The grass is soft under my bare feet as I make my way from my backyard to Nate's. My stomach coils with nerves and I pull my sweater lower against my palms as a nervous habit as I duck under a low tree branch.

I nearly jump out of my skin when I see Nate pacing on the other side of the tree near his patio doors. I must have gasped at the sight of him or maybe I stepped on a branch, but for whatever reason, he stops and locks eyes with mine.

"You came," he says as if he wasn't believing what he is seeing.

His face, always clear now without his glasses obstructing the view of those wishing to admire him, looks serene but slightly distracted. 

I stay by my spot at the tree and play more with the sleeves of my sweater. "Of course I did. You asked me to." My voice is off, nervous--terrified, really--as I watch him, watching me.

It's still so strange to know that he can actually see now.

I want to know what he sees in me. Does he see what I see? A stupid girl who can't seem to get her head out of the clouds? Or does he see someone different?

By the way he is gazing at me as I take a step towards him, there is no doubt in my mind that he sees something that I do not.

And after everything, I can't for the life of me understand why he asked me here tonight. There has been no word from him, though I have not given up hope. Hope is a human's best friend when it comes to loving someone. You hope they understand your flaws, you hope they see your intentions, you hope that they love you back.

"Still..." Nate's chest moves up and down in one deep breath. He is nervous too.

His eyes, so dark and shadowed under the moonlight, light up in the way that only books or song lyrics describe as I walk to him. They twinkle and show exactly what is going through his mind like a movie reel. He has hope too but there is more lurking behind his golden gaze. But I can't watch those emotions for too long because not all of them are happy.

When I am a foot or two away from him, I stop. I can already feel my heartrate pick up at the close proximity to him.

"I just didn't think you would come," Nate adds and he swallows, making his adam's apple bob in an intriguing way.

I can't help but smile a little at that. I point back towards the yard between us. "I can head back through the hedges if you like."

Nate anxiously chuckles and the sounds brings goosebumps to my flesh. His laugh is such an enticing noise. And it feels like forever since I have heard it.

I wrap my arms around my torso when the night breeze carries his laughter away. Nate notices this and his head angles towards a pile of blankets that lay sprawled out on the grass by his patio.

I cock an eyebrow in his direction. This is not what I was expecting. I thought maybe he wanted to talk things through. Heck, I wanted us to because then maybe, just maybe, we could move forward. The two of us. Together.

He blushes and it amuses me that I can see the red tint even under the moonlight. Nate shoves his hands into his pockets of his grey hoodie in the way that he used to when I first met him. This makes me raise my eyebrows more.

"I thought maybe this could be a common ground."

I wanted to snort at that. It was metaphorical, kind of, to me. Common ground with Nate was anywhere under the same sky. Him and I will always rotate on the same axis, always find ways to look up at the sky to thank our lucky stars for guiding us to each other.

I know for certain that I will. But I can't speak for him.

Nate changed me for the better and I would like to think I had a positive impact on him too. He has come out of his shell, even before his surgery. He smiled more. He also didn't stutter as much as before. But most importantly, he allowed someone to get close to him. And I will always praise the fact that it was me to help him with all of this because he is an amazing guy who deserves to smile more and to love and to be loved.

And I love him so darn much that, as I look from him to the makeshift spot on the grass, my eyes cloud over with tears once again. But I swallow the lump in my throat and nod hastily before I walk over to the blankets and sit down.

Nate follows and when he is seated with a good foot between us, he tilts his face to the sky.

I watch him from the corner of my eye before I tell myself to screw it, and turn my head to openly gawk at him. His jaw is so sharp that my fingers twitch over my rib cage where they are clasped together tightly, just to run them across his warm skin.

His head slowly rolls on the comfy blanket to face me and once again, his eyes look directly in mine. The whole concept takes my breath away.

It feels like times stops. It feels like he can officially see inside my soul and for a second I close up, too afraid to let him catch a glimpse, but with a cleansing breath, I open up with a blink.

