strangers | james rodríguez

008 | old days

MAYBE SHE WAS RIGHT, maybe everything had changed. But the only thing that had not change was James' feelings for Natalia, his love for her.

Two years later, and he still felt the same and there was no denying it. But he wondered if she still felt the same. If she was still in love with him. Most importantly, had she moved on and fell for someone else?

James knew he had made such a big mistake just letting her go so easily. Just because she wasn't sure about leaving to another country with him again, she was only nineteen at that time. He knew it was selfish of him to have left her just because she wasn't sure.

He never really asked her how she felt about, she never questioned him she only followed him because Natalia loved him so much and would do anything for him. But after a while, she got fed up with him being so secretive and the moving around all the time- and he didn't blame her, he would have also got tired of it if it was the other way around.

He could've given her time to think everything through, but he decided to do the wrong thing and be unfaithful, something he had always promised to her that he would never. He didn't even know why he did it. James wasn't in the right state of mind- and he knew just because he wasn't thinking straight it would mean he could hurt her whenever he wanted to.

All she wanted was to fix everything between us, and I didn't even give her a chance too.

Maybe that hurt James the most, that she was willing to do so much for him and that she cared and always listened to him. And at that moment, it had only taken a few words to ruin everything between them. Maybe what hurt even more was that he could probably never fix anything between them, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try.

The little brunch he had with Natalia and Alice, had reminded him of the times when he was in Colombia when Natalia would get mad at him and stop speaking to him.

A much younger version of Natalia glared at a young James from across the dinner table. Natalia would be spending a night in the Rodriguez-Rubio's home because her parents had gone to visit a sick family member all the way in Medellín.

"What's wrong you two? Why do you look so angry?" James' mother asked, noticing that James and Natalia- who were now both sixteen years old- were angry at one another.

"Today at school, Daniel had asked me on a date- Daniel the boy I had liked since forever and James comes up to us and says I couldn't go. And that I wasn't allowed to go out with anyone because I was too young. I'm sixteen!"

"Mama! Daniel is a total jerk! I know what he does with girls," James exclaimed, but he and his mother knew it was more than that. His mother can see the jealousy in his eyes. James liked Natalia and he didn't want to see her hurt or with anyone else.

"Jamesito, it isn't up to you too, whoever she goes on a date with. I'm sure that Natalia knows what she is doing, I'm she isn't like the rest of the girls who give into that Daniel boy."

"Look, Nata, I just don't want you to get hurt," James said, sincerely looking into her brown eyes. He also should've said the part about him not wanting her to go on a date because, he liked her so much, but he didn't. He would have if he wasn't so afraid to ruin their friendship if she didn't like him back.

"James, I understand and I'm thankful for you always caring about me," she said, standing up to give him a hug. "I love you so much Jamesito," she whispered and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, which immediately turned his cheeks a bright pink.

But in that time, everything could be easily fixed between them. James had always taken care of Natalia. Not only because they were best friends and they had somewhat grown up together but also because he had always had a big crush on her.

That day he saw her, everything just felt so surreal to him. The fact that she was so close to him but yet so distant. Natalia seemed like a stranger to him, but she wasn't a stranger. He knew everything about her, he knew her more than she probably knew about herself. It was so hard for him to believe that she was the same girl he had fallen for so long ago. What was even worse was that she acted like they were actual strangers. She acted like they hadn't spent their teenage years together. Like nothing really mattered anymore.

James knew he deserved every single word she had said to him at the restaurant almost a week ago. She was hurt, and he deserved to feel the same way she did two years ago. He felt pain in his heart, just thinking about her and how much pain he had caused her.

Everything had really changed, he missed the old days, where everything was just perfect. When they both lived in Cúcuta and they were just happy kids, best friends who were both in love with each other. James missed the old days in Colombia.

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