“You having fun?” Justin shouted over the loud music.
“Huh?” she asked, leaning a little closer.
He laughed and moved his mouth close to her ear. “Are you having fun?” he repeated a little louder.
She smiled as his warm breath brushed her neck. “I’m having a blast,” she shouted back. And she was. She was actually surprised at how much fun she was having. She hadn’t been able to break loose like this in a long time and to do it with Justin was all the more pleasurable.
Justin had stuck close by her all night. He’d been particularly touchy feely, placing a hand on the small of her back or brushing her hand with his own. He didn’t seem to be too bothered about people seeing them either.
For the first time he had spent a considerable amount of time with Justin’s friends, “the guys” as he would affectionately call them. She realised how much fun they could be, if a little overwhelming at times.
As soon as they’d entered the club Chris and Joey had stolen her for a dance, dragging the reluctant girl into the masses. Justin had looked on as she protested. “Come on, Justin said you were a dancer, show us your moves,” Chris had urged her.
Justin had looked on disappointed. He’d been hoping for the first dance himself. He’d found a table though and settled down to watch her with his friends. At first she’d looked stiff and like she didn’t want to be there but soon as she forgot about her surroundings and started to feel the music she let go and he was impressed.
JC had nabbed a dance while Justin bought drinks and Lance had snuck one in before him too.
He was on the verge of sulking by the time she managed to make her way back to him. His date had been taken over by his friends but she had finally escaped and was back by his side and he had to smile at how happy she looked.
“So you think I could get a dance sometime tonight?”
“Hmm maybe.”
“Not funny,” he grumbled.
“Aww come on I’m sure there are plenty of girls here tonight that would love to dance with you.”
“Well that’s just too bad because I only intend on dancing with one.”
He looked pointedly at her and she blushed. Usually embarrassment would’t come that easily to her but ever since the kiss at Justin’s house he’d been making what he wanted very clear to her.
“Let’s get a drink first and then we’ll see about that dance.”
“I think Justin has some competition on the floor,” Lance commented.
The others were taking a break and observing the display Justin and Natalia were putting on.
“Man what is he doing?” JC exclaimed. “That’s got to be illegal.”
“I don’t think he could get any closer if he tried,” Chris laughed.
“The boy learnt well and he learnt from the best,” Joey said proudly, punching his fist up in the air.
“Whatever,” JC laughed. “When was the last time you got some play?”
Justin was getting particularly “freaky” out there on the dance floor but Natalia seemed to be matching him every step of the way.
“Justin better watch out cause I think he’s got a lot on his hands there,” Lance declared.
“Joey wants to switch clubs. Some of his friends are out across town, you wanna go?”
She looked at her watch. It was getting late; she really should have been heading home. Alexei was there though.
She debated what to do, what she should do and what she wanted to do. “What the hell,” she shrugged, “sure.”
“Okay we’re just gonna round everyone up.”
“Alright, I’m just going to make a quick phone call.”
He nodded. “Okay, meet you in ten.”
She headed to the payphone by the ladies room. There were two women using it, giggling drunkenly into the receiver. She waited patiently for them to finish before dialling home.
Her brother picked up on the fourth ring sounding frantic. “Hello,” he said breathlessly.
“Alex, what’s wrong?”
“Oh God Nat,” he breathed out deeply, “you need to get to the hospital quick.”
Panic set in as soon as “hospital” was spoken. Her hand shook as she waited for details. Her heart sank as she listened to her brother explain what had happened.
“I’ll be right there,” she promised, before hanging up without a goodbye.
She headed straight for the exit forgetting all about Justin.
“Where’s Nat gone?” Chris asked.
The others were all ready to go and she hadn’t returned. Justin looked around trying to spot her. “She went to make a phone call. That was a while ago now though,” he added quietly.
“Want us to wait?”
He shook his head. “No you guys go ahead, we’ll meet you there.”
The others left and he soon began to get worried when she didn’t show up.
He went over to the payphones and he looked around in confusion when he saw nobody there.
He glanced up at the door to the ladies room when the door opened. Two young women walked out and he approached them. “Is there are girl with long dark hair in there?” He wished he’d paid more attention to what she’d been wearing but all he remembered was that she looked damn good in whatever it was.
The blonde girl shook her head. “Sorry we were the only ones in there.” She looked at him strangely. “Are you-”
He almost groaned out loud. Of all the times now was not a good one. He hated to do it and he usually only reserved it for dangerous situations but he needed to find Natalia, so he lied. “Justin Timberlake? You’re the second person to say that tonight. Do I really look like him, hasn’t he got that big afro on his head?”
“He got it cut,” the girl's friend said.
“Oh right. Nope sorry I’m not Justin but you can have my autograph anyway though.”
“Er no thanks.” The girls looked at him strangely before walking away.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Now where was Natalia? She’d been having fun, he was sure of that. She wouldn’t have left…would she? He’d been a little full on while they were dancing but surely that wouldn’t have scared her off.
