Bruno Mars | Natalie, the untold story (Complete)

The Casino

Chapter 38

The Casino

I kept on texting with Blake for a few days and had work in between too. I liked him, he was nice and had a good sense of humor. Every time I would look at my phone and see I had a message from him, my heart would jump a little.
He asked me if I wanted to go to the casino with him this weekend. I had no plans so I guess I could hang around with him.
It soon became Saturday and I was getting ready for my night out with Blake.
I wore black skinny jeans with a white sleeveless button down and some black heels to match and had my hair tied up in a bun.  I kept my make-up simple and natural.
Blake picked me up at my hotel around 9 P.M. and then we were headed to the casino. I actually didn’t like gambling, it just wasn’t my thing. I think it is a waste of money and you can easily get addicted by it. But because I started to like Blake more and more I decided to come with him. Maybe he could persuade me to start liking gambling, who knows?
We entered the casino and my eyes took in the place. I asked him if he had been here before and he told me he would come here every once in a while to have a drink with his friends or sometimes alone. At times he would play a game of poker or some black jack. 
We walked over to the bar and he ordered us some drinks. It was easy to talk to him. There were very few words needed to get him tell a story or for us to understand each other. He also didn’t fail to make me laugh. He tried to be sneaking with his piercing blue eyes, but I was on to him. Some moments we would stay still to take a sip of our drinks and he would wink at me. Things like that make me week to my knees.
After half an hour he asked me if I wanted to play a game. I told him I liked poker and we went to the poker table. I told him I wanted to watch some games before we would place a bet and so we did.
When there was room after about three games we took a seat and placed a bet. It was fun to watch him play and he was pretty good at it too.
All of a sudden we heard some noise and people started talking and looking. I tried to see what the fuzz was all about, but everyone was standing so I couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t that that guy, that singer?”, a woman at our table said, her face in the direction of where the noise came from.
“Yeah..Yeah I think it is”, someone else answered.
 “I don’t think it’s him”, a man across from where we were sitting said.
“All that noise over some spoiled singer”, Blake said while looking at his card again. “Do you understand that?”, he asked me putting he cards down and placing a bet.
“No, not really.”
After this round  a couple left and a man took their place. He was wearing sunglasses and a green hat. He looked familiar but I couldn’t tell where I knew him from. A bald headed man, also with shades on stood next to him. Asking the waiter for a drink.
“Must be something to wear you sunglasses indoor.”
“Excuse me, what was that?”, the man with the hat and sunglasses said, looking at Blake.
“Nothing, let’s continue with the game.”
Then the guy brought his attention to me. He took his sunglasses off and his eyes locked mine.
“Natalie?”
Oh no, it was Bruno. I wanted to look away, but my eyes refused.
“Hi Bruno”, I said a little insecure.
Blake craned his head to me, then to Bruno. “You know each other?”, he asked looking at me again.
“Yeah, just old friends, no big deal. Now let’s continue with the game, okay?”, I said while my hand tapped his knee.
“Yeah, you know, she’s my ex”, Bruno causally said while placing his bet.
Oh, no, this was not going well. I could just sense the hostility between these two.
The bald headed guy who was with Bruno took his sunglasses off too.
“Hi Phil”, I said while smiling and waving at him.
“He girl! Lemme give you a hug!” He walked over to me and hugged me.
“I’ll  be right back. Don’t get into a fight okay?”, I whispered into Blake’s ear and winked at him. He smiled at me and then I took Phil to the bar.
“Can you please make sure Bruno leaves?”, I begged him.
“I can try, but can’t give any guarantees.”
I heaved a sigh. Of all places I had to run into Bruno here, while I was out with Blake. Our actual first date, great.
“What’s with Bruno? Shouldn’t he be happy, you know with the record deal and hits and all?”
“He is, that’s why we’re here. To celebrate. The rest of the band is here too”, Phil said, pointing out to the rest of the casino.
I looked around, but wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I didn’t even knew his band.
“Well, anyway, if Bruno doesn’t leave that table, we will. I came here to have a good time. Don’t want Bruno to fuck that up…”, I said crossing my arms.
“Who is that man, by the way?” Phil raised his eyebrows up and down a few times with a grin.
“No one..”, I said avoiding his look.
He started laughing and tickled my side. “I won’t stop until you tell me who he is”, Phil said while tickling my other side.
I laughed and told him that Blake was just a friend, who took me to the casino to have some fun. I didn’t wanted to make it any bigger than it was.
Okay, I saw it as a date, but maybe Blake didn’t.
We headed back to the poker table were only Bruno and Blake were still into this game. New bets were placed and they both looked at their cards.
 There was nothing I could think off that I could say, that would make this a little less uncomfortable.  Phil told Bruno he was going to look around a bit, so he wasn’t helping either. I guess he saw how far this game was and maybe he thought Bruno would leave as soon as it was over.
