Emily Kingsley was always the main character. She was the protagonist. Little did she knew that she no longer needed to depend on books, movies and songs to fill up the emptiness of her heart, to name the titles of her story. Finally, she can own the title of the chapter of her own story. [Source: Nathan Callahan]

*****

Fun fact: Emily was sometimes an unreliable protagonist. She has lied to you a lot at the beginning. But as the story progressed, she became honest.

*****

Chapter Thirty Four: Emily & Nathan

When Nathan finally put me down, I was dripping rainwater onto his floor.
 
“Wow, you are really wet, huh,” Nathan said, looking me up and down.
 
I opened my mouth, and then I closed it immediately.
 
Nathan being Nathan, knew exactly what I was thinking. One corner of his mouth lifted.
 
“What?” He asked.
 
I glared at him, “What?”
 
He leaned closer and whispered, “What are you thinking?”
 
I felt the blush spread through my cheeks and neck. My whole body felt like it was burning, “I’m thinking of nothing.”
 
Nathan’s smirk widened, “Sure.”
 
“Shut up,” I pushed him with my index finger to his chest.
 
“I didn’t even say anything,” He replied, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “It was all you. You’re the one who thought of—”
 
“Shh,” I insisted and rolled my eyes. I looked down to where my finger was resting on his chest, and it was a very, very bad decision.
 
He was wearing a white shirt, and thanks to the rain, it was completely see through now. The way it plastered to his body, the ridges of his muscles, and onto his skin, it made my breathing seize.
 
I had watched scenes like these on TV, Mr. Darcy in that BBC series, Anthony in that Bridgerton scene, to name a few. But my God, reality was a whole other thing. Here was Nathan Callahan, my fascination, standing in front of me in a wet white shirt.
 
Sometimes in the past I had dreamed of this, but my dreams had nothing on him.
 
I could hear his breathing speed up as I eyed him. My mouth salivated, and I had read somewhere that was an indication of desire. Well, it figures.
 
I watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest, like it was a show.
 
“Stop looking at me like that,” Nathan groaned.
 
“Like what?” I looked up at him; my eyes still widened, and my pupil was probably blown. 
 
As he watched me, his own eyes darkened. He swallowed and closed his eyes as if to push away all thoughts and regain control.
 
“Alright,” He took a few steps back from me. “We must maintain a little bit of distance until we have changed into dry clothes.”
 
“What?” I blinked. “Why?”
 
“For my sanity,” Nathan grit out as he turned around. He walked to his closet and opened the doors.
 
As he looked around for clothes, I watched his back muscles flex and ripple under the shirt as the shirt moved with his movement. I could tell I wasn’t blinking. I would blink later.
 
When Nathan turned to face me, in his hands was a pair of sweatpants and a black shirt.
 
A black shirt.
 
“Here,” Nathan said to me.
 
My throat felt heavy. I had always seen this boy wear a black shirt. I never thought that one day, he would want me to wear one of them. This should not make me emotional. But I suddenly felt like tearing up. 
 
I cleared my throat and grabbed the clothes. “Thanks.”
 
Nathan turned to the closet as I put the clothes at the edge of the bed. He handed me a towel, which I used to wipe my face and my arms. I was wiping my hair and debating whether to make a turban on top of my head when I realized Nathan was watching me.
 
He was leaning against the closet door with clothes for himself in his hands and watching me dry my hair.
 
My heart skipped a beat.
 
“What?” I asked this time.
 
He was looking at me like I was doing something extraordinary and not something so mundane and simple.
 
Nathan sighed loudly. His eyes were half-lidded as he asked, “Can I do it?” 
 
I felt a spark travel up my spine. He was asking to dry my hair. Slow down my brain. This was not a big deal.
 
It was a big deal. 

My heart started drumming against my chest while I acted nonchalant, “Yeah, sure, if you can find your way through my tangles of hair, go ahead.”
 
Nathan smiled, then dropped his clothes on the floor as he took a step towards me.
 
He grabbed the corners of the towel that was draped over my hair, and pulled me closer using it.
 
Then his lips were on mine.
 
I smiled against his kiss. He swiped my lower lip with his tongue. My smile vanished as I grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer. He breathed hard against me, rotating me. My back met the closet door, with his lips pressing on mine, and his tongue inside my mouth.
 
I made a desperate sound, which he heard and responded by pressing on to me harder. I took the opportunity to bite on his lower lip, so full and inviting, he whimpered, and I gasped. 
 
