I’ve officially reached the end of my sanity while making sure I’ve given myself time to process everything. I’ve forgiven Nathan and I want to move forward, but I’m still hesitating.
I’ve started arriving at our Communications class fifteen minutes early so I can be there and soak up every second together. I think it’s time to call off the time apart. I miss my man.
“You’re overthinking it. Just call him,” Gabby says as she refills my wine glass. The coffee table in the apartment she shares with Blair and Vanessa is filled with bridal magazines and the four of us flip through them looking for ideas.
“Have you forgiven him?” Blair asks.
I nod. “Yeah. It wasn’t as much about forgiving him as coming to terms with the things he’s done. I know he’s still the same guy, but I can’t pretend he didn’t do those things.”
“The real question is, do you think he’ll do it again?” Vanessa asks.
“No way,” Gabby and I say in unison and then smile.
“He learned his lesson,” she adds, and I nod in agreement.
Blair points to a bridal bouquet.
“Oooh, I love it.” Gabby’s eyes go wide with excitement. “Mark it.”
Blair adds a sticky tab to the page. “Have you given any thought on how you’re going to tell him you’re ready to move forward?”
“Two words,” Vanessa says, holding up two fingers on her right hand. “Trench coat.”
I laugh at that image. “Can’t I just go over there and tell him?”
“You could,” Gabby says and rolls her eyes. “But what fun is that?”
Blair looks up to the ceiling like she’s thinking hard. “What could you do to show him you’re ready to move on? Special places, inside jokes… that jog anything?”
“You know what? Actually, it does.”
“Alright, Wes says Coach is in his office and everyone is mostly dressed. You ready?” Blair asks. “Joel’s distracting him, but you gotta get in there soon.”
I’m definitely rethinking my plan, but Vanessa opens the locker room door and I’m pushed inside. No one bats an eye at my being in the boys’ locker room. I don’t know if Wes told them or if they just don’t care, and I try not to give it too much thought as I avoid looking up or making eye contact with anyone in their varying stages of nakedness.
“Nathan,” I call out, keeping my head down.
“Chloe?” His voice comes from my right, so I angle myself in that direction and glance ahead at feet and legs until I find him. As my eyes slowly sweep up his body, taking in his long basketball shorts and bare chest. He chuckles, but his voice is concerned when he asks, “What are you doing here? You know this is the boys’ locker room, right?”
“I’m adding some truth to our first meet-cute story.”
He smirks and crosses both arms over his chest. The pose makes him look stronger and hotter than usual, which is a feat of epic hotness proportions. “The one where you walked in on me naked?”
“Mhmmm, but I thought it through, and I like the real version of how we met so this will have to be the start of a new story. Like, maybe it’s not how we met, but how I came to tell you something important.”
“Such as?” The muscles in his throat flex.
The locker room has fallen quiet, and I can feel all eyes on us. I breathe and don’t take my eyes off his. “Nathan Payne, I am in love with you. I miss you, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?”
He smiles and the locker room erupts in cheers from his teammates. He starts to speak, but it’s so loud I can’t hear a thing.
“Maybe I didn’t think this through.”
“What?” he yells and leans forward.
Coach Daniels yells over the others, “Payne, you and your girlfriend could maybe take this outside?”
“Yes, sir.” He starts toward the door.
“After I talk to you and the rest of the team about the schedule for the rest of the week.”
Nathan groans and looks helpless.
I take a step back since I’m about five seconds from being asked to leave. “Sorry,” I whisper and take another step backward.
Conflicted emotions pull his face into a grimace until he says, “Fuck it.”
He reaches me in two long strides and cups my face in both hands. His soft lips press against mine, and my ears thunder with the hoots and hollers of the locker room. I put everything I have into the kiss. God, I’ve missed him. This is right, and I know exactly who Nathan is. He’s flawed. He’s imperfect. He’s my forever.
“By all means, keep me waiting,” Coach Daniels sounds as much amused as he does angry, but we pull apart.