“So, Blake told me you guys are on a date”, Bruno said piercing his dark brown eyes into my green ones.
I felt my cheeks burn and I looked away from his gaze. What was this? What was he doing?
“Where is Charis?”, I fired back at him.
“She is out of town. I am here to celebrate with my band”, Bruno answered.
Meanwhile the game continued. They were both doing well, at this point Bruno was winning.
“You are in a band?”, Blake asked looking at Bruno.
“Well, I am a solo artist, but I have a band who I play with when I have a gig”, Bruno told.
“Nice, what do you sing?”, Blake asked, he seemed genuine interested.
“He is Bruno Mars”, I said to him. He thought for a second and then it seemed like a light bulb went off above his head.
“You’re the one who sang Billionaire.”
“Yep.”
“You know, you’re date actually did the wardrobe for my new single”, Bruno said provoking.
“Yeah I did. It was very fun”, I said hoping he would drop the subject.
They played on for a little while and Bruno won the last hand.
“Well played”, Blake said to Bruno.
“Let’s have a drink at the bar”, I said to Blake while he got up.
We walked to the bar and ordered our drinks.
“I’ll be right back, have to use the restroom”, he said and walked off.
I let my fingers trace the glass and then took a sip of it. I was glad things didn’t get out of hand at the poker table. I could sense Bruno was on to something.
Blake didn’t really respond to Bruno’s attempts to cause a scene.
I wonder if he knew Bruno was the one I told him about. I actually hoped he would figure it out by himself. I didn’t really want to tell him.
“That Bruno really is something”, I heard him say. He took a seat next to me.
“I know.”
“He is the ex you told me about right?”, he asked looking at me. His blue eyes sparkled in the dimmed light that came from behind the bar.
Without needing to say anything he understood.
“Do you want to leave?”, he asked putting his hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head no. I was having a nice time before Bruno showed up, so I wasn’t letting him spoiling that.
“Now I have to use the restroom”, I said and got up from my stool.
When I came back I saw Bruno and Blake standing in front of each other. Bruno had a whiskey glass in his hands. His other hand was making gestures.
Blake was just standing there, his hands crossed in front of his arms.
I walked up to them, to see what was going on.
“Just don’t think you can have her just like that. She’s special, I don’t even see what she is doing with a guy like you.”
Blake laughed. “Oh yeah, you were such a gentle man to her.” Sarcasm filled his words.
“You don’t even know what you are talking about! You better shut up!”
What was I to do? Now that Blake said that, Bruno knew I told him about our past. My heart was beating fast and my palms got sweaty.
“I think you should go now”, Blake said to Bruno.
“I’m not going anywhere. You know..”, Bruno pointed his finger to him, still holding his glass of whiskey. “ I’ll get her back. You mark my words. I will write her a song and she’ll be all mine again.” A cocky laugh appeared onto Bruno’s face and he drank the last of his whiskey. He placed his glass on the bar and asked for another one.
“Excuse me?!” I walked up to both of them and stopped in front of Bruno. He looked at me, flashing his perfect white teeth and his dimples to come with.
“I am NEVER getting back with YOU, Bruno! NEVER!”
I grabbed Blake’s arm and we were ready to leave. Just before we walked off I shot Bruno a glare.
Once we were seated in the car a tear came falling down. Blake put on the radio, but I wished he didn’t.
“And now, here’s Bruno Mars’ new hit song; Just the way you are!”
I started sobbing and I saw Blake looking at me from the corner of my eye. He got the message and turned off the radio.
The whole ride to my hotel we didn’t speak. I couldn’t believe I let Bruno control my feelings, again. My sadness soon became anger.
Who was he to say those things and how the hell did he ever think I would come back to him again.
“Natalie? We’re here”, he said with a soft voice. His hand carefully touching my knee. I craned my head to him, giving him a small smile.
“Thank you.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about tonight. That Bruno guy is a real dickhead. I tried to ignore his comments mostly.”
“Well I hope our next date is a little more fun”, I said giving him a wink.
His eyes lit up when I said the word date. I laughed at his face, it was very cute.
“You said date!”
“Well you told Bruno I was your date..”
I thanked him again and got out of his car. Walking up to my hotel room I heard my phone buzz. It was a number I didn’t know.
“Hello?”
“I will have you in my arms again, baby. I miss you.”
Bruno’s voice slurred on the other end of the line. I rolled my eyes and opened the door to my hotel room.
“Leave me alone Bruno. How did you even got my number?”
“Just give me another chance. I still love you.”
“I thought you were with Charis”, I said kicking my heels off.
“I don’t want her. I want you. I just realized it when I saw you with that douche bag”, he slurred again.
“Bruno give me your phone”, a voice in the background said.
“No! Fuck off Phil!”
Then there was some flat noise and I heard Bruno and Phil argue and Bruno grabbed the phone back from Phil.
“I love you, sweet, sweet Natalie.”
“Shut up Bruno! Don’t ever call me again!” That was the last thing I said before I hung up on him. He kept trying to call me several times. After I changed into my nightdress I turned off my phone and went to sleep.

