A/N This is the cheesiest goddamn thing I think I've ever written. Omg.
Anyway, it takes place somewhere after Wish I Were Here. I made some changes to canon, and while I love the original, I made my version a bit happier. Because Natalie is my baby.
This is the first of many oneshots.
Enjoy!
-Ashley
Self loathing is a wicked habit.
Natalie supposed it's why she was here, in a club, high off whatever that guy gave her, and crying in the bathroom.
She just didn't understand why she had to ruin everything good in her life. Henry told her he wouldn't pick her up from these clubs anymore, and now she had to deal with it.
Many hysterical minutes later, she sought out the guy from earlier. Despite being the kind of guy who handed out pills to girls at clubs, he was a friendly face and she was hoping he might drive her home.
Finally she saw him, and pushed her way through a group of girls to get to him.
"Hey, do you have a car?" Her mind was foggy, from the pills and from the crying, and she knew she sounded stupid.
Luckily, he understood. "Do you need a ride home?"
She nodded. "Unless you're a serial rapist, in which case I'll walk." Henry always told her she was blunt when she was high. Guess it was true.
He didn't seem bothered by her statement though. In fact, he laughed.
"You'll meet some actual serial rapists if you walk alone. Come on, I'll drive you," he said. She followed him out the door.
"Is that your car?" She asked, pointing to an old rusted truck in the parking lot.
"Yep."
"It's really ugly."
He laughed again. "C'mon, just get in."
They both got in the truck. As he started the car, Natalie got a piece of paper and a pen from his glove department and wrote down an address. She handed it to him, then rolled the windows down and rested her head on the door, so she could feel the wind in her hair. She sighed.
"What's your name?" The guy asked.
Natalie moved her head and looked at him.
"Natalie."
"I'm James." He stuck out his hand.
She smiled wryly and shook it.
"How does a pretty girl like you end up in a place like that?" He asked.
She moved her head back to the door.
"Typical stuff. Bipolar mom. Dead brother. A boyfriend, or make that ex I guess, finally being done with my shit."
"Bipolar mom?"
"Yeah." Natalie kind of laughed. "She's all kinds of crazy. She sees and talks to my brother."
"The dead one."
"That's the one. And since she's so focused on her dead child, she has no time for her living one. And my dad! My dad is so busy trying to fix her or whatever that he doesn't have time for me either! The only person who really cared about me was Henry, and he gave up on me."
"I'm sure he didn't-"
"He did."
There was an awkward silence until James spoke again.
"So, are we going to his house then?"
Natalie nodded.
They drove for a few more minutes in silence, at Natalie stared out the window, the wind on her face.
"Listen, Natalie."
"Yeah?"
"I hope you make things right with Henry," he said genuinely.
She faced him again, and rolled up the windows. "Me too. Turn here."
They turned into a neighborhood, and she directed him on where to go. Eventually, Natalie told him to stop. There weren't any houses nearby.
"Um..."
"Don't ask if Henry's real!" Natalie snapped.
"I wasn't going to." James said, and Natalie felt bad.
"Look, we just have to walk to Henry's house. Okay?"
James shrugged, and followed Natalie's lead as she began walking down the street.
Finally, they reached a house where Natalie paused for a long minute.
"Is this it?"
She nodded, looking suddenly very stricken.
James put his hand on her shoulder.
"Natalie, are you okay?"
"I don't know." The car ride was sobering, but now she felt as incompetent as she was crying in that bathroom.
"It's just-" James waited for her to go on. "He used to pick me up from all these clubs, and I was awful to him. I mean, every time. And I just don't know why he'd give me another chance at this point. But he will, because he's Henry."
"Isn't that good, then?" James asked.
Natalie ignored him and walked to the side of the house. She looked up.
"That's his window."
"Okay."
"I'm gonna throw something at it."
"Wait-"
But Natalie did not wait. She picked up a rock, then threw it- softly, she thought, then screamed when the window shattered.
"What did you think was going to-"
She shushed him as a disgruntled Henry appeared at the window.
