"It's only almost ten pm, the perfect time to start a date. Now that we're married of course." Nathaniel says chuckling softly. "So, would you like to go on a date with me?"
I raise my eyebrow slightly. "Did you come ready for a date?" I ask, looking at his clothes. He wore a white Ralph Lauren shirt and a black pair of jeans. His hair was sleekly pushed back letting a string of hair fall onto his forehead. "Because you sure do look good." I say with a light smile. "Unlike me, I can't go on a date looking like this." I say rolling my eyes.
"You came to a party looking like that?" Nathaniel says shaking his head. "Beside, you look beautiful. You always do." Nathaniel places a hand on top of mine.
"I'm wearing jeans and a sweater, I didn't come dressed for a party Nathan, I came dressed for the arcade." I say grinning sheepishly at my clothes.
"And yet, you look better than any girl who came dressed for a party." Nathaniel says with a soft smile.
I purse my lips together, forming a small smile I let out a breathy laugh. "I've missed you." I say falling back into the seat. "But yes I accept your request for a date." I say with an excited tone. "You may start to try winning me back now." I say chuckling.
Nathaniel chuckles pushing away from his seat and closer to mine. "Oh I plan to."
*
"This?" I say frowning. "We traveled three hours for this?" I say exhaustedly, as I stare at the forest looking field in front of me. "What even is this?"
Nathaniel rolls his eyes looking down at me. "Patience my wife." Nathaniel says teasing. "You'll love it."
"It's all muddy." I groan while we walk through the field. "Did it rain or something?" I say looking around the field, water drops were lingering on the leaves of the branches above us.
"Think it did."
"Great. My white converses are going to get dirty." I mutter as we trek through the grass into the woods.
"It's here somewhere." Nathaniel says under his breath, looking around the area. "We're almost there, don't worry." Nathaniel says intertwining his fingers with mine. I smile as I look at our hands clasped together, maybe we didn't need two weeks to be alright again.
"Take as long as you want, these converses are already ruined." I mutter, rolling my eyes.
"We can just chuck 'em in the washing machine, babe." Nathaniel says giving me a cheesy smile.
"Shut up." I say with a breathy laugh. "It's like one am, is this safe?" I ask nervously, looking at my surroundings, the sky was a midnight blue with stars scattered everywhere shining light down to us. The grass was cut low so I could see what we were walking on with my phone's torch on.
"I think so? Nothing bad ever happens in North Carolina." Nathaniel shrugs. "The trees do look pretty creepy." Nathaniel says pointing at the tree beside us with his head. It looked extremely scary, this place was full of old trees.
"Remember if anything happens, like anything bad, what's the first thing you should do?" I say tensely as we carry on walking through the woods.
"Urm... run?" Nathaniel says looking down at me.
"What?" I hiss, squirming. "No, you save me, you put me first and then you can do whatever you like." I shake my head, barging him slightly, humorously.
"Oh yeah, gotta put you first, always." Nathaniel nods firmly. "Sorry, forgot, 'cause you know, these last few days I've been alone, I guess I got used to putting myself first, 'cause you weren't there, you know." Nathaniel says looking at me with a slight smirk.
I laugh, shaking my head. "That's not funny." I roll my eyes. "And that's not the way to prove you still want me." I say with a tight smile.
"Well, how about this?" Nathaniel says pointing across from us. I move my gaze from his face to where he was pointing. "Linville falls, baby." Nathaniel chuckles excitedly, he jogs down the hill we were on, pulling me along.
In awe at the view, I remain silent feeling exhausted from the overwhelming feeling of excitement. "Holy shit." I say exhaling.
"This is no waterfall in a hidden beach in Mexico, but it's the closest one to our campus." Nathaniel says with his voice slightly deflated.
"Are you kidding me? This is everything, Nathan." I say smiling from eye to eye. "It's beautiful." I laugh as I skip down the hill trying to get to the waterfall.
"I know you always wanted to see a waterfall when we went on our honeymoon, but we didn't exactly have one." Nathaniel says chuckling slightly, skipping down the hill with me.
