Beautiful - Nate Archibald

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

𝓘𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝔃𝔂 𝓭𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻 𝓪 𝓯𝓮𝔀 𝓼𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓹𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓽. 𝓞𝓷𝓮; 𝓭𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓵𝓾𝓲𝓭𝓼, 𝓣𝔀𝓸; 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓾𝓷, 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮; 𝓵𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓽𝔂, 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓼, 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓷. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮'𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻.

𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓮'𝓼 𝓟𝓸𝓿

"I need more money." I said, Catherine stepped closer to me and began fixing the suit she forced me to put on. Ever since that party, she's been extra territorial over me. All my free time has been spent with her, calling me all times of night to meet her at random hotels, or force me to come with her shopping.

"Hmm, Ralph Lauren adores you." She compliments, completely ignoring me.

"Catherine, did you hear what I just said?"

"I did, what happened to the money I gave you?" She asked, pulling tighter on the suit jacket.

"It's gone, but I can repay you back as soon as our accounts are unfrozen." I lied, I still have all the money she gave me but I need to repay Chuck and Christina.

"Which won't be until your father gets back from..." Catherine trailed off "Where was it again? Dominica?"

"I told you that in confidence, when I was highly intoxicated." I whispered

"No, you told me that in bed."

"Was that before or after you took advantage of me?" Catherine laughed, taking a step back away from me.

"I'd hardly call that taking advantage of you." She said before turning her attention back to the shirt table, "You need to relax, gorgeous, we can discuss this tomorrow over lunch. I got us a room at Mercer, we can order in."

She began caressing my face, I try not to tense up and move away from her touch because she hates that. "I'm so glad this didn't end."

"Me too." I lied with a small smile.

Catherine pushes some dress shirts in my arms "Try these on, I'm gonna go find you some ties." she rubs my cheek one final time before strutting away.

I need to come up with a plan soon because I cannot continue to be with this woman. My phone started ringing in my pocket, I checked my caller ID and quickly answered it. "Hey Vanessa."

"Nate, hi. I hope it's okay that I'm calling."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Uh, how are you?" I asked, I briefly spoke to her when I first got back to the city but I haven't been able to really tend to our friendship like I want to.

"Good, um, so listen. I was wondering if-" My phone started beeping letting me know someone was trying to call me.

"Hold that thought for one second, I'm getting another phone call." I quickly switched over before it could go to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Nate! What are you doing? I could really use your help right now." Christina said, with a sense of urgency.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, she rarely ever calls me for help because she doesn't exactly trust my judgment.

"I'm just really in a bind, think you could meet me at my favorite floral shop?"