Me Before You is a romance novel written by Jojo Moyes. “Me Before You” is a touching and emotionally charged novel that grapples with love, loss, and the complexities of human existence. [Source: Wikipedia, Medium]

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FFANC: Georgie did not get up from bed after carrying around this book. At that time Nathan had to support her emotionally through stealing food from the kitchen.

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Chapter Fourteen: Me Before You

I joined them in their backyard. They tried to dribble away from me. Theo told me to get the ball from him as he ran around me. I cursed and tried to tackle him, but I couldn't, of course. I wasn't even the least bit athletic, and I hated sweating.

Fletcher pushed his blonde hair from his face and asked, “Hey, Em, you got a scrunchie?”

I had one on my wrist, “I doubt you have enough hair for it.”

I pulled it off and threw it towards him as Theo was dribbling away. Fletcher pulled his hair and made a cute ponytail right in the middle of his head. That made me laugh and I glanced at Nathan. He had his hands on his hips, watching us play. His shirt clung to his body in a way it had no business doing.

I looked away, and Theo threw the ball at me, “Take a shot, Em.”

It was nice how they were acting like old friends. I caught the ball and turned towards the basket. As I couldn't see it, I looked up, up, and up, craning my neck.

I held the ball in my hands and wondered just how many feet I'd have to grow right now if I wanted to score. I was about to make a joke on myself and turn around when I felt large hands wrapping around my tiny waist— tiny compared to his hands.

I was lifted, up and up, and suddenly the hoop was reachable. I felt like I could score with this extra six feet adding to my height.

I knew it was Nathan Callahan without looking. His fingers dug into my skin where my shirt had ridden up as he lifted me. All my attention shifted towards the side of my stomach, where our skin made contact.

I swallowed and concentrated on scoring. I took a deep breath. He murmured “good luck” from down there. I realized my ass must be right in his face.

I threw the ball, pushing back all my troubling thoughts. The ball bumped into the border of the hoop. I held my breath. I could even feel him hold his breath. The whole yard was silent, as the ball danced around and finally passed through.

The twins screamed, I screamed and turned around. I must have pulled Nathan's hair, I couldn't tell. He was smiling.

“I scored!” I told him, “I threw a freaking basketball and scored.”

“Yes, the entire five feet two and half inches of you,” he said, laughing. He remembered.

My cheeks hurt from my smile. It wouldn't have been possible without him. I glanced towards the twins. They were smiling at me in pride too. But I thought I saw Theo pass a dollar bill towards Fletcher. I looked back at Nathan, and suddenly his face was too close.

For the first time, I was looking down at him instead of looking up. It was a nice change.

He was still holding onto my waist, and in my excitement, I had wrapped my legs around his torso. I blinked at him. His eyes looked more green than usual, like a forest at the end of spring, so full of life yet dark and rich. His dark eyelashes curled against his cheek. I watched as one of my hands wrapped around his jaw, like I was not in control of myself.

He inhaled a sharp breath, and I felt it, the movement of his chest against me. His eyes turned a shade darker, his pupils contracting rather than dilating. He was staring right back at me.

“Whoa, there, love birds,” someone said behind us.

I couldn't tell who it was. I saw Nathan's eye pass down to my lips for a split second, and my stomach jumped, sending a wave of shock in me. There was a skip in my heartbeat as Nathan looked back at my eyes, and suddenly both of us jolted back to reality.

Nathan dropped me quickly. But that didn't help me.

It only made things worse.

I slid down his body front to front, feeling every ridge and plane of his muscles on my way downwards.

His hands landed on my shoulder as he glanced back at the twins over his shoulder and said, “Enough games for today.”

I took a sharp breath and tried to step away as my heart thudded against my ribcage. But his hands on me were firm.

“Why? We were only starting to have fun,” one of the twins said.

“Yeah, you could play with Bear and Sawyer instead,” Nathan replied.

I couldn't look at him until my brain started functioning again. It definitely wasn't working right now.

“But Bear can't play hoops, he's a small little bean.”

Somewhere from the back, Fletcher murmured that Sawyer was ruthless and he didn't wanna play with her.

Nathan's hand squeezed my shoulder, so I finally looked up and met his eyes. “Bear’s not so much smaller than our Emily here,” He said with a smile.

I punched Nathan, and it brought me back to reality from the fever dream I was having. I should check my calendar. I was probably at the end of my cycle.

“That's true,” Theo said.

I glared at them.

“Let’s go,” Nathan grabbed my wrist and started pulling me, as the twins waved me goodbye.

“Hey, did you see Theo passing a dollar bill to Fletcher?” I asked him as I caught up to him.

“You saw that? I thought you were too busy staring at their stomachs.”

“I wasn't -”

He opened the car door for me and dropped my backpack in the back seat. I had totally forgotten all about it.

He got in the driver's seat.

“You were throwing me looks too.”

I narrowed my eyes, “Whatever you mean.”

I cleared my throat. I looked at him and remembered what happened back in the yard. He looked away.

So we were going to ignore that. Thank God.

“You're so fucking cute when you try to lie and blush all over,” Nathan said.

“No, I look like a pressure cooker.” I mumbled instead.

Nathan was wheezing.

“So you agree, I do look like a pressure cooker.” I said, glaring at him this time.

He took a break from laughing at me and patted my head, “Yes, I can see the resemblance now. Don't worry, you're a cute pressure cooker nonetheless.”

*****

Nathan drove me home. As soon as I entered through the front door, I found Mom sitting on the couch in the living room.

“Emily,” she said, looking at me when she heard me closing the front door. I came around the couch.

“I just got back from studying,” I said, “with my friends.”

