𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍

nineteen

『 nineteen 』

NATALIE SAT ON HER BED the next Friday. It was getting late, but she was insistent on enjoying her quiet time. 

Hawk wasn't in the house for that night. His mom had invited her to dinner with them - him, his mother, and her boyfriend. She needed time to herself to recuperate. It was a mental strain, to spend an hour with Hawk's family. They were nice people. Truly, they were. But Hawk was insistent to make everything a drag. 

He didn't seem to understand that she didn't want to be there any more than he did. She was just a nicer person than him when it came to dinner invitations. 

It was a peaceful, quiet night. Hawk had gotten into a lovely habit of playing his video games at full volume. The sounds would leak through the walls and insulation. While Hawk was at the house, no one in the hall could get ten seconds of quiet. It was her responsibility to take advantage of nights like these. 

The previous day, she had found a new show to binge. It was a healthy 6 seasons, 20 episodes per season. It would hold her out for a good while. She was not proud to admit that this was one of the more satisfying times of her past month. 

Soon it was no longer Friday. 

Her phone rang on her desk. Natalie leapt across the bed to retrieve her phone. Robby's contact showed on her screen. She smiled to herself and flopped backward onto her mattress before hitting the green button. 

"Howdy," Natalie answered. 

Robby didn't say anything at first. The smile slipped right off her face. She worried there was something wrong with their line. She tried another hello. 

"Hi, Nat," he finally spoke. 

"How are things over there? You're still being treated well?" She asked, growing worried. She sat up. 

He sounded... exhausted. Like speaking had become a struggle. It had been a good long while since she had spoken over the phone with anyone who seemed this uninterested in conversation. 

"Are you doing anything?" Robby asked. His voice was weary. 

She glanced to her alarm clock. "At midnight? No?" Natalie slowly got to her feet and began pacing across her room, bed to closed door. "Is everything going alright, Keene?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm all good," he said. "Sorry for being so late. I just need someone to talk to."

Natalie sat at her desk, drumming her pencil on the outside of her English notebook. He didn't sound any better than she did in the hospital after her fracture. She hadn't heard him sound this bad in a while. She didn't honestly know how long that while was. 

"Are you okay?" She asked. 

Robby said nothing for a moment. "I don't know, Nat. I really don't know."

"Talk to me," Natalie whispered. 

She could hear him take a deep breath. "Mom's going into rehab. She came home from her trip, and now she's spending my junior year in a rehab facility," he explained. 

Natalie couldn't honestly say she expected more from Shannon Keene, as of lately. Shannon had been beyond wonderful while they were in middle school. From what she could examine from Robby's point of view, the same could not be said of her nowadays. Natalie's standards had been lowered the moment he told her about Shannon's last minute excursion outside of the country. 

It was sad to comprehend how much things had changed since. Things had changed everywhere. 

Countless times she had listened to Robby vent all his feelings out. She understood, to an extent, how deep Shannon had sunk over the past few years. Shannon was still a step above his father. Natalie had to give her credit for that.