True North

NINE

Natalie's P.O.V.

Just as Eden uttered my name the boys strolled up behind us. Eden looked at me with pleading eyes before she begins to load the bags from the cart into her jeep. Sawyer sidles up next to me, a few bags in hand. He leans in close to my ear and whispers "everything okay?" He continues to slide by me and head for the back door on the passagenger side of the jeep, keeping eye contact with me. I give him an unknowing shrug.

I can't give him much more. I don't even know what's happening right now. Eden rarely acts this way. So shy and reserved. Eden Malaya is holding back and Eden Malaya never holds back. So what the hell is going on with her right now because I am starting to get a look little worried. This is not the Eden that I know. What is it about Chris Hennings that has her all bent out of shape?

"Look, E. Whatever it is you can tell me. I'm your sister from another mister. You know I've got your back. Always and forever no matter what."

"Nat...." Eden takes a breath in. It's quick but deep. Then she speaks. And she tells me everything.

"You used to have a crush on Christopher Hennings?!" I scream as I fall backwards onto my unmade bed.

"Bitch! Shut up!" Eden whispers. She hops onto my bed and places her hand over my mouth.

"Everybody thought you hated him! I thought you hated him." I spring up from my bed. A surprised look plated on my face. "So why didn't you wanna tell me that?"

"I don't know Natalie. Maybe because I happen to know that you used to like him." Eden mumbles. Her chip propped up on her knees. Her hands places over her face as she shakes her head back and forth slowly.

"Wha-"

"Don't bullshit me, James. I fucking know you. I have known you since preschool. I know you better than you know yourself sometimes." Eden practically growls at me.

And it was true. She really did know me. She definitely knew me better than I knew me sometimes. There were moments where she knew what I was feeling before I could even put it into words. And that is just one of the many reasons why she is my best friend. Finding a person like Eden, who your soul connects with and you just understand each other and things just work even when they shouldn't. That's a big deal. And when you find that kind of connection with a person, and it's good, you should hold on to it. I'm a first believer in holding on th things like that.

But see.....this is where I fucked up. This is where I said something that I had never really admitted before. And especially not out loud. In this moment...I opened my big, fat, stupid mouth. And out came the words that I have had trapped in my mind and locked away in an imaginary vault with a key I imagined to be lost to the depths of my thoughts. And here it is.

"Well obviously you were far too worried about my feelings for Chris Hennings. I was a little upset after he left. He was a big part of my life. But the feelings that I had for Chris never held a candle to what I felt for Sawyer." And my mouth shut so quickly. My voice trailed off at the end of that sentence. My eyes went wide and I swear that I can feel my heart about to beat right out of my chest.

Eden swung her head around in my direction more quickly than I have ever seen Eden Malaya do anything ever in her entire life. Her hand came down quickly and smacked against my bed as she tried to balance herself. She blinked repeatedly through a blank stare and her eyes just seemed to get wider and wider with each one. She tilted her head so far to the side that I thought for a second that she might break her neck. Or at the very least I thought that she might fall over.

"Uh..E-" She held her hand up, open palm, in my direction. She wasnted me to shut the fuck up. I knew it. I know what this is. She is about to go the fuck off and I have no idea how she fully intends to go about it. It could be good and exciting and happy. Or....it could be a happy rage. In which she will almost certainly hurt me in some way in the intense presence of her excitement. It is most likely that I will endure physical harm in both scenarios, honestly.