Lunch Dates

12

You would've thought that Natalie had been hit by a bus when she came into work after the weekend. She had worn in an oversized hoodie, one that Ben had left at hers along with a pair of sweatpants. Her hair was matted and she looked tired. She had spent the majority of the weekend watching romcoms and crying over her best friend which she really didn't expect to do, especially considering Natalie never acted like this. Donna and Tom watched in concern as she sat down at her desk and put her head into her hands. Her head hurt from all the exhaustion and dehydration she was facing and she knew for a fact that if Ann saw her, she would put her into the hospital for her condition. After a few minutes she got up to get a tissue from Jerry's desk and that's when everyone saw her tear stained face.
"Woah, Natalie are you okay?" Donna asks and she freezes in her spot.
She had been hoping that they wouldn't notice, that this would just be one of those times where they ignored her, but she was met with the opposite. The younger woman turned to face her and shook her head as she practically crumbled onto the floor. She knew that hearts could break, but she didn't realise they could be broken by best friends. The people in the department didn't know what to do. They had never seen Natalie act this way, she was usually the person with a smile on her face as she joked around with Ben.
"Oh god, what do we do?" Tom asks panicked.
"Maybe we should get Ben" April suggests and she freezes up.
She really didn't want Ben to see her this way but she knew that no one knew her the way that he did. No one would be able to pick her up and hold her and tell her that she was going to be alright.
"I'll go get him" Tom says as he rushes over to the office where Ben and Leslie are sat.
Ben was buried so deep in his work that he hadn't noticed the commotion that was going on outside. Leslie turned to look at Tom as he entered the office. And that's when she saw Donna crouched down next to a crying Natalie.
"Oh my, is she okay?" She asks as she makes her way out of the office to see the girl.
She knelt down next to Natalie and tried to get her to talk but was met with what seemed like a brick wall from how little anyone could get out of her.
Yet somehow, Ben still couldn't seem to notice what was happening to his best friend until Tom grabbed hold of him.
"Hey what's going on?" He asks as Tom forces him out of his seat and into the main department so that he can see what's happened.
"Addie" he breathes as he walks over to her and takes her face into his hands, forcing her to look up at him.
Her tears were still falling down her face and his heart hurt from seeing her the way she was, knowing that she had never been this vulnerable before. He sighed as he took her hands and forced her up onto her feet as he slid his arm around her waist and helped her out of the room. They walked along the hall in silence before they reached a bench. They sat down and he looked over to the girl next to him.
"Are you okay?" He asks and she turns to face him.
"No, where have you been all week?"
"I've been busy"
"Too busy to tell me you were never coming to lunch?"
"Well I'm sorry that I've had more important things to do" he says and Natalie feels her heart half break.
"More important? I'm your best friend, I'm meant to be just as important"
"Well this time you weren't" he says sighing.
Natalie stares at him and clenches her teeth as she gets up.
"Well I'll talk to you when you actually feel like I'm important again" she snaps as she makes her way down the hall, wiping away the tears on her face.
Ben hated that he had just had that conversation with her and that he hadn't even thought to tell her that he was busy. He had it all planned out in his head to tell her exactly how he felt and yet here she was walking away from him. She probably hated him after today and he was so mad at himself for that. He put his head in his hands and sat on the bench for a few minutes before he got up and started making his way back to the department, half dreading seeing Natalie sat at the desk with a sad look on her face. He hated whenever he saw her sad and now he knew he was the reason for this one and it hurt him deeply. However when he walked back into the department, Natalies seat was empt and before he could even ask, Donna piped up.
"She went home"
Bens heart snapped and he sighed wishing he could've done more and that he acted differently and at that moment, he wasn't concerned about his whole crush on her, he just wanted his best friend back.

•••

Natalie had stayed home the rest of the day and had decided to situate herself on the couch and watch loads of episodes of Star Trek to find some sort of comfort. She was mad at herself for lashing out on Ben. She understood that he was busy and that the Harvest Festival planning was important, way more important than her, but somehow hearing him say it just hurt so badly and she really didn't like feeling that way. She decided that night she would just take care of herself and work herself up to look nice and feel better. She shouldn't have to rely on another person to make her happy. And so with that, Natalie went and looked out a nice outfit for the next day and took herself for a bath.

•••

When Ben got home that night, he immediately turned on the tv and started watching his favourite shows as he sighed. He was so upset with the way the afternoon had panned out and was desperately trying to think up of any way to tell Natalie that he was sorry. He spent the rest of the night on the couch and eventually fell asleep with images of his best friend in his head.