“Aww, Nate Peters, talking about marriage. I never thought I’d see the day!” Coraline chirped, hugging me tightly and planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek.

I had to agree. I personally never thought I would see the day either, but Rosie was something special. I was marrying her as soon as she said the three words to me. My genius plan was to let her confess her love for me, and then I was going to drop down on one knee and propose. Ashton thought it was a terrible idea, he said I needed to do something romantic – but I knew that Rosie would like it. She liked it when I was goofy, for some reason unbeknown to me, she liked that I had no idea how to be romantic. Whenever I tried to plan something romantic, something always went wrong, and we’d end up laughing about it all night. That was how I knew she was the one for me, because she just understood me completely and accepted me for who I was.

I’d sworn Ashton to secrecy. He’d promised me that he wouldn’t tell Anna how totally and utterly pu**y whipped I was. I couldn’t have it get back to Rosie. After the beach house slip up and how horrified she’d looked when I’d accidentally said the words, I knew that I needed to let her make that step first. The look on her face had almost given me a heart attack; I couldn’t go through that again.

“Shouldn’t you be eyeing up g*y women, not straight, attached ones?” I teased, winking at Coraline as she pulled back, swaying on her feet. I tightened my arm around her shoulders, keeping her steady.

“I should,” she agreed, “but I like the challenge.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I enjoyed chasing Rosie too,” I admitted.

“Now, she’s a challenge,” Coraline stated, nodding over my shoulder. I turned and saw Emma walking towards me with a seductive smile on her face. I smiled back in greeting. I hadn’t slept with Emma for a long time, a few weeks before I met Rosie, but we were still friends.

She stopped at my side, slipping her arm around my waist, hugging me tightly. “Hey, Nate!” Her hand slipped down to my ass, squeezing as she smiled at me suggestively.

My brain was a little too slow working things out, but I knew that I didn’t like her touching me. I pulled back and shook my head. “I’m married,” I slurred.

She laughed and frowned, her eyes flicking down to my hand. “I don’t see a ring,” she countered.

Shit, have I lost my ring? Wait, I’m not married… yet. But I did have the strong urge to get in a cab and go and get engaged right now. I looked at my watch. 11:37 pm. Would Rosie still be awake?

I laughed and slapped my forehead. “I meant, I’m thinking about getting married,” I corrected, shrugging.

Coraline giggled next to me. “Yep he’s officially taken, sorry, sexy. Me, on the other hand…” She trailed off, raking her eyes down Emma’s body. I burst out laughing. Watching Coraline flirt with a girl right in front of me was kind of hot.

Emma smiled politely and shook her head. “I don’t swing that way, sorry.”

Coraline clicked her tongue. “Yeah, I’m sorry too.” She pulled away, obviously deciding to find someone else that did swing her way.

Emma stepped closer to me again so we could talk over the banging music. “I haven’t seen you for a while,” she shouted.

I shrugged. “I’ve been hanging out with my girl a lot. You’ve met her, haven’t you? The hot one with the legs that seem to stretch on forever,” I replied, sighing as I thought about Rosie’s legs.

“Yeah, I’ve met her,” Emma answered. “You two are serious then?”

I nodded enthusiastically. “As serious as a heart attack.”

“Nice analogy,” she teased, rolling her eyes.

“So what about you? You seeing someone?” I asked.

Her smile fell off her face as she shook her head. “Not any more. We broke up last week.” Her chin trembled as she answered.

I groaned and stepped forward, wrapping one arm around her. “I’m sorry, Emma. The guy’s obviously a prick. You’re better off without him,” I assured her. Emma was a great person, and she was great in the sack from what I remembered, the guy was a fool to lose her.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes with one finger, smudging her make-up. “I guess.”

“Want to talk about it?” I offered, actually hoping she’d say no, this wasn’t my thing at all. I was hopeless with advice. My relationship experience branched as far as Rosie York, and even then I had no idea what she saw in me.

Emma smiled at me gratefully. “Okay,” she agreed as another tear leaked out of her eyes, wetting her lashes.

