He walks across the bathroom and sits me on the counter next to the sink.
I look at him confused and my eyebrow raised.
He sends me a sweet smile as he says. "First, we have to wash your face."
I lean to the side, until I can see into the bathroom mirror and notice my panda eyes and black streaks down my face.
I open my mouth wide, but then snap it shut and turn around to face Nate.
"Sorry." I say quietly looking down.
Nate furrows his eyebrows and brings me face back up to his.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." He said slowly, placing a kiss on my nose.
"Eww."
"Hey, hands where I can see them."
We both looked back to the door and see Ricky and Matt still standing and watching us.
"You can go. I will call you if I need you." I said firmly, giving them both a pointed look.
"Aw, do we have too?" Matt whines, "I enjoy watching Nate beg." He smirks and Ricky nods in agreement.
I send them both another pointed look.
Ricky huffs. "Fine. Come on man." He pats Matt's arm telling him to do what I ask.
We both watched as they left us alone.
Once we were alone, Nate turned back to me and grinned.
"Right now, back to you Princess." He turned on the tap and grabbed a cloth.
He placed it under the tap and dampened it before bringing it to my face.
I watched him closely as he gently ran the damp cloth across my face, moving all of the evidence of my earlier cry.
His face had a focused expression, with his mouth slightly a jar as he concentrated on what he was doing.
"There we go, all done. Beautiful." He smiled looking back to my eyes, giving me another kiss on my nose.
I couldn't help but grin at him.
"What?" He furrows his eyebrows once more.
"You know you are really cute when you concentrate." I tease him.
He doesn't say anything; he just turns and grabs a hand towel from the rail on the wall.
He walks back to me and dries my face softly, before putting the towel back.
"Not saying anything?" I ask after he doesn't say anything to my last comment.
He shakes his head, whilst still smiling and picks me up again, before leaving the bathroom.
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise." He says as he continues to carry me out of my room and eventually out of the house.
"See you later." I call to Ricky and Matt as we leave.
"Where are you going?" Ricky steps out shortly after us.
"No idea." I answer as Nate placing me inside his brother's car.
"Nate?" He asks, looking to him.
"Surprise." Is all he says, not even looking at the door.
"Oh yeah and Matt, I'm taking your car. Thank you. See you later." He grins getting into the driver’s side, not even waiting for an answer and then began to drive away.
I watch him intently for several minutes before saying anything.
"Nathan?" I use his full name.
"Yes my love?" He looks at me with a smile and back to the road.
"Where are you taking me?" I notice he is heading out of town.
"I told you. Surprise." He answers, but doesn't.
I look back out of my window and watch the scenery goes by.
I watch in awe as we pass a large field, which runs down the side of the motorway.
The field was a luscious green, with hundreds of white flowers and several wild horses running around.
"Wow." I say, gaining Nate's attention.
He slows down and looks to where I am and smiles.
"I know it's pretty awesome isn't it?" He soon goes back to driving.
"You have seen it before?"
"Yes, on our drive back from college"
We drove in silence for another thirty minutes before I fell asleep.
I wake up when I feel the car stop moving.
"We there yet?" I say sleepily, eyes still closed.
I feel his soft fingers push my hair behind my ear, before placing yet another kiss on my nose, making me laugh.
"You are so beautiful and to answer your question, no we are not yet. But I thought you would be hungry, so I stopped just outside this roadside diner." He was touching my cheek whilst speaking.
I open my eyes and notice he is looking at me attentively.
I can't help but let a smile take over my face, especially by what he says next.
"Hope, I really am very sorry for acting like a prick these last few days. You deserve so much better than me, I am sorry but I can't let you go. I love you so much and don't ever want to lose you again. I will do anything to get you to be with me again." His voice was full of sorrow, love and honestly.
"Nate, you know I only said that stuff in the bathroom about thinking about it because the boys thought it would be funny to play with you. As far as I am concerned you have never stopped being my boyfriend. The last few days were painful, but I have forgiven you for them, because I know it was only because you care so much for your family." I lean in and kiss his lips.
This kiss was slow and deep. We both just wanted to feel each other’s love.
His slight stubble rubs against my soft skin as he slowly trails his kisses across my lips and all across my face.
