Just You and I

Chapter 9

I woke up on Sunday morning to the smell of pancakes wafting into my room. I had a splitting headache from god knows what, and I was feeling way more tired than I should've felt. I glanced at my phone to check the time, but instead, I saw at least a hundred texts and missed calls from mom, Jeremy and Natalie. And I didn't even WANT to know why they had called that many times. Without opening any of the messages, I slid out of bed and trudged towards the smell of the pancakes. When I walked into the kitchen, Natalie had her back towards me, and was flipping pancakes one by one. She must've heard me shuffling in, and she turned towards me with a tired smile.

"G'Morning brother dearest. How was your sleep? I tried calling you a bunch of times last night but you didn't answer." She said with a pout.

I sighed and sat down on one of the bar stools.

"Did something happen last night?" She asked concernedly after a while.

I thought about what happened with Alex last night. How he had made me feel like shit after he was the one who had kissed me.

"That bad huh?" She gave me a small smile, and placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. I nodded slowly, my head hung.

"Does it, by any chance, have anything to do with Alex...?"

I felt tears threatening to form in my eyes, but I willed myself not to cry over something as silly as a straight boy not falling for me. I gently nodded again, my head still hung low, to make sure Nat didn't see me tearing. She was quiet for a while, until I heard shuffling of feet, and the clanging of pans. I looked up to see her starting to wash the pans and bowls she had used in the sink, her back to me again.

"He's a fool." She said after a few moments of zero speech. I was half way through eating most of the pancakes on my plate.

"Huh?"

She dropped the half washed dishes in the sink and turned around to face me. " Something must've happened between you too last night. But he walked out on you didn't he? At least I'm guessing that's what happened after seeing you so frantically looking for him."

I stopped mid-chew, and looked at her slightly wide-eyed. She peeled off the rubber gloves that were clinging to her hands, walked over to me and gave me a small hug.

"He's a fool."

I dropped my fork back onto the plate and instantly hugged her back, tightly. I couldn't help it now. The tears were slowly rolling down my face. But I didn't care. I was just so happy I had Natalie at that moment.

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Once I was done with my crying, and had finished my pancakes, I rushed to get changed since I had to meet our Coach today.

"Are you sure you'll be okay alone?" I asked Natalie as she had started to clean up a little bit of the kitchen. Only then did I truly notice the true state of the house. It was a wreck. Beer cans and plastic cups were just scattered on every floor of the house, the pool was ruined with floating cups, deflated pool floaters and something weirdly green that I didn't even wanna describe. And I was pretty sure I saw someone's bra hanging from one of the single-seater sofas in the living room.

"Yeah I'll be fine. Besides, I won't be entirely alone. The girls said they were gonna swing by and help clean up the mess."

I cringed at the thought of the cheerleaders in our house again. "Then you DEFINITELY won't expect me back home until dark. But this place better be sparkling by the time I get back home missy."

"Okay MOM" She said rolling her eyes, but giving me a wide smile.

I laughed as I walked out the door and jumped into my sleek black Mustang, a birthday gift from my mother for my 17th birthday last year. The year she couldn't make it home to celebrate because she was stuck at work.