Must Hate The Bad Boy

Chp.24- Must Hate The Argument

"I'm Caden, ma'am. Just a friend of Natalia." He extended his hand towards her and she stared at him in shock.

"Caden? You mean the boy he got in a fight with?" Her eyes widened and Caden gulped. Well this was awkward.
"Um, come in." She pushed them inside and they were immediately hit with the smell of mouth-watering chocolate chip homemade cookies. "Would you two like a cookie? They were just freshly baked." Mrs.Bentley actually owned a small bakery downtown called 'B's Bakery'. She's been baking since Natalia was born. Her baking skills are incredible; she can practically make ANYTHING. Pies, cookies, brownies, you name it.

"Sure," Caden and Natalia responded in unison. "Is Jeremiah here?" She asked patiently.

"Yes, dear. He is right upstairs. Jeremiah! You have guests that want to see you!" She yelled as she poked her head up the staircase. She turned around to head back in the kitchen and returned with two gigantic chocolate chip cookies. Natalia nearly fainted at the delicious taste of the cookie. The chocolate was mouth-watering.

"I guess we'll go upstairs then, it seem like he doesn't feel like coming downstairs." Natalia chuckled.

Mrs. Bentley rolled her eyes and sighed. "I don't know what to do about that boy," She placed her hands on her hips. "Sorry about him though, he's been feeling down in the dumps lately." She explained. Natalia nodded her head, knowing the exact reason why he was feeling that way. Without any farther word, she turned around and walked up the stairs.

"I think you should stay here right quick," Natalia whispered to Caden. He nodded his head in understanding as she lightly pushed the door open. Jeremiah was sprawled onto his bed, laying on his stomach while scrolling through pictures on Instagram.

"Jeremiah," She called softly. He turned around at the soft sound of her voice. His expression turned confused when he saw her.

"Natalie... What are you doing?" He still called her a nickname-- Natalie. She thought that he would have stopped by now.

"I- I came to talk." She responded confidently. She walked over to his saucer chair and sat down on it uncomfortably.

"Um sure," He said as he sat up and placed his hands in his lap.

"Why did you lie and tell everyone that you beat up Caden?" She asked quietly. He seemed to tense up at her question because his eyebrows lifted and his shoulders rose. Every feature on his face practically froze.

"Who told you that?" He gritted his teeth as if he was angry. "It was Caden wasn't it?!" He asked, his anger rising to a whole another level. She raised her arms up in surrender and gave him a stern look.

"I'm not giving any names," She stated firmly. "I'm only here to ask you questions. Now answer my question." He looked away from her and sighed.

"I don't know," He breathed out truthfully. "I guess I was just angry and I... wanted to tell people that to get back at him." He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at his lap as if he was disappointed with himself.

"Get back for what?" She asked, obviously confused.

"Is it oblivious to you?" He laughed bitterly. "It's pretty obvious that I don't like him around you. I don't trust him." His voice suddenly went deep and dark.

Natalia returned the same bitter laugh that Jeremiah let out a couple minutes later. "Is it oblivious to you?" She mocked. "It's pretty obvious that we are OVER, Jeremiah. Why are you concerned about who I hang out with?" She asked bitterly. Jeremiah looked surprised at her sudden confidence.

"I- I don't know what to say." He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and sighed deeply.

Natalia stood up and started pacing around his room frantically. "What exactly did Caden do or say to make you want to fight him?" She asked him curiously. He must have done something pretty bad to make him that angry.

"I--"

"Spill it!" Natalia snapped angrily. Jeremiah sighed as he ran his hand through his hair again.

"I told him to stay away from you and he said no so I punched him in the face... Then he attacked me. So yeah, what I told everybody was a complete lie. I just wanted to make him feel bad so people could start teasing him that he lost a fight which he didn't... I don't know Natalia. I think I still have feelings for you." He admitted shyly.

"Oh save it," Then she started laughing bitterly again. "If you still had so-called 'feelings' for me than you wouldn't have gone and kissed some girl." She rolled her eyes and pressed her hands to her face in annoyance.

"I wanted to get things off my mind so I that's what I did. I had sex with her." He shrugged his shoulders and Natalia felt a pang of jealousy and anger.

"Is that supposed to f*cking make me feel better?!" She yelled at him and walked towards him and pressed a hard shove to his chest, causing him to stumble back. "You are such a man-whore! You think by having sex with a random girl is going to get me back?! well guess what, you're gonna have to try harder! This conversation is over." She stared at him one last time with a venomous look in her eye before walking out of his room and slamming the door with as much force that she had. She was absolutely fed up.

Caden was standing near the door with a really wide 'O' on his lips. She had forgotten that he was still there.

And that's when she broke down.

She stumbled towards him and wrapped her arms around his body and he did the same. Hot tears poured down on her face and they splattered all over Caden's shirt.

Jeremiah opened the door as if he was trying to call her again to come back but he stopped when he saw them hugging. The determination on his face slipped and it turned into a scowl.

"I see how it is." He sneered at Natalia. She let go of Caden and walked up to Jeremiah and slapped him across the cheek. He grabbed the place where it stung and just left his hand there.

"I deserved that," His eyes turned soft. "I'm sorry." And with that, he hung his head low in disappointment and shut the door behind him.

--

After the big argument with Jeremiah, Caden dropped her off at her dad's house. Whenever she was feeling down, she'd always go to her dad's house to chill with him.

Right now, she was snuggled up next to him with a mug of hot chocolate and a warm fuzzy blanket. Natalia looked over to him and saw that he was in a deep sleep. She giggled quietly at how loud he snored.

She sighed as she lifted his head off of her shoulder. Sitting up, she placed her mug on the coffee table in front of her and stood up with her phone in hand. Just then, her phone started ringing.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Natalia? Where were you this morning?" She gasped when she realized that she practically skipped work.

"Oh shoot... I'm so sorry, Dylan. My car broke down this morning and I didn't have a ride." She explained, half telling the truth, half not.

"Just know that since you've missed a day, you'll have to work a longer shift next week." He explained, sighing through the phone.

"What?!" She exclaimed. "I have school!" There was no way that he could MAKE her work a longer shift when she had school. After all, Ms. Snappywhether was coming back to school next week and the students had to present their projects.

"Be here at 7:00 sharp next Friday." And with that, he hung up.

Natalia sighed and rubbed the circles under her eyes. Next week was most definitely not going to be easy.

♕

hey guys! hope you all enjoyed this chapter.. it wasn't exactly easy to write because i had trouble thinking of what to type.

questions for this chapter:

1. who dislikes Veronica?
2. what do you think would happen if you talked to your mom like that/ and or slapped her?
3. who likes the argument between Jeremiah and Natalia?

love you all <3 keep coting, vommenting, and sharing my story!

♕ jada ♕