I have read so many comments saying they wanted a chapter about the future so, like the good friend I am, I GIVE YOU A CHAPTER ON THE FUTURE! Ya'll know I will never stop writing this story one way or another hahaha who are we kidding when I say I am done;) ALSO, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Nate takes forever as I wait for him at the top of the stairs.
"Let's go, slowpoke! I only have a few more hours until I have to catch my flight." I spin around and lean against the railing to look sweetly down at him. I can't help but grin as he huffs and puffs, taking one step after the other.
"What have you been doing at that Ivy League of yours? Track?" Nate shakes his head and laughs at himself as he makes it to me.
"I've actually taken up rowing," I tell him with a smile. I flex my newly toned arms before wrapping them around his neck, enjoying the superiority of being one step higher than him.
"Look at you," Nate praises with a crooked grin that makes me lean into him further. "My very own Kate Middleton."
My laugher echos off the concrete walls of Nate's dorm building. I lean down and kiss him soundly on the mouth. He sighs into it which makes me feel light and content.
"Thanks again for staying up late to watch the royal wedding with me." I pull back and look into his eyes. The warm color of them reflects off the yellow lighting in the hallway.
"It really wasn't that bad," Nate confesses, though I know he is lying. He bit his tongue through most of the live feed but I could feel his steady breathing sprinkle across my collarbone as he dozed a few times.
To make up for him falling asleep, though I told him multiple times I didn't care that he had, he snuck me down to the dining hall to steal two ice cream cups in the back. Apparently he is well acquainted with the dining supervisor.
He had joked a few times that she was his only friend here which had worried me at first but that had also been a lighthearted lie. Everywhere we had turned the last few days, people greeted Nate with smiles and waves. He had come rather popular considering he is the first in his year to construct a new outer shell of aluminum to help with take offs on a rocketship.
I kiss him again, tasting the strawberry ice cream on his tongue as he begins to laugh. I pull back and look at him questionably.
"Sorry, it's just--" he chuckles and throws his head back in an alluring way that allows me to see the sharpness of his jawline. "Did you see the girls wearing those veils beside us?" Nate throws his head back again in remembrance of the group of girls that also gathered in the student lounge. "Some even had 'I heart Prince Harry' t-shirts on."
I join in his laughter but only for a moment because I'm still too enamored by my boyfriend of two years as his face lights up with laughter.
We had made it through the first year of being not with each other every second of every day. It had been hard, it still is, but it just made seeing him that much more special. My heart was already fond of him, but now, the saying 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' very much lived up to its name.
It bursts with joy whenever his name pops up on my phone or we make the time to see each other. We still see each other as much as we can, him coming up to New Hampshire when he has a free weekend, and same for me vice versa.
My favorite times were when we had christmas break or Spring break because that's when we got to go home to neutral ground and things felt like the old days where we were just two love sick high schoolers battling the odds.
But things were still good. Great, even. Nate is my one and only and I am his.
"Did you see her start crying when they said their I do's?" I pipe in with a small smile, remembering the poor girl, along with her friends, sobbing at the sight of a fairytale.
Nate nods and his laughter seizes after a few deep breaths. "Do you think people will sob like that at ours?"
I nearly choke on my own spit. I have thought many times about marrying Nate. We have even talked about it a handful of times, daydreaming while laying in each other's beds or drinking our morning coffee. It was a calming thought, the two of us never being separated like we have been over the past year of schooling.
"I bet you will," I joke and catch the blush that settles on his cheeks.
"Yeah because I will be marrying you, how horrible."
I swat his shoulder but Nate catches my palm in his and brings it to his lips, pressing a warm kiss to the center before bringing it to press against his cheek. My heart clenches with love as he pours his soul into my eyes.
"I can't wait to sob uncontrollably at our wedding," he tells me and I about start crying right then and there.
"I don't want to leave tomorrow."
"I know."
"It gets harder every time." I bring my other hand up to his face to press my palm against his other cheek so I am cradling his face.
