“It’s basically just a finished attic with a window unit,” he said, stepping up into his room and pulling her up to stand beside him. “But the dormers and the sky light keep it from feeling cramped.”
“It’s huge!” Blythe cried, her eyes bugging.
It wasn’t huge, but it was enough space for his bed, a nightstand, and a dresser on one side of the stairs. A futon, a low bookshelf under a 19” TV, and a desk filled the other side
Nate had the urge to scoop Blythe up in his arms and lay her down on his bed, but he knew she wouldn’t go for that. Instead, he led her to the futon.
“So cool!” she gushed, plopping down. Nate settled himself next to her but held back from reaching for her. “It’s like your own apartment.”
“Yeah… just no bathroom or kitchen,” Nate teased.
“Well, it’s bigger than my room… by a lot!” she admired. “You’re going to miss all this space when you move into the dorms at LSU.”
Nate winced. School would start in just a month. It had only been a couple of weeks since they met, but Nate hated the idea of having to tell her goodbye. It was the one thing about knowing her that gnawed at him.
Maybe I don’t have to say goodbye.
Nate reached out and took her hands.
“Space is nice, but I don’t think that’s what I’ll miss at LSU,” he said, knowing it sounded cheesy, but saying it anyway. Whatever they had, he didn’t want it to end in four weeks.
She needed to understand that.
Blythe gave him a sad smile.
“I already know I’m going to miss you,” she said, and he heard a change in her voice. He was relieved he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“Baton Rouge is an hour and fifteen minutes from New Orleans. That’s not so terrible, is it?” Nate held his breath. He was asking about more than just distance. He was asking if she thought he was worth it. Worth committing to while they both adjusted to life as college freshmen. Worth only seeing a few times a month until the semester ended.
And then what?
“It’s not so terrible,” Blythe said, but he saw tears in her eyes, so he moved his hands to her face and traced her dimples with his thumbs.
“Blythe, I haven’t said it yet, but I want us to stay together.” Nate suddenly needed to put everything into words so there was no room for misunderstanding. “It can work if we both want it.”
She nodded rapidly.
“I want it,” she said, and tears leaked from her eyes. He quickly brushed them away.
“Don’t cry, angel,” he begged. “I’m just glad you feel the same.”
Blythe pulled him in and kissed him twice.
“I can’t even explain how I feel,” she said, smiling through her tears. “It’s like I just found my best friend — a best friend I want to climb on top of and kiss forever — and I’m going to have to say goodbye to him in less than a month.”
A best friend I want to climb on top of and kiss forever. That pretty much summed it up. Nate couldn’t contain his smile.
“You’ll go to Tulane, and I’ll go to LSU, and I’ll text you between classes and call you every night,” he promised, meaning every word. “I’ll come see you every weekend, if you let me. I don’t want you to say goodbye.”
She looked up at him with those clear blue eyes widened with worry.
“But what if you meet some girl named Porcelain who wants to be a landscape architect—”
“Porcelain?” he laughed.
“And she’s blond and athletic and has mysterious tattoos—”
“What?”
“And you have every single class with her, and you have to work late together on all of your landscape architecture proje—”
Nate grabbed her knees and swung them into his lap. He was laughing too hard to stop her, but when he caught her against him, he silenced her with a kiss.
He let up when he felt her body relax.
“I don’t want anyone named Porcelain or China or Crystal or anything else,” he promised. “I want you.”
Nate Bradley had never been more certain of anything in his life. He didn’t care that it had only been a few weeks. He didn’t need any more time to know how he felt.
He kissed her again and rested his forehead on hers.
“But what about you?” he asked, gently. “What if you meet some guy named Lance who wants to be a graphic designer, and he has a ponytail, and a goatee, and wears vegan shoes?”
The line about the shoes did it. She was laughing in his arms again. Blythe reached up and stroked his face.
“Lance sounds like a super awesome guy, but he’s out of luck.” She gave him a look that stole his breath. “Because I’m yours.”
This time, she led the kiss, and when she leaned back to stretch out on the futon, he gladly followed. And Nate’s whole body seemed to wake up. Kissing Blythe was amazing, but lying on top of her felt like pure bliss. She was soft beneath him, and all of the places he longed to touch were pressed against him. But the best part, by far, was that she seemed to like it, too.
Blythe held him tight against her as he kissed and kissed her. When he brought a hand down to touch the bare expanse of thigh below the hem of her shorts, she opened her legs, and he sunk down between them.
“Oh my God,” he moaned against her mouth. If she hadn’t felt his erection before, she could now. Nate got lost in the sound of her rapid breath, and when she tilted her hips to rub against him, he forgot where they were and that his parents were just downstairs. All he wanted was Blythe.
“Nate? Blythe? The dogs are ready!”
Richland’s voice from the foot of the stairs made them both jump.
“Oh, shit,” Nate whispered, breathless. He sat up and answered. “Be right down!”
Blythe watched him wide-eyed.
“Do you think they know?” she whispered back, looking horrified.
Nate shook his head.
“No, no way,” he reassured, hoping he was right. Blythe still scrambled to her feet and tried to smooth out her hair and straighten her clothes.
