Across an Ocean

"-and I keep telling her that she needs to go out or somthin', yet she always hide up in our room."

Two young women were conversing outside their dorm room, the sky darkening with dusk approaching. Various students came and went, however the campus remained quiet.

"I know!" The woman threw up her arms "I've asked her a hundred times to come out clubbing, yet she always ditches us to read some stupid text books."

"What is she, studying history?"

"Yeah, but she's way too obsessed with it."

The woman laughed, "She's also quite the bitch! Just last week, I tried to get her to hook up with Paul, 'cause you know how he has a thing for blondes right?"

"Yeah. Le'mee guess, she ignored him."

"Worse. She insulted him!" The woman cackled, "She had the varsity quarterback ask her out on a date and she refused!"

The other girl shook her head, "Well you know what it is, don't you? She's got a special someone back home."

The girl scoffed, "Oh please. Probably some arrange marriage type shit that they do in France. I bet he's just another rich kid who's only interested in her for more money."

"She is such a weirdo," the woman thought aloud, "She's got such a chip on her shoulder. I think she should ditch that redhead loser and get laid or something."

"...or just get laid and not tell him." They laughed together, unaware of the figure standing in front of the door, right in her path.

They turned, seeing the blonde, her eyes practically burning with hatred and her fists clenched, ready to swing. She was growling with anger, desperately holding back from lunging at them like a vicious animal. Chloe didn't say a word, and silently walked past them, ignoring their staring and their excuses.

She walked into the dormitory, the empty hallways echoing with the clicking of her heels. The textbooks in her hands felt like weights, keeping her off balance. She begged her eyes not to let even the hint of moisture come through, and even then, they began to water up.

Chloe rushed into her dorm room, slamming the door shut. She walked to her computer, and leaned in the chair, her thoughts swirling as emotions bubbled inside her.

She looked at her calender, "Halfway there," she muttered to herself.

The blonde had gone through many epiphanies during her studies in America. The first one of which made her realize just how much of a bitch she was to Marinette. She hated the women in her dorm with a vengeance, mostly because of how much they reminded her of… well… her… though her years ago.

They wanted to go to parties, they hated studying, they loved to insult everyone who so much as thought differently than they did. They openly cheated on their boyfriends and would publicly mock them on social media right before dumping them and repeating the cycle.

Chloe opened her drawer, pausing at the sight of her Kwami snuggled up peacefully in a deep sleep. The blonde lightly scratched the top of Pollen's head, the little bee smiling happily. Chloe sighed, wishing that she could be that happy as well.

A notification popped up on her computer. She turned, seeing a message in skype. Nathanael. Her heart did a flip flop, and she rushed to open the skype chat.

Once the camera's turned on, she caught sight of Nathanael. He looked back at her, his eyes lighting up immediately, "Hey babe!"

She smiled, "...Hi…,"

His lips thinned into a frown, "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'... just a stressful day. You know how it is."

He nodded, before looking down, "Hey, I kinda have a weird request. Could you back up from your camera?"

She blinked, dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"Can you stand like five feet away from your camera?"

"Ooookay?" She stood, taking a few paces backwards, "Like this?"

"Yeah, perfect! Now can you just do this pose?" He humorously stick his hip to the side, placing his hand on it, while looking off in the distance. It was clearly meant to be a graceful feminine gesture, but the way he did it looked so goofy.

Chloe cracked up, the redhead merely smiling in response. The blonde laughed at his weirdness, but Nathanael was simply happy to see his girlfriend smile for the first time that night. However, she did as he asked, and followed the pose, albeit with a little more grace,

"Y'know kurtzberg, I won't be able to hold this all night."

"I know! I just need two more seconds," He scribbled something down in his notebook, before snapping it shut, "And finished."

Chloe sat back down, "What was that for?"

"Painting. I needed a model that could replicate your beauty, however it seems there isn't one in the whole of France," Chloe giggled, "So I decided to get the real thing instead."

She rested her head on her hands, finally relaxing, "...I miss you…"

He gave a sad smile, "...I miss you too… I'm still coming to visit you for Christmas."

Chloe sighed, "You don't have to do that, Nath. Tickets are going to be so expensive."

Nathanael held his hands up, not having any of it, "Missing halloween was barely passable. But not spending Christmas with you is going to physically kill me. I'm coming over there no matter what you say."

She rolled her eyes, "The worse thing is that you probably won't let me pay for it?"

"I can pay for myself. Besides, I've got things covered," He leaned back, wiping a loose strand of messy hair out of his eyes, "My Mom's got a relative who lives just a city over. I can just drive over to see you when you get out of class."

