Natalia and Preston

       
        
        Natalia looks down at her phone looking for a message from Brot. She hadn't heard from him since last night and she was sure she would have heard from him this morning. She thought shoving her phone in her pocket as she pushes the door of the "Serving Spoon" open and is greeted by a line.
        "Great!" she mutters to herself then pulls her phone from her pocket and checks again still nothing from Brot.
       "Come on Brot answer me." She mumbles slamming the phone back inside her pocket and staring unseeingly at the menu board as she waited. She'd texted him last night before leaving "Confusion" to let him know she was on her way home and hadn't received one back which had infuriated her so she'd sent him one telling him if he couldn't bother to answer her back don't bother coming back either. She hadn't meant it but all the same he'd obviously taken her up on it. She'd been just so angry! It was yet another evening they'd all been hanging out and Brot couldn't come! It wasn't because he was assigned anything! Oh no! This time the big doofus had volunteered for duty! 
        She'd been left once again with the ribbing's about her imaginary boyfriend from everyone and it was really starting to feel that way. Especially with Preston being there with that all knowing smirk she hated. Jeeze, he was so pompous and so annoying with a smile that never stopped melting her heart. God he was still so so sexy. The thought  bringing back memories of late nights and Saturday afternoons making love in their dorm. Talking into the wee hours of the morning and waking up in his arms. She could almost feel them around her as the memory became more vivid.     
      "Next!" Came the call from the counter startling her back to the present and she steps forward.  
       Why the hell was she allowing thoughts of Preston to invade her mind? She hadn't thought of him in years and now she couldn't stop thinking about him. Why? was it like Cess said because she hadn't dealt with it or was there something more? She wasn't sure. All she knew was it was starting to have an affect on her relationship with Brot and she needed to find the answer some how even if it meant meeting Preston for lunch or coffee or whatever. She thought with a sigh as she stepped forward absently reaching for the phone in her pocket and checking it again. Still nothing. She grumbles sticking her phone back in her pocket.
         She didn't know what was happening to them. She and Brot had been solid up until now. She knew she loved him. It wasn't the same as what she'd felt with Preston but she knew she loved Brot. So what was happening to them? 
       "Next!" Came the call allowing her to finally step to the counter and place her order then step to the side and wait a moment. She reaches in her pocket and checks her phone already knowing nothing from Brot would be there before she looked. She leans back against the wall while she waits pulling the phone from her pocket and scrolling to the messages Preston had left her over the past few day. She'd finally read them last night after Brot hadn't returned home. It was probably why she was feeling the way she was. 
        His texts had been sweet and poignant bringing back memories she'd almost forgotten along with the feelings behind them giving her a confused longing for thing past and what could be. She'd read them over and over but had yet to answer him her anger wouldn't let her but she also couldn't bring herself to delete them either.
      "Your orders up!" The clerk called from behind the counter. Natalia places the cash on the counter. She picks up the beverage carrier and bag then walks past the dwindling line and on to the sidewalk. She weaves her way to the corner and walk the short distance to the park. She was glad she was meeting Francessca this morning the exercise would do her good and the conversation would be even better. She thought as she walked through the entrance and headed down the path stopping dead in her tracks as she came to the object of her quandary.
         "What are you doing here?" She snaps pulling his attention from the screen of his lap top.
         "Working" He mumbles still typing on the keyboard as he speaks. "It's a nice day and you know I always work better outside." Natalia looks at him her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
         "Did Francessca set this up?" Preston stops typing and smiles. 
         "I haven't spoken to her so I have no idea what you're talking about. Second why would I bother to stalk someone who can't take two seconds to answer a text?" 
      "I said everything I had to say the day you left me. Wait if I think about it you did all the talking back then too." 
      "Because you ran off and just like now you refused to talk about it." 
      "What was there to talk about? You chose your work over me and it looks like you made the right choice considering the huge profit you just made." 
       "My God! You still don't get it do you Natalia?"
       "Maybe I don't since you're the genius why don't you explain it to me?" 
       "How can I when you won't even take a moment to listen or even read the texts I send you?"
       "I'm right here right now spit it out!"
       'All I wanted back then Natalia was a little time a little space to finish what I was working on but then just like now with you it's all or nothing! You're the one that walked away I didn't."
     "I walked away? Really? I walked away?"
     "Oh my bad ran away head held high!" 
     'What did you expect me to do? You said you didn't want me I didn't need to stick around for the details." 
     "Maybe if you had you would have known I just wanted to slow down. I just wanted a little time so I could finish my work."
      "So you admit you chose your work over me?" She snaps back.     
      "No, you made that decision for the both of us! I'm not the one that walked away from us Natalia you did!" 
      "So now it's all my fault?" She spits back his words striking deep making her anger begin to burgeon on rage. 
      "You're only angry because you know I'm right! I was getting too close and you know it. You were looking for any excuse to run!"
   "That's not true and you know it!"
   "If it isn't true then why didn't you answer the door when I came to see you? Or any of my calls or emails or text? You ran Natalia and you're still running!" He laughs bitterly.
    "What was I supposed to do? You told me you didn't want me anymore Preston!" 
    "That's not what I said!" 
    "It doesn't matter how you said it Preston! The results were the same! You broke my heart! I was in love with you Preston and you broke my heart!" 
     "I know and I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was in love with you too Natalia and I still am." He says pulling her to him and kissing her giving her no time or ability to resist as she submits to him fully welcoming his kiss. The feel of his lips on hers filling her with emotion she'd long buried. Her heart lurched and her body longed for more as she leaned into him luxuriating in the warmth of his taunt chest against hers. Her fingers itched to run along the sinewy curves of his back as his kissed deepened. Instead her trapped fist crushed the handle of the carrier she held in one hand and the bag in the other. God she didn't realize how much she'd missed him and how right she'd felt in his arms until he released her leaving her breathless.
      "And you know you're still in love with me too." He says as he  smiles that know smile she hated. Then turns and retrieves his computer case from the bench and walks away leaving her feeling wanton then ashamed as the phone in her pocket rings and thoughts of Brot fill her mind.   

Natalia and Preston 
Natalia and Brot

*Copyright Takeitish Pine Valley Chronicles 2018