Tangled Strings (sequel to Red Strings)

Chapter 24

"And I remember thinking he was really hot!" we both laugh recalling the memory. "That thing you said about it being over, you didn't mean it did you?" I sigh almost forgetting what had put me in such a mood. "No, I guess not." I admit looking back over at him, he smiles brightly and pats my leg standing up. "Good! Now I'm going to go make some tea, do you want any?" I nod eagerly blowing him a kiss as he exits the room. 

I wake up to the sound of arguing and I groan flipping over in the bed... it's Ashton and Calum.  I can make out what there saying faintly.  "That's not cool bro, you know what she's like!" "How was I supposed to know that she was going to leave?  She knew what she was doing!" "That doesn't give you permission!" They yell back and forth.

"What's going on?" I ask attempting to defuse the tension, they both look over at me breathing heavily. "Nothing, I was just going to get supplies" Calum smiles sarcastically pushing past Ashton into his bedroom "supplies?" I questions sending Ashton a look, "he's decided to stay in his bedroom until Natalie graduates" I snort "he wont last a day" I yell making sure he can hear me through the door. 

Ashton smile weakly obviously in deep thought.  "Where's Luke?" I say suddenly realizing that he hadn't crawled into bed beside me. "Luke and Michael went for bagels" he tells me looking at his watch. Who wears I watch anymore? "About fourty five minutes ago... so they should be back soon" 

I bite my lip lowering my voice "Natalie didn't come back." Ashton shakes his head.  "Sylv texted me last night told me she had come to her crying, but she was settling in." I nod running a hand through my hair and take a deep breath. 

Natalie's POV

"Should I put the ATL poster here....? Or maybe the Greenday poster will fit better here!" I'm trying to make this room like home, and I already have a couple pics with me and Skyler up on one part of the wall, and some with the boys excluding Calum of course.

"Neither!  You can instead take a break from all this moving in!" Sylvana says handing me a cup of tea.  "Aw thanks Vana." I say and I wrap my fingers around the mug taking a sip. 

"Thanks for taking me in, really I mean it." I state as Sylvana smiles and says "Well I needed someone to keep me company!"

"So how are the others handling your sudden absence?" Sylvana asks taking a sip of her coffee.  I shrug and sigh before saying "Sky was pretty upset. I don't blame her, we've been best friends for....well over fifteen years and we were close to each other distance wise, hell we lived across the street from each other!  It's just gonna be a little weird I guess."

Sylvana nods understanding.  "See I never liked my roommate, which was pretty awkward since we basically had to live with each other, but then she dropped out halfway through the semester and there was no one to fill her place, so I got this place to myself.  But something tells me that I'm gonna have a more enjoyable time with you." she jokes the last part and nudges shoulders with me and suddenly my phone starts ringing on the tiny dresser.  

I walk over and pick it up seeing that it's Skyler.  I'm slightly hesitant to pick up, which is pretty stupid of me. I mean, I walked out on my best friend, and she loved me and cared enough to call me up.  Skyler has always been there for me, and it was about time I needed to be there for her.

"Hello?" I ask almost expecting someone else to answer.  But thankfully I hear Sky squeal and I feel relieved.  "HOLY SHIT NATALIE YOU'RE ALIVE!!" she screams through the phone and I laugh and say "Don't worry Vana hasn't kicked me out yet."

"How's the moving going?" She asks and I take another sip of my tea and reply "Pretty good, cept I'm gonna have to go and get a new duvet.  And Sylvanas fridge is literally empty so we're also gonna go and get some groceries." 

"Course you're just taking charge." Skyler giggles on the other end and I then sit down on the bed and Sylvana suddenly leans over and yells "She forgot to mention that I'm here and I say hi!"

Skyler laughs and I put her on speaker and she then says "Hey Sylvana!" "At least we know you're alive without Natalie!" Sylvana jokes and Skyler then says "Yeah well at least she's not far!" 

"Well I'm gonna head out and get dinner for myself and Nat.  Sky do you wanna come over?  It'll be a half hour to get it, but does 6:30 sound good to you?" Sylvana asks and Skyler then says "I'll see you then!"

Sylvana practically leaves right away, and I then say "How're the boys?" "You know, crazy as usual." Sky says and then she says "Calums not good.  Nat.....I know you left for good but can't you at least pop around sometime?" "Sky-" "Natalie he's hurt." "Oh and I'm not?" 

Skyler takes a deep breath before saying "You can't run forever." "This isn't running.  This is moving on." I retaliate and Skyler then says "Still.  I'm not always gonna be willing to take the bus or get one of the boys to drive me over there." 

I sigh and say "Alright maybe in a week or two-"  Skyler then begins to squeal and then says "promise?"  I bite my lip and say "Yeah.  Promise."  

"PERFECT!  I'll be over at your place soon yeah?" Skyler said and I smiled and said "Can't wait to see you."  I then shut the phone and laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.  

"Oh shit." I whisper to myself realizing what I had done.  I had promised Skyler to come back over for a visit at the house.  It was like I had asked for a free ticket to the gates of hell.

At 6:30 sharp, both Sylvana and Skyler walked through the door, with boxes of pizza and 3 cartons of Ben and Jerry's in hand.  "What's all this?" I ask as I set the table with a couple plates as Sylvana set down the hot boxes of pizza.  "DINNER!" she exclaimed as she also pulled out a bottle of wine.  

"I figured we should have a little girls night." Sylvana said and I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the wine glasses.  "You've done too much." I said and Sylvana shook her head.  "More like I haven't done enough!  I was lazy enough to buy food rather than make it!" she said as Skyler laughed and said "Well shall we dig in?" "Yeah that sounds like a good idea to me!" I joked as I opened the pizza box.