He made one final scan of the club before he conceded defeat.
He didn’t know what to do. Should he stay? She was nowhere in sight and there was only so long he could hang around before he looked like a fool.
He left the club, bewildered to what had happened.
“J!”
He turned towards the voice and saw JC standing with Joey. “You lost someone?” JC said pointing across the parking lot.
Justin looked in the direction JC was pointing. “Damn,” he muttered. What was she doing?
“Thanks man, catch you later.”
Justin jogged over to where Natalia was fighting with a woman to get in a cab. He grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the pending cat fight.
“Get off me,” she screamed, kicking her legs out.
“Dammit Nat, watch what you’re doing.”
“Justin,” she said, turning and realising for the first time just who it was.
“Yeah it’s me, who did you think it was?” he asked trying to stay calm.
Her shoulders sagged. “Please Justin, I need to go…I-I need to get that taxi.” She turned around and saw it pulling away. “NO!” she shouted, running after it.
Justin looked on, too shocked to move.
“STOP! Please…just stop,” she trailed off.
When she stopped in the middle of the road and held her head in her hands Justin began to realise something was really wrong. Natalia was also beginning to draw a few stares. He stepped out into the road, dodging a car to reach her. He grabbed hold of her arm and tried to tug her back to someplace somewhat safer than in the middle of Orlando traffic.
“I need to get to the hospital.”
“What?” he asked, finally noticing her tears. “Is something wrong? Are you okay?” He scanned her body trying to search for something but she looked fine other than looking very shaky.
She sniffed. “My mom, she’s in the hospital, I need to get there,” she rambled, pulling away from Justin again.
“Woah hey,” he caught up to her again. “Where are you going? I can take you to the hospital."
“You will?” She looked up at him doubtfully as if he would say no. He was left to wonder what had happened to make her doubt people so much. It was as though she was just waiting for them to let her down.
“Yeah of course I’ll take you.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her to his car. He was somewhat surprised when she rested her head against his shoulder. He helped her into the car, only starting the engine once she’d buckled her seatbelt.
“What hospital?” he asked softly as they passed the bulk of traffic surrounding the club.
Her head snapped around. “I didn’t ask.” She bit her lip, looking around with a panicked look.
He rested his hand on her thigh trying to calm her. “Was she at home when…,” he didn’t know what had happened, “it happened?”
She nodded.
“Okay then so she’s probably at the one nearest your house.” Justin turned the car and headed to the hospital closest to her house.
They were ten minutes into the journey when he glanced over at her. She was staring blankly out the window and hadn’t said a word. He turned back to the road, gripping the wheel tightly as he asked his next question carefully. “What happened?” he asked quietly.
She rested her head back, closing her eyes. “She was in the kitchen. She hit her head and a pan of boiling water fell on her.” She took a shaky breath. “I’m not sure how bad, they were just loading her into the ambulance when I talked to Alex. He found her on the floor…he was supposed to be with her,” she whispered.
She was clearly upset and he didn’t think it was the time to point out that she couldn’t blame Alexei, that her mother was too old to have a babysitter.
“It’s going to be okay, we’ll be there soon.”
She was trying to jump out of the car before Justin had fully stopped. He grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to calm down. “You’re not going to be any help in this state Nat, try and keep calm until you know all the details.”
Still he was almost running to keep up with her as they walked through the emergency room doors.
“I think my mom was brought to this hospital,” she told the woman at the desk.
“And her name is?” the woman asked.
“Eva Thomas.”
Justin stood behind her, squeezing her shoulder, letting her know that he was there.
The lady checked her list of patients and nodded. “Yes, she was brought in about 30 minutes ago.”
“Can I see her?”
“The doctor is with her, but if you’d take a seat I’ll let you know when you can.”
That wasn’t what Natalia wanted to hear and Justin knew that as she took a deep breath, ready to argue with the woman. A voice calling her name stopped her before she even started though.
“Nat! Natalia!”
Natalia and Justin turned and saw Alexei standing at the entrance to a corridor. Natalia immediately headed in his direction and Justin followed just behind.
“Where is she?”
Alexei pointed behind him. “She’s down there.”
Natalia pushed past him and marched down the corridor. “Nat you can’t go in,” Alexei called after her.
She turned and continued to walk but backwards this time. “Don’t you even start with me,” she warned angrily, pointing a finger at him before turning again and heading to the nurse’s station at the end of the corridor.
Alexei sighed. Leaning against the off-white walls he let his head drop back.
“She’s just upset,” Justin reasoned.
“She has a right to be upset with me though.”
“Why?” Justin asked, clearly confused.
Alexei studied Justin’s expression before he spoke. “She didn’t tell you did she?” he asked, although he knew the answer.
“Tell me what?” He felt like he was the only kid in the playground that didn’t know the big secret.
Alexei shook his head in exasperation with his sister. He was left once again to explain because she couldn’t let people in. “Our mom…she was in an accident a few years back. Natalia has been really overprotective ever since. She’s wheelchair-bound,” he clarified.