“I’m sure I look terrible,” she fussed. Nate rose and stood in front of her.
“Uh, no. Not possible,” he said, taking a rogue strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. “You look great. As always.”
She made for the stairs while he stood stock-still.
“Well? Aren’t you coming?” she asked, cocking a brow at him, still looking nervous.
“I, um… I need a minute.”
Blythe frowned.
“Why?”
Even though he was a little embarrassed, he couldn’t help his smile.
“Because I need to… calm down.”
Her confused look held for another two seconds before her eyes widened with understanding.
“Oh!” Blythe’s gaze fell to his shorts. “Oh!”
And then her cheeks went scarlet, and she covered her face with her hands.
Nate chuckled, forgetting his embarrassment in the face of hers, and he moved in and hugged her. He felt her laughing noiselessly in his arms.
“So that’s what that was,” she whispered, sending him into hysterics.
“Um, yeah. You kind of have that effect on me.” He got his laughter under control and pressed kisses to her flushed cheeks, adoring the way she tried to hide her face. “Don’t be embarrassed, Blythe.”
She was quiet for a moment, but she still kept her face nuzzled against his pecs.
“I’m pretty new at this,” Blythe whispered.
Nate hugged her tighter, feeling a tenderness he’d never known. He reached between them, tucked a finger beneath her chin, and raised it until her eyes found his.
“That’s pretty wonderful,” he whispered. The urge to make her feel safe trumped everything else. “I don’t have any expectations, Blythe. I just want to be with you.”
The look in her eyes grew heated.
“Oh, I didn’t mean I don’t have expectations,” she said, h
er voice going lower and touching places deep within him. “Just no experience.”
Nate growled and clenched his teeth.
“This isn’t helping my current condition.”
One side of her mouth turned up, and Nate could see a hint of pride in her eyes.
If she only knew, Nate thought, knowing that she’d only glimpsed a fraction of his desire for her. He wanted to find a boat and sail her away to a deserted island where he could lose himself in her day and night. Show her how he felt without words, just his touch, her body.
“What about you?” she asked, pulling him from his fantasy.
“Me?”
“Have you ever… Are you a…?” Her sexy little voice and that look of pride were gone. One of uncertainty and self-consciousness replaced them. Nate hated himself for what he was about to say, but he didn’t dare lie to her.
“I’m not a virgin,” he said, feeling sad about the fact for the first time.
“Yeah… okay,” she said, and even as she stood in his arms, he felt a wall come up, something he had never sensed in her. It killed him. He needed to bring it down.
“Blythe, I wish I were a virgin. I swear to God,” he vowed, hoping she believed him. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know about that, but the most important thing is that I’ve never felt this way before. What we have is completely different from anything I had with either of them.”
“Them?” Blythe’s pitiful blue eyes grew the size of sand dollars.
“Oh, shit.” Nate stammered, clutching her tighter. “Yes, Blythe. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Blythe. The first time was at a party my sophomore year. Her name was Katie. She was willing, and I was just… just a guy. I don’t think I lasted two minutes.”
Blythe blinked, taking in all the shameful details.
“Go on,” she said, humorlessly.
“The second time was on prom night junior year. Catherine Keller. She was a girl in my Algebra II class who I thought was cute. We didn’t even go to prom together. I think she just wanted to get back at her boyfriend… He was a total douche to me freshman year, so I was…” Nate caught himself choosing his words carefully and decided to let Blythe see the worst of him. “I was happy to do it.”
“Did you date her?” Blythe asked, looking more curious and less horrified.
“No. No.” Nate rolled his eyes at how pathetic he sounded. “They got back together a week later.”
“Catherine Keller and the douche?” she asked, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.
Nate felt a flutter of hope that maybe she didn’t totally hate him.
“Yeah. I—”
“Hey, guys, the hot dogs are getting cold!” Richland called from downstairs.
“Oh, shit!” Blythe squeaked, and she broke from his arms and aimed for the stairs.
“Coming!” Nate hollered and caught Blythe by the wrist. “Wait!”
He pulled her back and stared into her confused eyes.
“What, Nate? They’re waiting for us.”
He couldn’t tell how she felt, and he couldn’t let her go until he knew.
“Are you… are we okay?” he asked, ready to drop to his knees and beg forgiveness if he had to.
But Blythe reached up and stroked his cheek.
“Yeah, of course, we’re okay,” she said, gently. “I mean, I don’t love it that you’ve been with other girls, but I get it.”
Nate felt his muscles go limp with relief.
“Oh, thank God,” he breathed.
“Besides,” she said, giving him that smoldering look again. “I’ll get my turn.”
And with that, she spun on her heel and sped down the stairs. Nate was stunned for a moment before he tore after her.
“Come back here!” he rasped, watching her perfect legs carry her away.
Blythe just laughed and kept moving. He caught her at the foot of the stairs and claimed her with a savage kiss. She kissed back just as fiercely. He hoped she understood that he wanted a lot more than just a turn.
