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Everything happens for a reason.
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Dinner is announced and we all make our way outside to a marquee (outside tent) that has been set up for everyone to have dinner in. Each table has nametags on them and I find mine near the front of the room along with the rest of my family's and the girls.
"Hell yes, a whole dinner without sitting at the same table as my parents? Fucking score," Courtney whispers to us as we take our seats.
"Double swear jar for saying two bad words," Maddie tries to whisper, but the excitement in her voice overpowers the quiet.
"That is not fair, I didn't know you were there," Courtney whines, pulling out a twenty and hand it over. Maddie's eyes widen in mischief but all she does is nod her head and walk over to her chair.
Olivia's mouth is open in shock as she gestures to Maddie skipping to the other side of the round table. "What is wrong with you? The swear jar is only five dollars per bad word! You just gave her double the money for it," Olivia complains to Courtney, with wide eyes, outraged.
"I didn't have change," Courtney shrugs nonchalantly.
"I would have driven to a gas station just to get change, you are ridiculous," Olivia hisses at her.
"Where's Seb?" Quinn asks as she sits down in her designated seat, Lilly following closely behind.
Olivia gestures to the very front of the room next to, what looks like, the main table filled with Nathan's relatives. "He's upfront with the rest of the team, they have their own table."
"More importantly, where have you been? We have been looking for you for over an hour," Courtney scolds her, standing up from her chair to hug Lilly tightly.
"We got stuck with Mrs. Layden, she wouldn't let us leave, and she was a lot meaner than usual," Quinn groans, leaning her head-on Lilly's shoulder.
"Yeah, that was my bad," Olivia raises her hand but she doesn't look like she regrets her actions.
The rest of my family slowly starts to join us at the table starting with Sophie, who is laughing at something one of the younger kids said to her as they take a picture together and then break apart to take their seats. Tessa sits down next to me and immediately grabs her napkin, wiping the excess chocolate off the corners of her mouth. "What did I miss?"
"Me doing the best damn inspirational speech there ever was," Olivia leans back in her chair with a smirk on her face. "I swear to God I'm the next Dr. Phil."
"I told you to call me if there was drama!" Tessa replies outraged, throwing her hands out in front of her.
"Settle down, little one, I'll give you a full reenactment later," Olivia winks playfully.
Tessa rolls her eyes, laughing lightly, and looks around at everyone scattered throughout the marquee. "There's like sixty people here tonight, is him getting into college really that big of a deal?"
"He got into Vanderbilt, Tess. It's like, one of the best schools for baseball players," I inform her. She nods her head in understanding and continues to look around the room.
"Hello my darlings," My mom says as she and my dad take their seats, completing our table. "How come you three are not sitting with your family?" She asks gesturing to Quinn, Courtney, and Lilly.
"Our name tags were placed here," Courtney offers up with a shrug. Mom shrugs too but still smiles.
"Lilly, is it?" My mother asks, turning her attention to Lilly, who freezes at being singled out. "It's lovely to meet you officially, you make our Quinny so happy," mom gets up and moves forward to hug her, and leans over to kiss the top of Quinn's head. "You girls may not be my blood but you are still my babies," she coos, hugging Courtney.
"Okay, love, I think we should stick to water for the rest of the night. You know you get overly affectionate when you're wine drunk," my father says with a loving smile on his face as she sits back down on her chair, giving him a hard kiss.
"I will drink as much as I want, thank you very much," my mom nods at him and takes a swig of his whiskey, not even batting an eyelash.
"Momma C, you amaze me," Olivia tells her with the biggest smile as my mom blows her a kiss.
"Oh, my god, no way!" Tessa hisses hitting me and pointing towards the entrance of the tent.
I look over my shoulder and scoff at Summer walking in with her parents in front of her. I don't even have the energy to make a nasty comment about her as I turn back to the rest of the table. None of us have anything to say as we all look at each other in silence. Quinn grabs Lilly's hand tightly and Lilly just smiles reassuringly at Quinn. Summer's eyes glance over our table and her lips curl in disgust. Olivia smiles brightly at her and she flips her off. Her parents grab her attention and she makes her way through the tables to her seat across the room from us.
"She's like a fucking cockroach that won't die," Olivia mutters loud enough for all of us to hear.
"Swear jar," Maddie whispers across the table.
"I'll allow it, this time," mom states impassively, nodding to Olivia.
Static from a microphone stops everyone from saying anything else and the volume of the room decreases as everyone starts to take their seats. Nathan's dad, Gabriel, stands at the front of the room with Katherine standing next to him, looking down at her son with a proud smile on her face. I find myself smiling at how proud his parents are. Carly and Mia are sitting with big smiles on their faces.
"Tonight, we are here to celebrate our incredible son, Nathaniel Thomas Ward," Gabriel says loudly, patting Nathan on the shoulder.
Olivia snorts loudly, "His full name is Nathaniel, this is brilliant," she cackles, looking down at her lap.
"Olivia," my father scolds making her cover her mouth with a hand, to muffle her laugh, quickly.
