Give Me Back Whats Mine ➳ David Dobrik

Chapter Five ➳ An Empty Bed, A Heavy Heart

DAVID

'What are you doing here?' I asked, ushering the boys very quickly out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

'Oh god.' I heard Natalie say through the door, embarrassment evident in her voice.

'I-I left my jacket here.' Zane mumbled, his eyes still glued to the bathroom door.

'Wait, when did you leave your jacket here?' I asked, confused. 

'What the hell was that?' Matt interjected, ignoring my question.

I instantly felt all the heat in my body rise to the surface. I was sure that I must have been red all over.

'I-I, I know how that must have looked.'

And I did, because I knew how it felt, and it felt weird and intrusive and like it crossed about a thousand different lines. But it also felt kind of natural. And in a strange way, I'd enjoyed the surprising comfortableness of it.

'Dude, what is going on?' 

Sitting on the couch of our hotel room, waiting for Natalie, I kept recalling the awkward moment that had occurred over two hours before.

Dude, what is going on?

What was going on?

I'd told Matt and Zane that I'd only gone in to get my deodorant, that the whole thing was entirely innocent. But I wasn't so sure that it was. And by the looks on the guys faces, it didn't look like they were buying it either.

Natalie and I were friends. Best Friends. Nothing more.

She'd already told me that the New Year's Eve kiss was nothing more than misplaced feelings, and when we'd been on the floor in the living room, our lips about to meet, she'd turned away.

We're friends. I thought again, closing my eyes and breathing in deeply. Friends.

'Alright.' Natalie said, finally emerging from the bathroom. 'I'm ready.'

'Took you long enough.' I said, jumping off the couch and turning to face her.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart thundering like a car on a race track.

She wore a tight, black crop top, with full length sheer sleeves, nothing much left to the imagination. Her jeans hung to her hips like they were made just for her. And her lips. Painted red and the thing I was sure I would be unable to take my eyes off of the rest of the night.

'You look ...' I trailed off, before coughing. 'You look good.'

'Wow. That almost sounded like a sincere compliment, I'm shocked.' She feigned surprise, throwing a hand across her chest, before laughing. 'Alright, let me just put my shoes on and we can go.'

I watched her go over to our suitcases, quickly scanning her options.

'Converses for sure.' She nodded at me, like I had been apart of the decision making process.

I smiled, watching her put the old, ratty looking shoes on.

It reminding me of all those times I had run over to her place, forever pestering her to kick the soccer ball around. It hadn't mattered what she was wearing - pajamas or dress clothes - she had always just smiled up at me and put on a pair of beat up sneakers.

'I'm going to kick your butt.' She'd say.

I looked at her now, doing up her shoelaces and I felt my heart ache with relief and a tiny bit of melancholy.