"What the hell, Natalie? You're lucky my parents aren't home, or they'd kill you. And then me!"
She froze, clearly nervous. "Hi."
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Um. I was at this club-"
"Of course you were," Henry muttered.
"And I was high and I was crying, and I realized..." She stepped closer, so she was looking up at him. "I realized we had a good thing, and I screwed it up."
Henry seemed to be struck silent.
"Also I didn't want to go home, so I made this guy drive me to your house."
Henry looked at James for the first time then.
"Why'd you drive her here?" He asked suspiciously.
"I, uh, I kind of gave her drugs. At the club," he answered.
Henry's eyes went wide in a way that was almost funny, but angry in a way that wasn't.
"You what? How could you, I mean, why would you... look at her! Does she look like she can handle drugs?" Henry ranted.
"I can handle them just fine!" Natalie protested.
"No, you can't! Natalie, I care about you." His eyes were earnest, looking at her in a way that made James feel like he was trespassing on a moment. "A lot. And it kills me to see you kill yourself. I just want the old Natalie back."
Natalie looked uncomfortable. "I don't know who that was. I don't know who I am now. The pills make everything blurry. I don't know the difference anymore."
"I do."
James stood there awkwardly.
"So, should I leave you two alone, or..."
"I don't even know if he's going to let me stay," she told him, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Of course I will."
For the first time since James had met her, Natalie smiled.
"James," she said, looking at him with happier eyes than he thought he would see on her. "Thank you. I'm not that good with words, but I'm really glad you gave me pills at the club."
"But," Henry interjected. "You'll never do it again, right?"
James nodded.
"Okay. Bye." Natalie said, and she hugged him quickly.
James walked away, feeling for the first time in a while that he'd done something really good for someone.
----------------------------------------------
Two weeks later, James found himself at the supermarket shopping, when he heard familiar voices.
"Henry, in what world am I going to need that much cereal?" Natalie was complaining in the isle over.
Henry's voice soon joined her. "There are plenty of situations where you'd need that much cereal."
"Name one." Natalie deadpanned.
"Zombie apocalypse."
"Oh my God."
"It could happen." He insisted.
"Yeah, maybe in one of your video games," she said, and then they were right there in James's isle, too wrapped up in their discussion to notice him.
"Natalie?" He said, and then they both saw him.
"James!" Natalie gave him a swift hug like the one a couple weeks ago, and even Henry smiled at him.
James couldn't help but look in the cart, where there were roughly six boxes of cereal. Natalie and Henry noticed.
"You recognize that's way too much cereal, right?" Natalie asked.
"Yes."
"Dude!" Henry scolded.
James put his hands up like he was surrendering.
"Were you really expecting a different answer?" James asked. Henry was about to reply when Natalie cut me off.
"Boys," Natalie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, maybe my mom will discover she loves cereal in the next couple days. Or maybe your wildest dreams will come true and the apocalypse is starting tomorrow."
She turned to James again. "Last time my mom was here, she had an anxiety attack and knocked, like, every shelf over. Needless to say, I've taken over her role of shopper for the family. But it's not bad. Usually I just take Henry with me."
"That's good. Are you...?"
"Sober? Yeah. I've been completely clean for the last couple weeks. Which, I mean, isn't that big of an accomplishment-"
"Yes it is," Henry interrupted.
"But it's a start." Natalie finished. She looked better, James thought. Where she had been strung out and tired looking the last time he'd seen her, she was now looking happy and calm.
"Well, I'm happy for you. I'll let you get back to shopping." James said.
As Natalie and Henry continued shopping, he could sort of hear them talk.
"Why the hell do we need corn syrup?"
"I don't know, Natalie. It was on the list."
"You're useless."
From there, James couldn't hear much, but he caught one more tiny snippet.
"Natalie?"
"Did you find the corn syrup?"
"No. Natalie?"
"What?"
"I love you."
James could hear the smile in Natalie's voice. "I love you too."
James smiled.