Starting Over: rewrite

Second Chances and Hard Truths

I honestly don't understand how Ben could love Serena after everything Lily put him through. He was still living as a sexual predator because of Lily's lies and he couldn't even get a decent paying job because he valued his relationship with Serena more.

Nate's POV

"You gotta move in order to be better." Raina teases me as we continue to play Just Dance.

"I'm trying here." I tell her. I was just following Chuck's plan to keep Raina busy but I didn't expect to like hanging out with her this much. I'm failing miserably at dancing.

"Arm twist." Raina tells me. "Uh, there you go."

"Okay finally." I look at the score in disbelief.

"Finally, a sport I can beat you in." Raina says with pride that she won.

"Oh come on. No. First of all, this isn't even a sport." I argue. "Second of all, gloat all you want to. Just please don't tell anyone I dance to Tik Tok." I plead with her.

"I wouldn't call that dancing." She teases.

"What? Hey, hey, at least I'm a good loser, okay?"  You threw your racket so hard, you almost broke the TV when I beat you at the tennis game." I remind her.

"This will make up for it." She passes me a chip and some chocolate ice cream. I mimic her and dip the chip into the ice cream and nod my head in agreement.

"Mmm. That's awesome." I tell her. "We need to call Ben & Jerry." I suggest.

"No, we should start our own company."

"Yes." I agree with her.

"That was my dream when I was five. Don't tell my dad."

"Mmm, I won't. You know who loves ice cream? Chuck. He loves it." I try to get Raina to think favorably about Chuck again.

"Nate. I know what you've been tryin to do all day."

"You do?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I don't know what you think..."

"You spent all day trying to befriend me so you could get me to give Chuck another chance."

"Oh..." I breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't figure out what really was going on. "Would you give him a second chance?" I ask.

"I've dated guys like Chuck my whole." She shares. "I think I'm done with business in bed and portfolio pillow talk. I want to find someone who gives me a day of firsts like you."

"Oh, I..."

"I had a really great time with you and it just showed me that I've been dating the wrong guys." She moves closer to me.

"Oh, Raina, you're great and all, but..."

"Don't worry Nate." She smiles at me. "I can tell when a guy's heart belongs to someone else."

"Oh."

"If you could convince Ella to give you a second chance what would you say?" She catches me off guard with this question.

"I...I doubt she wou..."

"Doesn't matter if she will or not. I'm just asking what would you say to her?"

"That I've never experienced a love like the one I had...still have with her." I start off. "That I was scared and immature and if I could change anything I would stop myself from breaking her heart." Raina smiles at my response.

"I'm rooting for you both. From what you've told me that kind of love doesn't go away."

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3rd Person's POV