What's Your Sign?

Each evening, just before dinner, Ivy's doorbell would ring. She would slide in her socks on the hardwood floor, eager to answer it. Behind the wooden frame would stand the boy she was sure was sent to her from the heavens, ready to greet her with a kiss equally as heavenly.

This time, he was early. Ivy still leaped off the sofa and threw the door open. Her mood almost dampened when it wasn't Nathan, but a young woman with a stupid tray of lasagna.

"Hi there," The woman said in her bell-like voice. "Are you Ivy?"

Ivy chewed her lip, giving in to her anxiety of meeting new people. "I am."

The woman half-rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Of course you are. I'm Nina."

Ivy hesitated in reaching out to shake Nina's tiny hand. The girls his brother usually invited into his life were not anything like Nina. They were much more like Kate: the plastic bombshell type.

"It's nice to meet you. Jackson told me so much about you, but God -- you're more beautiful than he let on."

Ivy blushed. "Thank you." Her spirits were lifted entirely when she noticed Nathan walking up the drive behind Nina. "Come inside, I'm sure my mother would like to meet you as well."

Ivy stepped to the side to allow Nina to pass, but she jumped playfully in Nathan's way. He smirked at her and made her heart flutter, leaning in for their welcoming kiss.

"Ivy?" 

She stiffened and stepped away from Nathan before their lips could touch. "Hmm?"

Ivy's mother pretended to ignore the awkward moment she'd just created. "Take this tray into the kitchen, would you?"

~oOo~

Nate still smiled as he followed Ivy and her pleasantly pink cheeks into the other room. She nearly tossed the tray on the counter and began to hussle back to the living room. 

"Not so fast," He chuckled, catching her wrists and pulling her into him.

"I have to hear what she's saying," Ivy kept her eyes locked on the exit, but she didn't try to wriggle away.

"Who is it?"

"Her name is Nina. Apparently, she is -- was -- Jackson's girlfriend." Ivy shut her eyes and corrected herself.

Nate took an extra moment to look this girl over again. She looked foreign, with dark tan skin and long black hair. She was pretty, but definitely not Jackson Forbes worthy. "Really?"

"Yes. I have to hear what she's saying." Ivy repeated impatiently.

Nate whispered it in her ear. "You owe me one later."

Nate still caught the flaming red tint that replaced the pink rosy color in her cheeks as she scurried away.

By the time Ivy made it into the room her mother was offering to plate some lasagna for everyone. Nate saw the uncomforting look in the princess' eyes as if she were left to guard the castle alone. 

Nina rubbed her knees and stared down at the carpet just as nervously. "I'm sorry I didn't come before. I wanted to give you enough time to..." Her voice faltered, implying that Ivy already understood. "I was actually kind of nervous about meeting you."

Ivy smiled kindly. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name."

Ivy's mother returned with two plates of lasagna, claiming that she could only carry two at once. Ivy grabbed onto Nate's hand and pulled him behind her to eat their food in the kitchen.

Nate dug into his meal immediately. He wiped the bit of sauce on his lip with the back of his hand. "Damn, this is really good!"

Ivy crinkled her nose and pushed her plate away. "I can't eat now. I'm not hungry." She angled herself to try and hear the conversation in the other room. 

If Nate weren't so enchanted by his dinner he may have been insulted.

He decided the only way he would gain her attention was if he mentioned her current interest. "Nina seems nice."

Nate celebrated on the inside when Ivy finally focused on him. "They all seem that way at first." She picked up her fork and sliced through her lasagna, still hesitant about eating it. "Kate was a good friend of mine."

That surprised him. "Was she really?"

Ivy nodded. "She was like the big sister I always wanted, but never had. That was until--" She abruptly cut herself off.

Nate wasn't sure he should risk asking her to elaborate. He knew through Joseph how close Kate and Jackson had been, but he never pictured Ivy to be involved. Maybe that was why Joseph was so stunned when Nate let her borrow his Smartpen.

"No one understands what was really going on, and it's heartbreaking to know that Jackson always felt like he was responsible for her death." Ivy shoveled her food back into the tray, completely turned off by it.

Nate started to lose his appetite as well. "I know he didn't kill her, Ivy."

She traced the lines in the kitchen cabinets with her eyes. "That makes one."

Nate had a small hunk of lasagna left, but scooped it into the trash.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said so much." Ivy covered her face with her hands on the brink of frustration.

Nate pried her hands away, unable to move on with her perfect face disclosed from view. "There's no reason for you to apologize."

Ivy found a new nervous habit in the hem of his sleeve, turning it up and rolling it down in a cycle he didn't mind being a part of. "Before Jackson left home, I asked him if he was running off with the intention of following his horoscope."

Nate watched her delicate fingers dance on his shirt. "Was he?"

"I assumed so. I also assumed it had to do with Nina, because he wouldn't just drop everything for anyone." He heard the slight tremor in her voice. "Not like he did for Kate."

Nate panicked again. He'd rather see the castle flood than allow the princess to shed a single tear. "Ivy," He tried to soothe her, but she turned away.

"It wasn't his fault. Kate was obsessive and abusive and cruel. She wouldn't let him live his life. She weighed him down and he couldn't handle that. He had to break it off before he became overwhelmed."

Nate recalled the nights he'd spent at Joseph's house, watching Kate crawl around the house like a slug. She made it appear that Jackson had murdered their relationship, and portrayed that he was the cause of her deep depression. He was, but it wasn't his fault she killed herself a week later.

"I'm sorry." Ivy apologized again, blinking the trace of tears away. "I've never talked to anyone about this before."

Nate dropped his forehead to rest on hers. "I'm honored." She thankfully smiled and pressed her lips to his.

This time when they kissed, Nate reminded himself that Ivy controlled his fate, and that tomorrow morning his fate would be revealed in the form of yet another horoscope.

Nate couldn't remember ever being so excited and so terrified of his fate before then.