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Dedicated to Fallingstars99. I feel like you will like this chapter.
*****
Nathan's POV
"Are you feeling better?" Emma asked when I finally aproached her. She was facing away from me but turned around once she heard me getting closer.
"I do." I answered "I didn't know exactly how it would feel being here, but I feel releaved now."
She gave me a small smile "That's good."
I continued "It was like I couldn't stop talking once I started. It feels now like a weight has lifted off of my chest. I should have done this long ago but I was a coward."
"You weren't a coward Nate. Loss is a difficult thing to handle."
"I guess I never wanted to admit that he really is gone."
"People only die when we forget about them. As long as you keep him in your head and heart he will always be alive." She said placing her hand on my arm.
I placed my hand over hers "Thank you for being here today."
She shook her head "I didn't do anything. I literally just stood here."
"It was nice knowing you were here."
"Then I'm glad I could be of help." She said with a smile before taking her hand off my arm. "How about we have a real celebration now?"
"Real how?"
She bit her bottom lip "We could go back to your apartment and I could cook for us."
I raised an eyebrow at her "You cooking? Aren't I a little young to die?
She punched my arm "Rude."
I chuckled. I love Emma and all but she can't cook to save her life. "You can't be serious about cooking,"
She rossed her arm and a cute frown made its way on her face "Fine. Be like that."
I chuckled at how cute she looked while trying to come off as mad.
I couldn't pass up an oportunity to be alone with Emma so I made an offer I knew she couldn't say no to. "How about we go back to my place and cook together? Or even better, we could order something and save my apartment from being burned to ashes."
The frown on her face was replaced by a big smile now "Alright."
The ride back to my place was not as tense as the ride to the cemetary felt like for me. After visiting my father's grave I felt as If I wasn't able to breath until now but I hadn't realized that.
I had a good feeling inside and I knew that I needed to let my mother know how I felt about visiting dad. She'd be happy to know that I went there today.
I made a mental note to call her later or drive to stay there the night.
Once I pulled up outside my apartment I realized that today, being alone with Emma, I could actually take advantage of it and make a move.
Take advantage... okay that sounded wrong.
We got inside my building and made our way to the elevator.
"I can't believe you'd want to poison me on my birthday." I teased her once we got inside and rode up to my floor.
She narrowed her eyes at me "I'm not that bad at cooking. I can make spaghetti."
"It's not exactly the ideal meal for a birthday celebration, don't you think?" I asked getting out of the elevator and heading to my door. I took the keys out of my pocket.
"You'd be lucky if I didn't poison you. You're being mean to me."She crossed her arms over her chest. "I should leave right now actually and let you spend your birthday alone."
She began to turn around but I was quick enough to grab her by the waist and bring her back to me "Nah ah ah." I said with a chuckle "You're not going anywhere."
I placed her infront of me, her back facing me while she was facing the door. My left hand was wrapped around her waist keeping her close to me and with the right one I unlocked the door.
I pushed her inside slightly and she chuckled. My hand found the light switch and I turned the lights on.
"SURPRISE!!"
Right in the middle of my living room stood James, Chris, Stella, Demi, Charlotte and my mom. My mom was holding a birthday cake while James and Chris were holding a sign that read "Happy Birthday Nate."
"You guys." I said with a smile "What's all this?" I turned to Emma "You knew about that didn't you."
"Of course I did." She said with a grin
I walked towards the guys and my mom. The started singing the happy birthday song to me as if I were five years old and from the corner of my eye I saw Demi video taping the whole thing with her phone.
I blew up the candles and Stella took the cake from my mom's hands.
I hugged my mom "You didn't need to do all of this. Seriously."
"Happy brthday. And hush, of course we did. 21 is a big deal." My mom said with a smile and I nodded.
I gave both James and Chris a man hug and thanked them for the suprise. The gilrs including my mom made their way to my kitchen and we threw ourselves on a couch.
"So" James started "We heard some giggling before you guys came in. Did we cock block you or something?" He asked with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes but still smiled "Shut up man."
They totally did but I won't complain, not today.
Emma's POV
"I have to talk to you." Stella mouthed when my eyes fell on her. All color lost from her face and a nervous expression had replaced her ususal cheerful one.
"Yeah I'll take you to the bathroom Stel. Come on, follow me." I said with a smile and a little louder "Excuse us for a sec."
Mrs S, Demi and Charlotte nodded and made their way to the living room while carying the pieces of cake.
I gave Stella a curious expression but took her to where Nate's bathroom was. We got inside and I closed the door behind us.
"What's wrong?"
Stella sat on the end of the bathtub and ran a hand through her hair. "I... uhm, I-"
"Stella spit it out already."
She muttered something that I couldn't make out while looking at the floor " Excuse me, what?"
"I said Chris kissed me." She hissed blushing.
