Begin Again

Chapter 6

I woke up on the couch with the bottle of tequila on the coffee table.
"Morning" Bella groaned and rubbed her head. Bella picked up Scott so he could hang with us last night. My dogs were laying in their beds and Nate was snuggling with Stella causing me to laugh
"Dude seriously?" Bella laughed just as hard and grabbed a picture. I remember putting on Spider-Man and pouring a couple drinks, and that's it. Did I drink that much? Bella was waking up Scott so they could head home I decided to text Tess

Text to Tess:
  Hey babes FaceTime catch up around lunch?"

I hit send and stood up to go to the kitchen. I looked through my fridge for something to eat and ended up just grabbing some yogurt
"Hey we're heading home." Bella whispered so she didn't wake Nate and I smiled
"Drive safe. I'll see you tomorrow morning at work" I hugged her and Scott and they left. I started cleaning the kitchen
"Emma?" Nate's voice called from the living room
"Kitchen" I responded and unloaded the dishwasher
"Uh Emma.." Nate was looking at his phone and I looked up
"What?" I asked and he showed me his phone. There was a picture of him and I kissing in the back of a selfie of Bella on his phone my eyes widened and he looked back to his phone and then showed me it was sent to his ex wife with a text that said 'he deserves her clearly. But I look cute !' And I called Bella
"Answer answer answer BELLA!" I shouted
"What? I just left are you okay?" She asked and I explained the picture she sent from Nate's phone to Erin.
"Shit no! Oh fuck we shouldn't have drank a whole bottle of tequila oh my gosh oh my gosh!" She shouted back and Nate sat at my breakfast bar he didn't look worried.
"Nate?" I asked and he laughed
"Is it bad if she thinks we are something? Friends can kiss right?" He asked and I shrugged
"I mean everyone knows you like each other" Bella said and I shook my head
"It's not bad it's what was said!" I exclaimed and she laughed
"Okay so you're not mad?" She asked and I looked at Nate.
"No" we both said at the same time. And smiled
"Still just friends. Apparently who kiss while intoxicated" I laughed and Nate nodded
"Okay bye Bella" I said and we ended the call. I went back to cleaning and Nate started helping. Something I wasn't used to... I went to vacuum the stairs and he took care of my dogs. I looked at my wedding pictures and turned off the vacuum
"Hey come help me quick" I stated and he ran over. I took down my wedding pictures one by one and handed them to Nate. I ran to the spare room and grabbed a bin and put them in the bin
"Thanks" I smiled and took them in to the garage. Nate followed me and saw I was struggling to put them on the top shelf
"I got it" he smiled and took the bin from me and placed them on the top shelf.
"Now I gotta find some things to put there. Maybe shelves? I don't know" I shrugged and he laughed
"Go get dressed we'll go to my apartment and then find something for your stairway" he smiled and I ran upstairs to get ready.

We went to his apartment and I sat on his couch. His apartment was small but clean I looked around and saw just how perfect it was. He had pictures of him and his sisters on the wall. Him and his dad and him and his mom. Erin wasn't in any pictures.
"Emma can you go in my bedroom closet and grab my sneakers?" He asked and I ran into his room it was just as clean and there was a picture of me him and Bella from the bar we went to for Scott's birthday. I smiled as it was next to his bed on his bed side table. I grabbed his sneakers and picked up the picture
"Nate" I practically whispered
"Yeah?" He replied walking out of the bathroom
"Oh uh that's just because you guys are my friends!" He tried to cover it up
"Nate" I smiled and he looked down
"It's embarrassing because.. I chose that picture because it was the night I was courageous enough to kiss you goodnight.." he explained and I smiled wider.
"I promise I'll be ready for real one day hopefully soon" I touched his hand and he kissed it
"And I promise I could never hurt you the way Chandler did. When you're ready I'll try to be the best guy. I swear" he placed his free hand on my face and I leaned into it
"Soon. Let's go to home goods" I smirked. Nate took his shoes and put them on
"Let's go" he took my hand and we walked to his car in the parking garage.

We walked around home goods for a while, I found a few artistic pictures and we went back to my house. We hung them up in the stairwell and we played with my dogs in the snow
"Question" Nate looked at me as I threw the frisbee
"What's up?" I asked and he took the frisbee from Stella and threw it himself
"Did Chandler ever um help?" He asked and I looked away. Honestly? He didn't. And I've started to realize that the more I hung out with Nate. Chandler didn't help with cleaning or taking care of the dogs. Whenever I'm with Nate, and he's just a friend right now, he does help.
"No. I went to work and school and cleaned as well as took care of these two" I smiled remembering how much the dogs have been my solid ground.
"Is it weird when I'm here and help?" He asked again I shook my head no and threw the frisbee this time Ginny caught it
"No. I love it actually. Shows me that a partner should be just that. Your partner in every aspect. And I appreciate you Nate." I tried to hide my smile as Ginny brought the frisbee to Nate. It was nice. And he could be great. But I need to mourn my marriage as he needs to be fully ready himself.
"Soon" he whispered and threw the frisbee.