This is a side of me that only he has ever seen. I don't think anything in the world could compare to the feeling of Nate looking at me in a way that I feel stripped bare and vulnerable. And looking at him, I see the same. He is showing me things he hasn't dared shown another person.

Nate's chest begins to raise at a quicker pace and his cheeks taint pink once again. I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out what is going on, until he makes it noticeable that he is preparing himself to speak.

He licks his lips and his brows lower over his eyes, hooding them. "Do you remember when you said you thought the stars listened."

I nod slowly, reminiscing on our first date. It was the first time I allowed myself to accept that I was falling in love with him. That feels so long ago. I feel like I've loved Nate all my life.

"Have you been talking to them?"

My brows lower over my eyes in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I've seen you," he says, his eyes casting down as if ashamed, "sitting in one of those chairs in your backyard. You were alone and you were looking towards the sky. You did this is the daytime and at night."

Sadness washes over me. He has had several chances over the past few months to speak to me yet he hadn't. Instead, he stayed at his side of the world, hidden and lurking, while I felt such sadness that I felt like I had to look up towards the heavens for comfort.

Suddenly my throat hurts too much to talk. So instead, I look back up towards the stars. The bright dots of heat do nothing to thaw the iciness in my veins. I know I shouldn't be mad at him. He had reason to push me away. But that doesn't mean his silence doesn't hurt.

I am only human, after all.

"Kelly, please say something. You are never this quiet," he tries to joke but it is dull and even he can't master a laugh.

"I have spoken my peace," I finally manage to say and the words cut like fiberglass leaving my mouth. "You're the one that's being quiet, Nate." Then it is like I can't stop talking. "I haven't heard from you in twenty five days. Twenty five. Not a single word. I thought maybe in those twenty five days you would have at least wanted to talk to me about it. Even if you didn't want to forgive me because I would have understood that. But you didn't even want to do that, even after everything you and I have been through. I know what I did and what I kept from you was wrong but I never lied about loving you, Nate. "

"I know," Nate says barely above a whisper.

"Do you?" I tilt my head back in his direction. The scary thing is, I didn't feel angry. I'm not even sure if I felt sad anymore. I felt numb. Like this was all a dream and I knew I was bound to wake back up and it would be like Nate was never here in front of me like he appears so now.

"Of course, I do." Nate braces himself on his side and props his head up with his fist. "I was mad--"

"And you had every right to be."

"--And I was confused."

"I know."

"But I love you."

All the air leaves my lungs and a sob wracks my body in a fierce force that leaves me shaking. To hear those words from his lips is other worldly. It amazes me that someone as wonderful as this boy could reciprocate such a strong attachment. 

"I understand if you don't," I tell him with a sniffle. "What I did..."

"I think I knew all along," he surprises me by saying.

"No, you didn't." My words are clipped and unbelieving. If he knew, he wouldn't have talked to me in Biology in the first place. He would have to have been crazy to see past that. But then again, he is now...

"Well, maybe not in the sense of it all." He looks over at me and I gaze into his miraculously colored eyes. Eyes I that have welcomed me in plenty of times and yet, I am drowning. "But it always made me curious in the beginning as to why you were so fiercely protective of me when it came to your friends. It makes sense now. Everything makes sense now."

This is it. Nate is going to properly tell me to butt out of his life. Common sense has finally dug his roots into him and this was his way of telling me goodbye.

"But even when the truth came out, I had this abrupt urge to protect you, Kelly."

"I should have protected you, Nathaniel." I close my eyes to try and block out the pain of the memory but only when I see the blackness behind my lids, the scene plays out again like it has a million times. "I am so very, very sorry."

"It was a mistake, Kelly. A stupid one, yes, but you didn't do it." Before I could correct him, he hushes me. "Danny told me everything. He was afraid I was going to press charges."

"You should," I tell him. "We all deserve it."

Nate shakes his head and lays back down on the blanket. "Life goes on, Kelly."

You see, this is the differences between Nate and myself. I would want revenge. I would want to make them pay. And all he wants is to move on with his life.