As we get closer to the waterfall, I start to watch my steps as the rocks were wet from the water. We hop from one rock to another as not all rocks were attached. "Thank you." I say with an appreciative smile. I watch the water stream through the rocks as I walk closer to the waterfall.
"Let's go under?" I say excitedly, my smiling not leaving my lips.
"Sure." Nathaniel says taking his shirt off. "I got you extra clothes so don't mind about getting these wet, and there are towels too in the car." Nathaniel says as he folds his shirt neatly and places them on the rock.
I scoff. "Really, Nathan? You're even folding your shirt?" I say furrowing my brows at him.
He nods, taking his timberlands off. "The shirt and the shoes are new." Nathaniel says rolling his eyes and placing his shirt on top of his shoes so they don't touch the floor. He takes his trousers off leaving him in his shorts.
"How come you get to take your clothes off." I huff, narrowing my eyes at the water.
"I didn't say you couldn't." Nathaniel smirks walking closer to me.
"You think anyone would come?" I ask, chewing on the insides of my cheeks.
Nathaniel shrugs. "I doubt it, it's almost two am. You'd be crazy to come out here at this time." Nathaniel says with a half smile.
"I guess we're crazy." I laugh, taking my hijab and jeans off, leaving my sweater on. The weather was warm, thankfully, but I couldn't say the same for the water. Stepping on the wet rocks barefoot brought shivers to my spine.
"You're going to leave your sweater on?" Nathaniel asks as he looks at the waterfall.
"Yeah, don't really feel comfortable taking it off." I say shrugging, walking closer to where the river starts and there are no rocks.
"Why? I'm your husband, you know." Nathaniel teases over the sound of rushing water.
I laugh. "Yes, I know." I roll my eyes. "Not 'cause of you." I say shrugging. "Maybe when I'm in the water, I'll feel more comfortable." I say looking at him a playful smile, clutching my stomach feeling slightly nervous at how dark it was with just sparks of lights scattered around the river.
I look down at my stomach which had gotten noticeable now if it weren't covered by anything baggy, there was no way I'd take my sweater off and let my ball-shaped belly be exposed.
"Oh, trust me you will." Nathaniel chuckles lightly, jogging to the tip of the rock that led to the river, he jumps into the water whilst cheering.
"Wait for me!" I yell over the rushing water, whilst slipping into the river.
*
"This is nice." I say sitting on the rocks below the cave while watching the waterfall from above the cave hitting the rocks and flicking back on us.
"If it wasn't so far, this could totally replace our riverside." Nathaniel says with a soft smile, running his fingers through the water by his side.
I shake my head. "Nothing could replace the riverside." I nod firmly. "Don't get me wrong, I love this place, but the riverside will always be home." I say softly, thinking about all the memories we made in that place.
"You're right." Nathaniel says getting up from the rock and jumping into the water. He dips his head inside the water for a few seconds before jumping back up gasping for air.
I slip off the rock and join him inside the water. I run my hands through his wet hair. "I didn't realise how long your hair has gotten."
"Going to cut it tomorrow." Nathaniel nods. "How do you think I should cut it?" Nathaniel asks running his hand through his hair, looking down at me with a half smile.
I shrug. "Maybe trim a little off the top and clean the sides up a little because they've kind of grown." I reply.
"What if I went bald, you'd still find me handsome?" Nathaniel says wriggling his eyebrows.
I furrow my eyebrows and pull a face. "Hell no." I hissed, shaking my head with laughter escaping my lips. "I'm just joking, you'd actually suit it." I say looking at his head and nodding in approval.
"Then I shall shave it all off." Nathaniel nods firmly.
"What?" I hiss. "No." I shake my head. "Don't cut your hair off." I roll my eyes barging him.
He laughs barging me back softly. "I'm just kidding." He says chuckling, flipping over to his back and swimming on his back.
Carefully, I pull up onto the rock again and sit comfortably, making sure I don't hurt my stomach or anything.
"So, how's school, everything going smoothly?" I ask as I watch Nathaniel float on his back. He turns over and swims closer to me.