That explained her need to always rush home. Then another realisation hit him. “That’s why she puts up with Bryan,” he spoke aloud.
Alexei nodded. “Yeah, the jackass.” No love was lost between the pair obviously. “You’ve seen where we live Justin, it’s not exactly a palace. Nat busts her ass at that job though and if it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t even have that.”
Justin shook his head at the unfairness of it all.
“She tries to keep all the bad stuff away from our mom, she doesn’t want her feeling guilty. She asked me to stay in tonight,” he shook his head in shame, “I couldn’t even do that for her, one night!”
“You can’t beat yourself up about this, it’s not going to help anyone.”
A door down the hall opened and a woman dressed in a white coat emerged from the room.
Justin slapped Alexei on the back. “You better get down there,” he nodded towards Natalia who was talking to the doctor.
Justin watched the boy, he wasn’t much more than that, only 18 years old, stroll down the hall. He couldn’t imagine dealing with what they had. He couldn’t imagine his own mother being anything other than the healthy woman she was. He hoped he would never have to see her any other way. He said a silent prayer that everything would be okay with Natalia’s mother.
“Are you here for Eva Thomas?”
Natalia immediately stood and bombarded the woman with questions.
The redheaded doctor held her hand up as Alexei joined them. “She’s going to be fine,” she reassured her. “We would like to keep her in for a few days though. From what we gather your mom’s chair tipped while she was cooking. The pan of hot water scolded her hand, arm and the top of her leg. Now it’s not too serious but we would like to monitor it for any infection. When she fell she also hit her head and she has a nasty bump forming. So like I say we’re just going to keep her in to be on the safe side. We’re going to take her up to her room to get settled for the night so if you’d like to say goodnight I’d suggest you do it now.”
They both said that they would like to and went in to see their mom.
Justin watched the siblings go into the room while he stood out in the hall. He made his way closer to the room. The smell of the hospital was nauseating. He sat down outside the room they had entered, settling down to wait for them.
Natalia had always held a lot back from him but he was just beginning to realise some of the pressure she was living under.
Five minutes passed before the door opened and Alexei came out alone, wiping at his eyes.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She’s gonna be okay.”
Justin smiled back sympathetically as Alexei leaned against the wall opposite him.
A couple of minutes later the door opened again and Natalia stormed up to her brother, grabbing the material of his jacket and repeatedly shoved him against the wall. “What the HELL did you think you were doing?” she screamed while shaking him.
Justin tried to step in between them but she pushed him away.
“You said you’d stay with her. You know I wouldn’t have gone out if I’d known you would leave. You promised me.”
“Nat.” Justin placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to urge her away. He knew Alexei was upset about this already and he could see this was like torture for him.
“You heard her,” he argued back meekly. “She told you herself that she told me to go out. I told her I was staying in and she told me she to go. She hates us missing out you know that. She’s home alone all day and she’s fine.”
“That’s why we should be there when we can! And this time she wasn’t fine was she Alex?” she threw back at him.
Justin saw a nurse eyeing them unhappily. They were causing a scene and he knew he should calm them down for everyone’s sake. At the moment the only way he could see that happening was if he separated them.
“Guys this isn’t helping your mom any, you two at each other’s throats. What if she hears you in there? It’s the last thing she needs.”
They reluctantly turned away, Natalia sinking down into a nearby chair. Tonight had been going so well for her; hell the last few days had been too good to be true. Nothing was ever simple in their lives, something was due to go wrong, and she should have accepted that by now.
Justin sat down next to her while Alexei sank to the floor opposite them, clutching his shoulder. Justin doubted Natalia had hurt him physically though, it was more emotional pain, and she’d hit right where it hurt.
Justin couldn’t help but think the greater the distance between them the better at that moment. He’d come to realise how hotheaded Natalia could be but it seemed to run in the family.
“Nat I think you should stay with me tonight.” Surprisingly she just nodded. He’d been pitching to put up a fight with her but tonight at least the fight seemed to be out of her. Now she just looked tired, worn.
Alexei had overheard the conversation and he smiled gratefully at Justin. He needed some time alone.
“Alex, you gonna be alright? Do you need a ride?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine.” He stood up, brushing himself down as he cautiously approached Natalia. “I-I guess I’ll see you later Nat.”
She kept her head down but bobbed her head slightly before standing and heading for the door, not waiting for Justin.
Justin sighed. He thought he could cry when he saw the hurt look on Alexei’s face. He patted him on the back. “I’m sorry man, she’ll get over it. You know it’s not your fault right?”
“I should have been there, I promised,” he said yet again.
“Alex you could torture yourself forever with that but it’s not going to change anything,” he reasoned.
He sighed and nodded his head. “I know.”
“You sure you’re gonna be okay?” Justin didn’t want to leave him if he wasn’t.
“Yeah. You look after my sister okay?”
Justin had to smile at that. He was still being protective over her even after the way she had just treated him. “You got it,” he promised.
Chapter 17
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