“Want to go out the back, or outside or something? I can’t really hear you in here,” I suggested, nodding to the front door. She nodded, and followed behind me as we weaved through the crowd. When we were about ten feet from the door, a fight broke out. I grabbed her hand and yanked her back behind me so she wouldn’t get hurt. The doormen were there immediately, breaking it up, but it would take them a few minutes before we’d be able to get past. I sighed and pointed to the bathrooms at the back, dragging her along behind me. It would be quieter in there for us to talk.

Emma seemed to talk for ages – crying and wailing about this guy that she’d been dating that had cheated on her last week. She was really cut up about it; she really liked him by the sound of it. The whole time I’d just sat there, awkwardly patting her back, wishing I hadn’t offered. I had no idea what to say, when she looked at me to say something I just said he wasn’t worth it, or that she’d find someone else better.

When Emma’s tears had finally dried up, I breathed a sigh of relief. This was the reason I didn’t have very many girls as friends, the emotional drama was too much for me to cope with. I wasn’t mentally able to cope with things like this happening.

“You sure you aren’t up for a little one night stand? I could really do with a pick-me-up,” Emma joked, laughing.

“You’ll find someone, Emma. Go watch sad movies, and eat ice cream until you throw up. Don’t do random guys in bathrooms, that’s not going to help you get over him,” I advised.

She smiled sadly. “You’re a good guy, Nate.”

“I’m the best,” I joked, making her laugh and roll her eyes. “Come on then. Let’s go get wasted. This has sobered me up a little,” I suggested, holding out my arm for her to take. She smiled and looped her arm through mine as I flicked the lock on the door and headed out to spend some more cash on drink that was sure to come back up before morning.

~ Rosie ~

When I woke in the morning, I squeezed my eyes shut again, wanting more sleep. The trouble was, the little thing that was jumping on the foot of the bed, singing Hotdog Hotdog Hot-diggedy-dog, had no intention of letting me sleep more. I groaned a little and turned my head, looking for Nate’s handsome face. Immediately, disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach because his side of the bed was empty. I sighed when I remembered that he’d gone out with his friends and sister last night. He was working today too, so I wouldn’t even get to see him until tomorrow.

I pushed myself up to sitting, smiling at DJ. “Morning, Baby,” I mumbled, yawning. I was tired because Nate had called me during the night, drunk off his face, singing down the phone that I was the best girlfriend ever, and that he couldn’t wait to see me. He’d then proceeded to list all the dirty things that he would do to my body next time he saw me, which, of course, made it hard for me to fall back to sleep because I was overexcited. The phone call was worth a little tiredness today though. My favourite part was when he’d started musing about how funny it would be to have sex on bubble wrap. I smiled to myself just at the thought of him alone. I really was in trouble. The player had completely won me over. I was completely at his mercy, and he seemed to have no idea about it.

“I’m starving, Momma,” DJ whined, rubbing his stomach, giving me the pouty lip.

“Come on then, let’s get breakfast.” I swung my legs off the bed as he jumped down and shook his head.

“I’m not hungry for breakfast,” he countered. “I’m starving for those candies that Nate broughted me last night.”

I smiled. “Oh really? Well I ate those when you were in bed, so it looks like you’re stuck with Cheerios,” I joked, sticking my tongue out at him.

“You ate my candy? I’m telling Nate on you,” he scolded, frowning.

I smiled, wondering if I would get a spanking for that. Deep down I hoped so.

Setting my hands on DJ’s shoulders, I guided him out of my bedroom. “I didn’t really eat them, but you’re not having that for breakfast.”

He huffed and squared his shoulders. “Nate would let me. Where is he anyways? Is he coming over today?” His face lit up at the thought. DJ adored Nate, probably almost as much as I did, which kind of made Nate all the more special to me. In four and a half months he had completely changed our lives, making everything seem better, easier and happier. I never thought I would ever be this happy. I never wanted a man after what Josh did, but now that I had Nate, I couldn’t imagine life without him.

