Secrets and Stolen Kisses

19

m a d e l y n

Nate and I had been back together for a week and two days. I'd told my parents about it, and my mom said she saw it coming. She told me that she and Quinn had been hypothesizing for a while. My dad said he was okay with it too as long as I was happy and with someone he trusted. Who more to trust than the guy he watched grow up alongside me?

We were going to the beach, but I made Nate promise me that we weren't going in the water because it was already starting to get cold and I really didn't want to freeze. He said okay.

I was enjoying my time relaxing on the sand while my boyfriend was a few feet away, playing catch with this little kid he made friends with who I would guess was about the same age as Jake. Every once in a while, Nate would turn to me and smile, and I would give him a thumbs up.

"Wanna see if you can catch me?" he walked over to my spot after a while and extended a hand out.

With a hand trying to block the sun in the sky, I looked up at him. "You really think I can't?"

He shrugged smugly. "I do need to sneak a little cardio in before my game tomorrow."

"What do I get if I win?" I wondered, accepting his hand to pull me up.

"You can brag about it to Archer," he laughed.

Nate had always been the fastest runner of the three of us, and I was always the slowest. If I caught him, it was probably because he let me, but a win's a win, right? Besides, Archer would be livid if he found out.

"Deal," as soon as the word escaped my mouth, Nate started to sprint away from me, leaving me stunned for a second before I realized what was happening and I chased after him.

We bobbed and weaved through the few people enjoying their time at the beach. I was probably ten feet away from Nate at the beginning, but the distance was slowly growing the more we ran.

"Nathaniel, I'm gonna catch you!" I screamed at him as he glanced back at me and winked. "Don't be so smug!"

"Never!" was his battle cry, continuing to run past kids trying to build sandcastles and parents doting over them.

I was starting to get tired when I noticed him start to slow down, so I ran as fast as I could to catch up before he stopped completely. We both fell on the sand, laughing, when I ran at him screaming at the top of my lungs and tackled him.

"Does that count?" I turned my head to him, still not finished laughing.

"Sure, baby," he chuckled, kissing my forehead before sitting up.

"Something wrong?" I furrowed my eyebrows after sitting up, noticing that he had a look on his face.

He shook his head. "Nothing, I just twisted my foot a little, just have to wiggle it around a bit."

"Are you sure?" I worried. "You have a game tomorrow, maybe we should go to the hospital to get you checked out. Just to be safe."

"I'll be fine, Mimi," he assured me. "I promise."

I helped him up. "Here, lean on me and don't put too much pressure on your foot."

"It's okay, I swear," he reiterated. "I just have to walk it off."

"Fine, but you tell me if it doesn't stop hurting, got it?" I decided.

"Sure," he nodded, walking alongside me back to our towel. "I think I saw someone selling pretzels, you wanna get some? I'm sure they have one without nuts."

We picked our stuff up and agreed to get some pretzels on the way back to the car. I snuck in a cute picture as we walked when I noticed Nate was holding my hand. I'd accidentally taken it with Nate's phone since it was at the top of my bag, so he claimed it as his.