Coming Back Home

Chapter 36

*This chapter will be back to Madison :)

I got home from work and changed my clothes while I waited for Natalie to come over. I wasn't really sure what prompted her to ask me to stay tonight, but I wasn't mad about it.

She got there a few minutes later and had an uneasy look in her eyes.

"Okay, what's going on? You're acting weird," I said to her.

She sighed as she walked in and sat down on the couch.

"Come over here," she said as she patted the spot next to her.

"Natalie, you're worrying me," I said hesitantly.

I slowly walked over and sat down next to her, eager for her to explain whatever was going on.

"I saw Kyle this morning," she blurted out.

I sat back and looked at her, a nervous feeling going right to my stomach.

"You - you what?" I asked, hoping there was some type of catch.

"He um, he showed up at the coffee shop I was at," she said.

"What the hell," I said quietly as I rubbed my hand over my eyes, "I didn't want you to get dragged into this, I'm sorry."

"No, no," Natalie said as she shook her head, "it's not your fault don't do that."

"Yes it is, I'm the reason he's here," I said.

"Mads, I know you feel bad but don't do this to yourself, okay? I'm not blaming you for any of this," Natalie said as she grabbed on to my hand.

I nodded, but I still felt like this was my fault, and the feeling probably wasn't going away any time soon.

"I kind of thought he had given up, it had been a few days," I said.

"I know," Natalie agreed, "I did too."

"What um, what did he say to you?" I asked her.

Natalie glanced down at her lap, looking like she didn't want to tell me whatever it was.

"Nothing really, just some stupid shit about how you two shouldn't have broken up," she said.

It still seemed like there was something she was holding back from me, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what it was either way.

"Of course he said that," I said with a sigh, "so this is why you wanted to stay here tonight?"

"Yeah..." Natalie said slowly as she nodded, "I - I didn't know if I should tell you or not, but I didn't want to lie to you."

"No I'm glad you did," I said.

"I didn't want to worry you again," Natalie said quietly, "he's just being annoying, don't let it freak you out...please."

"That's easier said than done Natalie, the fact that he's somehow figuring out where you are at now...I don't like it," I responded.

"Yeah I mean," Natalie started, "it's not ideal, but I'm fine, okay? I promise."

"Okay," I nodded, "just please promise me that you'll tell me if he does this again?"

"I will, only if you promise not to let it worry you too much," she said with a grin.

"I'll do my best," I responded.

"I'm going to order us takeout, this is nothing a little Chinese food can't fix," Natalie said as she patted my leg and stood up.

"Sure," I said with a laugh, "let's go with that."

***

Natalie and I ate dinner and hung out for the rest of the night. I still couldn't quite get Kyle out of my head, but this was at least helping.

We were watching TV and I felt myself starting to doze off.

"Okay I think I need to go to bed, I can barely keep my eyes open," I said.

"Agreed," Natalie said.

We both got up and went towards my room and started to get ready for bed. I climbed into bed first and was looking at my phone when Natalie hopped in and crawled over top of me.

"Oh, well hello there," I said to her playfully.

"Hi," she said with a smirk.

Her knees straddled my waist as she leaned down and started to kiss me. I reached up and put my hands on her hips, letting the feeling of her lips against mine wash away all of the stress from the day.

Our tongues began to tangle together briefly before Natalie started to pull back. She sat up, keeping her knees on either side of my waist.

"What was that for?" I asked her as I raised an eyebrow.

"Just needed a little taste before we went to bed," she said with a grin.

She snuck a kiss on my cheek before she rolled over next to me.

"That wasn't very nice," I said as I turned over to face her.

"You'll survive," she said teasingly.

I shook my head at her and reached over to turn off the lamp on my nightstand.

"Goodnight babe," she muttered quietly as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Night," I said as I smiled to myself.

I don't think I had ever heard her call me babe before, it was a pleasant surprise.

***

Natalie and I woke up the next morning and were both getting ready for work. We had gotten pretty good at working around each other's schedules with as much as she'd been staying here.

Once we were both ready, we walked out of my apartment and I locked the door behind us.

"I need to have Trevor come over some night soon, it's been a while since we've all hung out," I said as we got on to the elevator.

"I'm honestly surprised he hasn't just barged in one of these nights," Natalie said as she grinned at me.

"Valid point," I responded.

We got down to the ground level and the doors opened slowly. I stepped out and Natalie was right behind me.

"Morning ladies."

The sinister voice cut through the quiet lobby and immediately sent a chill through my body. I jumped and instinctively grabbed on to Natalie's arm.

Kyle was standing there, leaning against the wall just outside of the elevator. He had clearly been waiting for us.

"Jesus Christ Kyle," I said as I backed away, "what the fuck is it going to take for you to leave us alone?!"

My voice was raised almost to a yell as Natalie wrapped her arm around my shoulders and ushered me away. I turned around to look back at him and saw a dark look in his eyes.

"Mads come on, not worth it," she said to me under her breath.

"Hey!" Kyle shouted from behind us.

We both briefly turned around as we kept walking, but he angrily pointed at Natalie.

"You," he said through gritted teeth, "did I not make myself clear enough before?"

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