Serendipity ○ All 14

30. Nathan

For the end of the summer bonfire, the music Addie hooked up to the speakers fit almost too well. It was a mix between classic rock and country, verging on bluegrass. Nathan wasn't quite sure about everyone else, but the music inspired longing with a note of a bittersweet farewell that had him counting down the days for summer to come again.

Many of the couples gracing the space of pebble rock and sand surrounded the fire, slow-dancing to the sound of Whiskey Myers and Chris Stapleton. It made him want to sweep a certain beautiful, freckled brunette off her feet. 

Not long ago, Nathan had spotted her and Axel together fishing on the bank of the lake. The smile that spread across his brothers face was fairly iridescent, telling anyone near that he was happy and that he didn't give much of a fuck who knew it. Which was fair - all of their dopey faces when they were near her were probably a beacon that announced their feelings to the world.

The question was whether Nathan should be jealous or not. It wasn't uncommon for the famous redheads temper - slash possessiveness - to pop up when he was faced with sharing attention.

Being unneeded or unwanted was a deep seated fear of his. After his mother left him at a young age, he was constantly reminded that he wasn't enough to make the women in his life stay. 

His mother left and never came back, Sang pushed him away with a well placed blow that was hard to recover from...So that begs the question, what surprises did Addie have in store for him? Would she stay or would she leave? Should he expect the sting of betrayal that followed shortly after inviting someone to share his life with him? 

Thinking back to his time knowing Addie, he'd like to say no - that she would never dream of hurting him. But hadn't he thought the same of Sang? That there was no possible way that any deception or will to hurt hid behind innocent smiles, giggles and sweet kisses?

For his own sake and his brothers, he thought hard on it - not willing to entertain expectations of deceit before examining the thoughts running through his own mind.

Recalling what he knew of the woman they cared about was easy. Most days, it seemed like all he could think about was her, which wasn't surprising. Addie was an incredible woman, and it made him sick to his stomach to think of her in such a way, but he wanted to be careful.

Addie the friend and Addie the woman that he could possibly end up with were two very different people in his mind. Maybe that's the issue, he thought as he watched her slow dance with Mr. B. As a friend, he didn't expect her to screw it up - it was more of what he expected of any girl that he shared a romantic relationship with.

What he needed to do was stop expecting things from her and just think of her as Addie Bennett, the girl who he cared for, who he trusted. It wasn't fair for him to take out his insecurities on her.

From what he knew of her so far, he was confident that she would rather cut off her own hand than hurt someone close to her. Sure, she wasn't soft or overly compassionate, but she was loyal to a fault.

Some people only had so much room for loyalty - a limit their endurance could take - but she had it in spades. It was obvious in the way she loved her older brother, even when he didn't show her the same allegiance when it came to sticking up for her against her father.

What really impressed him was the loyalty she inspired in return. Nathan knew her friends were close - the kind of closeness he shared with his brothers. It made him wonder what bonded them together. Were they all from broken homes? What kept them together as they grew older? Were the bonds tested through time?

They didn't have the Academy to push them to actually work to keep their trust and their friendships, so how did they stay together? Even after their loss of Jace - a prominent member of their close circle.