Finishing with a peck on my nose, then he pulls away with a smile, resting his forehead against mine.
"What is it with you kissing my nose?" I laugh.
"Well my most beautiful sweet girl, you are just too cute and I love the smile you give me when I kiss your cute nose." He says with another kiss.
I giggle.
"Come on Princess, let's get you fed." He lets go of my face and gets out of the car.
I quickly follow, making him frown. "I am supposed to do that" he whines.
"It's ok, I already told you, you don't have too, and I am already your girlfriend."
"I know, but I still need to make it up to you and before you say I don't, I want too. And that my love is final." he grinned and wrapped his arm around my waist.
He places a kiss on my cheek and leads me into the diner.
The bell on the door rings as we enter.
All eyes land on us. The place was mainly occupied by local looking teenagers and a few truckers.
Ignoring the many gazes in our direction, we take a seat in a booth in the corner away from the majority of the patrons.
I sit on one side and Nate sits opposite me.
"This isn't the least bit uncomfortable." I say sarcastically, making Nate laugh.
He leaned over and held my hands in his across the table.
"It's just because we are both so beautiful and they want us"
"Talk about big headed." I scoff.
He continues to laugh for a second, but then stops with the grin still on his face.
"But in all seriousness, me and Matt came in here on our drive home from college too and we got pretty much the same reaction." He stopped and leaned in closer to my ear, as I craned my neck.
"I think they maybe a bit like them crazy hillbillies in 'Cabin fever' or something." He whispered in a serious tone and then pulled away, nodding to himself.
"And so you brought me into a place which by you own words is full of 'crazy hillbillies'?" I question slightly amused.
He nods, but doesn't say anything, as a waitress came to take our order.
"Hello there, what can I get ya?" The older lady with a name badge which read 'Sue' asked.
"Hiya, I'll have a coffee, burger and fries." Nate answers.
Sue nods as she jots it down in her little pad.
"And you sweetie?" She turns to me.
"Um, I'll here the same, but a glass of orange juice instead of coffee"
She adds my order to her pad, but before she goes, she turns back to Nate and smiles.
"Weren't you in here just a last week?" She asks tapping her chin.
He smiles and no
ds.
"I thought so. You were with another handsome young man weren't you?"
"Yep, that was my brother." He answers.
This exchange went on for a couple of minutes.
Apparently Nate and Matt were quite the attraction to the local schoolgirls.
Even though they were only in the diner for an hour, they helped the diner double its business for that short time and even for a while afterwards.
This made me laugh, but also a little jealous.
Sue left, but returned shortly afterwards with our drinks.
"So is this your girlfriend?" She asked whilst pouring Nate's coffee.
"Yes, this is Hope and I am Nate."
"Well Nate, you make a very cute couple. I should tell you now, all of the girls in here will be envious of you Hope. They have been coming in every day asking if either of the two had returned." She laughed at the thought.
"Envy all they like, because me and Hope are not breaking up for anyone." Nate said looking at me lovingly.
"Awww, you really are so sweet. I can see you are both very much in love. I will leave you two lovebirds alone. Your food should be ready shortly."
We both thanked her and she left to serve another customer.
"She was nice." He nods, still holding my hands.
"So is that why we are here?" I ask.
Nate looks slightly confused. "What do you mean?"
"So you can see and maybe be kidnapped by your 'crazy hillie' schoolgirl fans?" I try to hide the jealously in my voice.
But I think he could tell, because he began to smirk.
"Are you jealous Sweet pea?" his voice full of amusement.
"Have I got a reason to be?" I question back.
He stood up and leaned over the table. "Not ever." He kissed my lips, but broke away when we heard a throat being cleared.
"Sorry cuties. Your order is ready" Sue said apologetically, placing our food on the table.
"It's ok, thank you Sue." Nate says sitting back.
"Yep, thank you. This looks great." I smile and also take my seat.
She left us to eat in silence, only looking up and smiling at the other.
As I finish the last of my fries (which Nate stole half of), I pat my stomach and exclaim, "That was really good. I am so full, I think I might pop!"
"So you don't want that?" Nate asks looking at my half eaten burger.
I smile and shake my head "Have it if you want." I say knowing why he was asking.