“Oh, how did that go?” she asked. She patted the seat next to her.

I dropped my backpack and sat down, “Great, I guess.”

All I could remember from the whole session was Nathan's abs, the twins' abs, me shooting a basketball, Nathan's hand on my waist, me sliding down his body, and him laughing at something stupid I had said.

This wouldn't do.

Chemistry. I needed to remember Chemistry.

“I haven't seen you around in the morning,” Mom said, ruffling my hair.

I shook my head and criss crossed my legs, “Well, uhh, I woke up a little late.”

Then we fell silent. I figured Mom was trying to tell me something, maybe about the date. Shit.

“You know, I went out yesterday,” Mom started, “on a date.”

“Oh,” I was playing with the hem of my shirt, “That’s-um-great.”

“I think,” she said, “I'm not ready.”

I was seventeen. Mom had been single since my birth. Yet, as she said that, I felt so relieved I could hug her. Then I felt guilty for feeling relieved. So I stayed where I was. “Why's that?”

“I don't know. But the date was great. It's none of his fault. He actually teaches chemistry, which was why I said yes,” Mom said, “He even had a chemistry joke on his Tinder.”

Just like Nathan and I had guessed. I remembered his sodium joke. It made me smile.

Focus, Emily. I reminded myself.

“That's funny,” I said, “Didn't he say where he teaches?”

Mom shook her head no, “Both of us decided we weren't a good match. But I said we should be good friends instead, and he agreed. We will go out again soon, this time with all his friends.”

I didn't like the sound of that. Wong would be friends with my mom. That sounded ridiculous. Thankfully, he hadn't told her that he worked at my school. But once that was out, I didn't know how that'd work out for me. Last thing I wanted was to be colored in Wong's class.

I turned towards her, “That's kind of weird, no?”

I felt so selfish as I said it.

Mom laughed, “Why'd that be weird? He's nice. I don't really have that many friends, you know.”

I turned away, “Well, you're always so busy with your work.”

Mom nodded.

I stood up and picked up my backpack, “I can take back my lipstick then.”

Mom smiled, “Yes.”

I climbed to my room, thinking about all that, as I texted TJ. She was offline, probably busy. I hadn't talked properly to Leanna in ages. She and I were better friends than this. But now, I had something to hide.

TJ already insisted Nathan wanted to sleep with me, so I debated whether to tell her about what had transpired today. I thought about that and blushed furiously.

He really had to put me down on the ground like that.

I shook my head, had a shower, and changed into my pajamas. My other homework would have to tend to themselves because I was in no mood to study further.

I was scrolling through Netflix when I found 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before'. It was a cliche kind of movie, but it was perfect in its own right. So I pressed play and tried to find the most comfortable position. I ended up with the laptop on my stomach as I rested my head on two pillows with my right hand stuffed in a Pringles can. I was settled.

****

I leaned on my elbows and looked at Nathan, “You know, I could totally throw the ball by myself, you didn't need to lift me and drop me like that.”

He smirked, one side of his lips lifting. I thought they looked pink. Soft. Lush. That damning lower lip that drove me crazy was right there.

“But you liked it when I dropped you,” he said as he stood up. He was climbing onto the bed.

“I-” I started my sentence and realized he was caging me, with his knees bracketing mine as he loomed over.

“I didn't like it when you drooled over the twins,” Nathan admitted angrily.

I swallowed, “Why?”

“And I don't like when you talk about Landon either,” he said again as he leaned further down on me. I fell back and stared up at him.

He smiled, “But I liked it when you looked at me and wished I did this.”

Then he started to take his shirt off. He pulled it over his head, baring his abdomen, his chest, his pecs, his collarbone, and his broad shoulders. I could finally, finally see all of that golden skin.

I was on my instinct as I sat up and placed my hand on him. It felt like he had so much power and strength hidden in every cord of his muscle. I could spend my days drawing lines over every ridge, playing connect the dots from every angle. I wish I could-

Nathan made a sound. My eyes rested on his face. He looked flushed. He grabbed my wrists. He pushed me and pinned both of my hands over my head.

Then he said, “My turn.”

His other hand reached under my shirt, and-

Something was vibrating. What was vibrating?

I opened my eyes. I felt my phone going off. Someone was calling me.

Oh.

Right.

Huh?

I stared up at my ceiling. It was dark around me. I could hear my phone buzzing. I picked it up and silenced it without seeing the caller ID. Then, I tried to catch my breath and figure out what had happened.

I looked over at my side and saw the black screen of my laptop. I remembered climbing into my bed and starting a movie. And I had fallen asleep.

I had dreamed about Nathan.

Shit.

This was unacceptable.

I tried to forget about all of it as I picked up my phone. There were 5 missed calls from Leanna. That brought me back to reality.

I called her back, and she answered on the first ring.

“Emily,” she said, “it's an emergency. I need your help.”

“Alright,” I said, sitting up in my bed and pulling my legs close to my chest, “What have you done?”

“I've been talking to this guy,” she said, “He's from Cycreak High, and aah, he'll be at a party tomorrow.”

“Hmm, are you planning to run into him at this party?” I said, rubbing my eyes.

“Yes, maybe surprise him and act like I was already there and something like that,” Leanna said, “I need to go, and I need a backup.”

“Tomorrow, you say,” I frowned as I lied back down, “I kinda don't want to go out.”

“Please, let's go. You don't go out at all. This would be fun,” she replied.

“Fine, I'm curious as to how this guy looks, so I'll go with you,” I said, “but you have to take full responsibility. You'll choose my outfit and do my makeup and all that.”

Leanna screamed, “Yes! I will. I'll do everything. All you need to do is go there with me.”

“Fine then.”

****