After Lanie and Harper almost caught Nathan and I literally in the throws, we both had some explaining to do. At first, my boyfriend's little sister was not happy with him for crashing our girls weekend. But that all changed when Nick came rolling up in Nathan's Jeep. Apparently, the love of my life knew his little sister just as much as we did. Nathan explained that when they arrived at the campsite, he sent Nick to get everyone some breakfast. So when Nick showed up with exactly what Nathan asked him to order, we were all surprised when Nick handed Lanie some chocolate cake.

Problem. Solved.

At least one of them anyway. Even though Lanie didn't voice it out loud, I knew that she was worried he would take all my attention away from our weekend. I didn't blame her. Where Nathan and I were concerned, we tended to get lost in each other while the outside world became a blur.

So I pulled him aside and told him that if he wanted to stay tonight, he and Nick needed to hang with us as a group. That meant no private time for Nathan and myself. He understood and agreed instantly, as I knew he would.

Since the lake was too cold this time of year to go swimming, we all agreed to go canoeing instead. Nathan and Nick shared one canoe while me and the girls shared another. I had to admit, it was pretty amusing listening to the boys bicker about navigating through the water. And it was even more hilarious when their bickering turned into arguing which led them to accidentally tip their canoe over and they both got submerged in the icy cold water.

"I told you to behave, Nathan. See what happens when you don't listen to me."

Nathan grimaced as I dabbed the hydrogen peroxide soaked q-tip against the gash on his forehead. When the canoe went over he got a good hit from the the small boat. Thankfully it wasn't deep at all. Nothing some cleaning and a band-aid wouldn't fix.

"Damn. It hurts, baby. Do you have to push so hard?"

"I'm barely touching you! Now hold still I'm almost done." Nathan was sitting on the tree stump in front of me. When I bent forward to grab the gauze, Band-Aid, and Neosporin from the first aid kit, he reached for my hand to stop me. "What is it? Are you hurting?"

He shook his hand before pulling me onto his. "Nah. I'm good, gorgeous. I just want to feel you for a minute."

"Nathan," I warned. "You know the rules."

"I know. I'm not going to try to seduce you right now." His eyes held mine as he cupped the side of my face with his hand. "You're going to make one kick ass nurse someday, baby. You know that right?"

"Oh, I don't know,,," was my nervous reply.

"Come on. You are the most compassionate person I know. Any hospital or doctor's office is going to be so fucking lucky to have you. Those patients...they his the jackpot by having a nurse like you."

His praise caused my heart to race and my lungs to get tight. Suddenly it felt a little hard to breathe. I was still trying to find a way to bring up the whole USF thing to him. The closer I got to graduation, the more I was dreading the inevitable.

"What if I don't want to be a nurse anymore?"

Nathan's harsh frown caused his brows to drop into a deep v. "What the hell are you talking about? Being a nurse has always been your dream. Ever since you were little."

My gaze dropped from his and it took all my energy not to breakdown. "Dreams change, Nathan."

"Really? So what else are you going to do then? Be a fry girl at McDonald's?" Nathan placed his index finger under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his once again. "Gorgeous, I know you. Now, there's nothing wrong with flipping burgers, but I know you are meant for a hell of a lot more than that shit."

"What if my new dream is just to be with you. Just the two of us forever."

Nathan's voice was rough when he finally replied, "Gorgeous, I'm going nowhere. Nothing on this earth, aside from you telling me that you don't want to be with me, is going to tear us apart. Nothing."

Suddenly I could feel my eyes start to tear up. My throat started to feel like it was closing in on itself and I had to swallow multiple times before I could even take a deep breath.

"You don't know that, Nathan. Anything can happen."

"Fuck that shit," he snapped before grabbing my face with his hands. "We are meant to be together, Karma. You and me...we're meant to be together." He crushed his lips against mine before he gave me a deep, passionate kiss. "Tell me what I want to hear, gorgeous."

I traced his face with my fingertips. "Forever," I vowed—and I meant it. Just as much as he believed we were meant to be together, I believed it too. From the bottom of my heart, I believed that he and I were soulmates.

"Come on," he said softly. "You need to finish doctoring me up before the boss lady comes back."

With a chuckle I nodded and got off of his lap before I continued tending his wound. After the whole canoe incident, Lanie, Harper, and Nick all went to get some dinner for us. Not only were they getting food, but per my request they were also supposed to go to a nearby store and pick up a board game for all of us to enjoy. Normally when it was just as girls, we would sit around the fire and roast marshmallows while we talked about boys and all other kinds of nonsense. But since the boys were here, I thought a board game might be a good idea since it was something we could all do together.

It didn't take long to finish getting Nathan situated before they returned. Harper made the choice to pick up burgers, fries, and milkshakes for everyone. She definitely nailed it with that one. Of course, Lanie was in charge of getting the board game and she just couldn't seem to help herself.

"The rules are crystal clear, Harper." Lanie pointed to the spot on the board. "If you land on the licorice X, you lose a turn!"

Harper whispered something under her breath before leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever, Lanie. I can't even believe you bought the skin. It's for little kids!"

Nathan and Nick laughed at Harper's comment. I knew better than to get in between my two best friends while they were arguing, so I sat patiently and waited for them to finish.

Lanie's mouth dropped open as if she were appalled. "Excuse me. Candy Land is a classic, Harper. A classic. You should feel lucky to be playing."

Harper waved Lanie's words away with her hand. "Whatever. Who's next? Let's get this stupid game over with so we can roast some marshmallows and have some real fun."

Lanie huffed. "Like roasting marshmallows is more fun than this game."

"Maybe not," Harper said with a wry smile before her eyes blocked on Nathan's best friend. "But It's going to be funny as hell to watch Nick do karaoke."

As we all started laughing, Nick tried and failed to defend his terrible off-key singing; not to mention his choice of music for a guy. Everyone's spirits were lifted as the game continued. Of course that was until Lanie won. She was always the most competitive out of our group and sometimes it got a little extreme and it took the fun out of it. Luckily that didn't happen tonight, though. I was pretty sure everyone was just anxious to start throwing marshmallows at Nick when he would finally grab the microphone we brought with Harper's stereo and start singing either a song by The Spice Girls.

The microphone got passed from one person to another. Everyone here sang a song of their choice. Except Nathan. As soon as it was offered to him, he refused to get up and sing. I would personally give anything to see him stand up and sing in front of people. He had the most amazing voice and I truly believed that everyone in the world would love to hear it.

As soon as his sister got the microphone again, Nathan leaned over to whisper in my ear, "I told you, gorgeous, I only sing for you."

And that moment I felt so much love—and it wasn't only for Nathan. It was for every single person sitting around this campfire. Unfortunately, as good as that feeling felt, I couldn't shake this other feeling deep down inside me that tried to warn me that it wasn't going to work out the way Nathan and I desperately wanted it to. And if that happened, I had no idea if I could survive it.