Hopelessly Imperfect (Imperfect #1) (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Bright light made me close my eyes tighter. I stretched, and a soft blanket slid off me and onto the floor. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up on the couch.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Dad greeted me from the kitchen door, a steaming cup of coffee in his hands.

“Hey.” My voice was raspy as I rubbed my eyes “Did you have fun last night?”

He smiled. “I did. You should come next time.”

No thanks.
I smiled apologetically. He rolled his eyes. “So, what are you doing today, sweetie?”

I beamed at him. “Nate’s picking me up at noon.”

“Big date, huh?” Dad’s eyes sparkled teasingly.

Shrugging, I picked up the blanket from the floor and started to fold it. “What time is it?”

“Ten.” He smiled slyly.

Oh shit!
The butterflies in my stomach started to flutter crazily. “I need to hurry up,” I chirped nervously.

Dad nodded, completely amused. “I need to do research for my new paper. I’ll be in the studio, okay? Come say good-bye before you leave!”

“Yeah, Dad.”
Of course.
As if I’d leave without saying good-bye.
Parents.

As if he knew exactly what I was thinking, Dad’s blue eyes narrowed as I passed him.

The next two hours went by quickly as I took a shower and chose my outfit. For the first time since Mom passed away, I paid extra attention to my clothes. I didn’t want to look like I did every day. I chose dark jeans, a white tank top, and a washed denim shirt over it. I braided my hair and decided to wear a bit of makeup. But not too much.

Nate parked in front of my house at exactly noon. My lips tugged up as I peeked out the living room’s window at him. I ran to Dad’s studio and kissed him good-bye. The smile on his face showed he was going to tease me again, but I left before any sound left his mouth. I heard him laughing as I stepped down the stairs.

Grabbing a jacket before walking out, I reached Nathan as he was climbing up the porch steps. His eyes lit up as a smile drew across his face. He was looking good. He had on a dark gray Henley and washed jeans. Then again, it didn’t matter what he wore; he always looked dashing to me.

“Hi.” I bit my lip as he leaned in to me. He cupped my cheek as his soft, spicy fragrance reached my nostrils. My arms instinctively shot to him as he pressed his lips against mine.

“You look great,” he murmured as he checked me out.

I shoved him playfully as we walked to his car. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

His lopsided smile appeared as he opened the door for me. I looked behind my seat as he walked around the car and saw a large camping backpack. “Are we going camping?” I asked as he started the car.

He snorted. “I don’t think your Dad would approve, Cass.” He shook his head in amusement.

I rolled my eyes. “We’re going to have a picnic, then.” I rubbed my hands excitedly.

“The large backpack gave it away, huh?”

My lips tugged up. “What’s with all the food, by the way?”

He chuckled. “Well, I want to stay there all day long, and you know I tend to eat a lot, so I brought a reasonable stack of food.”

I laughed at that. Gazing at the city, I squeezed his hand. Then I remembered about his father. Warily, I glanced at him. “Did you see your father yesterday? How did it go?”

He shrugged. “Same as always.” He scrunched his nose. “We talked about school and stuff like that. Nothing important,” he said absentmindedly.

I didn’t want to ruin the whole date or anything, so I let the topic rest. “So, where are we going?”

His gray eyes sparkled with excitement as he turned to me. “You’ll see.” I rolled my eyes as he chuckled.

Twenty minutes later, we were surrounded by forest as he parked in the Fresh Pond Reservoir parking lot. The sun beat down on us, unusually warm for this time of the year as we hopped out of the car. Nate carried the backpack and we held hands as we hiked down the trail. It was a beautiful place; different shades of green everywhere, a clean woodsy smell, and there were also a few backpackers like us. My cheeks were already flushed from the exercise, and Nate glanced at me and shook his head.

“What?” I asked, amused.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’ve never pictured you as the outdoorsy kind,” he murmured gazing in front of him.

I puffed out my chest. “I am! Just because I’ve never been here doesn’t mean I’m not.”

He smirked. “I thought you’d be like one of those girls that scream and run at the sight of a bee.” He raised an eyebrow.

Huffing, I looked to the side as a couple of runners passed. “I’m not.”

“Good. Because you’ve got one in your hair.”

“What?” I shook my arms and started to jump, trying to get the little, evil thing off me. He burst out laughing.
Hard
. I gave him a dirty look. “I don’t have anything in my hair, do I?”

Breathing hard, in between laughing, he said breathlessly, “You just proved my point!” Rolling my eyes and scowling at him, I kept walking. Suppressing his laughter, he cleared his throat. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you, okay?” he said as he strode beside me.

My lips twitched as we kept moving.
Smartass.

Finally, we stopped in front of the lake, which was in a secluded part of the park. He set the backpack down and took out the blankets and the food. I helped him, and soon enough, we were settled. He’d brought grilled cheese sandwiches, a salad, and fruit.

“Did you make these?” I gestured toward the clearly homemade grilled cheese sandwiches. The edges were a bit burned, and the cheese was spilling out the sides.

His cheeks flushed lightly as he shrugged. It was the cutest sight ever. My heart warmed for him. I bit my lip before I added softly, “Thank you. This is the best date ever.” I meant it.

It was really sweet of him to prepare a picnic for us. He even brought everything to make s’mores, though I had no idea how he planned to make them, seeing that we had no fire.

He was taking out a large, heavy blanket when I asked him, “Can we start a fire here?”

His lips tugged up in that boyish smile. “Yup.” He raised a brow. “Are you doubting my camping abilities?” He chuckled before gesturing to the small fire pit on our right. “We do need to find a few branches and dry leaves.” He reached out for me. “Come on, beautiful, let’s find some; we don’t need much.” He held my hand firmly as we walked around the woods, never losing sight of our picnic place.

