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“Yes, I will. I promise.” We hug each other one last time before walking to the front door.
Opening it, we find Nathan and Jason with pizza boxes in their hands and mouths wide open in shock from seeing Vanessa.
“Hi guys, remember me?” Vanessa jokes, trying to ease the tension that could quite literally be cut with a knife.
“How could we forget?” Nathan says. His eyes move between Vanessa and me, and a slight smile appears on his face. “Always nice to see you.”
“Hey, Vee, everything good here?” Jason asks casually, most likely noticing the dried tears on my face. I think I’ve set the world record for the most tears cried in twenty-four hours.
But as I look at Vanessa, Nathan, and Jason, only one word comes to mind. “Everything isperfect.”
I know healing isn’t going to be an overnight process, but with these three by my side, there is nothing that I won’t be able to do.
Thirty-Four
NATHAN
“YOUR MARSHMALLOW IS ON fire!” Jason warns Grace, who quickly pulls her stick away from the heat and blows on it until the flames disappear, revealing a completely singed marshmallow.
“Oops.” Grace laughs, falling back into Jason’s chest, and he smiles, holding her tighter against him.
After we all ate our fair share of pizza, we came outside to sit around the fire pit to make s’mores. Jason and Grace made themselves comfortable sharing one chair on one side of the fire, while Natalie and I sat across from them.
Right now, watching Natalie pull her marshmallow away from the fire and place graham crackers and chocolate around it, it’s not the flames that have me mesmerized but her smile.
“What?” she asks quietly, seeing me in her peripheral vision.
“Come here,” I tell her, sitting back in my chair and making room for that gorgeous body to sit on my lap.
Without hesitation, she gets up and makes a new seat for herself on my thighs, purposely rubbing that perfect ass against me.
“Be careful. Wouldn’t want your seat to get toohardfor you to sit on now, would we?” I tease. My arms come around, gripping her thighs, and my lips nuzzle into her neck from behind.
She turns her head over her shoulder to whisper, “Oops.” Then she reveals the cutest little devilish smile, which lets me know she knew exactly what she was doing.
God, I love her.
After taking a bite of her s’more, she turns her body so that she can peer up at me. I wipe a strand of hair away from her face before it gets caught on the chocolate that’s now covering her plump lips. Leaning down, I kiss those lips, licking the chocolate off them in the process. “I love chocolate,” I say, which makes her giggle. She rests her head against me as I hold her tighter. “So, how are things with you and Vanessa?”
“I think … I think we’re going to be ok.” She gives a slight shrug. “I don’t know how it’ll work with her still being Brian’s sister, but I want to try. I’ve missed her so much this past year. I just didn’t know how to be her friend while avoiding Brian, and I guess I thought pushing her away was the right thing to do for both of us.”
“Well, I’m glad she came over to talk to you. I know she’s missed you too.” Of course, it’s not Vanessa’s fault when it comes to who her brother is, but I also know this won’t be easy for them to navigate.
Natalie purses her lips and nods, but I know there’s more on her mind.
“Talk to me, baby,” I encourage.
“I spent this whole year isolating myself because I didn’t want this to hurt anyone else. I thought everyone would be better off not knowing what happened, but when we were all standing at the door earlier — you, me, Jason, and Vanessa — it was the first time I understood that instead of isolating myself, I should have reached out to those around me who love me. Because of him, I let a whole year of my life slip away.”
Her eyes look sad as she thinks about this, and all I want to do is kill that asshole for making her feel this way. But I don’t let the anger inside me show. “Hey, don’t get lost in your mind dissecting last year and what you may or may not have missed out on. Use it to learn and grow. Not to punish yourself.”
She looks up at me thoughtfully. “When did you get all philosophical?”
“When I realized I was in love with a girl who has anxiety and wanted to do everything I can to help her.”
Her eyes drift away, embarrassment washing over her face. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
“I’ve known since we were kids, but that doesn’t mean it made me look at you differently. It’s a part of who you are, but it’s not who you are. Do you understand?”
