The Loneliest Stars || EDITING

Chapter 31

After dinner, the girls gave her a tour of the house. A mantlepiece picture stole her breath.

A light haired, slim woman, with cornflower blue eyes and a blinding smile stared back at the camera. Natalia instinctively knew who she was and she was the exact antithesis of her. She had purposely avoided any information about her up until now.

As toxic as it was, she couldn't stop the feeling of jealousy slithering up her spine and taking hold of her. She was jealous of a dead woman in her sister's house. Jealousy quickly turned into self-loathing so thick it made her mouth sticky with nausea.

To top the icing on her self-loathing cake, Ella's parents stopped by for coffee. They had just had Thanksgiving dinner with Ella's brother and his family, they alternated each year but compromised by having coffee at their daughter's house. Why they all couldn't be in one Thanksgiving dinner was a mystery to Natalia but it was also none of her business.

Natalia felt bad smiling in Ella and her parents'  faces when she was secretly glad she got to call Gabe hers, whatever the expense may have been. She couldn't muster up the energy to paint a jovial expression on her face. It wobbled as soon as she looked down.

"You okay?" Gabe took her free hand, the one that wasn't putting cake in her mouth and linked their pinkies together.

"Yeah." The wobbly smile was back. He stared at her a beat too long, green eyes disbelieving but returned to the conversation at the table, where Lima was once again the centre of attention regaling them with stories of teaching in the Middle East.

Lima and Ella had hit it off immediately from when she was helping to set up Gabe's party,  they had similar personalities. In Ella's parents she could see where the traits came from. The boss bitch from her mum and her calm, authoritative demeanour from her dad. She wondered what her sister was like.

Comparison was the thief of joy they said, and it was true. Somebody had shot her little joyous bird straight out of the sky. She tried to breathe in and centre herself, speak a couple of words to Ella's parents but all she had was that wobbly smile. She felt hot and trapped. Floating above her body, staring down at the scene begging herself to act normal.

"Nat, can you help me with something in the kitchen?" Ella's voice broke through the intrusive hum in her brain.

"Uh...sure."

Nat felt the anxiety leave her body as soon as she was out of the dining room, she caught the worried look on Ella's face and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"What do you need help with?"

"Nothing, you just looked like you needed an escape."

"That obvious, eh?" Natalia sighed.

"No, I just have a trained eye."

"I just got in my head a little," Natalia explained.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know they would drop by."

"Ella don't be ridiculous, they're your parents and this is your house. I'm grateful for the invite."

"They like you, I can tell."

"Really? It's not awkward?"

"Not at all, now Gabe's parents? That would be awkward."

"Great." Natalia muttered, "I have that to look forward to."

Ella gave her a tight smile not elaborating on what Gabe's parents were really like. That was something else she would need to ask him about.

He had been a lot more forthcoming in the past few days since their little tiff at the weekend. Whatever she asked he answered without any vagueness, even offering up tidbits that she hadn't thought to ask herself. He was slowly realising that she only wanted to understand him more. They were past the point of judgments.