Soft Spot

THIRTY-FIVE

I looked around the large airport frantically, hoping to catch sight of him. There were so many people rushing around that it was hard to focus.

"There he is!" Jason suddenly yelled, quickly walking away. I followed after him and finally I caught sight of Nathan. He was standing next to an older woman who screamed authority and wealth. Once his eyes landed on me he grinned widely and rushed over to me, picking me up and spinning me around.

"God I've missed you." He breathed, cupping my face with his hands and smashing his lips onto mine. I giggled through the kiss, kissing him back. I've missed his touch so much. When he pulled away he hugged Jason and then wrapped his arm around my waist, bringing me towards his mother.

"Mom, this is Katherine. Penguin, this is my mom." He said, smiling down at me.

"Hello, ma'am." I smiled sweetly at her. She nodded my way before looking back at Nathan, telling him she would see him soon. I frowned and looked at Jason who simply shrugged.

"She hates me already." I huffed as we all made our way back to Jasons car.

"She doesn't hate you, she just doesn't like to meet new people." Nathan sighed, kissing my forehead. "Besides, I could careless about what she thinks of you. I love you."

"I love you too." I grinned, snuggling closer to him. We got to Jasons car and Nathan and I sat in the back talking about everything that happened at his moms. The whole time he was explaining everything he looked so happy. It made me a bit jealous, but I tried to ignore that feeling. I didn't want to be the selfish girlfriend that only wanted her boyfriend happy when hes with her. We got to out building and Jason dropped us off, telling us he'd be back later. We went up to my loft.

"How were things here?" Nathan asked me, laying down on my bed beside me. I shrugged and cuddled into his side as he played with my hair.

"They were okay, it would have been better with you here." It was silent for awhile until a thought popped in my head. I sat up and looked at Nathan seriously. He sat up too, a confused look on his face. "What did your mom mean when she said 'she'll see you later'?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"She's staying here for awhile.." he answered shortly, looking away from me.

"Why?"

"Katherine..." he trailed off, refusing to look at me. He was clearly hiding something. The whole time hes been at his moms it seems like hes been hiding something from me and I'm tired of it.

"What the hells going on, Nathan?" I snapped, folding my arms over my chest.

"Don't get mad, okay?" He gave me a look, "My moms in business with these people, she wants to buy their company from them. Well, they have a daughter around my age and-" I looked away quickly, my eyes watering. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. "No, no penguin nothing happened. I would never do that to you." Nathan said, cupping my face. I moved my face from his grip and nodded for him to continue. "Well in order for my mom to close this deal the people want an arranged marriage. They want to make sure the company stays within their family, so they want me to marry their daughter. If I do then I'll get a third of the company, too."

"What?" I gasped, standing up quickly.  "No, you can't do that."

"My mom wants me to, babe. It would only be for a short time. We'd get a divorce like a year after the deal is closed and then-" I cut him off, shaking my head quickly.

"No. Tell me you told your mother no, Nathan. Tell me you said no, please." I was hoping he said no. With everything in me I hope he said no. I can't stand by him while he marries another woman. I won't put myself through that kind of pain.

The way he looked away from me gave me my answer. I took a step back and opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. Nathan stood up, walking over to me. I held out my hand and shook my head and he stopped. I looked down as I could feel the tears running down my face and my lips trembled as I looked up at him again. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the floor. He couldn't even look at me. Without saying anything I grabbed my bag and I rushed out the door, running down the hall to the elevator before he could try to stop me from leaving.

I've never loved anyone the way that I love Nathan. Nobody has made me feel the type of comfort and happiness he makes me feel. I always thought that we would get married, that we would have children and live a happy life. Nowhere in our plan did it involve him marrying someone else. Why would he agree to that? How could he agree to marrying another woman if he's in love with me? How could he possibly be able to kiss and hug and marry someone else if he's in love with me? I could never imagine myself with anyone else, yet he could. It hurt. To know that he wouldn't have any problem doing this hurt, and the fact that he tried to reason about it to me hurt more. He actually thought I would be okay with this? That I could live with our relationship being a secret until he got a divorce? No. I won't do it, I won't put that kind of pain on myself.

I sat back in my seat looking out the window as the plane landed. I always loved the feeling of being on a plane, it made me feel alive. Suddenly something clutched onto my hand and I looked over at Amber who had her eyes closed tightly and was squeezing my hand, along with Nats.

"Amber, you're hurting my hand." Nat said yanking her hand out of her grip. Amber opened her eyes after the plane stopped moving and exhaled, finally letting go of my hand.

"That was so scary, we're definitely driving back." She said, a horrified look on her face. I chuckled and shook my head, grabbing my bag as we were all let off the plane.

"You were asleep half the time, stop being a big baby." Nat grumbled as we all walked out of the airport and across the street to rent a car.

After I left Nathan in my loft I went to see the girls and we decided to get away from awhile. We all sent the boys a text telling them we'd be back in a week, and then turned our phones off. This was going to be a no phone week. Nat totally didn't like the idea, but I didn't care. I need this. We got on the first plane to California and  left. We were staying in a hotel by the beach. It was only about an hour away from my old town, the girls didn't know that part though. I wanted to go visit someone there. We got a rental car and then drove to the hotel, the whole time the girls were playing loud music and dancing. Thank God I was driving.

"Oh my god you guys" Nat said, turning down the music. "Do you realize that in 2 weeks we'll be graduating?"

I had forgotten about graduation. I didn't realize that we were so close. Our school lets the seniors get out 3 weeks early before graduation, so we didn't have to worry about school on this trip.

"I'm so fucking excited! NYU here I come!" Amber yelled out laughing. Amber and Nat were going to NYU and I was going to Juilliard. We're living tovether in a house that my mom bought for us. Nathan and Jason are supposed to live with us and go to NYU too.

Once we got to the hotel we put our things away and changed into bikins, going out to the beach.

"I'm so glad we did this!" Nat smiled. "We all really needed this."

"Yeah, me too." I breathed, looking down at the water hitting my feet.

"Are you going to tell us what happened, Kat?" Amber asked as we all walked deeper into the water. I sighed and nodded, dunking my head under water. When I came up I told the girls what happened and what Nathan plans to do. They were both shocked.

"Why the hell would be do that?" Amber seethed, clearly mad. I shrugged and swam away in the water. I swam back to the shore and sat in the shallow, playing with the wet sand. I missed Nathan a lot. I just got him back and I already had to let him go again. I wish it didn't have to be like this. I wish he would have just told his mother no. I wish he loved me enough to tell her no.

"What are you going to do?" Nat asked, sitting beside me. Amber sat on the other side of me and I laid my head on her shoulder.

"I have no idea." I whispered honestly.  "I can't stand by his side and watch him marry another woman." I said as a tear escaped my eye.

"I get it. I wouldn't be with Jason if he married someone else, either. It doesn't matter that he doesn't love her, it matters that hes with her."