Page 26 of Noticing Natalie
Maybe she’d at least see that one. I knew her finals were supposed to be over by Friday afternoon, and I hoped she’d come.
I needed to know that I could get her alone and have us focus on figuring things out between us.
Friday at work, I took my lunch out to some outside tables set up for the workers to enjoy the outdoors. It was actually hot as fuck normally. July in Georgia at noon on any day is going to be sweltering. But at least there was a breeze out this afternoon. I sat with a couple of work friends who were around my age. They’d been to my condo for my get-togethers several times.
Sam took a bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. “I hate you had to cancel that party for Friday.”
I squinted at the sun even though I had sunglasses on. “Why?”
“I just… well, are you with that Natalie girl now?” Sam asked, a little too casually. It got my radar up.
“Why?” I asked again. I didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but I couldn’t help it.
“No reason. I just… well, she’s beautiful. I was kind of hoping to make my move, but I’ll back off if she’s your girl.”
Terrence laughed. “He doesn’t have girls. Not like that. Besides,” he turned to me, “Cora is gunning for you, man. You know that, right?”
I frowned, about to ask which one Cora was, when Sam interrupted.
“Natalie is ten times the woman Cora is,” he insisted. “She’s got those eyes.” He shook his head, and I realized he’d put a lot of thought into this. And I hated it. “They’re not really blue, but they’re not really green. I could stare at those eyes all day,” he sighed. “She is… gorgeous.”
“She is beautiful,” Terrance agreed. “But Tim doesn’t do the same girl twice, right? And Cora.” He let out a low whistle. “She’s got that porn star body.”
Oh. Now I knew who he was talking about. Yeah, she was fucking hot. But she wasn’t anything compared to Nat.
It was Sam’s turn to frown. “But you wouldn’t treat Natalie like your other women, right? Haven’t the two of you been friends forever or some shit like that?”
I nodded, getting more and more uncomfortable with our conversation.
If I was okay with friends with benefits, why was it bothering me so much that Sam was interested in asking her out? I put my sandwich down, no longer hungry.
“You gonna eat that?” Terrance said, staring at my Publix sandwich. I pushed it towards him, and he accepted it with a huge smile.
I slapped my hands down on the stone table. I couldn’t stand to sit here a minute longer. “Back to work for me. Catch y’all later.”
As I walked away, I heard Sam say, “He never answered me about Natalie. I don’t know if I can take my shot or not.”
I wasn’t ready to acknowledge that I mightnotbe with Natalie and that she would be up for grabs. Mainly because the thought literally made me feel sick. I tuned him out and buried myself in work for the rest of the day.
***
Friday night rolled around. I’d texted Nat to tell her the party was off, but that I’d still like her to come over. She seemed to have still not turned her phone on, which was actually starting to piss me off.
I wanted to talk to her before we both showed up at my parents’ annual Fourth of July barbeque tomorrow. I needed to prep her on what our relationship could and couldn’t be. I hoped she’d be on the same page as I was, and if she wasn’t—well, then I hoped she wouldn’t be upset with me.
I hoped we could move on from this and just have it be a blip in our friendship.
I’d ordered a couple of party trays from the store just in case people, especially Nat, showed up. And I had plenty of wine and beer in the fridge, too.
I was sitting on the couch staring at my phone like some pitiful teenager. I kept hoping Nat would text me back, but nothing was coming through. She hadn’t even read any of my texts this week. Maybe her exams had gone longer than she’d thought they would.
That’s when I heard the knock at the door. I couldn’t help the small grin that played over my lips.
I opened the door. “Nat, I’ve told you that you don’t have to knock…”
I stopped, my mouth hanging open for a minute. It wasn’t Natalie. It was that Cora girl Sam and Terrance had been talking about.
And she came dressed to impress. My eyes scanned her body, taking in every curve that she had displayed so… well. Her dress was skin-tight, short, and extremely low-cut. She had an almost obscene amount of cleavage on display. I felt like I should offer her a shirt or a jacket to cover herself up.