"It's alright, missed a few classes so Sam helped me get back on track." Nathaniel nods to himself with a small smile. "Been a good friend while you weren't here, took forever to catch up on everything I missed after I disappeared for a while when you left." Nathaniel shrugs, resting his face on his arms that were placed on the rocks.
"And let me guess, she was there through dawn to dusk by your side, helping you get on track of everything?" I say bitterly, clenching onto my jaws.
"Why are you getting angry for?" Nathaniel says pushing up onto the rock and sits beside me.
"Why are you still talking to her?" I shrug. "She was the reason we decided to take a break, and you're still talking to her?" I say furrowing my brows in anger.
"I never said you can't hang out with Tobias, so why are you wanting me to stop talking to Sam?" Nathaniel says rising his voice.
"Do you really think Tobias is a threat to you?" I hiss.
"And you think Sam is?" Nathaniel scoffs.
I cock my head to an angle, letting out a sarcastic laugh. "You know why I was always special to you Nathan?" I say shaking my head at him. "I was the first girl you opened up too without you feeling like you needed to hold back and take your time." I shrug. "But now Sam is also another one of those girls, so does that still make me special?" I say feeling hurt, slipping into the water.
"Of course you're special, you always will be. Why would you even ask me that?" Nathaniel yells as I push further away from the waterfall trying to swim back to the grass.
I stop swimming and turn around to face Nathaniel who was still on rocks under the waterfall. "Because the last girl you opened up to like that, you fell in love with her and married her!" I yell, with tears streaming down my eyes. Full of anger, I swim back to where our clothes were.
***
"So you guys sat in silence for three hours?" Cassie says trying to hold her laughter back.
I roll my eyes, gritting my teeth. "I thought about calling for an uber, but then I remembered I have about twenty dollars in my account." I say growling and falling onto the bed.
"I'm sorry you're having to deal with this, I hope things get easier, Asi." Cassie says sympathetically, squeezing my hand.
"Me too." I huff, snuggling into Cassie's bed.
"Don't worry, I told my brother to get us pizza, we can have a girls and baby's day in?" Cassie says excitedly, jumping off her bed and to her drawer pulling out a pair of nighties for me.
"It's eleven am, we're having pizza now?" I say furrowing my brows.
"Hell yeah." Cassie says chucking me the nighties. "I haven't eaten breakfast, plus I'm feeling quite down from the whole Jacob thing, I need to take my mind off things." Cassie shrugs, jumping into the bed as I change.
I nod tightly with a soft smile on my face. "Then pizza in the morning it is." I laugh. "What movie are we watching?" I ask, folding my clothes and putting it in her drawer.
"Divergent? It's the only DVD I have." Cassie says chuckling, as she passes me the video.
I roll my eyes. "Hell no, this is the first movie we watched together and Nathan called me for the first time." I say pouting, reminiscing to when things were so much easier.
"Well have you got Netflix?" She asks, moving to the side of her bed so there was room for me in it.
I nod. "Yeah, just link it through my phone." I say, passing her my phone.
She nods and unlocks my phone. "You have a whole load of messages which you haven't even opened from Nathan." Cassie says slowly, biting on her lips nervous that I may get angry for bringing him up.
I shrug, getting into the bed. "I'm not going to respond until he understands why I'm mad, he's just so stupid." I say shaking my head. "God, he was never this damn stupid." I roll my eyes and clench my jaws.
"Yeah but when you guys were friends, you only knew his friend side, now you're married you're witnessing his husband side, the way he is in a relationship, nothing could have prepared you for that because you guys never acted like anything but friends." Cassie shrugs. "You know, you can never know all of someone until they show it, and he never showed that side before 'cause he never had the chance."
"I get it." I say quietly, frowning.
"If you had known he'd be like this, would you have married him?" Cassie asks as she connects Netflix to the T.V.
"Yes." I say in a heartbeat, almost sounding defensive, like the thought of ever not marrying Nathaniel was the worst thing in the world, maybe it was.
"Well then there's your answer." Cassie bounces her eyebrows. "Do everything you can to make sure he doesn't leave for some other girl, who isn't even that cute by the way." Cassie rolls her eyes, pulling a face.