Starry Nights

Chapter 2: Natalie

"Natalie! Earth to Natalie. Wake up girl we have stuff to do!"

Natalie opened her eyes in a daze. She saw her friend Lauren above her trying to wake her up. "What do you want Lauren?" she asked.

"Natalie! Thank god you're awake! It's shopping Saturday. It's time to go so get up and get pretty 'cause we're leaving soon!"

Natalie wanted nothing more than to lay in bed and sleep the rest of the day, but then again she wanted nothing more than to sleep the rest of her life. She felt absolutely terrible and shopping wasn't going to make her feel any better today whether Lauren thought so or not.

"Lauren, I'm not going." she said.

"This is because of Derek isn't it? You just can't get over him can you? You think just because one guy broke your heart that your love life is doomed forever, is that it?"

Natalie looked at her with an expression that said if you say one more word you can plan on dying today. Lauren turned around and walked out of her room slamming the door behind her. Lauren had a tendency to over-react when things didn't go her way. Natalie sat up in bed looking at the time. "God Lauren, it's 8 in the morning", she whispered to herself. She got out of bed and put on a sports bra and yoga pants figuring that she would jog to get her mind off of Derek.

Truth was that Derek was the reason that she didn't want to go shopping. And Lauren had been right to an extent. Natalie didn't think her love life was doomed forever, but she didn't want to love again. She believed there was a small chance some guy would fall from the sky that would be perfect for her, but then again, fat chance of that happening. So she figured she wouldn't fall in love again and that would prevent her from being hurt again.

She walked into the kitchen where she found Lauren making breakfast. She sat down at the bar without Lauren noticing. She saw that there was a plate of bacon sitting on the counter, and as she was grabbing a piece her bar stool squeaked and Lauren turned around quickly with a knife in one hand and a spatula in the other. Natalie jumped out of the chair under the counter in fear of Lauren stabbing her.

"Shit Natalie, you scared the hell out of me!" Lauren said laughing.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME!" Natalie said peeking over the counter. They starting laughing until their stomachs hurt and then they laid on the kitchen floor breathing heavy.

"Listen Natalie, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it, I just hate seeing you upset because I mean, you're my best-friend. When you're upset I'm upset and we both know when I'm upset I tend to lash out and stuff."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, you're right. I feel like I never want to love again."

Lauren looked at Natalie with concern written all over her face. "Natalie, you know I'm here for you. If you want to ta--"

"No," Natalie said cutting her off. "Not yet, maybe not ever. It's hard to talk about something that kind of bothers me, but this is way more than something that kind of bothers me. I'm heartbroken Lauren."

Lauren looked at her for a second, and then stood up and continued cooking breakfast. "You want some eggs?"

"No, I think I'm going to go for a jog. Thanks though, maybe I'll have some when I get back."

"Alright, be safe", Lauren said as Natalie was walking out the door.

As she went out the door she saw the building custodian mopping the floor outside their house. They smiled politely at each other as she walked by to get to the elevator. She lived in an apartment on East 84th Street just outside of Central Park, so she often would go jogging to keep her slender figure. She also jogged when she was stressed or upset because jogging always seemed to have a way of taking her mind off of the world. She would just put in her headphones and start jogging and it was as if all of her troubles just floated away.