We Were Meant To Fly

Ch. 6- First Date

                I woke up to the buzzing of my phone. It was a text message.

To: Emma

Can you come over? Xx

To: Nathan

Be there in 30?

To: Emma

So long? Be here as soon as you can! Xx

                I jumped out of bed, just realizing it was only 9:30, on a Saturday. Ugh. I usually would’ve slept for at least another hour. Oh well. I’m going to see Nathan Sykes. OMG. I’M GOING TO SEE NATHAN SYKES. The previous night flooded back to me as I realized that I was not only going to see him, I was his girlfriend. OH MY GOSH. I HAVE A BOYFRIEND; I HAVE NATHAN SYKES AS MY BOYFRIEND!

                “Emma, sweetie, can it,” my mom said poking her head in my room. Whoops. That’s embarrassing. I must have said that out loud. Whoops. Again.

                “Sorry mom,” I mumbled. “Can I go to Nath’s in a few minutes?” She nodded and left me to get ready. I took a shower, dried most of my hair, put on some light makeup, got dressed, and sat down on my bead, trying to take it all in. I had a boyfriend who’s in a boy band. Oh crap. What if the press finds out? I’m dead. I’m dead… Why would they find out? I can keep my mouth shut, and so can my mom. I hope. I look at myself in the mirror, once again contemplating why I had gotten picked out. I was so average. Nothing special. Why did I get picked instead of any of the other girls in the arena? Jane and the other boy’s reaction said that it didn’t happen often. I looked at the clock and realized it was 10:05. Whoops. I ran out of the apartment, thankful he lived across the hall and knocked. Tom opened the door and looked me up and down.

He grinned and said, “If you and Nathan break up, give me a call. I’ll be here for you,” he added with a smirk. I glared and waited for him to move so I could go in.

“Oi. Leave her alone,” Nath said, coming to my rescue. I mouthed the words thank you as he pulled me inside. I realized I hadn’t really been in the apartment last night. We had only come into the hall. I looked and realized that we were in the den. I saw a door leading to what I could only presume to be the kitchen and saw a small stair case. Ah. They had a two-story. The bedrooms, if I remembered correctly from the model we toured, were upstairs. Nathan pulled me down onto the sofa and we talked. I felt like I had known him for years, not hours. He wasn’t Nathan Sykes from The Wanted. He was Nathan, a great guy who was amazing. He was funny, kind, and he stood up for me each time one of the guys walked in and started making purvey jokes. I didn’t expect anything different. Nathan was 19, I was 17, and the other guys were 21 and 23; so in other words, an extremely immature group of barely-legal (in my case not-legal) guys and a fan girl. I looked at my watch after about ten minutes. Whoops. It had actually been three hours. That wasn’t good. My mom was probably freaked. I was hungry. My stomach growled and Nathan looked at me.

                “You hungry?” I nodded. He got up and said, “why don’t you give me an half an hour and we’ll can go out to get something to eat,” at the words  ‘eat’ four other people magically appeared in the living room. He rolled his eyes and said, “alone.”

                “Hey that’s not fair!”

                “I’m hungry too!”

                “Emma’s too young. I sacrifice myself as chaperone.” That last one made me laugh.

                “Max, I’ll be eighteen in two months.”

                “I want lunch.”

                I looked at Nathan and he seemed to realize I wanted to talk to him alone. He grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to his room. I sat on his bed and he stood in front of me. “How about you and I do dinner and I’ll make you all lunch,” I said.

Nathan looked sad, but then said, “you’ll cook?”

“Sure, do you have any food in the house or will I have to use my pantry?”

He laughed, “We have something. I think,” it was my turn to laugh as we headed down the stairs, hand in hand. The guys were staring at us. Apparently, they weren’t expecting us to be down anytime soon. I turned slightly red.

“I have a proposition. I’ll make lunch for all of us, but tonight you have to leave Nathan and I alone.”

“What are you going to make for us?”

“Depends on what you have in the fridge,” I said, walking into the kitchen. I ended up making stir-fry which the guys loved. I ran home to change into something nicer. I wasn’t sure where we were going, so I tried to get a bit more dressed up. When I got back to Nath’s he just stared. I started to turn to go home and change into something else but he caught me.

“You look amazing.” I heard wolf-whistles coming from the stairs.

“You remember the deal. No interruptions. Or following us. Or ‘happening’ to go to the same restaurant as us. None of it,” I said glaring at each of the boys in turn. They all looked down, averting their eyes so they wouldn’t have to look at me. They knew I would’ve caught the mischief in them. As Nath and I walked out I asked, “did you tell them the fake restaurant?”

“I did. Also, I told them I’d be escorting you home. They took bets on whether or not that will happen.”

“I hope no one bet against you,” I said, trying to control my angst, “I really like it with you Nath, I don’t…”

“I understand,” he said, “but I still want to be able to do this,” and with that I had my first kiss. I don’t mean my first kiss with Nathan. It was my first kiss. I couldn’t believe it. It was magical. I hate to be the corny girl I am, but it was like we were playing with lightning (yeah, had to say it). He wrapped his arms around me and I looked at him.

“Thought you might want to know that was the best kiss of my life,” his eyes lit up, “it was also my first.”

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I should…”

I silenced him as we walked to the car that was waiting out front. It was magical. He led me into a park. “Where are we headed?” I asked.

“You’ll see.” As we walked toward a small pond I noticed candles, a bouquet of roses, and dinner spread out before me. I was shocked. This was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. The night was spent happily as we drank juice (he was nice and drank juice with me), ate, and talked. I fell asleep and woke in my room the next morning. I wondered which boys were losing money right now.