Destiny Keeps Getting in the Way

[Melinda’s Point of View]

The next day I woke up earlier than usual, I had a nightmare about Peter. I still can’t believe he tried to rape me. Four years of close friendship was down the drain and I failed to see the dark side of him. I think I refused to see it because I experienced so much with Peter.

He helped me through so much that I refused to think he was some kind of crazed stalker. I’m not really mad at him, I feel more betrayed than anything. He had my absolute trust and he shattered it.

My family and friends left me again alone but before they left Nathan came back. As of right now we’re sitting in the living room. We’re watching TV and it’s comfortable yet awkward at the same time.

“Who sent the flowers?” Nathan pointed to the tulips that I totally forgot about.

“Oh, um, I don’t know. It wasn’t Peter, that’s for sure. He said he didn’t.”

Nathan got up and walked over to the tulips and picked up the card that was in the flowers.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,” Nathan walked over to me and sat beside me as he continued to read it.

“And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion dimm'd; and every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; but thy eternal summer shall not fade.” His blue eyes looked at mine.

“Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
when in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” He finished. I don’t know if it was the accent or—no it was the accent that made it sound so beautiful and the way the words came out so smoothly and naturally that was so beautiful and heartwarming.

“Whoever he is picked a wonderful sonnet by Shakespeare.” Nathan said setting the card down on the coffee table. “And you don’t want to find out who sent it?”

I shook my head. “Like I told Devlin, I have enough problems.”

Nathan seemed bothered that I brought up Devlin.

“What’s wrong?”

“I still think I should’ve been there.” He sighed.

I chuckled. “Even if we weren’t mad it would’ve happened because you were at work, speaking of which, why aren’t you there?”

He smiled. “I cleared my whole week to take care of you.”

I smiled back at him. We were having a moment. That moment when we both look into each other’s eyes and the world stops and the only thing that mattered was us and the magnetic pull we felt towards each other.

“That’s sweet.” I spoke.

“You’re very important to me, Melinda. And I took care of Peter.”

I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?” I asked.

He cupped my cheek and caressed it. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t bother you again.”

“You’re not going to…” I didn’t finish my sentence. I couldn’t.

“No… but I taught him a lesson.” Nathan said his eyes got a darker shade of blue a dangerous one.

“This isn’t like you.” I said in a soft tone.

“It is me, a side you knew before we… fell in love.”

“You mean, cold Nathan that kidnapped innocent girls?” I joked but he didn’t seem to like it.

“I don’t regret it because with you I found something beautiful and worth living for. Now, I want to know why Peter mattered so much to you.”

“He was my best friend. He was there for me when I needed him.”

“Exactly when?” He asked.

It was time to come fully clean. I left out a lot of parts when I told him my life when I thought he was in a coma. I sighed deeply and mentally prepared myself to relive the experience. A dark side of me that I buried with therapy.

“I was a wreck. I drank too much. I didn’t stop and honestly… I didn’t want to. It was a dark and cold place without you, Nathan.” I didn’t look at him in the eyes. “My drinking got so bad that it got to a point where my friends and family actually had an intervention for me.” I laughed a little.

“I came back from a club… drunk and there they were waiting for me with two big guys in white uniform. My dad put me in rehab and I went to therapy for a couple of weeks. I got my act together and went back to school and got my nursing degree and stuff.” I finished and finally looked at him.

He did look like the old Nathan. He was distant. This was Nathan but it was like I was meeting him all over again, no, it was like having a flashback to the day he pointed a gun to my face and had no remorse to hit me if he had to. I started to wonder if I did that to him or was it what Peter did.

“You were that affected by me?”

“I freaking love you, Nathan, it hurt to know that I caused you to be in that coma. I thought I was never going to see your beautiful eyes again and when I first saw you I felt relieve at first because I was so happy you were good but then… I felt…”

“Betrayed.” Nathan finished.

“Like I said before, I felt like I wasn’t worthy for the truth that you didn’t love me enough to tell me—“

“Melinda, I love you so much that I didn’t want to hurt you. I wasn’t strong enough. I barely moved and spoke. I was a mess and I didn’t want to be a—“

“Burden, I know. But I love you and always will. It wouldn’t matter if you ended up with no legs and arms I would still love you and remain by your side because with you I, too, discovered something beautiful.”

“I screwed up.” He admitted.

“So have I and that’s what makes us human. We’re not in some telenovela (soap opera) where problems are fixed fast. We have to work on our relationship. Learn to trust each other again because that’s how it’s done in the real world.”

He smiled and in his eyes I saw the Nathan that I love the Nathan who gave me kisses that left me weak to the knees instead of scaring me to death.

“I love it when you’re right, love. We have to work on trust and it won’t be easy or fast but we’ll make it because our love is strong.” He leaned down and I thought he was going to kiss me but he only removed a strand from my face. “I love you, but we’re going to have to take things slow.”

I nodded.

This was going to be harder than I thought.