Natalie walked into the kitchen and poured herslef a glass of milk as Nick continued to stare at her from his bowl of cereal. She tried to ignore the fact he was giving her funny looks, until she grabbed an apple from the bowl and Nick let out a deep sigh. "Alright, what's the problem blondie?"
Nick looked up at her. They had managed to act reasonably friendly to each other again, but both of them still had a degree of apprehension to one another after the incident in the pool. They had to act reasonably nice but Natalie knew that behind it all was the fact their friendship had forever changed from that one incident.
"Nothin" Nick mumbled.
"Then can you quit giving me those funny looks, it's annoying the hell out of me. I keep thinking I've got something on my face."
"Nat I hope you don't take this the wrong way" Nick started, as Natalie sat opposite him on a stool. She took a bite out of the apple, and gave Nick an interested look.
"Continue...." Natalie said.
"It's about that guy, the one you've been hanging out with alot" Nick said.
"You mean Rob" Natalie remarked. "What about him?"
"You two aren't..well you know are you?"
"What?"
"Together" Nick finally let out.
Natalie raised her eyebrow at him and laughed. "No Nick we are not together."
"Oh okay, just wondering cause I'd like you to be you know, careful."
"Nick we established this before. We're friends, don't act all protective all of a sudden, that's not what we do" Natalie tried to say as gently as she could, not wanting to dwell over the past, after realising that all she and Nick could ever have was a friendship. That's all he wanted, and slowly she'd begun to deal with that fact and move on.
"I know that Nat, I'm just looking out for you, that's all."
"Yes Nick but there's no need to. I can look after myself. So just concentrate on your love life and we'll be fine" Natalie said before depositing her glass into the sink and leaving Nick to ponder over how things had managed to turn out between them, and why the thought of Nat and this new guy was gnawing at him the most.
**************
*Two weeks later...*
"Sarah I don't know about this, I think I'm gonna break my ankle on these shoes" Natalie commented while trying on a pair of heels that Sarah had brought over.
"No way, I got those in Paris, they're the newest thing. You look great in them" Sarah assured while she touched up Natalie's make up and fussed around with her hair.
"I don't know about tonight."
"Nat, if it's about Nick, forget about it. You've moved on now, well at least you're trying to and you're gonna have a great time."
"But a tiny part of me still has feelings for him."
"And that means a large part of you doesn't."
"You should've become a lawyer" Natalie laughed. "Too bad you're so pretty huh?"
"Thanks Nat..I guess" Sarah said uncertainly. "Anyway what time's Rob coming by?"
Natalie looked down at her watch and gave a nervous laugh. "In about ten minutes, which means I better get a move on."
"And I better get outta here" Sarah grinned.
"Behave yourself Miss Reed, I'll give you a call later to get all the juicy details" Sarah said, giving Natalie a conspiratorial wink.
*************
Natalie gave Rob a quick peck on the cheek before letting herself into the house and hearing two voices having a minor argument. She shook her head and knew it was Nick and Cassie, and if she didn't want to get caught in the cross fire she'd better pretend she was really tired and head straight for her room.
"Nick I don't see why we couldn't go out tonight" Cassie whined.
"Cause I'm tired from all the rehearsals this week and I didn't feel like it."
"What has gotten into you? You never want to do anything."
"Nothing has gotten into me, I'm just tired."
Natalie sighed and tried to walk casually into the room without drawing attention to herself. However Nick looked up and immediately pounced on her.
"Where have you been?"
Natalie looked take aback by his tone of voice. "I went out. Hi to you too."
"Hi Nat" Cassie said in an annoyed voice.
"Uhh hi Cassie. Well gotta go I'm tired."
"Who were you with?" Nick persisted.
"Someone" she said sarcastically, until Nick gave her a look which clearly meant he wanted a serious response. "I was with Rob, alright."
"What did you do?"
"What's with the inquisition Nick? We went out alright, now goodnight I'm going to bed."
**************
Walking into the kitchen after a hard day at rehearsal Nick was surprised to see that Rob was sitting at the counter watching Natalie make dinner. He was saying something which caused Natalie to burst into laughter bringing a twinge of jealousy to Nick as he hadn't been able to make her laugh that hard for awhile.
"Oh hey Nick" Natalie said, letting her laughter die down.
"Hi Nat" Nick said seriously.
"Oh you two remember each other right?" Natalie smiled as she went to turn the oven on.
"Hi Nick" Rob smiled.
"Hi" Nick said with a forced smile.
He watched Rob look at Natalie while she had her back turned and knew that by the faraway look her had on his face, he wanted Natalie as more than a friend. Which seemed to bother him to no end.
"So Nick, is Cassie coming over?" Natalie inquired, with her eyes firmly glued on Rob.
Nick looked at Natalie and the fact she wouldn't even bring herself to look at him. "Um no I don't think so" he replied not wanting to admit they had gotten into a fight.
"Well if you want some of this, you better set another place at the table" Natalie smiled.
"It's cool Nat, uh I gotta meet Brian anyway."
"Okay suit yourself" Natalie shrugged before becoming involved in a conversation with Rob. Nick looked at her slightly hurt before going to get changed in his room.
He quickly put on a new shirt and deposited his rehearsal clothes into the laundry basket, hearing Natalie's sporadic laughter as he did so. He watched Natalie give the spoon she had been using for Rob to taste and give him a bright smile when he complimented her cooking. Nick sighed to himself wondering why he missed Natalie so much even though they were both living under the same roof.
Chapter Nineteen
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