"Pretty soon we won't have to say goodbye anymore." He stretches his neck so that his lips attach back onto mine.
His kiss is soft and it ignites a fire within my bones, making everything that makes me, me, liquify into a hot mess.
"I love seeing you whenever I get but I still enjoy the sight of waking up next to you everyday."
"Is that the only thing you love?" I bend forward and kissing just under his ear.
Nate hums in the back of his throat and I bite my lip at the sound.
His hands squeeze at my sides making me jump away from him. He smiles, knowing where I am most ticklish.
I swat at his shoulder again and this time he lets me make contact. Nate scrunches his face in mock pain. "Get any stronger and I might be in trouble."
"Better watch yourself, huh?"
"Uh huh."
I take his hand and we continue up to his floor. With it being close to midterms, many students are shut in their room with their faces shoved in their books. But, of course, Nate and I are skirting around the thought of studying, two things we both actually enjoy doing, but would rather be together.
I have tempted a few times to talk myself into transfering to be closer to Nate. Though I loved my school and was beginning to be more involved on the campus, it still bothered me being away from Nate. We had discussed it a few times and everytime Nate was the voice of reason.
He knew I would regret not staying at Dartmouth. It was everything I had worked for and though we would be together, he knew I wouldn't be truly happy. That is why I love him so darn much. He knew me better than I knew myself at times.
A glimpse of red catches my eye as we pass the dorm on the right. "Hey, Molly," I greet and pull Nate to a stop.
She looks up towards my voice and seases fanning her face with her English book. She just so happened to get stuck with a room that has terrible ventilation and requires her to leave her door open for cool air.
"Hey, princess," is her normal greeting. Nate's hand squeezes mine and I try to hold back my laugher after what we just witnessed downstairs. "Heading back to school soon?"
"Yup," I say. "Actually, no. I am going to go home for a day to attend my Dad's lecture on the neurons of the brain and then head back to school. My professor is taking it as extra credit so..."
Molly scoffs but it doesn't make me as angry as what it used to. I have gotten used to her attitude over the years. Nate and her are friends and that was something I would just have to get used to. And I have. In fact, I have sort of grown to enjoy our bantering. It also helps that she is an amazingly good friend to the one that matters most.
Her interfering with Nate and my relationship is now seen as her protecting him and I know that now. She has always had his back and I will always care for her for doing so.
Before I can open my mouth with a come back, a blonde haired girl sneaks passed us. Nate and I move as if in sinc to step out of her way. She smiles softly at us and we both nod back. Molly hops off from her bed, her green eyes round and startled.
"Jordan, hi!" She says a little too loud. Molly's wide eyes roam over to me which surprises me. While the blonde haired Jordan is placing her backpack near her opened window, Molly walks out into the hall. "I'm just gonna be right back..."
"What are you doing?" Nate asks as he side eyes her from where we stand.
"I'm going to barrow your girlfriend really fast," Molly says with frantic eyes.
I look behind me, grasping desperately for Nate, as Molly drags me a few feet down the hall. Nate jerks his thumb down the hall indicating that he is going back to his dorm room. I plead with my eyes for him to stay or help me but he winks and I pout.
"What do I do?" Molly asks out of nowhere. At first, I wonder if she was talking and I had missed it by mentally summoning Nate back with my mind.
"What do you mean?"
Molly rolls her eyes which makes me do the same. "Jordan," she simply implies like that should explain something. I continue to look at her like she is speaking another language. When it clicks, I awe in realization that she likes this Jordan and wants me to tell her how to get with her.
Huh. Interesting.
This girl has the brains of freaking Einstein and here she was asking me love advice? I begin to laugh.
"Shut up," Molly mumbles, slightly aggravated. "Forget it."
"No, no, no," I add, lightly pulling her back towards me. "I'm sorry." I try making my face solemn but Molly can tell that I am fighting laughter and she rolls her eyes again. But before she can stomp back down the hallway, I say, "Does this Jordan, um, like girls as well?"
