Page 13 of Noticing Natalie
His mom would be sad. Not him… his mom. “Yep.”
“I wish you’d just tell me what’s wrong instead of hitting me with this passive aggressive shit. It’s not like you, Nat.”
“Come on. Let’s go,” I said, and started walking off.
He followed me. “Did you even hear me? Could you quit pretending everything’s fine and just tell me what’s wrong? You’re a terrible actress.”
When we got in his car, I finally just decided to tell him. I mean, why not?
“I know we’re best friends and nothing more. I get that. But that doesn’t mean it’s cool to just leave me by myself at prom for an hour or so while you dance with other girls, get a blowjob from another girl,” his head whipped around as he met my eyes, “and make plans to get rid of me early so you can have sex with that girl in your backyard.” He swerved. “Oh my God, Tim! Could you look at the damn road?”
“Sorry. You, um, saw me with Jayne?”
“Yeah.”
He winced. “I’m really sorry…”
“It’s fine. Just… don’t invite me somewhere and then do everything you can to get rid of me in front of your friends. That’s shitty, and I think you know it.” I wiped tears from my eyes. They were really falling now. “What if I had done that to you?”
“It would have crushed me,” he admitted. “I’m so sorry, Nat. I’ll do better I swear. Don’t make me take you home. Stay with me. I’ll text Jayne to cancel… what we were going to do.”
I sniffed, still wiping tears away. “You don’t really want me there.”
“I do!”
He swerved again, and I screamed. “Could you not kill us, please?”
“Sorry. I swear I do. Please come. It won’t be fun if you’re not there. Mom’s making all our favorites, we can sleep out under the stars if you want—we can even swim in the creek. It’ll be just like a normal sleepover.”
I side-eyed him, not fully believing that he’d want to hang out with me instead of have sex with Jayne. He looked sincere, though.
“Well… okay.”
“Okay?” He grinned at me, and my stomach did a strange little flip-flop.
“Okay.” I was starting to get excited now.
Maybe tonight would turn out to be good after all.
And it did.
Tim and I pretty much ignored everyone else and just did our thing. We changed clothes and waded in the creek, finding all sorts of turtles, frogs, salamanders, and more by the light of the full moon. We washed up and ate way too much of the food Lynne and Pete had made for the party. We laid our sleeping bags out beside the big old oak tree and stared up at the stars as we told each other creepy stories and re-lived funny things that happened to us over the years.
The only dark spot in the night was when Jayne Myerslie showed up, clearly dressed to entice Tim into a tryst of some sort. But he shot her down.
“Sorry, Jayne,” he’d smiled at her, his handsome face arranged in his ‘sexy’ grin. It was one of the smiles I saw him use often on women—except for me. “I’m hanging with Nat tonight. Maybe we can catch up another time.”
She’d been pissed but tried to hide it. “I can give you plenty of things Natalie can’t,” she’d said, stepping forward and placing her hand on his chest possessively.
I had been glad it was dark enough that no one could see that my face had turned pink. But Tim had just laughed his easy, unbothered laugh. “Maybe. But do you have any idea the things Natalie can give me that you can’t?”
She’d looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Are you ready to get in the creek and look for frogs?”
“Oh my God, no.” She had shivered in disgust. “Are you serious?”
He’d ignored the question. “And do you want to join us for creepy story time in the moonlight?”
