Nate: I know.
Nate: hehehe
Oh my God. Nate had just hehed at her. The world must be truly ending.
Maddy: Ok, I’ll let this go.
Nate: That’s my girl.
Oh, fuck him with that, Maddy thought, her whole face burning as her lips stretched in a wide smile.
***
New Year’s Eve was cold enough to make Maddy wish she could scatter back to the warmth of her house.
She wouldn’t, of course. She was almost outside Nate’s house. She’d informed her parents of Nate’s invitation to watch the turn of the year with his family and had left them all tucked in and ready for sleep. She’d taken their car because no way was she taking the bus or walking with that cold. She wouldn’t even be surprised if snow would make a sudden appearance.
She parked the car in front of Nate’s driveway. Bundling up tighter, she made her way through the front yard and was surprised when she saw Nate already waiting for her outside.
“Hey,” she said, her voice betraying her confusion.
“Hey.” Nate’s expression held a tinge of amusement and something else. “How are you holding up?” he asked, running his gaze over her.
“Pretty good, actually,” Maddy said gesturing to her clothes. “I’ve reverted to my original onion state.”
Nate chuckled, his hand already reaching for hers. She let herself be pulled closer to his warmth, unable to resist breathing in his familiar now scent mingled with the sharp cold. She must have temporarily zoned out because she found herself moving, Nate tugging her along somewhere. They by-passed the main house and followed a side walk that led to what she assumed would be a backyard that she had never seen until now.
Her eyes widened as her steps faltered and her heart seemed to miss a beat or two.
In the backyard, there was a wooden porch that probably led to some part of the house, and right in the middle of it, there was a porch swing, large enough for two people, donned in what looked like fluffy cushions and a soft, heavy blanket. The only source of light was coming from the strings of small, fairy lights hugging the banisters of the porch swing. A small, glass table stood right next to the swing, two giant, steaming mugs on top of it, filled to the brim with marshmallows and what she could only assume was hot cocoa.
“I–” Maddy didn’t know what to say so she just said that. “I don’t know what to say.” She turned to look at Nate in what she hoped was not a hopelessly smitten expression. “What is all this?”
Nate shrugged. Maddy groaned inside. Why did this man always shrug away the most wonderful things he did for her as if they were something normal. Something given.
At a closer look though, Maddy could tell that his expression was a bit sheepish and a bit tense, as if unsure.
“I thought we could see this year off like this.” He frowned. “Or should I say this month and a half?”
Maddy let out a small, unexpected laugh.
“Is this okay?” Nate asked, his voice almost a whisper.
Maddy’s smile slipped off her lips as she pinned Nate with a serious expression. She turned fully towards him, her body as if moving on its own. She stopped only when she felt every inch of his front pressed against hers. Only when her fingers had threaded through the short hair at his nape, tightening at the strands. Only when her mouth had met his in a mix of harsh exhales and hushed, agonizing groans.
Maddy had never felt her limbs so heavy and her heart so weightless.
And suddenly, she felt her body go weightless, too.
She felt Nate’s strong hands sliding at the back of her thighs and lifting her up with an ease that made her gasp into his hot mouth, her legs bracing tightly around his waist. She hadn’t realized her eyes had closed instinctively, her heavy lids impossible to remain open, until she did blink them open to see Nate completely disheveled, his lips red from her teeth, his hair rumpled from her hands, his eyes blown out and unhinged.
He looked wrecked. Exactly how she felt.
***
Nate felt wrecked.
There was no other way to describe it.
