said that you loved me in your sleep but I didn't tell you because I thought maybe I was dreaming. I've dreamt about you telling you loved me from the moment I met you. Because I've loved you from afar for so long. I was just afraid that my dreams were clouding my reality and I was no longer able to tell them apart. You do that to me, Kelly." His fingers touch my skin over my ribcage. "You're like an angel invading my dreams.""I'm no angel," I assure him and snuggle my face back into his chest. I should acknowledge that I said those three words in my sleep but I can't say that I am surprised. Even in my unconsciousness, I have Nate on the brain. "You are to me."I pucker my lips on his chest, letting them linger in the sweetest way. He is the angel. I want to
I lean against Nate's locker with a stupid grin on my face as Nate tells me once again to not make a big deal out of his birthday. I promise him that I won't but we both know that that is a lie. "If I did happen to make a big deal out of your birthday," I say as I crane my neck around to see his face, "what exactly would be considered too over the top?"Nate shuts his locker and leans against it with his shoulder, facing me. "Singing. Definitely singing."My mouth pops open. "You can't be serious.""I'm being very serious.""Why?" I ask grinning up at him. I didn't have anything planned per say but I did have something in mind. I already talked to his small group of friends about surprising him at my house for a surprise party and they were all for it. It would be kept small and comfortable. Like a normal night out with his friends plus me. "Because." Nate swoops down and kisses my forehead. "You are a terrible singer, love."My skin warms at his endearment. "I am not." His fingers
Nate's three friends show up five minutes to six o'clock which I am grateful for because everything is a total mess. For someone who is always on top of things when it comes to organization, I am an even bigger mess than my house. The beer is set out on my parent's long dining room table for hands to grab, thanks to Justin, Danny's cousin. He is the only one I know who would pull through at such short notice. "Where are your parents?" Molly asks while hanging up a birthday banner by the staircase. "My father has a Dartmouth reunion for his fraternity that he attends every ten years. My mother likes to tag along. I guess I just got lucky that it happens to be on the same day as Nate's birthday." "It's funny how things work out, isn't it." She ties the farthest string around the ceiling beam and then steps down off the chair."Yeah," I reply, moving the beer cans in a straighter line to distract myself. "Is it." My phone dings in my back pocket and it's Nate, telling me he is ready
He takes a sip of his drink to hide his discomfort of the situation. I hold back my laughter as I watch the distaste reflect on his face. I bring my lips to the shell of his ear. "After a few, you find you forget how awful it tastes," I tell him, still amused. His pure aura is enough to make a person levitate towards him.He shrugs with his face directed on his cup. "It's not too bad."He's lying and that makes me laugh and brace myself against his chest. He smiles too from the sound of it and angles his face towards mine. I could look at him for the rest of my life."What kind of game?" Nate challenges, dragging his attention from my face. I bite my tongue. Alyssa taps her cherry red lips as she thinks. "How about beer pong?"I continue to bite my tongue. I can't bite my tongue anymore. I go open my mouth to call them morons who walk on two flat feet but Nate beats me to it. He must have felt my body tense up. "Oh! Or flippy cup. That's a fun one," Mariah pipes in. "How about Ke
We tumble into my room like a tornado, clothes flying throughout the air as the need to be as close as physically possible to each other invades every pore. We both knew what we had wasn't a normal infatuation like other couples our age. We are young, but the need for each other is an ancient soul connecting kind. My mind, body, and soul, yearned to connect with Nate's on every level.It simply hurt to say I love you because those words alone didn't feel justified for what I feel for him. With Nate, I feel whole. I feel alive. And death would rightfully collect my fulfilled soul if someone took Nate from me. The thought is too painful. With great concentration, Nate step out of his jeans while trying to keep his lips connected to some part of my body. The mere activity of pulling away for a second is too tedious. I stumbled while wiggling out of mine but Nate catches me before I fall forward on my face. He laughs and the sound is magical. I feel it in every touch of his skin aga
I can't speak. I can't breathe. I can't see through the tears that blur my vision. Every kiss, every smile, every bit of confessed love, comes down to this moment. I can only pray that Nate forgives me. But I understand if he doesn't. I don't think I would if the roles were reversed. I need to stop being such a coward and come clean to this wonderful, concerned looking, man in front of me. But Nate isn't the only one that has gathered. Trent, Gavin, and of course, Molly, stand by his side like guardsmen. Alyssa and Johnny come up behind Danny and me. "Tell me what?" Nate repeats when I don't speak right away. All of the words that I have managed to learn from the age of birth have vanished into thin air.Danny steps forward and places a hand on my shoulder and I shrink. "Listen man, there's something I need to confess to," Danny says in a low drawl. His shoulders are squared and his stance is progressive but I can't let him continue. "Me too," Johnny surprises me by saying, look
I haven't gotten out of bed in seven days, only getting up to use the bathroom and sip some water. With all the tears I have cried, my body craved all the liquid I would allow myself to consume. The first day, I cried. I cried throughout the night, the evening of heartbreak playing over and over in my head. Could I have said something differently to make him not react the way he did? The answer to that is no. But I could not except that. The second day, I continued to cry, except this day, my mother came into my room. I claimed sick, which wasn't false. I couldn't eat which left me dry heaving when my body begged for me to help itself. "Do I need to call a doctor?" She had asked, pressing a thin hand to my forehead. I dodged it and pulled my covers up and over my unwashed hair. "Oh my Heavens, are you pregnant?""No, Momma. Leave me alone. I'm sick," I droned, closing my eyes to block it all out. My mother ignored me like normal and yanked on my sheets to expose me again. "I'm cal
I haven't gotten out of bed in seven days, only getting up to use the bathroom and sip some water. With all the tears I have cried, my body craved all the liquid I would allow myself to consume. The first day, I cried. I cried throughout the night, the evening of heartbreak playing over and over in my head. Could I have said something differently to make him not react the way he did? The answer to that is no. But I could not except that. The second day, I continued to cry, except this day, my mother came into my room. I claimed sick, which wasn't false. I couldn't eat which left me dry heaving when my body begged for me to help itself. "Do I need to call a doctor?" She had asked, pressing a thin hand to my forehead. I dodged it and pulled my covers up and over my unwashed hair. "Oh my Heavens, are you pregnant?""No, Momma. Leave me alone. I'm sick," I droned, closing my eyes to block it all out. My mother ignored me like normal and yanked on my sheets to expose me again. "I'm cal
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