We pulled back, and I sucked in a breath, “Which part of drying my hair involves–mmh—”
 
He kissed the corner of my mouth, then made his way downward, licking the side of my neck, his warm tongue pressing on my cold skin. He sucked where my neck met my shoulder. “What happened to the whole maintaining the distance–”
 
I could feel his heart thudding against mine.
 
“Fuck the distance,” He bit my shoulder over my clothes as I gripped the long strands of his hair at the front. His teeth sank into my shirt, and I held my breath. He pushed it aside using his tongue and then pressed his lips on my skin.
 
Underneath the cloth, finally.
 
Then, I sneezed.
 
Nathan stilled completely against me. He pulled back slowly and met my eyes. We stared at each other. Then he burst into a laugh.
 
“Hey!” I complained, feeling another sneeze coming on. I punched his chest and then sneezed again.
 
“I was about to say, ‘make me stop, please’,” Nathan was shaking his head. “The sneeze sure worked.”
 
“You sneaky little–” I started saying. This time, Nathan interrupted with one of his sneeze.
 
Which made me laugh. “That seals the deal. No more kissing.”
 
I said smugly. 
 
“Are you happy about that?” Nathan asked, narrowing his eyes at me with a deadpan expression.
 
I wasn’t. Personally, I was feeling like I could eat him up.
 
“Shoo, Shoo,” I waved at him, “I need to change my clothes.” And put on your black shirt, I thought.
 
“Kicking me out of my own room, already,” Nathan said, “I see.”
 
He leaned down and grabbed his clothes from the floor where he had dropped them earlier. With one last look at me, soft and full of longing, he smiled at me and left. He closed the door on his way out as I stood in his room.
 
My heart squeezed, then galloped. My stomach did that thing, twisting and making me aware of its existence while I internalized what had happened.

Nathan Callahan was in love with me.

Nathan Callahan had kissed me.

I was about to change into his black shirt.

This didn’t feel like my life anymore. I must be dreaming.

Nathan knocked on the door as I thought that. I opened it, and he peeked at me. In his hand was my backpack. “Do you need this?”

I couldn’t even remember having it with me at some point. 

“Thanks,” I said as I grabbed it. 

I definitely didn’t need the backpack, and he definitely didn’t need to bring it to me. But we were going to ignore all that.

His eyes lingered on me for a few seconds, as if he didn’t want to leave.

“So, I should–” He rubbed his neck.

“Yeah,” I nodded. 

He turned around and paused. He looked at me over his shoulder. I tried so hard not to smile.

If he pushed the door, I would definitely let him in.

He shook his head and headed down the stairs. I closed the door and leaned against it.

My life was definitely a dream.

****

As I gave up putting on the sweatpants after trying three times and decided to go without it, my phone started buzzing.

I left my wet clothes on the floor and stepped out of them, reaching for my backpack. I brought my phone out, and it was Leanna who was calling.

“Hello?” I asked, sitting down on Nathan’s bed.

“Are you guys done?” Leanna asked.

“What do you mean?” I said, and then I had to push the phone away from my ear because there were a few voices whistling and screaming in the background.

“Nathan and Emily sitting on a tree—” It was definitely not Leanna who yelled that.

“Theo?” I asked, incredulously.

“Yes! That’s me,” Theo said, and Leanna screamed in the background to give her phone back to her. “How was the K-I-S-S-I-N-G?”

“What?” I said, almost laughing, “What the hell, Theo?” 

Fletcher was still whistling in the background. I could hear Leanna’s voice saying, “They watched you two with binocular.” 

“What the fuck?” I said, “Theo, that is not-”

“The rain definitely makes things difficult,” Theo said to me, and I thought next he was talking to Leanna because he said, “Don’t be a snitch. It’s not like you didn’t take turns to grab the binocular.” 
 
“I was just making sure everything was alright,” Leanna yelled back somewhere from the other side.

What was going on? Our friends watched us kiss? Oh my God. I was so glad we got back inside after that one kiss.

“Listen, we believe in one thing and one thing only,” Theo said to me, “that is ‘Stalk thy neighbor’.”

“Theo, that is not a good thing,” I said.

“But,” Theo said, “I could actually show you a good thing. I have a video compilation of Nathan crying for you.”

I blinked, “What?”

“Yeah, after he did the dumb thing and tried to break up with you, he got drunk and cried for you.”