We found a bunch of branches and dry leaves. He arranged them in the fire pit, making a sort of teepee, putting the leaves on the bottom and the branches on top. While he did that, I placed the blanket right next to the pit and sat on it with my legs crossed. “So, besides being a Boy Scout, what other talents do you have up your sleeve?”

He chuckled and wiped a trace of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “There’s really not much.”

“Come on, Nate,” I pressed, “there must be something. Like, what do you want to study in college?”

He finished and wiped his hands on his jeans. “I’m good at math.” He shrugged before taking a seat next to me. “I’m thinking of engineering.”

I passed him a wipe so he could clean his hands before he dug into the food. “That sounds great.”

“What about you?” His gray eyes stared at me curiously.

“I want to go to art school.” I looked at the lake, marveling at how beautiful nature truly was. “Maybe in New York?” I turned to him with a shy smile. “One day, I’d love to own an art gallery to give artists exposure.” I bit my lip. “But that’s like ages from now!”

“I’d love to see
your work
exposed,” he murmured as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My heart fluttered as he inched closer and our lips met. His arms pulled me even closer as I got lost in the kiss. I shifted and ended up straddling him. A deep groan burst from the back of his throat as my whole body felt as if it was on fire. My shirt creased as he slowly slid his hand under it. My skin soared wherever he touched. Breathless, I rested my forehead on his as he gently stroked my back. We stayed like that for a moment, completely lost in ourselves.

At some point, he swallowed hard. “We should eat something.” His voice was husky.

I nodded and tried to pull away, but he gripped me tighter. “You’re so beautiful, Cass,” he murmured as his eyes roamed all over me. He kissed me softly one more time before letting me go.

My heart was beating a mile a minute as we started to unwrap the sandwiches. He took out a couple of juice bottles and smiled at me as he uncapped mine.

I nibbled the corner of my sandwich before I tilted my head and gazed at him. “Where are you applying?”

A lopsided smile formed on his lips. “Definitely New York.” He took a sip from his bottle as I smiled back.

“Seriously, Nate, where were you thinking?”

He shrugged and stared toward the lake. “I haven’t thought it through. I just know I don’t want to live here anymore—” his eyes searched mine, “—and New York sounds great. I mean it, Cass.” He frowned. “That is, if you want to.”

I nudged him playfully. “That does sounds great, Nate.” He smiled.

We finished eating, talking about New York and the different options we each had. Turns out I wanted to apply for the Art Institute of New York City and he was thinking of Columbia University. I couldn’t deny that my heart soared at the mere thought of living in the same city as him. Actually living with him was something that popped into my head as we talked. But I kept it to myself. It seemed like it was too soon to bring it up.

“Thank you, Nate. Everything was great.” I closed my now-empty juice bottle and placed it in the backpack. He started to pick up the things we hadn’t eaten as I admired the view. It was past four by now, and the lake was pretty much deserted. Small ripples moved across its surface. I walked to the shore as I crossed my arms over my chest.

A mischievous thought popped in my head.

I glanced at Nate. He was seated on the blanket, and his gray eyes were boring into me. Boldly, I took off my shoes, and without a word, I pulled off my jeans. Nate sucked in a breath. Nervously, I worried my lip as I took off my shirt. I was left only in my underwear and my white tank top.

“Are you coming?” I steadily held his gaze.

“The water must be freezing,” he murmured in a raspy tone. I shrugged as I pulled off my tank top without breaking eye contact.

“Live a little, Rivers.” A smug smile formed on my face before I turned around and jumped in the water.

Oh my God!

The coldness seeped through my skin as I struggled to swim upward. Breathless and plain cold, I broke through the surface at the same time Nate jumped in. My teeth chattered as goose bumps formed all over my body.

Nate’s head popped out of the water, and he grinned at me. “Cold, huh?”

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you very much,” I stuttered as my teeth chattered.

His gray eyes were dark as he smugly swam to me. “I’m liking this side of you, Cassie.”

Oh my gosh. I’m so stupid. I should have thought this through. It’s so freaking cold.

“Glad someone is enjoying my stupidity,” I said while dogpaddling, trying to get used to the temperature. It wasn’t working.

Nate laughed. “I told you it was cold!”

My eyes narrowed, and a mischievous smile drew on my lips before I splashed him, laughing. Suddenly, something brushed my right foot. Wide-eyed, I swam quickly to Nate. “Something touched me! Something touched me!”

He was brushing his face with his palm as I crashed into him. His left arm instinctively wrapped around my waist. His lips twitched as I pretty much climbed on him. My legs were wrapped around him as my eyes wildly surveyed the water around us.

“People come here to fish.”

“So, there are fish everywhere?” I squealed, panicking.
Well, you should have definitely thought this through, Cassandra.

He laughed again as he moved us toward the shore. The water was pretty clear, which made the lake seem really deep. As we were reached the shore, the fact I was wrapped around Nathan finally registered.

I blushed
hard
. “I’m—” I cleared my throat, “—I’m sorry,” I murmured, embarrassed as I started to detach myself from him.

“Hey!” He brushed his hand across my cheek. “I’m not complaining.” My heart raced as my feet reached solid ground. “I didn’t see this coming, though.” A mischievous smile played across his lips before he inched closer to kiss me. As usual, I got lost in his kiss as emotions swirled through me. His hand inched higher than before, and even though I liked it, I broke the kiss. I wasn’t ready to go further.
Yet.

“Hey.” He cupped my chin as my teeth started to chatter once again. “Are you okay?” He ran his other hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go so fast.”