Starry Nights

Chapter 5: Natalie

"You guys kissed?!"

Lauren looked at Natalie with a mischievous smile on her face. "Is that ALL you guys did?"

"Yes, Lauren. After that we talked for a while and then he walked me home. Now, wipe that stupid grin off your face you idiot", Natalie said laughing.

Lauren continued to smile and sarcastically said, "okay, whatever you say kid."

Natalie went to her room and flopped on her bed. She began to rerun the entire night through her head. Okay, first he was late, and the pizza and then park and then music and then kissing. As she let the thoughts run through her mind she realized that she had been smiling without even noticing. Okay, Natalie, calm down. It was just one date. For all you know he could be a total douche bag. The first date with Derek was good too, remember? So don't get your hopes up. But for some reason, even though she though all of these things, she still felt like there was something different about Alex. It was almost as if they'd met before. Maybe it was destiny or fate that had brought them together. But whether it be fate, destiny, or just simply dumb luck, she was simply glad that they'd met.

She finally got up and walked into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and realized that she'd still had grass in her hair from when they laid down. Oh God, he must have thought I looked stupid with all this grass in my hair. She felt herself begin to laugh. She took off her clothes and started a hot bubble bath when she heard her phone vibrate once on the bathroom counter. She looked at the message and it was from an unknown number. It read, Thank you for tonight, I really enjoyed it! By the way, you still have a bit of grass in your hair.

She laughed at the text as she remembered right before Alex left she'd given him her number. Why didn't you tell me about the grass you idiot? she responded. Don't even worry about it, you still looked beautiful Natalie.

It was as if he always knew how to make her smile. He always said the perfect thing, as if he'd spent weeks writing a script of what he was going to say to her. Goodnight Alex, and thank you for taking me out tonight, I haven't had that much fun in... well, I don't think I've ever had that much fun. Goodnight, again. As she sent the final text she waited for about 30 seconds before his reply came. Sweet dreams, Natalie! I'll see you soon? he said. She replied with a simple, Of course.

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She let herself slide slowly into the hot, bubbly water of the bath. Soaking herself in a hot bubble bath while reading a book was one of her favorite things to do. She had grabbed a Nicholas Sparks book off the bookshelf before she had gotten in. She had always hoped to have a love story like Nicholas Sparks wrote about; guy and a girl fall head over heels in love with each other and then something bad happens but eventually everything works out in the end. She had always wanted to meet a guy like the guys in the Nicholas Sparks novels.

Maybe Alex is like one of those guys, she thought to herself. The thought of this made her smile like an idiot. He didn't seem to be like all the other guys, he seemed to actually care about her and how she felt. Everything inside her was shouting at her to trust him more, yet for some reason she was still scared to. It was like something physically prevented her from trusting him. She wished that she could trust him more, because she genuinely believed that he was a good guy, but something kept holding her back.

She slid lower into the bath so that the bubbles and the water came up to the base of her chin. Unable to read, she put the book down to the side and let her head slide underwater. She sat there underwater wishing that she could lay here forever. The feel of the warm water against her bare skin, the feeling of her hair floating in the water; it was a wonderful feeling to be underwater for her. She slowly came above the water for air, and she felt her eyes start to close as she fell asleep lying there in the warm water of the bath.