Lunch Dates

11

Natalie had fully recovered from her days with the flu and was well aware that city hall and especially the parks department were up to their necks in work for the harvest festival which meant that Ben and Leslie basically never left each other's sides. Natalie would watch from her desk and sometimes got little bursts of jealousy in her stomach. She hated the way she felt over the pair but even worse was the way she hated how she was going to have to watch this go down the way it was.
"They are so definitely going to end up together, I mean look at the way Leslie is acting, she likes him" Donna says from behind the girl and she sighed.
She messaged Ben asking if he wanted to go out that night but he was too busy to respond, she figured she would just meet him upstairs in a few hours.
She spent the rest of the morning filing some things and checking her emails which included a few messages from Jean Ralphio who was trying to flirt with her again. She rolled her eyes before sending short responses telling him he was sweet but that it was once again a no from her. At one, she stopped her work and grabbed her lunch, starting to head up to the floor above to have her break with her best friend. When she got up there, Ben wasn't sat at the bench, but she felt alright, he would surely just a be a few minutes late. However, Natalie waited and waited and waited for the whole hour. She messaged him multiple times but alas was met with no response. The girl spent the entire hour just eating her sandwich and watching as many people walked past. It felt weird. There hadn't been a day at work that she hadn't spent lunch with her best friend since he started working there. After she finished, she made her way back to the department and got to her desk, noticing that Ben was still in the office with Leslie. She felt her heart sink and proceeded to force herself into her own work. She hoped that this would be a one time thing, that by the next day, Ben would be sat there and would rush over to her, sweep her off her feet and spin her around in happiness.
She was wrong.

•••

The next day found Natalie in the exact same position. As she walked up to the bench, she saw that Ben wasn't there. She sighed and hoped he would show up within the next few minutes but alas she was wrong once again. She sat for a while, watching as the people went past before she pulled out her phone. She clicked onto Bens contact and let it ring out for a minute before it went to voicemail.
"Hey Benny, it's Nat, it's the second time you've stood me up this week and I haven't gotten to speak to you for either today or yesterday and I'm just worried that you're moving on without me haha, I'm kidding but at the same time I'm not, it's just, I miss you and I hope you're okay" she says before she hangs up and sighs to herself.
She finished her sandwich and slowly made her way back to the office. She felt embarrassed for some reason, like she was a little girl who had been telling everyone about her imaginary best only for her to realise that they didn't exist. She felt stupid. And she missed her best friend like crazy.

•••

The entire week had gone by and Natalie hadn't heard from Ben once. He hadn't showed up at any lunch or even spoken to her, he was always in Leslies office before she even got there. She hated it and it made her want to act out, do something so rebellious that he would have to look at her again. She knew it was childish but this was her best friend and the person she was falling in love with and right when she thought they were okay, he was blowing her off for someone else. She kept telling herself that she knew this was coming and that one day Ben would eventually end up with someone but she had almost been sure that it could've been her he ended up with. She spent the rest of her day thinking of different ways she could get his attention. She could text him a million times until he responded or she could pretend to get hurt so he would have to help her. She even considered getting in Jean Ralphio to pretend she had gotten herself a boyfriend but quickly decided that was a terrible decision. So instead, at leaving time, she went and walked over to Leslies office to say goodbye to the both of them but found neither of them to be there, only Tom.
"Hey where are they?" She asks.
"Oh they went out for dinner to discuss budgeting and stuff" he tells her and her heart sinks.
She gives him a nod before she makes her way out of the department and led herself down the hall. She didn't quite make it outside before she sat down and let herself be weak. Natalie Adderson did something she hadn't done in a while, she cried. She cried hard. She let out all the frustration she had been feeling about Ben and Leslie and the way she couldn't make her move. She just let it all out on the floor of the city council building and hoped that no security recordings had been made. She was trying to hard to stay afloat and stay in contact and yet it felt like Ben was just slowly slipping through her fingers. It was like every time she reached for him, he inched further away. All she wanted was to tell him how she felt, how she truly felt, have him hopefully tell her the same thing and then go back to her house which would be made perfect with him and they would sit on her couch and watch his nerd shows that she was secretly starting to love. But it seemed that would never happen as with every step she tried to make, she became stuck and couldn't find a way to move forwards with their future. Maybe this was her sign from the universe that she had to give up on Ben, that no matter how much she wanted to be with him, this was her sign that it wouldn't happen and that was what broke Natalie the most.