This idiot. My heart warmed for Nathan. “You didn’t take a video.”

“Yes, I did. You know what’s even better, every time he says your name, it speeds up.”

“This is not right, Theo.” I said, trying to stifle a laugh, “You cannot violate him like this. 

“Why do you keep taking all the credits?” Someone else said, and I could tell it was Fletcher, “Lemme talk to her.”

I could feel all the chaos that was going on at the neighbor’s house. They were having too much fun with this.

“Hi, Emily, how was my call?” Fletcher said, I assumed.

“Your call?” I said in confusion.

“Yeah, I did a good Landon or ‘whatever his name is’ impression, didn’t I?” 

My brain froze for a second as I processed that.

“When Leanna told me it would work, I almost didn’t believe it. But again, you had never heard me on the phone. So, she wrote me a script, and bam, it worked, right? We knew Callahan would lose it.”

Landon never called me. It was Fletcher pretending to be Landon.

“How the hell did you guys pull it off?” I said, feeling betrayed, “I can’t believe you fooled me like that.”

I could hear the phone being snatched, “Oh, we have a group chat, it’s called ‘get the losers back together’.” It was Theo again.

“You are not supposed to tell her about that!” Leanna shouted in the background.

I thought for a moment. “Can you give the phone back to Leanna, please?”

“Sure, but I already sent you the video, watch it,” Theo said. 

I shook my head as Leanna finally got a hold of her phone.

“What do I hear about this group chat?” I asked.

“I swear it wasn’t my idea,” Leanna said, “It was actually TJ’s.”

“TJ?!” I shrieked, “She is in on with you in all of this?”

“Yeah, so are all the girls,” Leanna replied.

“You were so obvious,” I said.

“You don’t know how meticulously we planned every single minute,” Leanna complained, “Say thank you, you bish.”

“I can’t believe you made Fletcher pretend to be Landon,” I said laughing. “And is the birthday a fluke too?”

“Shh,” Leanna said. “Not yet.”

Then I heard her walking and a click of a door closing. “The birthday is not a fluke. Do you understand I had to do double the work to keep the birthday party secret while simultaneously putting you with your boyfriend? God, it’s so much work. Theo and Fletch don't know anything about the party. This is why I called because I need to come over and I don’t wanna run into you two, doing the nasty.”

I blushed, “You wouldn’t. We did nothing.”

Then I remembered him licking my throat. And blushed harder.

“Sure, girl,” Leanna deadpanned, “So, is the coast clear?”
 
“Yes, yes,” I said to her, “you should definitely come back now.

“Good,” Leanna replied as she unlocked the door I assumed.

“And, Lea, you’re the bestest friend I ever had,” I said. “And send a truck of love from me to everyone in the group chat.”

Leanna laughed in reply.

As soon as she hung up, I vowed I’d make the surprise birthday party for the twins’ the best birthday party ever to grace on earth. I put down the phone as there was a knock on the door.

“Hi,” I gave him a small wave after I opened it.

Nathan smiled back, and then he noticed my attire. His eyes strayed down, taking me in, and then stopped when it reached near my legs.

“Umm,” I cleared my throat, “Your pants are way too big. I couldn’t keep them up. So I–umm–decided to go without.”

Nathan blinked once, and then twice. Then he looked at me. I assumed his brain was not computing.

“Stop,” I said, my cheeks heating up, “You dramatic ass.”

Nathan sighed loudly, collapsing against the door frame, holding it with both of his hands, and leaning his temple against it.

“You are standing in my room,” He said, “wearing my shirt.” 

“Yeah, you must be dreaming,” I said, sarcastically.

“I never had such a nice dream,” Nathan said, shaking his head. He turned around, leaning his back against the frame, crossing his arms over his chest, and said in an accusatory tone, “How am I going to sleep tonight?”

“I know, right?” I said, shrugging. I looked at his black shirt and then at mine. Nathan registered the same thing, and his eyes softened. I could tell he was going to kiss me again when the doorbell rang.

I pushed him back and said, “We have a birthday party to plan.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” He replied, walking backwards.

****
 
I had gone back home after Leanna, me, and Nathan decorated everything for the party. As soon as I reached home, I called TJ. We screamed at each other—in happiness, I mean. And then we talked for two hours.
 
Now, I was wearing a sage green dress. I had tied my hair up with green ribbons that I had borrowed from Leanna. I took one last look at the mirror while there was a loud horn blaring outside my house.I rolled my eyes and climbed down the stairs. As I opened the door, Nathan was leaning against his car waiting for me. He was here to pick me up,for the party.
 