My eyes widened "What?"
"Be a little louder, will ya?"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I apologised quickly "You just surprised me. What happened?" I sat on the toilet seat after closing it.
"He kissed me."
"Yeah I got that Stel, mind sharing a little more information than that?"
She sighed "You know how you said we should all be here by 1 right?" I nodded and she continued "Well, Demi was hanging out with Alex like usual so she was at our place and when James was living he took her with him so they could pick up Charlotte. I took a little more time at the pool today and James said he had to set up and that he would run out of time if he came to pick me up so he had Chris pick me up."
"Ookay." I said "And?"
"And he was being his usual self, a pain in the ass, mocking me and everything. But when we got inside the elevator to get here, I was just calling him a jerk and saying that shouldnt't talk to me if all he can do is be a rude asshole and he just kissed me." She said before getting up.
She started walking back and forth into the bathroom "He kissed me Emma, he fucking kissed me."
I got up as well "S..."I said but she didn't stop " Stel, calm down." I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me "Take a deep breath in and stop trying to dig a hole on the floor."
She took a breath "It was my first kiss Emma."
"I know" I said with a frown
"And he just walked out when the elevator stopped. He didn't say a word. He hasn't even looked at me since we got here."
"Stella... do you like him?"
She shrugged her shoulders "I don't know. I guess I thought he was just annoying until now. I never looked at him that way and now he just comes and kisses me and screws up everything."
I hugged her, rubbing her back "Guys have that ability love. They screw up everything."
"I know " She mumbled
I pulled away and looked at her "Is he at least a good kisser?"
She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to stop herself from smiling. She rolled her eyes "Unfortunately."
"Hm, that makes it worse."
"I know" She rolled her eyes.
"Let's just go out there and pretend like everything is okay. Don't give him the satisfaction to see that he got to you. Pretend like nothing happened until he's the one who talks about it. If he does say something about it, it means he's thinking about it."
"You're right. I won't let him get to me."
"That's the spirit. Show him who's the boss." I winked at her.
~A week later~
"A tournament in Philly?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
I was in the play room at Stella's house with James and Nate waiting for her to get ready so we could grab some coffee. Nate just told me about a boxing tournament his coach insists he should go to.
"Yeah... I'm still debating. I'm not sure if I wanna go or not." He said resting on the pool stick letting James play.
"I say go." James said after hitting a pool ball, missing the hole in the mean time. He muttered a few curse words at his bad luck.
"I agree." I said shrugging my shoulders " You're good. We all know you're good. Why not go? When is it?"
"I have to let them know if I'm going or not by Wednesday. If I go I should leave on Thursday and be back on Sunday or Monday." He said
"You should go. It's a good chance, plus classes haven't started yet. Go have some fun."
"You do realize that we're talking about me getting beaten up, right?" He asked me bending down and getting ready to hit the next colored ball.
I grinned "See? That's what I'm talking about... Fun."
Stella barged into the room breathing heavily "I'm ready, I'm ready." She said trying to catch her breath
"Took you long enough." I said smirking "I'm kidding." I assured her and then turned to the guys "Let me know what you decide okay?" Nate nodded "Later guys." I said before Stella dragged me out
"You have to be fucking kidding me." I said sitting down next to Demi and facing Stella "Still nothing?" Stella's still expecting a sign from Chris. What an idiot!
"Nope." Stella said "Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. He comes in the house and acts like I don't exist."
"Maybe he's afraid of facing you...or James." Demi said
"Then he's a coward." I butted in rolling my eyes and turned to her "He kissed her."
"I know." Demi started "But, don't guys have a code...like they can't date their friend's sister or something?"
"You know what?" Stella exclaimed "He's an idiot, I'm not wasting my time on him. He wanted to mess with me and he did. Yay him." she mocked rolling her eyes "I'm done."
Damn it, she's hurt.
Why do guys have to be so complicated?
"Emma..." Nate demanded on the phone "Get your lazy ass out of the bed and come help me!"
I turned to my side and pulled my pillow closer to me keeping my phone on my ear "It's packing Nate, I think you can do it on your own."
He sighed "I can... But I also wanna see you and say goodbye."
Okay, my heart did not just skip a beat. Nope, totally normal beating.
"I'll be gone for 4 to 5 days, won't you miss me?"
More than you need to know
"I think I'll survive." I mumbled
"Emma." He insisted
"Fine, Give me an hour, I'll be there." I said before hanging up.
This guy will be the death of me.
After getting out of bed I threw on a pair of jean shorts a black bra, a white shirt with one shoulder out and a pair of sandals. I straightened my hair a little and put on some maskara and concealer.
I grabbed my purse and headphones and walked out of my dorm.
30 minutes later I was ringing the doorbell at Nate's place. A couple seconds later the door opened revealing Nate.