“He’s working, Baby. We’ll see him tomorrow night.” I smiled and headed into the kitchen, making him some cereal and flicking on the coffeemaker. I had a feeling I would need quite a few cups to get through the day without falling asleep.

He sighed and nodded, obviously missing Nate as much as I was. Everyday just seemed to drag when I didn’t see Nate’s smile, or hear his laugh. Things were moving pretty fast between us. We were still waiting for the L word to be exchanged before he would let me ravage him, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t completely satisfied though. Nate just seemed to have some sort of magic over my body and what the man could do with his hands and his tongue made my eyes roll back in ecstasy.

But it wasn’t just the sex that my body needed him for. I actually just missed cuddling up to him or holding his hand. I missed the rhythmic breathing that blew down my neck while we slept; I missed waking up to his smile. I just missed every part of Nate Peters, and it had only been fourteen hours since I last saw him. I really was pathetic. It was like he’d turned me into some sort of lovesick puppy. Me, Rosie York, the girl who vowed never to let a man have power over her again, had completely let down her barriers and let a player into her life.

I set a bowl of cereal down in front of DJ and sat opposite him, nursing a cup of strong coffee. “Want to go to the park this morning?” I offered, needing the fresh air to wake me up.

He nodded eagerly. “Can I call Auntie Paige and see if she wants to play at the park with us?” DJ asked, speaking with his mouthful and dribbling milk down his chin.

I grimaced and nodded. “Sure, but swallow the mouthful before speaking next time, okay?” I requested, watching as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his pyjamas. He smiled sheepishly and carried on shovelling the food in his mouth like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Clearly he was going through some sort of growth spurt – either that or he had worms. He just didn’t stop eating lately, and I was seriously starting to struggle with money because of it.

On top of that, he’d grown about two inches in the last two months, meaning I’d had to shell out for new clothes. Josh hadn’t paid my child support either, so this month was an extremely hard one. I had already borrowed money from my parents just to tide me over until Josh’s ‘overtime payment’ came through from work, but I was down to my last fifty dollars to buy food for almost two weeks. Soon we’d be eating from tin cans and frozen packets.

Josh seriously was a waste of air sometimes, but I couldn’t just dismiss him, even though I wanted to. I couldn’t cut off that money altogether, because I literally wouldn’t have enough money to survive if I did that. I was now at the point where I needed to start looking for a second job. If Josh carried on missing his payments, DJ and I would find ourselves out on the streets if I missed my rent. I’d worked two jobs before; it was hard, but something that I had to do to get us through. I’d already decided to ask the Principal of my school on Monday if they needed any extra cleaning staff. An extra hour every day would make all the difference.

I always pretended to Nate that everything was fine because I didn’t want him to know how hard I struggled to make ends meet. Nate would help me, I knew he would, but I couldn’t lay this burden at his door. Secretly, I was glad that Josh had let me down for this weekend so that I hadn’t had to go out with Nate and his friends last night – I was drowning in debt and my credit card would bottom out soon. Sometimes I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked, how much I strived to be a great mom, there was always something in the way making it feel like an uphill battle with me pulling a ten ton rock behind me.

DJ smiled and pushed his empty bowl to the middle of the table. “I’m still hungry, Momma. Can I have more?” he asked, eyeing the box that I’d left on the side.

I sighed and closed my eyes before putting on a fake smile and grabbing the box. “Sure, Baby.”

By the time we were dressed and ready, it was after ten in the morning, so I let DJ call Paige and invite her to the park with us. After a minute of talking to her, his expression changed and a big grin broke out on his face.

“Hey, Nate!” he chirped.

I smiled, grabbing his jacket from the hook, holding it out for him to put his arms in. He stood there chatting down the phone, telling Nate about us going to the park and about me not letting him eat candy for breakfast. DJ pouted at me when he told Nate that he wanted to take his scooter to the park but that I’d said no because I didn’t want to carry it all the way there when he got tired of riding it. I couldn’t hear Nate’s answers, but judging by the dissatisfied look on DJ’s face, my adorable boyfriend was backing me up. I chewed on my lip, holding my hand out for the phone, just wanting to hear his voice a little before he went to work.