You’re Staying?

“So when are you all headed home?” Chelsea asked, reaching for the salad.

After Olivia and Nat got back from the store, Carter and Nate began cooking; For their last meal of the summer, they were having steak and potatoes.

“Damn Chels, you trying to get rid of us?” Nate asked, placing a hand over his heart and pretending to be wounded.

Chelsea rolled her eyes.

“Such a drama king. I’m asking so I can mentally prepare myself. I hate goodbyes.” She said.

Chelsea’s words caused Olivia’s stomach to flutter; Olivia had spent so much time flirting and enjoying having Nat around that she hadn’t even thought about what she would do when they left. Things between them were light, lighter than light; they hadn’t even kissed yet. So why was the thought of Nat leaving so upsetting to Olivia?

“You okay?” Nat asked, placing their warm hand on Olivia’s thigh.

Placing her hand over Nat’s Olivia gave Nat’s hand a squeeze.

Rummaging through her brain like a stack of papers, Olivia tried to find the right words to say. She couldn’t tell Nat how much the thought of them leaving was bothering her, that would make her sound too clingy. So instead, she lied.

“Everything’s fine.” She said.

Nat smiled, causing Olivia’s stomach to flutter wildly. Then, turning their attention back to their plates, they began eating again.

After dinner, the gang all broke off into little groups. Jade and Carter vanished outside, Nate, Chelsea, and Sophie made their way to the couch, and by an act of God, Chase convinced Ryan and Ricky to leave with him. So that only left Nat and Olivia.

Turning to face her, Nat leaned forward and stared into Olivia’s eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a little sad.” Nat said, taking Olivia’s hands in theirs.

Olivia dropped her gaze and focused on her and Nat’s hands; If she was going to spill the beans, she couldn’t look at them. What if her being sad about them leaving scared Nat off. After all, they’d only known each other for a couple weeks now.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia prepared herself.

“You’re leaving.” She began.

“You’re leaving and, I don’t know, I guess I just thought we had more time. More time to hang out, maybe alone, and really get to know each other.” She said, twisting her fingers with theirs.

Nat chuckled, causing Olivia’s heart to fall into the pit of her stomach. Had she just made a fool of herself?

“That’s funny cause I’ve been thinking about that all day. I just didn’t have the guts to bring it up.” Nat said.

Olivia raised her eyes to meet Nat’s, a look of small sadness in them.

“I really don’t want this summer to end.” Olivia said somberly.

Nat paused for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought. Then, shifting their eyes to Olivia they smirked.

“What if it didn’t have to end so soon?” They said.

Carter and Jade sat on the beach; with their toes in the sand, they sat and watched the waves crash onto the shore. With the light glow from the moon light, the water seemed to glow in the dark.

“So you’re headed back to the states then.” Jade said, doing her best to hide her disappointment.

Carter tilted his head from side to side as he sucked in a breath.

“I mean the twins and I work for ourselves and we have a pretty decent amount of content in our back long for our YouTube Channel. I think we can spare some more time.” Carter said.

At the sound of that, Jade almost jumped for joy; but atlas, she decided to play it cool.

“That’s great, I’d love to show you the city.” She said calmly.

Carter smiled a panty dropper smile that turned her insides into gooe.

“I’d love to see the city. I just need to talk to the gang.” He said, earning a nod from Jade.

Later that night, as they made their way back to the house, Carter headed upstairs and to Blake’s room where Blake, Sapphire, and Nate seemed to be waiting for them.

“Let me guess, you two aren’t ready to leave.” Nate said with a smirk.

Carter and Nat looked at one another before looking back to the three and shrugging.

“They’re pretty cool.” Carter and Nat said at the same time.

After sharing a laugh, they all sat down and pulled up their shared calendar to check and see how long Carter and Nat could realistically stay for. Then, after getting the dates squared away, they all headed downstairs and into the living room.

“What town is your dorm in again?” Carter asked as he sat next to Jade.

Turning towards him, Jade squinted.

“Why?” She asked.

“Nat and I are thinking of staying a little longer and I was thinking maybe, if we got an AirBnB close by, maybe we could hang out or something.” He said.

Jade stared at him dumbfoundedly.

“You’re staying?” She asked, blinking a couple of times.

Carter couldn’t help but laugh at the fish out of water look on her face.

“Yeah, if that’s cool with you.” He said.

Doing her best to play it cool, Jade gave a nod.

“Yeah, that sounds great.” She said in her most calm voice.

“Good.” Carter said, nodding.

Jade gave another nod before the two turned their heads towards the TV and began watching the movie.

Buy Me A Coffee Please