(4) Out of Control: An All Time Low FanFiction Romance

Chapter 49: Just Wait (Jack's POV)

        I knew what she was doing when she turned to face Stephen. That tiny smirk made its way onto her mouth as they talked to each other, his hands on either side of her body, resting on the counter, pinning her thin frame against the cabinets. I had no doubt that my name came out of that asshles mouth as he stood before Natalia, her hand reaching up to touch his face and then slide down the front of his shirt before his hands moved from the counter to her wasist, holding them closer together. I felt my fingers clench, one hand in a fist, the other around the beer bottle I was holding when Natalia wrapped her hands around Stephen's neck, pulling his mouth easily to hers.

        I knew exactly what she was fucking doing, and she knew that I knew because the next moment, her eyes were open, meeting mine from a few yards away. Despite Stephen's hands holding her waist, and his mouth traveling along her jawline and neck, her eyes didn't break from mine.

        I knew that she could see the way my eyes narrowed, body tense as I watched them. My fingers were clenched so damn tightly that my fingernails were digging into my palms, and the bottle in my right hand was probably making an impression as well, but I couldn't get myself to move, or barely even get a damn thought straight, and I bet she knew that too.

        Natalia's eyes broke from mine as Stephen's mouth met hers again. I rolled my eyes as she shut her lids again, turning towards the screen door of Alex's house. I pushed my way through the crowd of people in his house, making my way to the back porch, needing some fresh air and Natalia out of my line of vision.

        I found a clear space along the railing, vacant of beer bottles and people and walked over to it, leaning my forearms against it, beer bottle still in my fingers as I stared down at the ground. I was trying to block out all the noise of the people around me, wanting to go back into the house and throw my fist in Stephen's face, even though I knew it wasn't his fault.

        I bet he had no idea what she was doing. That kid was way too clueless for his own good. If he had any ounce of common sense, he wouldn't have walked over to her in the first place, but I guess that made us similar in a way. It made us both idiots.

        Stella had even fucking told me that I should be careful with her. She flat out told me that Natalia wouldn't stick around forever, but I was too damn confident in myself, so sure that I could have been different for her. An dI thought, at one point, I was right too. Whatever thing we had lasted about a month, and that was a long time for someone who didn't like commitment, in my opinion. She'd even told me about the relationship she'd had with Hunter, despite her claiming she "doesn't do that type of thing". And even if that was the start of this stupid problem we were having, I knew that the fact that I'd persuaded her into telling me that and the fact that she never hung around for long, was something.

        There was something else, something that, if I wasn't so pissed, I would have walked right up to Nat and gotten her to say, so I could hear it coming from her mouth, in her own words. But for now, I would have to deal with the fact that she was too stubborn and complicated to admit something as simple as caring about somebody.

        I took a deep breath, rubbing my hands across my eyes before exhaling heavily through my nose and then lifting my beer bottle back to my lips, emptying it down my throat before setting it on the railing beside me and returning to my position, forearms resting against the wood, hands clasping in front of me, starig down at the dark ground.

        "I'm guessing you got a nice view of what's going on in there too, huh?" a voice asked, coming up behind me. I turned my head lazily, eyes falling on Stella who was watching me with a sympathetic look.

        "Come to say I told you so?" I questioned, looking at the ground again, while Stella walked forward, standing beside me, leaning her back against the railing.

        "No, just to make sure you're not doing anything stupid," she teased, trying to get a smile on my face.

        "Too late for that, huh?"

        "Oh, come on," she said, turning to lean her hip against the wood so she was facing me, her hand resting lightly on my arm. "You're not really going to stand here and say you're giving up now."

        "This coming from the person who didn't want me to try in the first place," I said, reminding her while glancing at her from the corner of my eye. I watched her roll her eyes, shifting on her feet.

        "One, that's not what I said. What I said was that I wanted you to be careful. And two, you don't give up on people you care about. That's why you care about them in the first place," she said softly, her voice barely reaching me above the noise from everything around us. I nodded once, feeling as if she was talking about all the shit she and Alex went through, before they got together and dated. They had their moments, but there was never a doubt in anyone's mind that they were some stupid couple from a chick-flick.

        "And besides," Stella continued, catching my attention once again. "I was talking to Kinsley before, and she said Natalia's only doing this to try and convince herself that she doesn't have feelings for you. This is pretty much new territory for her and she doesn't know how to handle it."

        "So, she goes off and screws another guy?" I mused, head shaking slowly with another chuckle.

        "No, she goes off to find something else to try and ease the feelings. It's not right of her, to use Stephen, but that's what she does."

        "She can go and fuck around with him all she wants. Clearly I can't do a damn thing about it," I said, speaking through my clenched teeth. I knew that Stella was only trying to help, but at this point, it was only making me more upset.

        "You're right, you can't," stella said bluntly. "All you can do is sit back and wait for her to make up her mind, because getting in the way at this point would probably just screw things up more, but don't think the worst yet. I think we all now where she'll end up, it just might take her a while to accept the fact that she's happy being with just one person."

        "So, what do you expect me to do if that comes too late? I'm not going to sit around and wait forever because she can't make up her damn mind," I exclaimed.

        "I didn't say forever," Stella said. "And I know you'll wait, anyway," I turned to her finally, noticing immediately the confident smile on her face.

        "Right, Stell, because you know me so well."

        "No, because I know how much you like her, and because I know she makes you happy. And you make her happy too, she just hasn't accepted that yet, so I think she'll come around. Just wait."

        She smiled at me, hand patting my arm lightly before walking away, disappearing back into the crowd. I watched her go, shaking my head lightly. It was just like Stella to assume everything would work out in te end, but she didn't know Natalia. There was never any guarantee with her, and it looked way more plausible that things would turn out opposite of what Stella thought.