My Only Love

Preface - Kate

       Kate Peterson checked herself in the mirror three times already. She looked flushed, her cheeks rosy even without makeup. Her honey blond hair falling on her shoulders, as she gently pushed away the bangs going into her eyes. Her best friend Nate was coming over for dinner. Her lovable friend who had always been like her soul mate. He knew everything about her and they shared a bond that a great friendship could only give. Nate dated back since high school where she was a sophomore and he was in his senior year. Kate had always been an achiever, even in her second year in high school, she had already advanced her way into her subjects. But it was Calculus which was her weakness. She could not make heads or tails with problem solving or how difficult it would be for her. Her teacher decided she needed someone to tutor her. Nate volunteered, he was in her Calculus class noticing her difficulty. Kate felt her face turn flush as she remembered that Nate Porter went out of his way to help her. He was always the head of his class, extremely good looking and so popular.

     Nate was everything good in a guy. Asshe got to know him and she realized what a down to earth guy he was with no airs. He was charming and intelligent with a great sense of humor that matched her own. They were constantly thrown together even in the school paper where Nate was Editor in Chief. She admired Nate in every sense. The closeness and the constant time together forged a very strong friendship that had grown deeper after all the years. Kate was thankful to have him in her life. She really didn't have an active love life. She had a lot of admirers but they remained that way, shying away from any romantic involvement with her. They felt there was something going on between Nate and her.

But there was none, Nate was her best friend and that was all. But she wondered to herself why she was uptight when she waited for him to arrive. Wanting to look so pretty for him. Wanting to see how his smile would be when he saw her dressed up in a dainty butter yellow dress which highlighted her hair. She was also wearing the cashmere sweater he gave her on her birthday last year. They were two actually and one was the pastel pink one she loved so much. Kate knew Nate saved a lot for these gifts as he was always short on money. Although she knew how he loved his job, his salary was pretty small to meet his needs. Law studies required a lot of money even if Nate had a full scholarship there were expensive books and fees that had to be paid.

Kate had a surprise for him. She knew she wanted the Criminal Law text book he needed. It was a very important book one that he will use constantly. When she checked it in the bookstore it was almost $300, but she wanted to give it to him. He had intended to photocopy the book little by little since he was trying to conserve on money. But Kate wanted him to have his own, one that was important to his studies. She had even wrapped it up with all the trimmings. He could just imagine how happy he would be.

They both had a patterned schedule, Friday's was DVD night. Her mother usually invited Nate over for dinner which made him really happy. Kate knew how fond her mother was of Nate and the feeling was mutual. He also visited Kate almost every day dropping by her house just before he went off to his law classes. Always, he was ever thoughtful, bringing little goodies for her like some chocolates she loved or some sweets he discovered. It seemed so sweet to Kate that Nate always remembered her, touching her in so many ways.

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The doorbell rang interrupting her thoughts. She was excited like her boyfriend was coming. Again a fourth check, she was radiant. She laughed to herself why she was acting that way. She felt weird that those feelings arose in her. It was after all only Nate, who she knew so well.