Your week progresses as usual. Wake up, get coffee, go to work and come home. Your morning coffee runs have been shorter and Natalie has barely brought up the weekend. You almost thought it was a fever dream.
You hear your phone ding loudly on the table as you are making yourself some dinner - if you can count pizza rolls and hashbrowns dinner. You walk over and see a message from Natalie on your screen.
<<On my way up! I'm bringing food! - N>>
You glance forlornly at your metal baking tray full of carbs and bad food just waiting on the oven to ding. You walk into your tiny kitchen and start putting the food into freezer bags and back into the freezer. You're thankful that you hadn't started cooking yet.
Right before you hear a knock at your door you wonder how she knows where you live. You don't recall having told her but perhaps you just don't remember. It's not like your memory is that great in the first place and this week has gone by like a blur. You? Nervous? Never. Not that you would admit it anyway.
The knock rings out a second time, louder. "Oh come on, I'm about to drop the food!"
You open your door and in marches Natalie with a rather large suitcase dragging behind her and a bag of Chinese food tucked under her arm, "Oh this is cute! A little small...but cute!" she says excitedly. She drops the bag down on the coffee table and tosses the suitcase onto the far end of your couch.
"Uh, hi Natalie," you laugh as the chaotic whirlwind blows into your apartment as if she belongs there.
"Food first or clothes first?" she asks like a giddy teenager on a sleepover.
"Hello, I haven't seen you much in a few days. How are you? I'm doing great, thanks for asking, you?" a mocking sarcastic tone falls sharply out of your mouth before you sigh, loudly. "Food. Definitely, food," you say as you step into your kitchen and grab plates from the cabinet and silverware from the drawer, "Drink? I've got water, tea, beer..."
"Oh! Beer me!" she shouts, holding her hands out.
You attempt to toss the can across the room which she catches expertly. You grab two glasses, fill one with water, and carry all of it precariously balanced back to the table. You scoot things out of the way and set everything down, " So...how did you know exactly where I live?" you ask.
"You don't remember telling me? It was back around when you gave me your number. You were pretty tired so you probably just forgot," she responded while piling some rice on her plate, "I didn't know what you would like so I grabbed a couple different things. Sesame chicken, teriyaki beef, orange chicken."
It sounds just like you to forget things when you're tired so you brush it off. You scoop a little of all three on your plate with some rice. Natalie hands you a set of chopsticks from the bottom of the bag, "Oh god no. I am awful with those things. Just give me my fork and I'm good," you chuckle quietly and gesture at her with your fork. "So remind me why I'm doing this again?"
"Because you want free coffee for a month and want to do your friend a favor by babysitting her always-getting-himself-into-trouble friend?" Natalie flashed you a dazzling smile before continuing to speak. "Oh don't look at me like that. This is a big city, he hasn't been here in a very very long time. He's been refusing to leave the house. Offering to ask you to go to dinner was the only way he would go do something instead of sitting in the garage and fucking around with that bike of his."
"Me?" you respond with no small measure of shock, stopping shoveling food into your mouth for a moment.
"Yep," she said assuredly and offering no further explanation, "Anyway, this little pub across town in Brooklyn is kitschy, but I figured it would be fun. Brush up on your prohibition-era drinks and your Sinatra. They do these theme nights once a month or so."
"My what?" You look at her with confusion.
She laughs while taking the last few bites of her food, "Just trust me, would you? I promise it will at the very least be entertaining. Okay, where should we start?" She stands, brushes her hands on her pants, and goes to unzip the suitcase. She pulls out a few dresses and stacks them neatly on the couch.
"You, uh, went all out, didn't you?" you say wondering where she found them on such short notice.
Natalie scoffs, "These are straight out of my closet. I told you it was his favorite bar, didn't I?" she says while holding up each dress, squinting narrowly at you and then at them and back again. She then carefully places them into two separate piles.
You watch her sorting through the outfits, feeling a little unnerved at her constant sizing you up. One dress after another, one pile ends up larger than the other. Suddenly she folds the large pile back into the suitcase and drapes four of them over her arm.
"We aren't exactly the same size, but I think these will fit and look amazing. What?" she says, looking at the quizzical expression on your face.
"Why does this feel like a trap? What's the actual reason you are in my apartment trying to shove me into vintage dresses? And if you have this many you two have to go all the time, huh? So why me?" you ask, the questions just pouring out of your mouth as she is pushing them into your arms.
Natalie's eyebrow arches dramatically as you finally grab the dresses. "That's a lot of questions. First, yes. We are there at least a couple of times a month. It's a nice place. He's not comfortable in many places, but that is one of them. James has been around no one but me for the last little bit, regardless of me trying to force him to be a little more social. He's been through a lot, seclusion isn't the best thing for him," she started to explain, sitting down and looking suddenly very tired, "You are the warmest person I know. I was sort of hoping he would warm up around you, too. Now shoo! Go try those on."
You stand there a little shell shocked at the sudden wave of information. Seeing you freeze, she starts lightly and playfully shoving you towards the bathroom. You stumble your way through the doorway and shut it behind you.
Laying the dresses on the counter, you look at yourself in the mirror. Not expecting company, you were a bit of a mess. You sigh, pull your tank top over your head, and step out of your sweatpants. The first dress was pretty simple. You shimmy into the black, no frills, a-line dress and run your hands down the satiny fabric. It was sleeveless, had a high neckline, and reached just past your knees.
"You done in there?" you hear her voice drift muffled through the closed door.
"Fine, fine, hold on," you mutter as you step out into the apartment and twirl a little.
"Well that's cute," she says, looking you up and down, "Not cute enough, though. Back to the bathroom with you!"
You blink, mildly offended.
You step back into the small bathroom, pulling the dress over your head. You fold the dress neatly and place it on the other side of your sink. The next one in the pile was a decidedly more casual shirtdress. It was sky blue with a pattern of navy flowers along the hem and navy fabric-covered buttons all the way down the front. You loosen the top few, put your arms in the short capped sleeves, and pull it the rest of the way over your head. You look in the mirror as you button it closed and cringe a little. You definitely aren't comfortable in this one.
You step out of the bathroom door and it takes Natalie two seconds to shout, "Nope! Next!" at you. You guess she didn't like it either.
You unbutton the dress and wiggle out of it. There are only two left, both very different but both the same style of pleated dress. The first one was lively with black on white polka dots and a black tulle underskirt peeking out of the bottom. It was a bit on the busy side for you so you grabbed the other and slid it over your head. The pleated skirt was just a little past knee length. It was teal with a white waistband, white collar that hugged your collarbones, and an almost too large white bow off center to the left on the neckline. It seemed a little over the top and silly. You felt like you were getting dressed for an ice cream social.
You open the bathroom door and awkwardly step out into the room, expecting Natalie to send you back into the bathroom once again to try on that insane wall of fluff and dots. You weren't, however, prepared for her jaw to drop.
"Yes! Perfect! Do you have white heels, maybe?" she says appreciatively. She gets up from the couch and walks a circle around you, making sure everything is sitting where it should. "Curl your hair a bit and he'll love it."
"Pardon me? You mean you brought all of that over here because..." you trail off and rub your temples.
"If I know anything in this world it is how to get that man's attention. I did say we've known each other a long time, didn't I?" she grins while you wonder exactly what you have gotten yourself into.