He grins and takes it, eating it in record time.
"How are you not huge?" I exclaim, shocked at how much he eats.
He shrugs "Come on, let’s go and pay. We have a long drive ahead." He stands up and holds out his hand.
When Sue notices us, she heads over to where we were.
"Was everything ok?"
"Yes thank you, it was great." Nate answers for us both.
"You wanting your bill?" she asks.
I nod.
"Alright one second." We follow her over to the counter as she tallies up our bill.
She tells us the amount and Nate pays.
"It was nice to see you again and nice to meet you too Hope. I know the girls will be sad they missed you." she says the last part teasingly.
I look around the diner and notice the other teenagers are still here.
Sue notices this. "No these girls in here at the moment are the good ones. Who I have no doubt also like him, but the main ones still aren't here probably still at practice or something." She explains.
I open my mouth in the shape of an o and close it, whilst nodding.
"Will we see you again?" She asks before we reach the door.
"Probably. Still got to drive back again..." Nate seems to stop and think.
"Probably tomorrow."
I look at him with a 'What?' expression.
"See you then. Drive carefully and take care of that pretty girl of yours." The last part made me smile.
"Will do. Bye."
"Bye." We both say as we exit the diner.
"So we won't be home tonight?" I asked taking to understand.
"No, we are taking a small road trip." he grins like a child, walking me to the car.
"What about Kira and Ricky?"
"It's ok. I stopped at the side of the road whilst you were sleep and called them" he explains.
"And?"
"And they said as long as I keep you with me all of the time and treat you right and not to mean be back by tomorrow night, everything will be ok."
I was surprised that not only Kira, but especially Ricky would agree to me being out all night with a boy. Friend or not, he is normally crazy protective, even if a boy just speaks to me.
Nate notices my look as he lets me in the car.
"I know right? I was surprised too. But I did have to make a few other promises and beg a little" he admits to me, before closing my door and getting into the driver’s side.
"What promises?"
Nate puts the key in the ignition and starts the car. "I had to promise to call them and you call them a few times and also to stop at a motel, so I wasn't driving all night"
"That's not surprising. But a motel? Are we really going that far?"
He nods, still not driving, but the engine still on.
"Far enough. We best get going." He leans into me and kisses both my lips and nose before putting the car in drive and heading back to the main road.
"I'm sorry." I say after a few minutes of silence.
He looks at me with a confused expression. "Why?" But then looks back to the road, thankfully.
"You are taking me all over and have to pay for everything because I haven't got any money."
"Don't be silly Hope. You are my girl. I am meant to pay for you." He glances out the corner of his eye and smiles.
"But I really hate having to rely on others to pay for me. I will pay you back when we get home." I feel a bit better thinking that way.
"No, I won't let you. I am paying and you will not pay me back and that is that final say on the matter" he states definitely.
"But..." I start, but he stops me with a sideways look. As if to say 'What did I just tell you?'
I sigh and reluctantly say. "Fine"
We spent the drive speaking about Nate's college life and what he was studying.
He told me Matt was undecided and kept changing his subjects, but Nate was definite about his and said it was his dream.
I was more than shocked when he admitted to me take he was in college studying to be a History teacher.
"Wow, I am really surprised. I thought you would probably be doing football or something along the lines. I would have never guessed in a thousand years that you wanted to be a teacher." I admit.
"That is the same reaction most people had when they found out. I mean I like sports and stuff, but my secret love has always been history." He said, not taking his eyes off the road.
He told me all about the course and the teachers.
"So how much longer do you have left at college?"
"I have a year left, but my tutor has been discussing possible placements to learn the rest and just return for exams"
"Really? You must be pretty clever." I say mouth a jar.
"So my tutor tells me. I have the highest marks in my class. He told me I am good enough to pass my exams already. So that is way he is trying to see if he can't get me to sit the exams early and also get me a placement somewhere"
I just nodded to what he was saying.
I sit and think about Nate being a teacher.
"Nate as a teacher. I wouldn't mind him bending me over his desk and spank my backside." I think to myself.
Nate almost chokes.
I quickly turn to see what is wrong.
Nate has a tight grip on the steering wheel and a bright red face.