Chapter 4

• Tracy pulled in front of a diner and got down from the car, they had switched back places along the way after she had finished changing her clothes. “When are you getting your license anyway, I know I taught you how to drive more than a month ago and you applied for it then.”
• “I was told to expect it next week,” Nathan shrugged as he climbed out of the car as well. Tracy locked it and they both entered the dinner.
• “Tracy, how good to see you,” a blonde haired guy smiled to her immediately they entered.
• “James,” she smiled and hugged him briefly when he was close enough, “how have you been?”
• “I’m good, only that I haven’t forgotten that you stood me up Trace,” he chuckled lightly, “it left a big mark.”
• “Really James, every time you see me?” she rolled her eyes.
• James chuckled, “I might let it go if you make up for it.”
• “How?”
• “There is a party at my place tomorrow night, It’s Hansel’s birthday and he is introducing his fiancée.”
• “What? Hansel is getting married?”
• “Yep, middle of next month, she is a good girl, you will like her.”
• “Meh, I don’t care if I like her, all I know is that Hansel needs to tie the knot, he is getting old for Christ sake.”
• “Then what about us, aren’t we getting old too? You know, I wouldn’t mind tying the knot with you,” he winked.
• “Okay, and the weirdness has returned, bye James,” she chuckled and patted him on his shoulder before walking past him.
• “I’m serious,” James yelled after her with a light chuckle before hitting a wall and turned sharply to know what, “oh, hey Nathan, didn’t see you there.”
• Nathan stared down at the man who was many years older than him but he was taller and he took the advantage, “yeah, maybe when you stop hauling proposals at girls, your eyesight might get better.”
• “Jesus Christ, you never stop to creep me out,” James chuckled and patted Nathan’s shoulders, “keep growing kid,” he said and walked past him.
• Kid? He is no kid, he wanted to yell at him but a voice called to him then, “hurry up Nathan,” Tracy said and he decided to let it go and went up to her. He took the seat opposite her in their favorite booth. “Hmm, every time I look at this menu, I don’t know what to have. I love everything,” she chuckled, “it’s one of the things I love about Midville, they always spice up my taste buds. Hey what’s wrong with you?” she glanced up at him then.
• Nathan was staring out the glass wall when he heard that and he turned to her and shook his head with a soft smile, “nothing.”
• Tracy furrowed her brows, “hey Nathan, I have been wondering, did you grow taller within the past weeks?”
• Nathan offered her his full fledged smile, showing off his snowy white teeth, “scared, because you just realized now that I’m big and you are small?”
• Five years ago:
• “Tracy, I want chicken nuggets too, you can’t have it all to yourself,” the twelve year old Nathan grumbled.
• Tracy, at twenty two chuckled and raised the plate of chicken nuggets higher, “what are you going to do Nathan-Boo, nothing, because I’m big and you are small.” She quoted Lucas in Ant Bully.
• “No fair,” Nathan folded his arms on his chest, “you just watch, I will grow taller, taller than you and I will get to eat all the nuggets.”
• “In your dreams,” Tracy chuckled as he stomped his foot and left the kitchen.
• Two years later, she regretted saying that because Nathan at fourteen became an inch taller than her and with the years that passed after, he became more than a head taller.
• Present:
• Tracy rolled her eyes, “must you throw that to my face every time?”
• Nathan chuckled and picked up his menu, his mood so much better already, “not really, because now I get to eat all the chicken nuggets,” he glanced up at her and winked.
• “Ha ha, in your dreams.”
• “Careful what you wish for my darling, it didn’t do you well the last time you said it,” he grinned.
• “Grin at me one more time young man and I am going to cut off those cheeks,” Tracy threatened but of course, Nathan didn’t listen.
• “Oh please, can you two stop bickering and just let me know what I should get for you,” a woman said and they both turned to her and smiled, “how are you Tracy, long time no see, and you Nathan, you are in town but you never show up if Tracy isn’t around and then when you both show up, you never stop bickering.”
• “Hi, Mrs. Presley,” they both chuckled.
• “What can I get for you?” she asked and after taking down their orders, she left.