"I wouldn't be discussing this with you unless I knew that for sure, now would I?"
"I don't know," I honestly answer. "So where did you meet her?"
"Why does that matter, Kelly?"
I sigh in aggravation and look around her down the hallway to where Nate had wandered off to his room. I can see a bright light flickering underneath his door indicating he was playing video games.
"Are we done here?" I ask in a bored tone. I would take watching Nate's face scrunch up in concentration and his eyes come alive at the screen over this overly defensive girl any day.
"I met her during orientation," Molly says in a rush as I begin to walk away from her. I walk back and see the instant embarrassment on her cheeks. "We study together sometimes."
"Study together or study together?" I can't stop the smile from stretching across my face. It only grows when her mouth falls open and she tries smacking my shoulder. I dodge it with a bark of a laugh.
She shushes me. "How does Nate put up with you?" She asks, but there is humor in her tone.
"Maybe the same way he puts up with you," I retort, looking at her from the side of my eye.
Molly grins and shuffles her feet on the short cut carpet. "You know, for what it's worth, I'm glad you two worked it out after he found out about... You know."
Just the topic makes my mouth taste like acid.
"I mean that," she adds with a look down the hall. "You two work well together."
"We do," I say in a small voice, my eyes following hers. Just then Nate's door swings open and he looks down the hall at us. His eyes are slightly worried when they connect with mine. I smile convincingly at him.
He is now wearing a pair of plaid white and grey draw pants and a MIT t-shirt. My eyes rake down his body tauntingly slow. I simply can't help it. He notices and smirks slightly, the little mole beside his mouth twitching upward.
"Everything good out here?" He asks but stays in his doorway as if for protection.
"Yup," I answer mildly too cheerful. Of course, he notices and the crease on his forehead increase. "I'll be there in a sec."
His eyes tick back to Molly and she huffs. "Chill out, Romeo. I'll return your woman in a minute. Girl talk." When he remains motionless she shoos him away. "Run along, now."
"One minute," I mouth to him when Molly turns her back and starts to pace.
He nods once and mouths back, "Hurry up." I wink at him and try hard to focus on the task at hand. The faster I can get Molly to calm down and go back to her dorm the faster I can get back to Nate's.
"Alright, Molly," I say with confidence. "My game plan is, you go for it and see where it plays out."
Molly stops walking back and forth and looks at me through her pale lashes. "Just go for it. That's what you got for me?"
I mentally contemplate turning around and locking myself in Nate's room but something tells me that Molly must be freaking out about this Jordan girl if she is discussing this with me out of all people.
"That's sort of what I did with Nate." I shrug.
"Yeah but you also have the confidence of Cleopatra."
"And you have the brain of Susan B. Anthony. You can do this, Molly. Just be yourself. And let her know how you feel."
She thinks this over for a moment and the seconds of not being with Nate chinks at my nerves.
"Okay, princess." Molly sighs again and wrings her hands in front of her. "I swear to God, if this ends badly I'm cutting off every inch of that blonde hair of yours."
"Duly noted." I'm not really listening because I am already walking back down the hall towards his closed door. But before I go inside, I watch Molly take a few deep breaths and walk back into her room where her study buddy awaits.
Just incase this Jordan does turn her down, I lock Nate's door along with place his computer chair in front of it. Nate doesn't notice because his eyes are on television screen where Call of Duty rings out with shots.
"What was that about?" He asks, his fingers pressing harshly into the multiple buttons of the controller.
"I will let you know when I wrap my head around it." I slip down next to him on the floor and lay my head on his shoulder. He pauses his video game and switches it to a movie. "You don't have to stop playing," I tell him and tilt my face up to his.
He shrugs and kisses the top of my nose. "I can play when you're not here."
I frown at that. I hated being reminded of our surely departure. I turn my attention to the movie on the tv that I am unofficiated with.
"Kelly?" Came Nate's voice over the hushed words of a man barking orders to a kitchen staff.
I hum and grip my arms tighter around him. There's a beat where Nate doesn't respond and for a second I am afraid that he chickened on on saying whatever he was planning to say.
