Beautiful With You (Norman Reedus)

Chapter 14

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face and I stretched my arms above my head. After our picnic, Norman and I laid back and watched as the day began to fade and the night began to take over. We had tried counting the stars and I had pointed out some constellations in the sky, although it's been a while since I looked at the stars. It was one of the most perfect nights and when he dropped me off, he gave me a kiss and made sure that I got in okay. I was floating on cloud nine as I called Steph, while using a makeup wipe, and gushed to her about how Norman had treated me and how he had made me feel like a princess and she was jealous. I couldn't help but chuckle as she told me she was jealous. I couldn't help but chuckle, letting her know that she, too, would find someone.

I actually got out of bed and jumped into the shower. My eyes were closed as I let the water wash down my body and I hummed to myself as I washed myself up. I jumped out and wrapped the towel around myself, my phone sitting next to me as I began to straighten my wet hair. I could a ding, followed by a vibration and sat down the straightener.

"Hey, Rae. I have to talk to you," it read and it was from Norman. I closed my eyes and couldn't help but feel like something was off, something was wrong.

"What about?" I asked him.

"Can we meet at the coffee house across from the diner?"

"Sure," I sent to him and finished my hair, all the while my mood had diminished and I felt like he was off.

"I finished and headed out after making sure Poe was taken care of, heading towards my car and then to the coffee house. My bottom lip was between my teeth the whole ride there. The car was silent because I didn't even feel like listening to music at all. I was thinking too many things at once and I felt like the incessant buzzing of my thoughts were going to drown out any kind of music that I was going to play. My fingers were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as I turned into the parking lot and got out. I could see his motorcycle sitting in a spot and I knew he was already there. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, before slowly stepping into the small place. My eyes instantly found him and I put a shaky smile on my face.

"Hey Norm," my voice came out slowly and low, wondering why he looked so glum and I could tell that something must have happened.

"Hey," was all he said as I took a seat across from him. His knuckles were white as he held the cup tightly in between his hands and I could see that he couldn't meet my eyes.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked him, cocking my head to the side.

"It's about us and about Katrina," he said, pausing before he looked up at me, he looked like he didn't know what to say, "these past few days have been amazing, don't get me wrong but I don't know if this is what is right for us. I have feelings for Katrina."

My face paled and my heart stopped, tears gathered in the corner of my eyes and I couldn't believe it. This has to be a nightmare. I am going to wake up any minute now and I will get a text from him saying he loved last night. I could feel my pain turning into anger as I looked at the man before me and I could tell that he was trying to hold himself together and I didn't even know why he was. He wasn't the one that had been crushed, he wasn't the one that had to be told that the person you had fallen for had feelings for someone else. I thought we had a great date and I thought he really liked me.

"Oh," I squeaked out. The only word that my brain could even process right now. I snapped my hands back as he tried to grab them in his and glared at him. "No, Norman! You don't get to dump this on me and then think you could grab my hands. I don't want to see you again."