• “So, how has school been?” Tracy asked.
• “Good,” Nathan replied.
• “Any girlfriend now?”
• Nathan scoffed, “What for?”
• “What? For relationship of course.”
• “Not interested,” he said.
• “I don’t understand you sometimes Nathan, really. Sometimes you act like someone in love and sometimes you act like girls don’t exist. Let me get this straight, did they break you before you get to confess or something?”
• “In their dreams,” he rolled his eyes.
• Tracy laughed, “but wait, what is going on, could it be they can’t see your uniqueness or beauty?”
• Nathan raised an eyebrow, “really, uniqueness and beauty?”
• “Of course, look at you. You are a drop dead handsome guy, your white hair complements your ocean blue eyes. And at seventeen, you already have the physique that some guys at thirty are still working their butts off in gyms. Don’t let me even start with your smile and then those eyes that seems to pull you in with just one little look,” she said, lost in the very same eyes.
• Nathan bit his lower lip to hide his blush, “really, you think?”
• “Of course, any girl that doesn’t see that is blind, so in my point of view, girls should be dying to be with you.”
• “That’s like saying you can date a guy like me?” He was testing the waters.
• “An older one, definitely,” she smiled but Nathan lost his smile.
• “And older one, of course,” he mumbled and stared out the glass wall again.
• “You know Nathan, you are so much better than a lot of guys I met,” she chuckled just as Mrs. Presley brought their glasses of juice, “sometimes I wonder where they are all came from.”
• “How is Gary,” he asked, and yes he remembers his name even though he acted like he doesn’t when his mother was asking about him this morning. It’s so hard not to remember the name of her current boyfriend, no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t get their names out of his head. If he is asked to write down the names of all her boyfriends, he would do it effortlessly starting from when she was sixteen, when she had her first boyfriend.
• “Oh Gary and I broke up,” she said, sipping her juice.
• That came as a surprise and he glanced at her sharply, “what happened?”
• Tracy sighed, “You know, the usual. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a family curse or something.”
• “What is?”
• “Check this out, you remember my grandmother in Texas right?” she asked and when he nodded, she continued, “she never got married, she was abandoned and cheated on while pregnant with mom. She thought maybe it was because Grandpa was still young and just needed time but after three months of their breakup, he got married to another girl pregnant for him and since then, she never met anyone that feels she is worthy enough to take her to the altar. Then my mother, whom you know very well, abandoned while pregnant at eighteen, even after given birth to me, I saw her date a lot of guys but none ever worked out. She stopped trying when I was twenty and then she died two years later. Now me, how many guys have I introduced to you guys? Yet they all left the same way and because I don’t want to be a failure in love like them, I kept trying but still, they keep cheating on me. I know I am not a liar in relationship, I’m very loyal and faithful but yet,” she shook her head and sipped her juice.
• “The fault is not from you,” Nathan said.
• “Tell me about it,” she rolled her eyes.
• “I’m serious, and it’s not a family curse as well. Your mother and your grandmother were just unlucky, and you are not them.”
• “Yeah,” she chuckled sarcastically, “because I am not pregnant yet, if I get knocked up now, then I am exactly like them.”
• “Trace,” Nathan grabbed her hand across the table, “you are not like them and like I said, they were just unlucky, they didn’t meet the one for them. And those guys that keep cheating on you, they are just stupid and worthless; because you are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You are loving, you are caring, you are attentive and most of all, you are jovial and funny,” he chuckled, “any man should be lucky to have you because you have all the qualities a man could ever ask for. Plus, you are the most beautiful of them out there.”
• “Aw, thanks Nathan-Boo,” she smiled.
• “If they are cheating on you, is because they are not meant for you. And maybe you are trying too hard and looking at the wrong places, all you just have to do is look at the right place and I assure you, he is waiting for you just as much as you are looking for him and when you finally find him, he is never going to let you go and he is going to treat you like the goddess you are,” you just have to look in front of you to see him, he almost added but he knew that was giving too much away. He traced the back of her hand with his thumb, “he is waiting for you Trace.”