We look back at Nathan's dad who either didn't notice our whole exchange during his speech or decided to ignore it. Nathan's eyes are on us though and he's got an embarrassed smile on his face, having heard Olivia. I smile sheepishly and shrug, apologizing for her behavior, he just nods his head lightly and turns back to his parents.
"Nate, we are so proud of all the hard work you have put into baseball and we know that this has been your dream since you were first able to throw a baseball without hitting anyone on the head and we are so proud that you accomplished your dream on your own," his mother is talking now, and the tears are rolling down her face, but she smiles through them.
I hear a sniffle and see my mom leaning on my dad, dabbing a napkin in her eyes, as he kisses the top of her head.
"And we are so grateful that you are all here to help us celebrate our amazing son. Everyone in this room means so much to him and us and we are so thankful that you all came," she finishes handing the microphone over to Nathan, kissing his cheek and taking her seat, so he can give out his thanks.
"Hi everyone," he smiles brightly at the room. "And thank you dad for telling all my friends my full name, I'll never be able to live that down now," he looks pointedly at Olivia, who gives him a salute with a smirk on her face, as the room chuckles lightly. "Thank you everyone for being here tonight and celebrating this with me. I honestly didn't expect it to be this big of a deal but we all know how much my mother loves to throw parties," he smiles boyishly at his mother who taps his arm lightly with a grin. "Thank you to all my family that helped arrange this and came tonight, you are the most important people to me and I love all you so much," he winks at Mia who shouts out an 'I love you, too!' back at him. Aww.
"Thank you to my team," they all erupt in cheers and Sebastian whistles loudly, "I can't wait to kick some ass this season with you guys by my side. And yes, Maddie I know, swear jar," he winks at her pulling out a five-dollar bill and walking over to our table with a grin. She blushes at being the center of attention and gingerly takes the five dollars out of his hand. He leans down to whisper something in her ear which makes her giggle and high-five him before he stands up straight again. I grin at the look on her face as she turns to show mom and dad the five dollars.
"I know that you're all here for me, technically, but I just wanted to say something important," he starts nervously as everyone is turned in their seats giving him their full attention. Tessa perks up in her seat at the tone of his voice. He turns slightly and looks right at me.
"Char," the breath leaves my lungs as everyone's attention turns to me.
Oh God no. Is it too late to crawl under a table? Crap, everyone is looking at me.
"Oh, this is going to be so cringe," Courtney mumbles, sinking into her seat.
I start the fidget with my napkin but Olivia smiles reassuringly and places her hand over mine in my lap, squeezing gently. "I know that I messed up, big time, and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was an idiot last year and dared Summer to steal your clothes in the locker room as a joke," gasps are heard around the area but my eyes are locked on his, tears slowly gathering in the corners of my eye. "And I'm sorry about all the times that I didn't stand up for you and your friends," he looks over at Quinn, who nods her head in acknowledgment, smiling. "It was a cowardly thing to do and I can't tell you how much I regret all of it. And to Summer," he turns his head and looks directly at her. I can see her scowl quickly change to a smile as she squirms in her seat under all the stares, "You claim to be one of my closest friends, but what friend doesn't want the best for them? Instead of supporting my relationship, you tried to ruin it every chance you got," he looks at her with hurt in his eyes. "You knew I loved Charlotte and you just couldn't handle that; you let your jealousy control you into doing unforgivable things," Summer shrinks in her seat, her eyes wide at being called out. "I have tried to talk to you about it so many times and each time you wouldn't listen and would do something even worse to her or her friends. So that's why I am doing this in front of everyone here, hoping that you finally listen to what I'm saying. Just stop it already, I can never trust someone happy ruining something good in my life."
He looks at her for a long moment, letting his words sink in, before turning back to me, "I love you, Charlotte. This is me trying to fix things, and even if you don't want to be with me after this, just know I won't be a coward anymore when it comes to you."
My face is blank as we keep eye contact. Everyone is staring, some of them muttering because they couldn't hear what he had just said. I stand up slowly, as all the guests shush each other to concentrate on us. I look over at my parents; my mom is smiling widely, still dabbing the napkin under her eyes and my dad nods his head slightly.
I move to stand in front of him and he doesn't move an inch as he waits for me to make the first move.
"I can't believe you did that in front of everyone," I hiss, stopping in front of him. "That was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen you do," I grin at him and I can see the tension leaving his body as he smiles back. "That was so embarrassing, everyone is staring," I whisper, bouncing on my feet awkwardly.
He chuckles, "I know, I'm not sorry for doing it this way, I was getting desperate it it was the only way you'd listen to me. I really do love you, Char."
My chest warms and I chuckle in embarrassment, feeling my cheeks turn a darker shade of red. "It was definitely a movie moment," I wink at him, chuckling.
"Oh my god, just kiss him already so we can all move on with our lives!" Tessa shouts from her seat, making everyone laugh.
I give her the evil eye and turn back to Nathan with a smile, "We still need to talk about this," I tell him.
He grins, taking a small step closer to me, "Mhm."
"And don't think that because you gave that cheesy speech in front of everyone that I'm just going to jump into your arms," I warn him, poking his chest lightly, but I can't hide my smile.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he shakes his head leaning forward, catching me off guard, and kisses me in front of everyone.
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Until next time,
Sammipott xx