Dangerous Woman

Chapter 2: Rainbow Coloured Movie Popcorn

A/N: I want this chapter to get it out of the way. I'm not an editor so forgive me for any cringey mistakes (soz not soz). - Alex xoxo

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Settling in a new school during the first week was surprisingly easier than I thought. Thanks to Natalie, I didn't have to go over the dreading feeling that I had no friends or that I was invisible to everybody else. That can be far worse than getting picked on by bullies everyday. While Natalie wasn't in any of my classes, having her as a friend did gave me some confidence to at least connect with my classmates in every class that I'm in. Even though, I was not the type who liked to talk a lot.

Sometimes after school, Natalie and I would visit each other's houses and get to know the family as well. Natalie's was very welcoming, and they were easy to get along with when I dropped by their house one day. It was nice to feel belonged in a complete family for a moment, with a mother and a father and a handful of siblings. I envy her, I'd tell her. She tried to brush it off by saying I haven't missed out on much.

Natalie turned out to be the middle child with two older brothers who are both in college, one in senior and the other a sophomore, and a little sister who's only starting in third grade. Her father was a co-owner with his wife to the local diner in town called 'Jack's Eatery', named after their first born Jack who's currently finishing on his last year in business management.

Before I met Natalie, I have actually dined at their diner before, and I didn't realize that the diner was actually a family business.

During a casual family discussion over the dinner table, I mentioned how much I've enjoyed coming back to their diner during lunch or dinner time with my mother. The parents looked pleased with the news, especially Natalie's mother, Mary.

"It was a pleasure getting to know you through dinner once again Michael. You are more than welcome to visit us again anytime," she placed her tired hands gently on my shoulder. I beamed at Mary's welcoming and told her will do. Mary nudged her daughter on my way out to the door, "Natalie, I approve! And he's a fine-looking one too."

"Mum—" Natalie groaned from the pestering, and I knew that she absolutely hated it when her parents urged her to date a guy. For a girl her age, she must have some kind of boyfriend by now, right? Not entirely.

A couple days ago, I caught Natalie catching an eye on a girl from her chemistry class. At the time, I teased her if she just got herself a girlfriend and she quickly denied it and refused to speak with me the entire day. When I thought that the joke was taken way too far, I approached her after school and took her at the park over ice cream where we can talk about what happened at school that day. That was when Natalie revealed to me that she was gay, and that she's been stuck in the closet for so long. It wasn't the easiest for her to come out, even to me, what more to her actual family?

She mentioned trying for over a year, but it was too difficult to not be able to disappoint them for who she is due to their strong Christianity beliefs. For me, that was very understandable as I am Jehovah's Witness, but still dreads to celebrate holidays like Christmas, Easter and birthdays like everybody else.

I tried to joke around Natalie to lighten up the awkward mood as she walked me home under the moonlit street (our houses are actually fairly close to each other), I said, "Your parents are so down to earth, nice, outgoing. Reminds me of Gary, Indiana but with two people, you know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I guess," bluntly she replied. Her arms were crossed over so her chest was covered and her fingers gripping onto her arms tightly but not from the cold. As she let out a deep sigh, and the smoking condensation escaped past her dried lips, a cloud of discomfort hovered over her head resulting with a ruined night for Natalie.