Savin' Me (Part 1 of 3)

Part 25

Raya's POV:

It's Friday morning and I'm already dressed and ready for work but not before a quick stop at Julia's Delights for my morning caramel latte, to get to work today and then a night out with Nathan's family to celebrate Julian and Olivia's engagement but there is only one thing that is weighing on my mind... Nathan's reaction to the engagement party. After getting my caramel latte I start the short walk to work trying to keep myself as calm and content as possible. The moment after getting the elevator to the 2nd floor my favourite colleague Rachel meets me outside on the landing  "hey doll you alright?" Rachel greets "yeah not too bad" I reply "you sure you look a little bit..." says Rachel before I shoot her a look and she stops stiffly in her tracks "a little bit what?" I say shrugging with a weird smile on my face "like you're trying too hard to be okay?" says Rachel I let out a sigh "you got me" I say "what's up?" asks Rachel I let out another sigh "Nathan" "bingo" I say "come on I don't have my first client until 10.00" says Rachel "Rach come on love there's no need to..." I say before Rachel interrupts "come on what's our slogan?" "it's okay not to be OK," I say and follow Rachel into her counselling room.

Rachel's counselling room is one of the cutest rooms ever with purple settees, fluffy cushions as well as her little Japanese kitten cushions, her chair is a white-grey coloured beanbag "right Raya what's up?" asks Rachel "well I've got this engagement party today" I say as I sit down on the purple settee in front of her "yeah I know you've been looking forward to it though right Raya?" says Rachel "yeah but it's sort of weighing on me a bit" I say "why?" asks Rachel "because he's going mental about it I mean I am trying to be supportive Rach you know what I mean but it is exhausting me with that his dad's going so he's a bit annoying at the moment" I say "why what's story with his dad?" asks Rachel "it's a long one his dad used to abuse his mum, his older brother our Julian used to have to do everything for him and his little sister Ruby he got Ruby and Nathan out of that volatile household and even now all three of them are incredibly close" I say feeling every pain Nathan must have gone through my heart begins to clutch tightly "Christ babe" says Rachel "I know to be honest though me and Nathan have both grown up in broken homes and we're both lucky we had people who cared about us enough to look out for us" I say "yeah your Auntie Mollie and Levi bless him" says Rachel "yeah" I sigh before checking the clock just above Rachel's head and it's nearly ten o'clock "shit I best get off and you've got your first appointment soon" I say "yeah sure maybe see you at lunch" says Rachel "yeah you too" I say and I head off until my first appointment.

Nathan's POV: 

It's a long and slow morning for me at Julian's house, Julian's at work until 5.30 pm, Livvy's not back until one and our Ruby finishes at 2:30 so I'll either be picking Ruby up or Livvy will I need to be productive I haven't even thought about a gift I can get my brother and his fiancee I feel I kinda owe it to Julian as I have been a nightmare lately. I get dressed in a white tee shirt, my purple hoodie and a pair of Armani jeans before heading out in the car.

I drive about for a while thinking of things I could get them god I wish Raya wasn't working today as she's usually the better gift giver out of the two of us as when it comes to me picking out presents I know what to get Raya and Ruby but Julian's the more awkward to buy for my brain spins round and round and round until finally, I have a light bulb moment. I stop and park the car at one of the off-licences near Julian's and walk into the shop and go straight for the alcohol aisle trying to find a brand I know both Livvy and Julian like I think the only similar drink the two of them drink is Echo Falls the summer berries flavour so I pick a bottle up and take it to the counter and pay before leaving the store and driving back to Julian's. When I get back to Julian's I find a sad, blue notepad in a draw with dates and medical notes drawn in must be one of Julian's old diaries from work or uni anyway I fast forward until I spot a clean page in it and sure enough, there's still plenty of clean pages still in the notepad so I take one and tear it neatly out of the notepad and then start looking for a pen. I look in the kitchen and the result is the crappy bingo pens from when Julian tried to see eye to eye with Dad but, that didn't work even if Livvy encouraged it, I shut the draw slowly and head upstairs to see if our Ruby's got a pen I can use. When I get up to Ruby's room there's a selection of pens on her computer desk I pick one up and head downstairs to write the note.

I sit down at the table in the kitchen and begin writing on the piece of notebook paper trying to find the words to write is impossible Raya's also the better poet and writer out of us two still got to give this a go.

So I put the pen to paper and write: "To Julian and Livvy Congratulations on your engagement here's a bottle of Echo Falls to enjoy 

Your Nathan and Raya xx"

When I'm finally done writing the note I slip it underneath the bottle of Echo Falls and wait until Julian and Livvy come home gonna be a long day.