Journey (3)

Chapter 72

loml- taylor swift

author note: i love seeing in my notifications that people have been binge-reading all of my chapters...thank you i see you💘👀

"Do you know what I think?" Natalie says. We're both waiting for our shifts to start, sitting in the doctor's lounge with coffee in hand. "I think he actually regrets breaking up with you, but now he's too proud to go back on his word."

"I really don't think that's it," I say, shaking my head. "It's a great theory, but no. Trust me, he meant what he said."

"But he rushed to see you when he got paged," Natalie says. "I mean, I know we've had this exact conversation before, but forgive me for being delusional. I think he actually goes regret it all."

"You know what I think?" I say. "I think I need to change my emergency contact, so that never happens again. And for the last time, he definitely doesn't regret a thing."

"Okay," Natalie says, finally deciding to drop the subject. "If that's what you think. But it's just a shame to see that it's all really over. You two were going so well. I really thought that it was going to last."

"I was stupid enough to think that it was going to last at all," I say, shaking my head. I stand up. "I think we should get an early start on our shift. You know how Lanik gets if we're late."

"I know," Natalie says, although I'm fairly sure that she isn't convinced. I think she knows that I'm deliberately avoiding this conversation, just because I don't want to talk about Connor. For one day, I just want to forget that he exists, if that could be possible.

We make our way out to an early shift, even though we're both exhausted and could have definitely benefitted from the extra few minutes.

"Wait, Natalie," I say, before she can walk away. I did say that I didn't want to talk about Connor, but there's one more thing that I just have to mention to her. "It's about the whole...apartment situation. Can I stay with you? It's just for a few nights, until I find my own place. I just feel like I have to move out of Connor's apartment soon."

Natalie thinks for a moment. "Yes," she starts. "You can stay with me, but there's something I have to explain first. It's about Will."

"About Will?" I echo. This is going to be interesting. "What about him?"

"You might...encounter him, if you stay with me," Natalie tells me, cryptically. "But officially, we're not together, so I'll have no choice but to deny it if you ever tell anyone. Even Maggie."

"Don't worry about it," I say, with a small smile. "Your secret is safe with me. I won't say a word to anyone." I lower my voice slightly. "But Will? That's exciting for you, again."

"Trust me, I'm excited about it," Natalie tells me. "But I'm also nervous, you know?" She pauses. "Wait, I'm sorry for talking about all of this when you're having such a crappy time of it, yourself. I really don't think."

"No, keep telling me about him," I find myself saying. "I want to live vicariously through you, since my own love life is just a vicious cycle of the same thing over and over again."

Natalie laughs slightly, before stopping herself. "Okay, I'll give you some more details. It's been going on for a while, but technically, it's nothing. We're keeping it low-key."

"Remember when I tried that with Connor?" I say, bringing it up without meaning to. I didn't want to talk about anything to do with him, and yet I just keep mentioning his name. "I actually think it's better for it to be all out in the open."

"You're just saying that because you know how terrible you are at keeping secrets," Natalie says. "Seriously though, don't tell anyone. We don't want people to find out. We're taking it very slow right now."