Funny Little Love

Yeah, Maybe, I'll See, You Can Hug Me Now...

36

SHAWN

This is going to be so bad.

Natalie and I traveling in a car, just the two of us, to her house while Alex watches us just driving off together into the dark of the night.

It is gonna be devastating for him, especially after he saw us kissing at the club and also, because he knows well of Natalie and my weird relationship, friends with the extremely weird incident as a part of our history.

I want him to trust me so desperately.

I saw how he looked at me when he saw me and Natalie coming out my room together, that look of fear mixed with doubt and reassurance.

I don't know what he thought we did inside my room, but what really happened was a really really weird conversation.

The creaking sound of the door to my room opening makes me turn my head to look at the person responsible for opening it.

I expected it to be my mom. It was not.

It was Natalie.

Of course, I should've known. My mom always knocks on the door before opening it. Natalie doesn't, never did, right from her childhood, right from our childhood.

Her silhouette at the door, with light streaming in from behind her into my room making me squint my eyes to soften the intensity of the light attacking my eyes, giving them enough time to adjust to it after spending hours in the darkness of my room.

I prefer to keep it dark in room if I'm not studying, helps me get comfortable and get my serotonin right.

"Rise and shine lazy boy." Natalie says in her usual announcing voice.

"God, close that door. You're torturing me." I say, referring to the light.

"Okay, how about this?" Natalie says, reaching her hand across to the left of the doorframe to the light switch and turning on the light on my room.

"OMG, stop please." I say, covering my eyes.

"Your mom asked me to make sure you get downstairs, fast." Natalie's voice says.

I remove the hand from over my eyes as I notice my eyes have already adjusted to the light.

I see Natalie looking at me.

No, not at me.

I follow her gaze.

She's looking at my tight boxers and the bulge under them.

She notices me looking at her and she forces pulls her sight to random things around the room.

"Hey, you kept this." Natalie says, with an excited tone, picking up a framed picture of Luke, Natalie and me on a school trip to the Greek museum.

"Of course, I did. It has got all of us in there." I say.

Even though Luke, Natalie and I, the golden trio, aren't exactly together as we were before, I still miss those moments we spent together. Natalie also seems to be thinking the same thing.

"Things had to take an ugly turn. I miss us." Natalie says, looking at me, this time at my face, with a look of nostalgia.

"We didn't do anything wrong. Luke did." I say, trying to find someone to blame for the undesirable state of things now.

"That's not true. All of us had our own parts to play to break the group up. All of us are equally guilty." Natalie says, looking sad.

There is a weird silence in the room. Natalie and I stay still wherever we are, trying to comprehend the situation in the room.