"I have something for you."
Excitement and curiosity surges through me and I sit up. "Oh, yeah? And what is that?"
Nate reaches behind him with one arm, the other still wrapped tightly around my waist, and opens up his bedside table. I raise my eyes at him when he returns with a velvety black box. I am afraid that if I open my mouth to something I would start to hyperventilate.
I love him. I know that and everyone around me knows that my heart, brain, and soul belongs to this boy but if that is what I think it is...
"Before you start to freak out, no, it is not a ring. I don't have enough money for that right now." Nate is watching me closely and his cheeks become redder with every passing second. He holds it out for me to take. "But I do want you to wear something that makes you think of me. And also, even though I trust you wholeheartedly, I don't trust those Dartmouth boys with their polos and slicked back preppy boy hair." He makes a sheepish face which calms my nerves and makes me smile. "And because I love you," he adds as if I don't already know that.
I open the black velvet box hauntingly slow as if the universe was going to explode out of it and I needed to contain it the best that I could. Inside laid a small rose gold pendant with a crystalized "N" in the center. The circumference of the necklace was surrounded by diamond stars.
Like I normally am when I look up at the night sky, I am lost for words. It is so beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the boy sitting beside me, appraising me with his eyes for my approval.
"It's beautiful," I tell him, unwrapping the piece of jewelry out of the box. "Put it on me, please?"
I turn around and Nate gingerly takes the gift from me and moves my hair off and away from my shoulders. Once it is snapped into place, I know that I will never take it off. I lift it up off my chest to admire it from this view.
"You like it?" He asks while pressing his hand against my hair as if admiring the soft tendrils as I am my new necklace.
"I love it, Nate. Thank you. I am never taking it off. Not ever." I lean back down and kiss his perfect lips. Our lips work in sync, relishing in the warmth we both promote. It doesn't take long for our bodies to heat up from the closeness of one another.
"I feel like I should brand you in some way now," I say with my lips close to his ear. I latch my lips onto the sensitive skin on his neck. A shiver racks through his body but he pulls away as if something settles wrongly with him.
"I am not branding you by giving you that necklace, Kelly." He doesn't look mad just deeply worried about what I think this necklace says about him. "I just saw it in a store back home and thought it would look nice on you. I can return it and get you a "K" if you like."
This boy never fails to show me how much of a wonderful human being he is. I instantly feel guilty for my wording. "I am joking, Nathaniel." I feather my fingers across his pink stained cheeks and feel his breath leaving his nostrils as I do so. "And anyway, there's something extremely sexy about having your initials around my neck. I would even get your name tattooed on my forehead but I'm thinking about how gawdy that would look in our future wedding photos."
Nate laughs, a breathy sounds that makes me think he was holding his breath for my answer. He twists his mouth and kisses my palm again. "Maybe I will tattoo your name on me. Like," he lifts his t-shirt sleeve up and looks at his soft, bare, skin there, "maybe your name on my bicep."
"Ooh, in a big heart. With an arrow through it," I add while touching the spot on his arm. A sudden giddiness fills me even though it is a silly idea and I would never allow him to blemish his beautifully innocent skin.
The way Nate looks down at me, with a light in his eyes that tells me he doesn't need ink to know that I have tattooed myself on him for life, slightly cracks my heart only because it feels like I would need another one just to contain the overflow of what I feel for him.
"You love it?" He asks again.
I kiss his still slightly heated cheek. "Very much. I can't wait to show it off to Britney." Britney is my roommate who Nate always cringes about when I tell him about how she is always kicking me out of our dorm room for her nightly hookups with her boyfriend. He will never admit it, but he loves when I girl talk with him. "She will eat her heart out."
He seems proud to hear that and kisses my forehead once more before settling back down on the floor to watch the television screen.
I may be leaving him tomorrow for another month before Christmas break, but at least now I will have a little piece of him with me no matter where I go. And that was enough for me.
Until that box holds our forever.