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
You know when your mind sees something that is so utterly beautiful, so unworldly that it distinctively focuses on the pinnacle of its interest, zeroing in on that magnificent sight, having everything else blur in the background?That's what Nate's eyes did to me. The golden, caramel orbs locked on mine and it was all I could see. His eyes are red rimmed as if the surgery was still taken its toll but his face is bare and so responsive. The butterflies, the ones that have become paralyzed a few weeks back, twitch and flutter when Nate's pupils dilate and his clear, breathtaking eyes roam around my face before dropping down my body. I hold my breath as he does so, wanting so badly to see what he is seeing. One of his family members behind me says something but it is muffled in my ears and Nate either ignores it or doesn't hear them either because he remains unmoving in the doorway while I stay crouched in my position of the floor, my letter forgotten about. It is held limply in my h
The sun beats down on the back of my neck as I pile my hair on top of my head for a mid afternoon shift at Linc's. The door dings happily which somewhat lifts my perpetual gloomy mood. Several regulars smile or kindly wave at me as I make my way behind the counter and I do my best to return them.Lennette eyes me over her hand pad. "You look lovely today, Sweetpea."She is just being nice. I look how I have looked the past couple of weeks. Which is drained. But I know that she is tredding water around me because she has been less nosey than usual."Thank you." I grab my apron from the hook over her right shoulder and tie it around my waist.I can feel Levi, Lennette, and even Gary watching me through out my shift. No customers have complained because I have perfected a false cheery attitude down to a T thanks to cheerleading, but I know they can tell my heart is not in it.Seeing Nate at school has been the definition of torture. I did it to myself, I know, but being alone is harder t
The grass is soft under my bare feet as I make my way from my backyard to Nate's. My stomach coils with nerves and I pull my sweater lower against my palms as a nervous habit as I duck under a low tree branch. I nearly jump out of my skin when I see Nate pacing on the other side of the tree near his patio doors. I must have gasped at the sight of him or maybe I stepped on a branch, but for whatever reason, he stops and locks eyes with mine. "You came," he says as if he wasn't believing what he is seeing. His face, always clear now without his glasses obstructing the view of those wishing to admire him, looks serene but slightly distracted. I stay by my spot at the tree and play more with the sleeves of my sweater. "Of course I did. You asked me to." My voice is off, nervous--terrified, really--as I watch him, watching me. It's still so strange to know that he can actually see now. I want to know what he sees in me. Does he see what I see? A stupid girl who can't seem to get her
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
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