Bruno Mars | Natalie, the untold story (Complete)

Goodbye

Chapter 34

 Goodbye

“Phil what the hell is going on! You better speak up!”, Bruno yelled. 
“You fucking her? Is that it?”
Phil chuckled. “No, I ain’t fucking her. I know all about your dirty shit Bruno. She told me everything”, Phil told him while pushing Bruno into a corner. 
“That bitch lyin! You gonna let that bitch come between us? Is that how it is now?”, Bruno yelled throwing his hands up. 
“Yeah bro, it’s like that. But you know what? You brought that shit on yo self”, Phil said while pointing a finger against Bruno’s chest. 
“Just get the fuck out of my house!” Bruno pushed Phil away from him. They stood in front of each other, best buddies now almost arch nemesis.
“Don’t let me ever find out again your abusing another woman! Go get some help man. You are so fucking lost right now…”, Phil said and shook his head.
He was ready to walk out but he stopped, turned around and said; “Oh Bruno, before I forget…” He swung his arm back and punched Bruno with his fist, right on the nose! Bruno stumbled back and fell to the ground.  He touched his nose to see if there was any blood.
Phil just walked out without even looking back.

“So you ready to leave?”, he asked me while stepped into the car. 
“Yeah, yeah I think I am”, I answered. I took one more look at Bruno’s apartment building while Phil drove off.
Phil wanted me to let my busted lip get checked out. So before we went to his home we went by the doctor’s office. It needed to be stitched.
When we were done we could finally go to his home. I was glad the doctor didn’t ask anything about my black eye and the other bruises. I wasn’t ready yet to talk about that. 
When we finally arrived at Phil’s home I was so tired. I hadn’t slept for hours now and my legs were ready to collapse. 
“Just take a seat at the couch. Do you want me to make you something? Tea, something to eat? Some coffee maybe?”, he asked while I sat down on his couch. “Tea would be nice”,  I answered with a shy smile. 
“Okay, make yourself at home. I’ll be right back”, he said while he walked off to his kitchen. 
I did as he said and took my shoes off. I put my feet on his couch and laid my head down on the armrest.  Before I knew it my eyes got heavy and I drifted off to sleep.
“Here’s you tea baby girl”, while he walked up to me his last words faded away into a whisper. He lifted me bridal style and carried me to his guestroom. While he put me down he stroked my hair and gave me a kiss on my forehead. He quietly walked away and closed the door softly so he wouldn’t wake me. 
I didn’t even know how long I slept. When I woke up it was night. I searched for a light and put it on. Before I threw my feet over the edge of the bed I heaved a big sigh. I made such a mess of my life. I walked up to the window. I crossed my arms and just watched the darkness. The surroundings outside were kind of matching my feelings. Dark and cold. 
A knock on the door startled my thoughts, it opened and Phil’s head showed up. 
“I saw some light”, he said and let go of the door. He stood in the door opening, asking if he could come in with his eyes. I gave him a small smile to tell him it’s okay and he walked up to me. 
His right hand lifted my face, a tear came rolling down. I lifted my eyes up to him and more tears found their way to my cheeks. 
“Don’t cry baby girl. You did the right thing”, Phil said and stared into my eyes. 
I buried my face into his chest and he embraced me with his big arms. We stood there for a while. It felt so good and safe in his arms. Something I hadn’t felt in  a long time.
“Are you hungry?”, his deep voice broke the silence. 
“Yeah a little”, I answered. 
“Do you want me to fix you something?”
I nodded my head and we let go of each other.  Phil walked off to his kitchen and I changed my clothes. I still had on the ones from this morning. I took my grey sweatpants and a white tee, tied my hair in a knot and put a red bandana at the beginning of my hairline. 
I took a glance at the mirror, but when I saw my bruised face I quickly trailed off to the living room. The smell that filled my nose made my tummy growl.  
I saw he set up his dining table and took a seat. “That smells good Phil!”, I yelled to him. Right at that point he came walking into the living room with a plate in his hands filled with waffles. 
“I hope you hungry girl, cause I kind of made a lot”, he chuckled.
“Don’t worry, with food smelling this good, I will eat a lot! I said and digged in on the food.
“It doesn’t only smell good, it tastes good as well!”, I said with my mouth stuffed. Phil laughed at the sight of me. We ate and laughed and just had fun.
“It had been a while since I had a genuine good time. 
“Thank you, Phil”, I said while I pushed my plate away from me. 
“It’s okay, I like to cook”, he said with a grin and took a sip from is soda.
“No, I mean thank you for making me feel at home”, I said to him.
“You’re welcome honey. It’s nothing.” He put his hand across the table and stroke my arm, smiling at me.
“This means a lot to me. I..It’s just..I.. Well..” I had a hard time to find the right words to express my feelings. 
Phil stood up and walked up to me. He pulled back a chair that was next to me and took a seat. He grabbed my hands, forcing me to face him.
“I am glad I ran into you last night. You know had a feeling for a long time something was going on between you guys. I just didn’t know exactly what it was.” 
I couldn’t look at him, I bowed my head and tried to hide my face. “Let’s go sit on the couch. It’s more comfortable”, he said while he took my hand and let me to his couch. 
“You know, Phil. I really wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you sooner. You know that time I called you and we met up at that beach house?”, I asked him looking at him to see if he remembered. “Yeah, of course I remember”, he answered. “You and Bruno had some problems already back then, didn’t you?”
I nod my head and continued. “Well, you saw my black eye, that I tried to hide from you..”
The look on Phil’s face changed in an instant. He shook his head. “It was already happening back then? Man, I should have known!”, he said blaming himself. 
I grabbed his arm and said; “Don’t blame yourself, please! I didn’t want anybody to know. I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn’t…”
I slowly let go of his arm and sat back. 
“You must have gone through hell and back..”, Phil stated. Those words made me cry again. I finally allowed myself to let go all of my feelings. Phil pulled me up to him and I rested my head on his chest. Letting my tears pour down like it hadn’t rained for weeks. I didn’t know I still had so many tears left to cry. 
“You know.. I hate myself for loving him. How can you love someone that beats you and tells you,  you ain’t good for nothing?”, I said sobbing.
“I’m sure he had his good days too. And don’t blame yourself for loving him. He is the only one to blame. He never should have laid his hands on you, ever!”, he said trying to comfort me.
“Yeah, he could be sweet. I mean we had some good times too. But that will never compare to all the hurting and suffering he put me through”, I sniffled.
“Thanks for listening to me.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“It’s like I’m talking to one of my girls”, I said half laughing, half crying.
I think Phil almost choked when I said that. 
“Don’t tell me you want me to braid your hair too”, he said with a smirk. 
We both burst out into a laugh. 
“Do you miss Sarah?”, he asked all of a sudden. 
I got quiet and thought about it for a second. I shrugged my shoulders before I answered him.
“I think so, I don’t know. I mean she and Alex said some pretty hurtful things.”
“Yeah, Bruno told me. Maybe when this is storm has passed ya’ll could talk.”
“I wonder how see will react when she finds out I left him. She’ll probably think I will go back to him, like I did last time.”
“Well, don’t worry. I got your back. I’ll make sure you’ll never go back to him!”
“I really hope this didn’t messed up your friendship”, I said while turning my head to face him.
“Bruno just needs to calm down. I give him a few days and maybe I’ll try to call him. He needs help and I am willing to help him too, but I needed to get you out of that mess first.”
 Phil got us both a glass of fine red wine and we let the silence fill the room while enjoying our drinks. 
“Do you think I should press any charges against him?”, I asked out of the blue. 
“It depends... Do you want to?”
I heaved a sigh. I didn’t know if I wanted to. I needed to think about that. 
“Actually… I don’t know…”
We talked until a little after midnight and then decided to go to sleep.
The next morning I felt a little better. Sleep can do so much. It can make you feel so much better. Phil made us breakfast and we both took turns on the shower.
After I had left Bruno I never even checked my phone. I looked for it in my purse and turned it on. I had over 50 missed calls and 25 text messages, all by Bruno. They all said the same things. My voicemail was filled with Bruno’s drunken voice, pleading to take him back. 
“Let me take that”, Phil said while taking my phone out of my hands. “Don’t let him get into your head again. Don’t listen to his sorry ass.”

