Twin Image: Family, Before Anything

Chapter 32

-December 4th, Monday-

~Natalie's POV~

"Alright, first things first, all of you fuck off and send her out here to me." I say, re-lighting the blunt I boguarted, leaning my forearms onto the railings. Everybody gets the hint and takes their leave back inside, a few seconds go by, and I smoke like no tomorrow. I hear the sliding door open and close for just about the fourth time, and I blow out some smoke. "Long-time no see Beatrice." I say, obviously without looking at her yet. "Yeah, long-time no see indeed." She responds, approaching me yet, keeping her distance. 

I finally look over at her, and I'm kinda blown away. She looks completely different. The black long hair, cute bangs, black rimmed glasses, and she's wearing exactly what I would wear if I was pregnant right now. Mom pants and a big t-shirt. "Nat I-," - "Uh uh." I cut her off, and straighten up, "Me first." I say, and she nods. 

"First off," I pause, needing to clear my throat, "I just want you to know, the only reason why I'm giving you this chance to essentially, clear your name, is because Miles Cameron Harris approved it." I tell her first, and she nods guiltly when I say his full name."'Sho' did'." I hear my older brother say in my head. Get out of my head you fuck. "Now, give me one good reason as to why I should let you be friends with my husband, nonetheless, be my friend again? Better yet, give me a good reason why I should trust you again?" I ask first, and she takes a deep breath. "A good reason would be the fact that I finally know what real love feels like." She says, looking through my glass wall, at her husband. "When I met Donavan, I realized exactly what you wanted me to realize." She pauses, "That no matter what, Tobias would always love and come back to you. No matter what happened between you two, and I'm pretty sure no matter if I actually got my chance with him or not. Your his first love. You see, during my little uh, attempts with Alexander, I fell into a depression. Pushing people around, then pushing people away." She explains, and I'm all ears.

 "But, you know who always came back to me, no matter how hard I pushed?" She asks me, and she points through the glass, at her husband. "He did. And he showed me what it means, and what it feels like to be loved. I didn't mean to hurt your brother, in fact, I thought getting with him would solve my problem but, it honestly made things worse. With him, more so with you. I disregarded my relationship, and I disregarded our friendship. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret my actions and decisions. I got mad at you for always helping me, and I've realized how stupid that sounds now. You saved my life that one day, no matter if I seemed weak, or helpless, you saved me. And I don't think I ever thanked you for that. So, thank you Nat." She says to me, very thoughtfully, and I very much appreciate what I'm hearing. "You're welcome. And your apology," I say, and her eyes light up a bit, "Is accepted." I add, and she smiles wide yet, she eventually quirks at me. "Just like that?" She asks, obviously confused at my forgiving nature. "Yeah, just like that. But I should warn you." I say, "I find out anything I don't like, and you're associated, this second chance ends," I snap my fingers loud, making her flinch, given what I did the last time, "Just like that." I add, and she nods. "I hear you loud and clear." She says, and I put my blunt out in my ashtry, and I do something I never thought I'd do again. 

I offer her a hug, and she hugs me. We release, "And anyways, we got a lot of catching up to do, and I'm pretty sure a shit ton of play-dates to plan." I say, making her laugh as we enter back into my luxury apartment. "First things first though, there's someone you need to talk to other than me." I say, and I pull her over to my living room, inevitably passing Alexander and Vanessa, and I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I watch Vanessa talk his ear off. My older brother and his wife spots me pulling her over, "Tris, I'd like you to meet my sister-in-law, Grace. Grace, this is Beatrice." I introduce and the two shake hands, surprisely very smoothly. "It's nice to meet you Tris. She's very pretty Miles." She says, poking fun at him.