He led her to the kitchen were Richland and Lila were already fixing their plates. As always, Lila dressed her hot dog with military precision. Nate got a plate for Blythe and the two served themselves. He didn’t want Blythe to feel like the odd one out, so he grabbed one of her Tofurky dogs and made it for himself. It tasted, surprisingly, just like a hot dog.
While the four of them ate, whenever he and Blythe looked at each other across the kitchen table, they shared a secret smile, Blythe always glancing away first and blushing. Nate didn’t care. He could look at her forever.
After dinner, they watched an episode of Numbers, Lila’s favorite primetime show, and then he drove Blythe home. On the way, she told him about the two boys she’d kissed in high school. Both were with her at the top of the LHS Class of 2008, and they often worked in the same study group. She’d gone to junior prom with one and senior prom with the other. Not much more than that.
Nate suspected that they both must have been in love with her, but Blythe had been too interested in ranking first in her class to care. Most of what she’d told him about high school had to do with prepping for the PSAT and going to rally in English and art — all four years. She’d told him that her one goal in high school had been to get both the presidential and valedictory scholarships to Tulane and “get the hell out of Lafayette.”
It impressed him that she’d done that and then some. Her 220 on the PSAT had earned her two more scholarships, and Nate could only be grateful — selfishly — that she hadn’t wanted to go somewhere else. With his 162 on the PSAT and his 3.2 GPA, he knew there were ways in which he couldn’t measure up to those gifted guys.
He could only hope he made her laugh more than they had.
When she kissed him goodnight on her front porch and let her fingers trail under his shirt to dance over his waist, he forgot all about those guys.
“Goodnight, Nate,” she said, slipping inside looking as breathless as he felt.
Maybe it isn’t just my sense of humor she likes.
Nate smiled on the way home — a drive that took all of four minutes. Richland was in his chair, waiting up for him when he came in.
“Come on in here for a minute, Nate,” he said, his voice full of meaning.
Nate paused at the front door and checked the kitchen. Lila must have already gone to bed. He made his way cautiously into the family room.
“Yeah, Richland?”
“Sit down, son. I just want to talk to you for a minute.” Richland fluffed his red hair and stroked his red beard nervously.
Oh, shit. Nate thought. The Talk.
“Okay…” Nate said, perching awkwardly on the edge of the couch as if looking comfortable might make the whole thing take longer.
Richland smiled at him.
“She’s a nice girl, Blythe is.”
At least they were in agreement here.
“Yeah, she is. She’s great,” he said, feeling an absurd sense of pride.
Richland nodded slowly.
“You want to be careful with a girl like her, Nate.”
Nate felt himself frown. If he was telling him to see less of her, Nate didn’t want to hear it. He wanted to spend every moment he could with Blythe until the semester started.
“What do you mean?”
Richland took a deep breath through his nose and seemed to weigh his words.
“I mean you want to make sure you don’t do something to hurt her,” he said gently.
Nate shook his head.
“I’d never do anything to hurt her,” he swore, resenting even the suggestion.
Richland nodded again.
“I can see that, son. But you might not do it on purpose. When two young people feel the way you and Blythe clearly feel about each other, things can happen, and consequences may not be in the forefront of your mind in—” Richland paused to clear his throat. “In the heat of the moment.”
Part of Nate just wanted Richland to stop talking. The other part wanted to
tell him how clueless he sounded.
“Look, thanks for the advice, but I’ve only got one thing to say about this,” Nate said, not even trying to hide his bitterness. “I’d never do to anyone what my asshole father did to Lila, and I’d certainly never abandon Blythe.”
Richland smiled in his easy way.
“I didn’t think you would, Nate. You’re a better man than that,” he said, trying to bring down the tension. “But loving someone means taking care of them. And there’s nothing wrong with waiting until you’re able to do that.”
Nate rolled his eyes.
“Is this the abstinence talk, Richland? Because I had four years of that in Catholic school.”
Richland put up his hands in surrender.
“Hey, I wouldn’t pass on advice I wasn’t willing to take myself,” he said, eyeing Nate with a lift in his brow. “You should know your mother and I waited until after we were married. I didn’t want even a chance of her turning up pregnant out of wedlock a second time. And I courted her for a year to make sure I was really what she wanted.”
“That was a different situation. You know that,” Nate said, grateful that Richland had always been so decent but unwilling to concede more than that.
Richland shrugged.
“I just wanted what was best for the woman I loved.” Richland took another deep breath. “Of course, you’re eighteen. A grown man. You get to make your own decisions.”
And with that, he stood up, leaving Nate to mull over their little talk.
“Goodnight, son.”
“Goodnight, Richland.”
When he heard his father walk down the hall and close his bedroom door behind him, Nate crept upstairs and flopped across his bed.
He shook his head. He didn’t need to mull over their little talk. Nate would never do anything to hurt Blythe. That just wasn’t going to happen.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Now
“HOW DID THE INTERVIEW GO, DEAR?” Blythe’s mother called from the kitchen.
“Fingers crossed!” she called back, crossing her own fingers with a plea to the heavens. She hung her purse on the coat rack and dropped her mother’s car keys in the little dish on the piano. “I think it went pretty well. They said they’d let me know by Monday.”
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