Diamond (On Hold)

Chapter Two

As I was standing in the bathroom, door locked and staring at my reflection in the mirror, trying to maintain my breathing, I remembered the night that I have tried for the past five years to never reencounter.

Nathan and I were at his father's red convertible. All windows were down, the music was blaring loudly through the car's speakers and he and I were singing along loudly. I still remember the song that was playing, 'You get what you give' performed by the glee cast.

Nathan is a basketball player and was in our high school's team. That night his team won the state championship and he and I were eccentric. The shot he did made the team win in the very last second. As soon as he scored, my cheerleaders and I screamed in celebration and we darted into the court, celebrating with the team.

On that night also, it was Nathan and I's anniversary. We were dating for two whole years and just by looking at us, you could tell we were in love.

Nathan and I were not like, the couple everyone predicted they would eventually date. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

He and I were both in the popular clique. Nathan was the male head of the clique, seriously. He controlled them all. While I was only in it because my childhood best friend,   Annie, was its female lead. So everyone just considered me one of them as I always hung out with Annie.

Everyone thought that Annie and Nathan would date but that never happened, and he instead fell for me. I wasn't into him first, but when I really got to know him, I fell head over heels, literally.

Nathan was driving too fast, I knew it. But I didn’t stop him. And when the accident happened, you could never blame Nathan alone. I am the one who didn’t tell him to slow down.

He had his seat belt on, I wasn't. People found us on the road, thankfully, soon enough.

He ended up with a broken leg, but other than that, he was absolutely fine. I, on the other hand, was definitely not. I fell into a coma for a total of six months. Doctors thought there was no hope for me but my Dad and my beloved brother, Julian, never believed that.

High school ended, and I was still in coma. Nathan got a basketball scholarship in Duke University. And he left, just like that.

For the next two months my Dad was furious and Julian was already planning a scheme to get back at him.

But then on a Friday morning, while my Dad and Julian were visiting me, I woke up. My dad was reading my from my favorite book, The Fault In our Stars, and my brother was staring at me.

I didn't open my eyes, I just said the words of the quote I knew by heart together with my father, 'my thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations' and Dad jumped off the chair at the same time that Julian did and they both hugged me so hard. I still wince at the pain I felt from their crushing embrace.

I was home in no time, and started travelling the world. After being in coma for so long, I have realized that life's too short to spend it studying on things that I don’t really like. My dad, thankfully, agreed with me and supported me whole-heartedly.

I went to Paris first; it was my dream ever since I was a little kid with no front teeth to visit it. Then Rome, lots of states of America and Bali.

I went back to England of course for occasional visits to my family, but after a week or two, I book myself a flight and go to the next country. This went on for two whole years. I have visited breath-taking places but no matter what England remain my home where I feel completely safe.

I missed Nathan, I can never deny that. In every country I see a place and just know Nathan would like it here. I have tried my best to get over him and the fact that he left me, made it quite easier to be honest. My feeling of love and awe I had for him, are now replaced with hate and resentment combined with fury. 

But as soon as I laid eyes on him after all those years, my heart couldn't resist skipping a beat. He was handsome as he has always been with his long muscular figure, black hair, chocolate brown eyes that looked blue from a distance and light skin.

He was my definition of prince charming but he hurt me too much. The whole situation was bittersweet.

I finally collected myself and left the bathroom, with people looking at me suspiciously. I must have been there for quite long. I smiled at them apologetically and headed to my office.

Nathan was nowhere to be seen, he was probably still at Clay's meeting. It usually took hours, but Clay always got them, he was that good.

Everyone already left my office by now. Everyone but Amelia of course, she knows how I absolutely hate the bathrooms in anywhere but my home and me spending over five minutes there always gets her suspicious. I smiled at her, appreciatively. I loved that she always had my back.

'Everything alright Bella?'

'Yes, Love.' I winked at her. If people don’t know us, they would definitely think we're lovers.

 'About that double date Ami, can we go to the movies or something? If I hear another conversation between Jacob and Robert about their work I swear I would be sick.'

'I know Bells, I just can't stop Robert from bringing the subject every time we go out, and I swear I warn him beforehand but he just never listens.' She said while rolling her eyes.

'Tell me about it!' I replied furiously. I have tried millions of times to tell Jacob to just drop the subject but he just never listens.

You see, both Jacob and Robert are quite competitive and each likes to show himself off by talking about their work. This eventually results in me and Amelia bored out of our minds and fight with them every single night about it.

It's not like we didn’t have enough of it on the phone or in Amelia's case at her house.

I sighed, men.

'Hey Amelia, I'm going to go check on Clay and see if he wants anything.'

'Yeah sure.'

I made my way to Clay's office with my hands shaking. Why am I going to do that? I can be so stupid at times. But I just couldn’t stop myself. I was sure though I would make a fool out of myself by like stuttering or something.

I bumped into someone on my way and muttered embarrassingly, 'sorry.'

'That's okay, hey it's me again.'

I looked up and there he is, grinning at me.

Oh please stop. Hating you is so much easier when you're not smiling.

'hi.'

'Isabelle, this is me, Nathan. Nathan Scott.'

'I'm sorry, I don’t really read sports news?' it sounded more like a question but I was proud that I was not stuttering.

'Bella, don't you remember me?'

'I'm sorry, I don’t. Maybe I resemble someone you know or something?'

'Yeah, maybe.' He looked at the floor and made his way out of the agency building.

He then turned around and looked at me once more, our eyes met, but I quickly glanced away.

Applause Isabelle Pattinson, you certainly deserve it.

A/N: Big thanks to Malak Nagaty for the AMAZING cover!