My life wouldn't go on if I didn't have Nate. I know that sounds dramatic but it would only make sense that my life would stop without the other half of my heart to keep me living.

"You are so strange, Nathaniel Haynes," I say, my mood swinging to a higher level making me grin slightly. "If I was you I would be cursing me out and slamming a door or two in my face. And that's if you wanted to go easy on me."

Nate chuckles and I don't have to look at him to see a dimple popping in his right cheek. But I do anyways because I will never pass up the sight of that.

"I thought a lot about you these past few weeks," he confesses which makes my smile grow wider.

"Me too." Every second of every day. "And what did you conclude?"

Nate goes quiet for a moment while his eyes lock back onto mine, gold smothering sapphire. His next words engrave themselves on my skin in a way a needle couldn't go deep enough.

"Life is darker without you in it. That outweighs the darkness of being blind."

Without hesitation, he kisses me. Our lips mold together like perfectly carved marble and the rush of relief bombards me with enough gusto that my lungs restrict oxygen.

Nate's hands cup my face while my hand reaches up to rest against his chest, where his heart beats a tattoo into my palm. He sighs lightly against my lips as I inch back to catch my breath. His breath tickles my skin enough to make me shiver. He smiles and I mirror him. 

I want to tell him I love him. I want to hear him tell me the same but before I can speak, Nate is pulling me to my feet.

"What are you doing?" I ask him as he leads me out of his backyard.

There is a new light hovering around Nate that wasn't there minutes prior and he looks like an angel guiding me to the promiseland. I feel like I am levitating.

Nate looks over his shoulder and gazes reverently down at me. "I want to take you somewhere to show you something."

I can physically feel the whiplash of tonight's events. "Let me go get my car," I suggest and start to pull him the opposite way but he pulls me so I am flushed against his body.

He grins down at me while reaching into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys to dangle in front of my face.

"I can drive."

My mouth wobbles open and close at the fact that I momentarily forgot that he can see again. Before, I always forgot that he couldn't and now it is the other way around.

Nate rolls his eyes dramatically. "I have my license, babe."

My mouth snaps shut and my heart warms at the endearment that I will never not fill my stomach with butterflies. I lean up and kiss him longingly before lacing my fingers back with his and allow him to pull me to his car.

It seems that his parents have bought him a black pickup, which makes me laugh when he opens the passenger side door for me.

"Very you," I point out as I climb in.

He shuts the door and leans into the open window. "I thought so too." He pecks my lips once more before rounding the front and hopping in himself.

Nate drives with the percisness of a new driver which amuses me more than it should. He keeps both hands on the steering wheel and drives the speed limit all the way out of town. I ask him multiple times where he is taking me and every time, he stays mute, grinning madly out of the corner of his eye.

I question him when he pulls into a gas station. "Nathaniel, where are we going? It's a school night."

"Live a little, Henderson," he answers with a mischievous grin that is infectious. He smiles wider when my laughter booms through the small truck. He watches me with a soft smile as my laughter turns into me shaking my head at him.

"For real," I twist my body in my seat to face him, "where is so important that we have to go this instant?"

Nate reaches into his back seat and pulls out a red bandana. I eye him. "What do you plan on doing with that, mister?"

"Turn around."

I eye him for a second more before I obliged and twist the other way. He stops his truck in the middle of the road and turns in my direction. His fingers work slowly as he ties the blindfold. I would gladly play his little game.  

He enjoys surprising me as much as I enjoy him doing so.

About thirty minutes later, Nate pulls into a short driveway of a log cabin that is painted ivory stationed in front of a large lake. I wait in the pickup while Nate rounds the bend again to open my door. He takes my hand and I wrap my fingers tightly around his.

I grip his hand tighter as we continue to walk over bumpy ground, afraid of tripping. My mind goes to the thought of Nate having to deal with this for a little over a year. The thought is eery but at the same time, the fact that Nate is guiding me is reassuring.

