And then one day, it all paid off for him.
The previous starting quarterback, Daren, broke his femur on the field during a game and they had to put Nathan in. I can still close my eyes and see that moment. A stretcher carrying Daren off the field. The offensive coach running down the sidelines to Nathan. Nathan shooting up off the bench and listening to the coach’s instructions. And then…just before he put his helmet on and entered the game for what would go down in history as his career-making start, Nathan looked up in the stands for me. （He didn’t have a private box at that point.） I stood up, we made eye contact, and Nathan looked like he was going to hurl. I did the one thing I knew would help him relax: contorted my face like a ding-dong and stuck my tongue out the side of my mouth.
His face exploded in a smile, and then he led the team to play the best game of their season. Nathan stepped in as the starting quarterback for the rest of the year and carried the Sharks to the Super Bowl, where they took home a win. Those months were a whirlwind for him. Actually, they were for both of us, because that was the year I went from just being an instructor at a dance studio to owning the studio.
Today, I’m here for a run with Nathan, and since he didn’t play his best last night, I know we’ll be running extra hard today. His team still won the game （and they are officially in the playoffs, YAY）， but he threw two interceptions, and since Nathan is a perfectionist when it comes to…well, anything, I know he’ll be stomping around here like a bear with an empty honey pot.
Kelsey’s shrill voice yanks me out of my nostalgia. “Yeah, so don’t take this the wrong way…but what are you doing here?” By Don’t take this the wrong way, she means, Don’t take this as anything nice because I fully intend for it to come out extra witchy. I wish she’d act like this when Nathan is around. When he’s watching, she’s sweet as pie.
I give her my most sunny smile, refusing to let her steal my joy so early in the morning. “What does it look like I’m doing here?”
“Being a creepy stalker who’s secretly in love with my boyfriend and breaks into his apartment to bring him breakfast.”
See, here’s the problem. She says the words my boyfriend like they should be trump cards. Like she just tossed them on the table and I’m supposed to gasp and close my hands over my mouth in shock. My heavens! She won!
Little does she know, her card is the equivalent of a lonesome five of clubs. Girlfriends come and go in Nathan’s life like fad diets. Me, on the other hand—I was here long before two-faced Kelsey, and I’ll be here long after, because I am Nathan’s best friend. I’m the one who’s been through it all with him, and he’s been through it all with me: high school gangly phase （me, not him）， college football signing day, the car accident that changed my entire future, every stomach bug of the past six years, the day I took ownership of the dance studio, and when the confetti was falling on him after his team won the Super Bowl.
But MOST importantly, I’m the only person in the entire world who knows how he got the two-inch scar right below his navel. I’ll give you a hint: it’s embarrassing and has to do with an at-home waxing kit. I’ll give you another hint: I dared him to do it.
“Yep!” I say with an overly bright smile. “Sounds about right. Stalker who’s secretly in love with Nathan. That’s totally me.”
Her eyes widen because she thought she’d really zing me with that one. Can’t burn me with the truth, Kels! Well, except for the stalker part.
I turn away from Kelsey and wait for Nathan. There was a time in my life when I tried to befriend Nathan’s girlfriends. Not anymore. None of them like me. No matter what I do to earn their affection, they are predisposed to hate me. And I get it, I really do. They think I’m a major threat. But that’s where the story gets sad.
I’m not.
They all get to have Nathan in a way I never will.
“You know,” she says, trying to grab my attention again, “you could just go ahead and save yourself the embarrassment and leave. Because when Nathan comes out here, I fully intend to ask him to make you leave. I’ve been patient so far, but the way you act toward him is super weird. You hang around him like a clingy piece of toilet paper.”