Chapter 4: Stand By Me
Knock, knock, knock. "Please open up." I whisper. I hear a tired groan inside Dorm 111. The door opens. A topless Nathan looks at me with squinted blue eyes. "Vic?" He says. "Nate." I say back at him. I can barely see him now from the tears filling my eyes. Nathan notices this and pulls me into a hug. "What's wrong, Vic?" He asks me with his face buried in my shoulder. "Everything." I barely say in stifled tears. Nathan puts his arm around my shoulder and lets me into his room. He sits me on the bed and tries to help me calm down. "Tell me what happened, Victoria." He says in a soft tone. I've never heard his voice this soft. "It's just…Kate and Jefferson and everything. I'm so stupid." I confess. "Vic, don't cry." He says patting my back gently. "I'm sorry, Nate. You don't need to hear this. I'm sorry…" I say to him, knowing he's having it rougher than me. "Its fine, Vic. You need a friend right now. You help me more than I get to help you." He reassures me with his hand stroking my shoulder softly "Nate…" I murmur. "Just let it all out, Vic." He says pulling me into another bear-hug. I just sit there on Nathan's bed, embracing a scarce hug and crying my heart out. Kate, Jefferson, it was all to much for me to handle. And now here my best friend is trying to calm me down. After about more or less 15 minutes my pathetic fit of tears come to an end. I sit up and release Nathan from the world's longest hug. "You alright now, Vic?" "Yeah." "You wanna watch a movie?" "Yeah." I stand up and look through Nathan's tidy pile of DVDs in Nathan's drawer. I see the copy of Stand By Me and I pick it up without a second thought. "Stand By Me?" Nathan says surprised. "I had no idea you were a classic kind of chick." Nathan chuckles. "Well, we are watching it. Full stop. Plus it has that hunk River Phoenix in it. R.I.P." I say. "Ok, I don't get a choice. Awesome." Nathan chuckles once more. I put the DVD into the laptop's disc holder and I turn the projector on. I sit on the bed next to Nate and I relax. He puts his arm around me.
The film comes to an end and the credits are on with the music I can hear him humming the song Stand By Me. "When the night, has come." He sings. "And the land is dark." I sing back. "And the moon, is the only light we'll see." We both sing along to the credits. Nathan stands up and pulls me up off the bed too. He's trying to dance with me. I laugh at him. This is the real goof, Nathan Prescott. He puts both of his hands around my waist. I lock my hands around the back of his neck. "So, darlin', darlin'. Stand by me. Oh, stand by me." Nathan sings in a beautiful voice. Nathan looks into my eyes. I've never seen him this happy. Is he doped up? I stare back into his hypnotising blue eyes. "Oh, god. Is this gonna happen?" I say to myself in my head. He leans in slowly. "We're going to kiss!" I say in my head repeatedly. I don't know what to do.
In a split second I make my choice.
Our lips meet and can't pull away from each other. This is really happening. I am kissing my best friend in a non-platonic way! And I don't regret it. I can feel his hand caressing my cheek. I don't have a care in the world. Not now. Fuck Jefferson, fuck Max and fuck everybody. This kiss is indestructible. Nathan and I are invincible. I hope.
He pulls away gently, struggling to let go of this moment. "Vic…" He says touching his soft luscious lips. "Nate, I…" I say. "That was unexpected." He comments. "Yeah, it was." I say trying not to look at him. I've never been this awkward after a kiss with any other boy. The music comes to an end and now it's just the sound of awkwardness. "Do you wanna, maybe…kiss again?" Nathan asks trying to act confident and casual but just making the situation more awkward. "Ok." I say shyly with a smile. I lean in hastily but subtle. He leans in and our lips reunite. It feels as special as it did the first time, memorable.
Before I know it he's pulled away from me, unlocking our lips. He looks at me, up and down. He blinks a few times, quickly, and just sits on his bed. "Do you want to do somethin' tomorrow?" He asks me with his head facing the ground. I don't know if he's nervous or upset. I'm guessing both. "I'd love to do something with you tomorrow. Let's go hang out in town?" I suggest trying to raise both of our courage. "I can take you to dinner or lunch or brunch?" He offers. "Brunch it is then." I smile at him. He looks up and smiles back. He stands up and playfully nudges my arm. I smile. "I've always liked it when you smile." Nathan admits, scratching the back of his neck. "What else do you like?" I ask him more confidently. "You're attitude and how you can handle it when things heat up. The way you brush your hair with your hand when you're nervous. The way you don't even know you're doing it." He says more confidently. He chuckles nervously in a cute way. "Well, I love that little chuckle you do when you're nervous and I love it when you don't even notice it." I giggle. He laughs at my cheesiness. We sit in silence for a few minutes. I check my watch. It's 3 AM. "Look, Nate. Maybe I should leave before everyone else wakes up." I say. "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow, gorgeous." He says with a weak smile. "Are you ok with that, Nate?" I ask him. "Yeah, yeah. It's fine. But make sure you stay pretty for me." He says casually and with his smile becoming wider. "Merci pour cette." I say with a wink thrown in. "I'll need to Google translate that!" He says as I leave. "Thank you for the evening." Is the last thing I say to him that night.