I walked to him as he checked me out, shamelessly ogling me. 
 
I also did the same. He was wearing the same green button-down he wore to our dumpling date, but underneath it he was wearing a white t-shirt. He had paired it with washed-out denim and white shoes. 
 
“What happened to your emo phase, Callahan?” I asked as I came up to him, noticing the lack of his signature color.
 
He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. He smiled and leaned down, “I’m in a different phase now, Kingsley.”
 
I smiled, “What phase is that?”
 
He gave me a small peck on the lips. Then he tapped my nose with his index and said, “Your boyfriend phase.”
 
My eyes widened.
 
Nathan grinned, “Although calling it a phase is not accurate since it’s a permanent thing.”
 
“M-My...boy...” My stuttering only made him grin harder.
 
“Yes, you can say the word, it’s boyfriend. B-O-Y-F-”
 
“When did that happen?” I asked.
 
“Remember, a few hours ago, we made out?” Nathan replied, “And you licked my mouth?”
 
“I-” I had nothing to say to that, “That doesn’t -”
 
Nathan hugged himself, looking all dramatic, “Do you go around licking random mouths, Em? Because I don’t.”
 
“Stop saying the word ‘lick’,” I said, as that word kept throwing me off, making me forget what I wanted to say.
 
“Stop denying you’re my girlfriend,” Nathan replied.
 
His girlfriend.
 
Ahsjsjxienxidmox.
 
“All I’m say-”
 
“Emily Kingsley,” Nathan cut me off before I could finish my sentence, “be my girlfriend, please.”
 
“Hmm,” I tapped my chin, as if I were debating the pros and cons, “I’ll have to think about that.”
 
Nathan cradled my jaw with both of his palms and tried to give me his best puppy eyes, “Please.”
 
I sighed as if I were being cornered, as if I wasn’t absolutely shrieking and screaming on the inside. “Fine, if you insist.”
 
Later that night, I was leaning against his kitchen counter with a drink in my hand. He was standing with the boys, the twins, and some of their school friends I didn't know. They were talking about something as I watched them from afar.
 
Even though Nathan was surrounded by people, he kept looking around as if he were searching for something in the room.
 
I knew what he was looking for.
 
When his eyes found me, the look in them changed. I had seen countless men in love in romances. The look on Mr. Darcy’s eyes when he looked at Elizabeth, the way Will looked at Lou, the look on August’s eye as he looked at Hazel—the tenderness, the longing, the sense of familiarity, the sense of relief—that ‘hey, it’s you, you are the one I’ve been looking for.’ I could see that same softness and tenderness in Nathan Callahan’s eyes.
 
I have always wondered what it was like to be at the receiving end of that look.
 
Now I knew.
 
It felt warm. It felt like I was enveloped in the softest of the blankets, in front of a cozy fireplace with a cup of warm and smooth hot chocolate. It felt like being under a weighted blanket on a rainy day, my favorite book in hand, with a drink of coffee or tea, with nothing to worry about and infinite time in hand. Like binge watching my favorite RomComs and falling in love with a story again and again.
 
I felt breathless. There was a sweet ache spreading through my blood from my heart. 
 
Being at the receiving end of his gaze felt like being alive. 
 
Then Nathan smiled, a little mischievously. Like he always did.
 
I have read, watched, and listened to hundreds of romances. I had read about all kinds of love: love at first sight, love at last, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, love that changes your whole world, love against the world, and love that bloomed in life and death situations. I had watched those airport scenes, the kissing in the rain, the confessions in earnest. And I had waited. 
 
When Nathan Callahan started walking towards me, I knew it was my turn. 
 
My story had started, at last.
 
****

A/N: and ‘The End’ for now, until I post bonus chapters and epilogue. But I’ll take my time with those. 

So, how are we feeling? I'm not gonna lie to you, this book started as a fun project for me to get out of my writing block. After writing ‘Floating’ I couldn't stick to any project I started. Nothing I wrote was good enough for me. So, I gave up. But this idea I had, won't leave me alone, so I decided, whether good writing or bad writing, I will finish the first draft. And this first draft turned into something more! While updating, I lost my motivation several times. But gradually, I grew attached to the characters. They are so much more than just a fun time to me now. Hope you loved them as much as I did.

Until we meet again. 🩷