Chloe thought about it. To be honest, she loved the idea of having an entire break with just Nathanael.

"I am actually afraid that when I see you again I won't be able to control myself. There are so many things that I want to do with you."

Chloe raised her eyebrow, "Oh really? What do you have in mind?"

"Well…" he thought, "I'm gonna pick you up. I'm gonna toss you on the bed, still struggling."

Chloe's breath hitched.

"I'm gonna strip you of your clothes."

Her eyes widened.

"Then we're going to put on Pajamas and eat junk food all day."

Chloe huffed, "I thought you were going somewhere else with that."

"Like what?"

"Like… y'know… more smutty."

He put his hands on his hips, "Miss bourgeois… you have a dirty mind."

She pouted, "Hey, you're just as bad." She groaned, "You know what the one thing I miss the most is?"

"My humor?"

"Well that? But you know what else? Sex."

He laughed.

"I'm serious Nath. The girls here talk about it so casually, you'd think you were in the redlight district."

The redhead chuckled, "Well I'll tell you what. When I see you on Christmas, we can do as much dirty stuff as you want."

"Really?"

"Yep. We can play in mud. We can eat barbeque ribs. We can even stop taking showers."

"Gross."

"What? I thought you wanted something dirty," Chloe smiled, realizing just how much of a dork he really was, "By the way, I really want to try American ribs out sometime. How are they over there?"

"Ribs are more of a southern thing."

He leaned forward, "So what's a Minnesota specialty, then?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, Hot dish? I hear it's good in the winter," he eyes widened, "Are you sure you want to come during December? It gets pretty cold that time of year."

He waved his hand, "To see you, I'll brave through anything, my love."

They talked for hours. They discussed menial small things, like classes and gossip or drama. Nathanael showed off his recent paintings, to which Chloe was speechless at each one. They joked around for a bit until their Dorms quieted down, finally able to talk a little more privately.

The blonde smiled, "How's hero duty going?"

"Pretty good. We've split up the extra patrol shifts, so it's no hassle really." He rubbed a hand through his messy hair, "Though the gang really misses you."

"Well tell them that I miss them too." Chloe yawned, stretching her arms.

"Am I keeping you up."

She shook her head, "Nah. Though hang on for just a sec."

Chloe stood, pulling off her jeans, and rummaged around the room for pajama pants. She came back, Nathanael sporting a cocky grin.

"You better not have peeked Kurtzberg."

"Oh please, I've seen you way more naked and in way more compromising positions." His grin grew, "Though pink looks nice on you."

She blushed, "You're a naughty boy, Red. Though, speaking of which, look what arrived last week."

Chloe reached down into her drawer, pulling out a pair of… lingerie. The redhead's face matched his hair as she showed him a blue and orange colored set, intentionally matching his costume colors.

The blonde gave a wicked smirk, "I can't wait to try these on when you get here."

"Since when were you a Le Paon fan?"

"Since always. I love that silly bird," she put the clothes away, "How is Dussu anyways?"

"Well, she's snoozing, pretty normal actually. I know she misses you too." Chloe yawned again, her eyes getting heavy. Nathanael noticed this, "Why don't you get some sleep, babe. It's getting pretty late."

She pouted childishly, "I don't wanna… it's too early."

"I don't want you to fall asleep at your computer again," Chloe flushed at the embarrassing memory, "Besides, you've had a long day, you deserve it."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to get some beauty sleep."

Nathanael smiled, "Babe, you're beautiful no matter what time of day it is. Though I prefer seeing well rested beautiful over sleepy tired beautiful."

The corner of her lips pulled up, a grin coming to her face, "You're too good for me Nath."

This time, the redhead yawned, "I'll talk to you in the mornin'. Good night gorgeous."

"Back at you handsome."

They giggled like the dorks that they are and reluctantly, Chloe hovered her mouse over the end call button. She hesitated, "H-hey Nathanael?"

"Hm?"

She took deep breath, "I… I love you…"

He blinked, a hint of red gracing his cheeks, "... I love you too, Chloe."

They lingered for a few seconds, before she finally ended the call. Chloe lept into bed, an odd feeling in her stomach. It was jittery and yet comforting at the same time. She giggled helplessly, like she was still in middle school and not in college. Chloe realized something that took her way too long to figure out, she was head over heels in love with that silly boy.

On the other side of the world, Nathanael sat at his desk, his thoughts entirely on the blonde beauty. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop smiling. He shook his head, talking to himself.

"I don't care what anyone says. I have to marry that woman."