I make my way back to my dorm luckily undetected. "Thank god." I say under my breath. I open my dorm room, change into my silky Pjs and I fall asleep instantly.
"Victoria!" An echoing voice cries. "Victoria!" It screams again. "Don't wander off into the dark…" A man says. A warning? "What have I done?" A female voice whispers. "Come on…!" Another female voice says. I can't see anything. Just, dark. "No!" The first female voice screams. It's Max! "The storm is coming!" Nathan! I can hear Nathan crying. Then I hear three gunshots. And a sound of thunder. I scream so hard I can feel my lungs exploding and withering away to dust. I finally open my eyes. But all I can see are blue butterflies. Nothing else, just a huge swarm. Are they protecting me? Hurting me?
Suddenly, the butterflies part away. I try to see what beneath the bright blue butterflies is. I begin to see a face. It's coming closer and closer but I can't make out who it is. Do I even know who this person is? But then, I realise I do. As soon as I see the blonde bangs and red nose, I know. "Kate?" I say, realising I can finally speak. Kate just looks at me blank in the face. Her lifeless green eyes are now clouded with death. Her face was a sickly shade of grey with her cheek bones prominent as ever. She was dead. Dead, dead, dead! "Kate, please talk to me, please, please! I beg her with tears running down my eyes. I can hear voices, not belonging to Kate. The voices are fairly distant and this is where I panic. I blink, and Kate is gone. "Kate?" I say, worried. "This has gotta be a dream." I say in my head. I can hear Taylor's laugh. The feeling is chilling and unearthly. "I'm sure she had fun." I hear myself say. "No!" I scream. "No, no, no. Kate I'm sorry." I scream. "Viral slut." I hear my voice say. I see Kate. Alive. She's about to jump off the roof. "Kate, no!" I cry. Before I know it, she's jumped. And she's falling directly towards me. And then everything is happening in slow motion. Kate falling, the magpies flying away, all of us watching. The whole world has slowed down for Kate Marsh. I stare, bemused like I was the first time I saw Kate's death. I look behind me, and there I am. It's another me. Another Nathan, a whole other universe. Wait! Jefferson's glasses. Where is Jefferson?! Was he responsible for this? What happened whilst he and Kate were talking before this happened?
Suddenly everything is back to normal speed. Kate is falling down and down, faster and faster. Until she hits me. And that's when I wake up.
I scream as I wake up. What happened? I see my room, my things. My phone is buzzing on my chest. I pick it up. My dad is calling. I answer. "Hey, princess! How are you doing, Vickie?" My dad cheers. "Hi daddy! I'm doing well here." I lie. "That's my little girl. Your mom and I just got you a present. It's being delivered to you now." He says. "Wow, daddy. Thank you so much!" I say wishing I could give daddy a hug. "You're welcome, princess. Look, I really have to go. It's great to hear your voice again. Remember, we visit on Saturday." Daddy says. "Ok, I'm glad you called. I miss you and mom." I say with a huge smile across my face. "I'll see you soon, princess. Bye!" Dad says. "Au revoir, Daddy." I say. I hang up. I stand up, put on my clothes and I grab my joss sticks and incense holder from my drawer. I pick the "Ylang Ylang" one and light it. I stick it on my incense holder and let the smoke relax me. I hear my ringtone chime and I pick up my phone. It's Nathan. I answer the call. "Hey, gorgeous." Nate says. "Hi, Nate." I say to him. "You want me to pick you up now?" He asks. "Wait what time is it?" I ask him. "It's, four." He answers. "Oh shit! I've missed all my classes!" I panic. "Its fine, Vic. I told 'em you were sick." Nate reassures me. "Really?" I ask him. "Yeah, I figured you'd need the rest. Look, I'm in my pickup now, you wanna go to town?" He asks me again. "Ok, just let me doll up and I'll be there. "Ok, I'll wait for you." He says. "Merci." I say. He hangs up. I smile. Those two have made my week.
I put on my makeup, put on my jewellery and I spray my best smelling most expensive most sexy perfume on and I head out of the dorms to meet up with my maybe-boyfriend. How is it possible to feel totally and utterly like shit and absolutely positively ecstatic at the same time? Actually, I know why. Because of that amazing, beautiful, fantastic boy I've come to understand and support. The one who has always been there for me and vice-versa. Nathan-Fucking-Prescott the 3rd.
He is my rock.
Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't upload yesterday. I was really tired and busy that day. Anyway, to make up for it I wrote this XXL chapter for all of you reading. I don't want this to be a chore for me to write a chapter every now and then but I'm actually enjoying it. I just hope you guys are too. I hope that everyone want more chapters like I want to write more. If I get a few faves, follows or reviews I'll upload another straight away. Btw to the person who messaged me, Juliette will come into play in the story later. I'm not going to say exactly when I'm going to bring Juliette in, but it'll be super soon. Thank you to everyone who has read this. 200+ reads! I can't wait to release the next one and I hope you all enjoyed this huge chapter. Bye, Bye! –Love Ash.