"Almost there," Nate says as he helps me down a few steps.

"I swear Nathaniel, if you are leading me to my death, you have another thing coming."

He laughs then stops us both. Steadying me by holding both of my hands, he lowers me down to what feels like wood under my legs. I hesitantly allow him to let go of me and feel him loosening the knot of the bandana. When the blindfold is gone, I am finally able to see where he has taken me.

At first I am confused but then it sinks in. One of his favorite memories is sitting on this dock at his family's lakehouse to seek out shooting stars.

"Nate..." I am lost for words as I peer up at the sky. It is one hundred times broader and clustered then in the field.

"I haven't been up here since I got my sight back," he says while watching my face light up at the magic of it all. "It's as beautiful as I remember."

But something by the way he is gazing at me tells me he isn't talking out the night sky. I find myself leaning into him and welcoming the warm feeling of his lips against mine.

His tongue skims my bottom lip which makes my head spin. But before I can lose my head, he pulls back.

"I've wished for you for years on this dock, Kelly. I wished for you to notice me, to simply just talk to me. I would wish for you to love me the way I have always loved you from afar."

His words warmed my heart but I find myself shaking my head. "Nathaniel, there are no words that could ever justify how much I care for you."

He kisses me again but this time it's more rushed, more reassuring than the last. I hold him as close to me as possible as his lips pucker against mine. I've missed the feral feeling of his touch that seeps into mine as my body flushes against his.

I wish for this feeling to never go away.

"I love you," I murmur against his lips and his pull up in a smile under mine.

"I love you." He pulls back an inch, his hands gripping both sides of my face as he beams down at me. "Always have, always will."

"Even after everything?" I hate to bring the sore topic back up but the thought of this only being temporary makes my body shake with nerves. I couldn't stand it.

His fingertips skim over my cheek. "Nothing has changed. Yet everything has changed. But Kelly," Nate wet his lips and drug his bottom lip in his mouth as if he is trying to make his words work with his emotions, "the future I want with you has not changed. Has it changed for you?"

I shake my head furiously, closing my eyes shut as if the thought physically pained me. Which it did.

My eyes flutter at the light touch of him pushing back my hair from my face, the action calming me like it always does when he does this. My hair has always been a lever when he couldn't see and the fact that it is still something he likes to play with even now with his sight back, makes me feel a happiness I cannot explain.

His head twitches to the side towards the sky and his eyes glow with excitement. "Kelly, look!"

My attentions darts to the sky to see several shooting stars dart across the dark navy canvas, the reflection shimmering off the lake as it arches and descends into the darkness.

My first shooting star! My amazement must show on my features as I take in the sight.

"I told you you were bound to see one here," Nate says just as excited as me as we both grip at each other from the thrill of it all.

"One for each of us," I claim as the sight sinks in. "Quick," I say bouncing on my knees. "Make a wish!"

I squeeze my eyes shut, not waiting to watch if Nate does the same. My body feels full of light, like the star has jumped across the universe and pelted into my body. When I reopen my eyes, Nate is still looking at me.

"You used the wish, right?" I ask, looking at him expectantly. "Please, tell me you didn't waste my very first wish, Nathaniel."

Nate laughs and runs his hands up my thigh in an innocent gesture but my cells begin to vibrate under my skin like jumping beans. "I would never waste a wish. What kind of a fool do you take me for?"

"So what did you wish for?" I ask, covering his hands on my body with mine.

"If I told you it wouldn't come true. That's how it works."

"Says who?" I squeeze his hands under mine and he reflects his grip on my thighs.

"Says everyone." Nate laughs again when I send my eyes skywards.

"Well they are stupid," I childishly retort and bring my arms around his neck. He hums as I play with the nap of his hair.

"I want to make it come true, Nate," I add when he doesn't let up. "Please tell me so I can do so."

Nate hesitates but he caves just like I knew he would. His face softens as he watches me look adoringly at him. "I wished for you to be with me forever."

My limbs slacken around his neck as my body levitates closer to him by gravitational