A week had gone by since I left Bruno. After three days he finally stopped calling me. After five days he gave up on the text messages too. I didn’t know if Phil talked to him or not, but I was just glad he was leaving me alone.
It only made it harder for me to let him go if he kept calling me. I decided I didn’t want to press any charges against him. 
When I talked to Phil the other night I told him, that with time, I hoped he could talk Bruno into getting counseling for his problem. I was convinced that deep inside he was a good man and he could be a good man. He showed me he could be good, but he needed to control his anger and fears. I didn’t want another woman to go through what I had been through with him. Also I didn’t want for him to end up like a drunken scumbag and waste his talent. 
The next week I decided what I was going to do. I made a plan and took care of everything. I double checked it all to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

        

  

Dear Phil,

Thank you so much for everything you have done for me! There are not enough words for me to express to you how thankful I am. 
I am very grateful you let me stay at your place and making me feel like I was at home. You are the big brother I never get to have. I will never forget all the things you did for me. Please don’t get this wrong, but I needed to get out of here. I knew that if you were at home you would try to stop me. But believe me, it’s better this way. I hope you understand.  I am sure that we will meet again in the future. Don’t come try to find me, ‘cause you won’t succeed. 
For now, take care of yourself and Bruno. Work hard to get where you want to be, I’m sure you will all be at the top one day. 
Don’t forget me when you’re ass gets signed! 
I love you,

Natalie

 I left the note on his coffee table with his keys. I got my suitcase and I closed the door behind me. My car was waiting for me outside. It wasn’t much, but it was all I could afford right now.

With the suitcase in my trunk, I closed it and got in the car. It took me a while before I finally passed the sign;
‘You are now leaving Los Angeles’
I drove my car up on a hill and parked it. The view was beautiful from here. I could see the whole everything. I got out and looked over the city, who was supposed to change my life and let me forget about my past. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t work out that way. I took one more look and then I turned around. 

The sun setting behind me, dark skies ahead of me. But I knew this darkness wouldn’t last long, I knew the sun would come up soon again and that’s what I held on to, while driving my way up to freedom…