Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

“Natalie! Wait up!” Natalie was walking down the hallway toward her room. She slowly turned around and saw Ryan walking to catch up with her.

“Hey Ryan. What’s up?”

Ryan grabbed her hand and they started walking to her room again. “Well, Lindsay is having this party tomorrow at her parents’ house and I was really hoping that you would come with me.”

“Tomorrow?” Ryan nodded. “I kind of already have plans with Bianca, but I’m sure she won’t mind if I cancel.”

Ryan smiled. “Sounds great.” They were now standing outside of Natalie’s door. “I will come to get you at seven.”

“Can’t wait.” Natalie smiled.

Ryan quickly kissed her. “So I have to go, but I will see you tomorrow night. Okay?”

“Kay. Bye Ryan.”

“Bye Nat.” Ryan turned around and disappeared down the stairs.

“Hey Bee!” Natalie called as she walked into their room.

“In here,” Bianca called from the bathroom.

“Look, I know we were supposed to go shopping tomorrow night, but,”

“But?”

“Ryan asked me to go to this party tomorrow night and I just figured we could go in the morning instead.”

“You are blowing me off,” Bianca paused, “to go to a cult party.”

“Well, not totally. We can go in the morning if you want.”

“Nat, chill. I was only kidding. The morning works better for me too.”

Natalie opened her closet and pulled out a dress. After glancing at it, she hung it back up. “And now, we can shop for something for me to wear tomorrow night.”

Bianca came out of the bathroom, “I know just the thing.”

“I knew you would,” Natalie smiled.

The next morning, Natalie and Bianca wet to Ridere, where Bianca had seen a gorgeous dress, the color of an emerald, the week before. “It was right over here,” Bianca said as she pointed to the back of the store and half-pulled Natalie along.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“I know you will love it. It is dark green, almost the color of an emerald. It’s strapless and it will totally match your pearl necklace.” Bianca stopped and pulled something off the rack. “Here it is.”

Natalie took the dress from her. “It’s even more beautiful than you described!”

“I know. Right?”

“Totally. Now let’s go finish out shopping trip.”

Bianca had plans with Trevor that night, so Natalie sat alone in their room, waiting for Ryan to show up. She was already ready to leave. She had been for an hour or so. It was 6:30. Only thirty more minutes until Ryan was going to get her.

Natalie tried to keep herself occupied by doing her history homework while waiting, but she couldn’t concentrate. She started pacing the room, slowly at first, but her pace quickened with ever passing moment.

“What are you doing?” Rebecca was sitting on the edge of Natalie’s bed.

“Nothing, I’m just waiting for Ryan.” Natalie glanced at the clock. 8:19. Had the time really passed that quickly. “He’s a little late.”

“I’m sorry to hear that dear.”

“It’s fine. He will be here soon.”

Rebecca stared at here. “How late is he?”

“Only about an hour and a half,” Natalie’s face fell as she realized that he wasn’t coming. She could feel the tears forming behind her eyes. “He isn’t coming,” she whispered.

“Oh honey. You don’t know that. I be he will be here any minutes.”

“Maybe he forgot and I should go to the party to find him.”

“That might not be…” But before Rebecca could finish, Natalie was already gone, going to the party.

Lindsay’s parents house was a couple of streets over from the school. They didn’t actually live there though. Her parents bought it say Lindsay had a place to get away from school.

Natalie reached out to knock on the door, but it opened before she made contact. Tanya was standing on the other side.

“What are you doing here?” Tanya asked.

Taken aback by the smugness in her voice, Natalie stammered, “Ry-Ryan asked me to come.”

“Why would Ryan ask you to come and then make out with Lindsay all night?”

“Wait, he’s what?”

Tanya stared at her and then said slowly, “I said, Ryan has been making out with Lindsay all night.”

“Ryan, he wouldn’t do that,” Natalie said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Natalie tried to push her way past Tanya. “Believe me. You do not want to see that.”

“Yes,” Natalie said as she finally got past Tanya, “I think I do.”

It was loud inside the house and many people were crowded in the hallway. Natalie pushed past them. In the living room, Lindsay was sitting on someone’s lap on the couch. He had dark brown hair like Ryan’s, but Natalie didn’t want to believe it was him.

Lindsay smiled at Natalie, leaned down and kissed the guy again. “Hey Natalie!”

Natalie walked closer and the guy turned to look at her. It was Ryan.

Natalie burst into tears and blindly ran back to school. She sat against a hallway wall, crying, for what seemed like hours. Many students walked past her and stared but she didn’t care. She didn’t have the strength to move anymore.

“Natalie?” Cameron asked as he walked past her. “Are you alright?”

Looking up at him, she shook her head and cried harder.

Cameron sat down next to her. “Well, do you want to talk about it?”

Natalie shook her head again. “Not really.”

“Okay, you don’t have to.”

Cameron started to get up, but Natalie grabbed his hand. “Please don’t go,” she whispered. He sat back down and put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

Natalie’s crying softened into random sobs after awhile and she fell asleep, leaning against Cameron. He gently picked her up and carried her to her room. Cameron laid her on her bed and kissed her forehead.

Cameron was about to shut the door and leave, but he stopped and softly whispered, “I love you Natalie.” Then he shut the door and walked away.