Messy Bittersweet Love

4. Sweet

 "COME ON, BABY" 

"God, I can't believe we're doing this" Delilah said in disbelief while shivering from the harsh cold weather. She was never one for the cold. With low temperatures meant upcoming allergies for Delilah Flores, sneezing and coughing fits, runny nose, and a nasal voice sometimes will be added in the mix. Delilah would pay no mind to all those things because of her dearest unruly boy, Nate Black.

She can pretend to be annoyed all she wants, even if none could believe that the sweet, naive girl would ever be able to feel annoyance toward anyone, but she can't deny that the sight Nate dragged her out of bed for wasn't beautiful. Fresh snow decorated around the pond of the small parkland they were currently in and almost everywhere. The couple had just finished up winter exams at the same time, with it being that they both went to the same college.

A couple years earlier the lovers thought that they couldn't bear to be apart to study college, so they had made the decision, or more so like Nate made the decision, for both to apply to the state university. Delilah had to admit that made her feel a little controlled and that may or may not affect in her dream career which was to be a neurologist, but she thought that as long as she had Nate by her side she would be happy. Sure, that meant that she had to step down from being a neurologist to a mere nurse, but she was at least in the medical field.  

While Delilah's wish was to sleep, trying to make up for the lack of sleep because of all the all-nighters the young girl pulled while trying to study.Because even though nurse school wasn't as hard as studying to be a future neurologist, it's still really difficult nevertheless. But her boyfriend had another plan in mind. Said plan consisted of making her girlfriend get out of the comfort that her warm bed provided, only to take her to a literal winter wonderland.

"Look! our own private skating rink" Nate said while stepping on the frozen body of water. He at least wasn't in the middle of it, where it could be dangerous. That little fact was enough to keep Delilah's anxiety at bay.

Even though to anyone else that action couldn't really bother them, Delilah was always on edge when it came to her loved one's safety. It was just the kind of girl she was. Caring, timid, and sweet, were the words that matched the description of Delilah Flores. 

"Nate are you crazy?!" Delilah shouted at him with a little bit of worry laced in her voice, but still while laughing, knowing Nate was going to fall in no time.

"Nope, but I'm crazy for you that's for sure". He said in all seriousness which made her girlfriend roll her eyes at him in a playful manner.

"Don't shout by the way, I'm sure your roommate heard you all the way from your dorm" he replied with amusement clear in his tone.

"Hahaha, I don't care". Delilah said sarcastically. Some people would think that sarcasm was something that didn't exist in Delilah's Flores vocabulary, but Nate would often bring out this confident and feisty side that not many people knew the sweet girl was capable of being.

"Come here and get away from the frozen pond" 

"Noup" Nate said as childish as ever.

Then a crack was heard that overpowered Nate's laugh and seconds later the unruly boy was submerged in the freezing cold water. 

"NATE!!" Delilah shouted, running up to her boyfriend to help him. Her worst nightmare came true in just a matter of seconds. The girl wasn't one for being athletic, much less a sprinter. But when she saw her lover's body falling to the depth of the pond, she ran as fast as she could, so fast that if her middle school gym teacher were to see, the man would be flabbergasted. 

 Meanwhile, Nate was quick to drag his body out of the freezing water and then he lay on the soft white snow while looking up to the starry night sky. 

When Delilah got to him and kneel beside him, her her heart thumping loudly against her ribcage. Nate was quietly chuckling to himself, all while still looking up to the sky only to suddenly be met with her girlfriend's eyes. The doe like eyes looming over his features searching frantically his face and body, looking for any sign of pain or injury. And that made him laugh ten times harder. He was amused by the fact that by the looks of it, his girlfriend was searching for a bruise or cut, or even a gash that was seeping with blood. When he simply just fell into ice cold water, but Delilah was acting as if he was just in a car accident or something of the sorts.

"Nate, talk to me. Are you okay?"Delilah said worryingly. The only sound that could be heard were Delilah's heavy breaths and Nate's now booming laugh. 

"What the...." Delilah mutter. When seeing her boyfriend's actual state, the girl quickly became annoyed.

"Will you stop? It's not actually funny, I really thought you were seriously hurt" Delilah tried to say in an angry manner, but as always, her voice ended up breaking halfway through her sentence.

"Hey, hey, hey." Nate said, sitting up when noticing genuine distress in his girlfriend's voice. He held her face in his hands. His ice cold hands clashing with Delilah's warm tear stained cheeks.

"Delilah, I'm fine, love. Sure, it was a big scare, even for me. But I'm fine, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I swear. But please, there's no need to cry. The only damaged thing here are my clothes." Nate said comforting her girlfriend. Bringing her into his lap and hugging her tightly. 

Regardless of the cold and wet state of Nate's, neither of them seemed to mind. Honestly, the poor girl was just thankful that her lover was alright. Funnily enough the girl that at the beginning was nagging and complaining about the cold weather, was now in the arms of the guy that was not only drenched in water, but in ice cold water. 

"I love you" Nate suddenly said, taking Delilah by surprise. But what surprised her more was her next response.

"I love you too"

"You do?" Nate asked shocked. This made the young boy, insecure. He really wasn't one for opening up and showing emotions, so this simple act made him feel vulnerable to no end. And both, Delilah and Nate knew that.

"I swear on every star." the sweet girl promised while looking straight into the broken boy's hazel eyes. 

Painfully beautiful it all was.