Natalie wakes up

Aiden closed the door behind him. Lisa’s words stuck in his head more than he wanted to acknowledge. She could always sense when something was off, and she’d practically begged him to talk if there was ever anything going on with Natalie. But the problem wasn’t something he could actually just come out and say. Not to Natalie, and absolutely not to Lisa.

He moved through the apartment, not really seeing it, while his mind looped back to that night on the couch. They went days without speaking, and only God knows what Natalie must’ve thought of him now. If it wasn’t for his mom coming up, they could very well still not be talking. No matter what Lisa thought, the real thing between him and Natalie wasn’t about her. The root problem was about him wanting Natalie. About not knowing how to stop focusing on it. Or stop making bad decisions.

Aiden set his keys on the coffee table as he sat on the couch, when he heard Natalie fumble with her door knob behind him. She stepped out wrapped in an oversized tee, with hair sleep-mussed and half lidded eyes.

“Is she gone already?” she asked, groggily.

He nodded, not quite looking at her. “Yeah. Just now.”

Natalie rubbed her eyes, then leaned against the hallway hall, seeing he was fully dressed. “You going somewhere?”

“No, I just walked her out.” He paused, trying to sound calm despite the thoughts that he’d just been swirling around. “When she woke me up, she said her schedule’s about to get more back to the usual. No more weekends off for a while. She knew it was only temporary, but it’s finally over.”

Natalie gave a small, tired smile. “Yeah, she’d mentioned that to me the other day.”

An awkward pause hung in the air. Aiden fiddled with the edge of the couch cushion, trying not to think about how many times he’d replayed that night since she’d stopped talking to him.

“You sleep okay?” he managed.

She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Eventually. We hung out watching TV for a while.” She said it softly, like she was measuring how he’d respond.

Aiden huffed out a laugh, finally looking up to meet her. “She loves her reality TV.”

Something in her expression softened, but she didn’t say more. Instead, she crossed to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

Lisa’s words from last night kept circling his mind- about them needing to talk, and how she’d made them promise. He wanted to say something, anything, but all he could manage was, “I can make breakfast, if you want. I may not be a chef, but I’ve gotten pretty good at making eggs different ways.”

Natalie sat in one of the chairs to the side of the couch, pulling the hem of the shorts leg down, before propping it up on the table, her smile was almost as beautiful as he remembered it being a couple of weeks ago. “Sure. I’ll take coffee, too.”

He nodded, feeling a wave of relief wash away some of the nerves. As he started for the kitchen, he wondered if this was what moving forward looked like in how it was awkward, and just a hint of tension, full of things unsaid, but not completely broken. For now, at least it was step toward the relationship they had built.

Aiden pulled two plates from the cabinet and slid eggs onto each - scrambled for him, over easy for her. The coffee finished with a dribble, and after a moment, he set a mug next to Natalie’s plate.

“Thanks,” she said, cupping it. “Smells good.”

He shrugged. “It’s the Aiden specialty at this point.”

They ate at the table. Small talk filled the time, asking about her job, his classes, passing the salt flashing a quick smile when one of the yolks broke clean.

“I’m going to do some yoga before I hop in the shower,” Natalie said, finishing her coffee.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” he answered. “I’ve got a lab write-up due anyway, so I’ll be in my room.”

She nodded. “Sounds good.” A small pause. “Thanks for the eggs.”

He cleared the plates while she rolled out her mat on the balcony. When he passed through to grab a drink, she had her hair tied up and was in the middle of a pose. He slipped by, making sure to not linger and closed his bedroom door.

For an hour the apartment settled into parallel routines. Natalie moved through poses, breath steadying as her body loosened. In his room, Aiden typed, erased, typed again, staying focused on his report and repeatedly pushing the image of her doing yoga out of his mind.

By mid-morning, Natalie finished, rolled up her mat, and headed to the shower. After, she traipsed into the kitchen in shorts and an old tee and started a grocery list. Aiden drifted out of his room, and leaned on the counter when he saw her.

“We need anything besides the usual?” she asked.

“Granola bars. And, uh- those yogurt cups.”

She wrote it down. “I’ll go in a bit. Want to come?”

He considered, then shook his head. “I should actually finish up while my brain’s cooperating.”

“Okay.” She capped the pen. “Text me if you think of something.”

“Will do.”

She left around noon, came back texting him to ask for help carrying everything up. Aiden met her outside and picked up the heavier of the bags. They put things away side by side, bumping once at the fridge and both saying “sorry” at the same time. It broke something small in a good way, like when she taught him how to cook.

He made himself a bowl of ramen for lunch; she chopped tomatoes and threw together a quick salad for herself. They ate on the couch, absently watching some cooking show, but neither were really paying attention.

Natalie forked a last bite of tomato, then set the bowl on the coffee table. The show babbled on about sauces, but she wasn’t taking any of it in.

“We should talk,” she said, eyes on the screen. “Not right this second, but… soon.”

Aiden’s ramen paused halfway to his mouth, caught off guard. Composing himself, he brought the bite the rest of the way, giving a small nod. “Yeah,” he managed. “I know.”

“I meant it when I told your mom we would, I just need to gather my thoughts first, I guess.” She drew a small breath. “Tomorrow’s stacked for me. What about Tuesday night?”

He nodded again, a quick, uncomfortable motion. “Tuesday works.”

“Here in the living room,” she added, trying to give some sense of structure to it. “After dinner, and no dodging it.”

He huffed a quiet laugh that wasn’t really a laugh. “Okay. No dodging.”

“Good.” She picked up her bowl again, moving toward the kitchen. “Thank you.”

He reached for the remote and turned the volume up a notch, as if that could take the edge off. “I’m gonna finish my write-up after I eat,” he said, almost afraid to look away from the TV to see what her expression may be. “Then I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You’re fine,” she answered. “I’m doing laundry and a couple emails, then I might go for a jog.”

He nodded, grabbed another mouthful, and chewed in the hopes of seeming calm. After a minute, he stood and carried his empty bowl to the sink. “Just let me know if you need anything,” he said over his shoulder.

“I will.”

He washed the bowl and left it in the rack, then headed for his room. Natalie leaned back, watching him after he passed, and let the clock in her head start counting down.

Evening came and went. She read on the balcony for a while; he half-watched a game on his laptop with earbuds in. Later, they ended up in the kitchen again, building simple quesadillas and sharing the limited counter space, trying to not crowd each other. He plated them, she brought the salsa, and they ate standing up around the small island, both a little tired.

“Thanks for breakfast and lunch,” she said, rinsing her plate.

“You did the salad,” he countered. “And thanks for washing my towels. Team effort.”

She smiled. “Good night, Aiden.”

“Night, Nat.”

With both bedroom doors closed, he stared at his ceiling for a long moment, hearing his mom’s voice in his head and seeing the way Natalie had looked, out of the corner of his eye. He could still hear the cautious tone when she said they needed to talk.

In her room, Natalie set her phone on the nightstand, leaving it face-down. Soon felt too close. For now, she’d survived the day and that was something.

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