Soft Spot

T W E N T Y

When my mom and I moved to New York I thought I was done. I didn't have to be scared of Carter anymore because he couldn't do anything to me if I'm thousands of miles away. I should have known better than to let my guard down the moment I got to New York. I should have been more careful, more private with my life. Now, because of my childish mistakes, my life is in danger yet again. At least this time I'm not putting anyone else at risk, only myself. At least this time nobody's blood will be on my hands.

Today was the day. The day of prom, and the day we leave for spring break in California. I wanted to ditch prom, but I couldn't. I didn't have money to pay the school back, and I didn't have a good excuse to give Joseph. I was more scared now then I have been in a long time. I haven't felt this type of fear since I left to come to New York. It was honestly heart breaking that I was back in this situation, with no way out. Even if I didn't attend prom, Carter would just catch me somewhere else. He was relentless when it came to getting what he wanted. And what he wanted was revenge.

"Kat let's go, everyone's waiting in the lobby." Amber popped her head in the bathroom before disappearing again. I took a deep breath as I felt a tear slip down my cheek. I tried to blink away my tears, but it wasn't working. I could feel one fall after the other, and I was so grateful that my makeup was waterproof.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Nathan appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, looking at me with confusion written on his face. He was wearing black jeans and a black button up shirt with a dark blue silk tie. He looked amazing, but not as amazing as my Joseph.

"I don't want to go." I whimpered, and he frowned, walking in the bathroom and closing the door. He turned me to face him, cupping my face so that I had to look right at him.

"You're going to be fine, okay? Don't worry about anything, you'll be the hottest girl there." He tried to comfort me, but failed miserably. I didn't care about being the hottest girl there, I just cared about making it out alive. He sighed and let go of my face, turning to face the sink. "I know that's not what you care about, but I don't know what's making you upset and clearly nobody else knows or I wouldn't be the one in here with you. So all I have to comfort you with is how damn beautiful you are, especially tonight." He said, turning back to me. I looked up at him through blurry eyes, he was staring at me with an unknown look on his face. He's so hard to read. He brought his hand up and whipped my tears away before walking out silently. I did a touch up on my makeup before walking out and down to the lobby.

"Finally, we've been waiting down here for years." Kevin exaggerated, grabbing Nats hand and walking to the limo. I looked around for Nathan but I didn't see him anywhere. It kind of made me a little uneasy that he wasn't here. I spotted Joseph and he walked over to me, a huge grin on his face.

"Baby.. you look, wow... you take my breath away. How did I get so lucky?" He said, hugging me. I hugged him back tightly, taking in his smell. He pulled away and frowned as he stared at me, "are you okay?" He asked and I nodded.

"I'm fine, let's go." I forced a smile and kissed his cheek before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the limo with everyone else.

"Okay, shots before we get to prom!" Angel screamed, holding a bottle into the air. Everyone agreed, grabbing a shot glass. I stayed quiet, not wanting to drink.

"Kat take a shot!" Amber yelled, handing me a glass. I shook my head bitting my lip. Everyone looked at me expectantly.

"You know what, I think I'll wait until we get there too." Joseph said, putting his glass down. I smiled at him greatfully while everyone else took their shot.

"Hey, where's Nathan?" I whispered to Jason as the limo came to a stop and we all got out. He raised his eyebrows at me suspiciously.

"He had to take care of some things before he came. Why do you care?"