Summer Relations

Chapter 15

SPENCER'S POV (Still)

"No!" he yells.

Everyone turns to look at him. He clears his throat. Natalie looks over here concerned.

"No. She's too young." He shakes his head rapidly.

"Too young for what?" Mrs. Legler asks. I sigh quietly.

"To marry our daughter."

She raises her eyebrows.

Everyone in her family buds in.

"She's way too young." Caitlyn says.

"Yeah, sorry, but no. Not yet."

I shake my head. "I want to propose every day until we've graduated college and we're ready for marriage. We're way too young to get married. I know that. I just...I don't want it to be a simple proposal. She deserves something better."

Uncle Albert sighs. He looks at Natalie with almost a pained expression. After a few minutes, Natalie looks back, away from her conversation with Justice and Seth. She looks at me and smiles, and then looks back and continues the conversation.

"Spencer." Uncle Albert says. "When Natalie broke up with you the first time, because of the whole long distance thing, she came home destroyed. I thought the look of pure pain on her face couldn't get worse, but it did. A lot worse. She completely lost it. I know it and I wasn't there the whole time. When she came back at the beginning of the semester, she was a different person. She hardly spoke or ate. I hadn't seen her smile in forever. She hid at school and she would watch you from across the lunchroom. She was so numb with pain that she was, literally, a shell of who she used to be. She knew it too, because she put it in that song. The second you guys got back together, she snapped out of it. Even when her father died, she never got as depressed as she did without you. Then, when she broke up with you for the party, she came home and she was so upset. I was sick to my stomach when she walkd in the door. When she told us what happened, I wanted to punch you in the face. You broke her, and I couldn't forgive you for that. They say that it takes longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart, but really Spencer, when it comes to you and Natalie, that isn't the case. It takes seconds for her to go back to being herself. She's happy around you. Happier than I've ever seen her. Sure, you fucked up a bit along the way, but nobody's perfect. So yes, you can marry her. Just...not a day after college." He pauses. "All I ask if that...if for some reason, you break up, give her whatever is it your plan is. Let her see it. Let her know what she's missing. She needs you Spencer. You need her."

I nod. "I promise." I say. "Thank you."

NATALIE'S POV

"What the hell are they talk about?" I ask Seth and Justice.

"No clue." Justice says.

"You're lying." I say.

"No he isn't." Seth says.

"How would you know if he's lying or not? Yes he is!"

When Uncle Albert and Spencer hug, my suspicion rises.

"I'm going over there."

I start to walk over there.

"No!" Justice shouts.

Just as I start to turn around, he shoots forward and grabs the back of my bikini top.

And it falls right off.

I immediately cover myself.

Both boys are just standing there with wide eyes and I'm screaming at them.

I feel someone pull a shirt over my head. I panic for a second, but then Spencer steps into sight.

"What the fuck is your problem?" he snaps, picking my top up off the sand. "She's my girlfriend, not yours."

"Spencer, I wasn't-I didn't." Justice stammers.

"No." Spencer shakes his head, disgusted. "You meant to do it. If you didn't, you wouldn't have stared. How dare you."

"Spencer." Seth sighs.

"No." Spencer puts his arm around my shoulder. He pulls me away.

When we're far enough, he turns me to face him, running his hands up and down my arms.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I nod slowly.

"Are you sure?"

"How many people saw?" I whisper, upset.

He sighs.

I rest my head against his chest.

"I want to go home." I whisper, knowing that everyone saw.

He nods, wrapping his arms around me.

"Let's go." He says.

I turn to leave.

A man in swim trunks and a white t-shirt walks over to Mom. I grab my bag. He talks to hear for a while, and then Mom nods.

"Natalie?" Mom calls.

I turn around.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Can I have a minute of your time? I've been looking for you all day."

I raise my eyebrows.

"Sure." I say.

"My name is Marcus Lent." He says. "I'm a senior at Julliard College, and the dean has sent me to find you." he says. he sticks his hand out.

"Natalie Legler." I say slowly.

"See, there are videos of you singing on YouTube, and the dean wanted to offer you a spot at Juilliard."

My entire family is listening.

I don't even think about it for a second.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to decline." I say.

He nods and his smile falters a little.

"May I ask why?"

"Because singing is a hobby of mine. I don't want to sing for my life." I say.

He nods slowly.

"Well, thank you anyways." He shakes my hand again.

"You're welcome."

He pauses.

"How old are you?" he asks.

"I'm eighteen."

He nods.

"I'm twenty one. You're gorgeous."

"And in a relationship." I say. "But thanks."

His smile vanishes all the way.

"Okay, I apologize, if I had known-"

"It's okay." I say.

He nods and slowly backs up, and then practically runs off.

"You just gave up Juilliard?" Caitlyn asks.

I nod. "Yes."

"Why?" she asks.

I frown. "Because that's not what I wanted. I want to follow my dreams, not what a college wants me to follow."