His teammates crowd around him, giving him shit. He stands up on his toes to look over them. “I’ll call ya later.”
I wait for five minutes outside the locker room, but I can still hear Coach Daniels inside talking about a change in the weightlifting and practice schedule and he doesn’t sound like he’s going to stop any time soon. I text Nathan that I’m going to my dorm, and it’s an hour before he finally texts.
Nathan: Longest after practice talk EVER. I think he dragged it out just to get back at me. I’m so sorry.
Me: Maybe wasn’t the best plan, but I have no regrets.
He sends me the meme of the guy with No Ragrets tattooed on his neck.
Nathan: Totally worth it. I can’t wait to hang out, but can I raincheck until tomorrow? I have something I need to do tonight.
Disappointment deflates my excitement and the build-up to tonight, but I try not to let it show. He knows how I feel and that’s all that matters. We’ve got time.
Me: Of course. See you in class tomorrow. We can go out tomorrow night and celebrate finishing our project. You ready?
Nathan: I will be.
I’m more nervous than I thought I’d be when Nathan and I make our way to the front of the classroom to give our communications presentation. I introduce our product, its current selling features and target audience.
When it’s time to make our pitch and try to sell our pricey pen to our peers, Nathan leans over and whispers, “Roll with it.”
He turns to the class. “Now I know you may be thinking, any old pen is fine. Why would I want to spend seventy dollars on anything when I could use that for alcohol or new kicks?”
The class plays right into his hand and murmurs their agreement.
“Because there are moments in life when any old pen just won’t cut it. You want a pen that writes clearly and most importantly, one that has backup ink in case you run out. Some moments require a guarantee that only a seventy-dollar pen can give you.”
He holds up the pen and the extra cartridges and then walks to my backpack and pulls out my notebook. Then he pulls two chairs that I hadn’t noticed pushed off to the side to the front. He motions for me to sit and he takes the other chair. Flipping open the notebook, he crosses one leg over a knee and uses it to write on.
On a blank page, he writes, Will you go out with me? He hands it to me, and I read it aloud so the class can follow along while I write Yes.
“Like getting a date,” he says to the class and they laugh.
He scribbles something else on a new page and hands it to me.
“Nathan 867-5309,” I read.
“Exchanging numbers.”
I look up to the class as he starts writing again. They’re totally hanging on every word. It’s so much better than what we’d planned, and I have no idea how he came up with it or why he didn’t tell me. It’s genius. This time he hands over the whole notebook instead of a single page.
I start to read and then stop when I realize it’s the notes we exchanged back and forth at the beginning of the semester. I find my voice and read Nathan’s messy scrawl. I’ve looked at it so many times since that day, I practically have it memorized.
Things I’ve learned about Chloe:
- Likes bran muffins (yuck)
- Likes my mouth on her fingers
I roll my eyes when I get to number three where he’s added,
- Loves Nathan
“Keep reading,” he urges.
Things I’ve learned about Nathan:
1. Likes blueberry muffins
2. Likes your mouth. Period.
3. Likes PDA.
My eyes prick when I see the new addition. I swallow around the lump in my throat and read it.
4. Loves Chloe.
When I meet his blue gaze, he smiles and speaks to the class without taking his eyes off me. “Or telling a girl you love her for the first time.”
He stands, holds up the pen, smirks, and tosses it to a guy in the first row. “Invest in a good pen and get the girl.”
The class applauds. He pulls me to his feet and shields me from the class as he says, “I love you, Chloe. I wanted to tell you yesterday. Hell, I wanted to tell you weeks ago. You’re everything. My princess, my knight, my dragon. Every fairy tale I ever heard rolled up into one and so much better because you’re real.”
“Kiss me already, Nathan Payne.”
He does and the class gets louder. I think Professor Sanchez might try and settle them down, but I just keep kissing my man because he loves me and I love him and right now, it’s all that matters.