A knock on my door woke me up. I let my eyes adjust to the light and let out a yawn. I stretched my arms and asked who was at my door.
“Phil.”
I told him to hold on and put my bathrobe on before I opened the door.
He excused himself for waking me up. I said it was fine and let him in. He brought me coffee so that made it a little less bad.
I asked him what he was here for and of course why on earth he gave my number to Bruno. He explained that Bruno was upset after he saw me with another man. He knew Phil had my number and stole it from his phone. When he found out, it was already too late. That’s when he tried to take Bruno’s phone from him. After I hung up on him he only got more upset.
Phil also told me he wasn’t really in love with Charis. He already knew, but Bruno didn’t want to admit. He never got over me and he clearly still wasn’t.
He also told me Bruno had written numerous songs about me, including ‘Just the way you are’.
“But, Bruno told me it was about Charis?”
“Well, he lied. That song was about you. Just like ‘Nothing on you’”, Phil said throwing his empty coffee cup into the trash can.
For moments it stayed silent. Neither off us felt the need to speak. I didn’t knew Bruno’s feelings for me were still that deep.
I mean, yeah I felt a little weird seeing him again and when he almost kissed me at the video shoot I had that weird feeling in my stomach. But I wasn’t in love with him anymore. I knew who he really was and I knew things could never work between us. Too much has happened and I had moved on with my life.
Because of him I had a lot of trust issues, he made me lose all my friends, my dignity and even made me leave town.
“Phil, you need to make it clear to Bruno that we will never get back together”, I said to him, my fingers hugging the empty coffee cup.
“I tried, but he won’t listen. He thinks he can make it up to you”, he said his hands folded in the back of his neck. He stretched his long legs and crossed them.
“But why is he still with Charis, while he claimes to love me. Isn’t that a little unfair to her?”
“I don’t know, I told him to break up with her. Maybe he will now.”
“Well I hope for her he will.” Phil nodded his head.
“You have to go now, I’m sorry”, I said getting up.
“Sure, we’ll talk later”, he said. Then he kissed my forehead and then left saying he would try to talk to Bruno.

 A/N: Hi guys! I am so sorry for not updating for a while. Due to some personal issues I didn't really feel like writing and didn't really had the time to do so. 
I hope you guys like this chapter! I hope you will still continue reading this, even though the updates could be slow from time to time. Please keep up the votes and comments I appreciate them all!!
Thank you again for reading this!!