"Good morning" He said with a smirk letting me walk past him. He closed the door behind me and followed me further inside his appartent.
Winston wiggled his tail and walked up to me, I smiled and petted him "Now there's someone I'm happy to see."
"Now that's a lie, and you know it." Nate mocked my tone and I could tell he was smirking without looking at him. The tone of his voice was giving away the teasing mood he was in.
What sucked though, was the fact that I was indeed lying. I wanted to see him before he left and a small part of me was happy that he admitted that he wanted to see me too.
I don't even know what me and Nate are, I have feelings for him that are far from friendly, I like him but I don't know if he feels the same. And as far as I'm concerned he's not the commitment kind of guy either.
I hadn't realized I was still petting Winston while being deep into thought until Nate tapped me on my shoulder "You okay there?"
I sat up straighter "Yeah, just zoned out. Lack of sleep I guess." I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him .
He returned teh smile "Come on, I have coffee ready in the kitchen."
A few minutes later Nate and I walked into his room where I was greated by a huge, and I mean HUGE mess. Clothes were scattered all over the room and his suitcase was laying on his bed.
"Since when are you a girl?" I asked with a smirk
"Shut up, that's why I called you. I'm not good at this folding and shit." He said putting his cup on his nightstand.
"Alright alright. Let's get this mess under control." I said putting down my cup too.
An hour later we had managed to both pack Nate's things for the trip and tidy his room. The ass could have done all that by himself but he finds pleasure in torturing me.
"What time is your flight?" I asked when Nate placed my feet on his lap after sitting on the couch
"At four." He said flipping through the channels of his TV.
I checked the watch on my wrist and got up "I should get going then."
He looked up at me "What? Why?"
"Because it's noon, you need to get ready, eat and go to the airport. I'll do some grocery shopping and head back to my dorm."
"Okay" He got up "Let me walk you to the elevator."
I was ready to tell him that it wasn't necessary and that I was pefectly capable of showing myself out but Nate had already grabbed his keys and headed to the front door.
Okay then.
Once we were standing right where the elevator door was, Nate pulled me in for a tight hug.
I was surpsised by his sudden move which showed affection, hugging me was something he hasn't done since I had come back from the trip to my home town.
It felt nice being in his arms, but that wasn't something new. Being hugged by Nate always made me feel calm and safe.
I didn't let myself get too carried away.
"Try not to get your ass kicked, okay?" I mumbled tightening my grip on his waist. I quietly inhaled his scent.
He chuckled "I'll try to throw more punches than I receive, I promise." The grip around me loosened and we pulled away. Nate's arms rested on my waist and we just looked at eachother. There was something about his gaze that made it almost impossible to look away.
One of his hands made its way close to my face but went past me and he pressed the button behind me to call the elevator to the top floor. He then tugged a piece of hair behind my ear. "I'll see you when I get back, okay?"
The fact that he was standing so close to me made it hard for me to talk so I just nodded.
None of us pulled away, we stood there, waiting for the elevator to get to the 11th floor, standing too close to eachother.
Why aren't you pulling away Nate? Move, do something, I can't stand this.
His eyes were still looking into mine, as if trying to read me.
No, don't try to read my mind now, because all I want you to do is k-
My trail of thoughts stopped completelly when Nate's lips captured mine and I never thought it was possible for a human heart to beat this fast.
His kiss was identifying, it was slow, almost as if he was waiting for my reaction.
I just breathed in and kissed him back wrapping my arms around his neck.
I gave him access to my mouth right away and I felt his tongue grazing mine, sending chills down my body.
Oh my God, why haven't we done this before?
Both his hands were holding me close to him by the waist.
The ring of the elevator which arrived and opened right behind me made us pull away.
Still dazed by the kiss I managed to get some words out "I-I...Uhm -Have a nice trip."
I-I...Uhm- Have a nice trip. Did I seriously just say that?
Stuttering Emma? Why don't you fall on his feet too?
Nate smiled.
I walked into the elavator but Nate held the door open pressing the button and grabbed my arm pulling me close once again. His hand went around my neck and he pulled me in for another kiss. It was quicker but it was enough to mess with my thoughts once again. I felt him smile through the kiss.
He pulled away and pressed the button of the first floor without saying a word, he then walked out and waited for the elevator doors to close.
The doors started closing and I snapped out of how mesmerized I was from both his kisses. "Wait." I exclaimed stopping the doors with the 'hold' button. Nate loooked at me with a curious expression on his face "We need to talk when you get back. We seriously need to talk."
His face softened and he smiled "We will. I promise."
I nodded and let the doors close.
What did just happen?
*****
Ah, you kissed that's what happened dear Emma.
So yeah, that happened. Throughts on Nate and Emma finally kissing?
I know, I liked writing it.