Closed: Natalie (HUZZAH)

[betterthanjake]

The original plan had been for Jake to only just be stumbling home on Saturday around noon and still riding the high from performing for such a huge crowd. Performing had been amazing; Jake was still really proud of that performance. Everything after that, though, had gone to hell in the span of a sentence

Comments

[callmenatalie]

Natalie felt horrible that she was unable to see Jake's performance the previous evening but unfortunately she'd been scheduled to work.  She figured that he would've stayed out late and they'd catch up later in the evening.

After waking up early and running out to do a few errands, Natalie returned home and was surprised not only find that Jake was home but looking a bit mopey.

"What's up,  buttercup?" she chirped happily as she closed the door and flung her bags down. "You look too well-rested for someone who partied all night."

[betterthanjake]

Jake looked up at her, smiling but only just. Things were never bad with Natalie, never awkward, except he felt a little bit like it should be right now.

"I wouldn't say well rested," he sighed. "Last night kind of sucked." Well, half and half, probably.

[callmenatalie]

"Oh?" Natalie's smile fell into a frown as she plopped down next to Jake.  "Show didn't go well?" It was the only reasonable assumption she could make but even that explanation seemed unlikely.  "Bad crowd?"

[betterthanjake]

"I killed it on stage." Jake shook his head. That part had been awesome. "The performing part and the Fay part were good." At least something good had happened before everything went all to hell.

"Then Travis punched me." Jake fully expected to drag this out because Natalie would probably decide to hate him, too. He rubbed at his jaw, fingers pressing into the bruise. "Then I ran into Elley."

[callmenatalie]

Natalie blinked and tilted her head to the side.  Travis punched Jake? Elly's back in town?  It was almost too much to take in at once.

"Wait, what?" Natalie touched Jake's arm,  "I'm fairly sure Travis has never punched anyone.  Why?"

[betterthanjake]

"Shocked the hell out of me, too," Jake sighed. This was a huge disaster, and Jake admittedly wasn't coping with it very well. He could have handled Elley - sort of - but pissing Travis off enough to be disowned? That was the harder part.

Even being hit wasn't a big deal.

"I slipped. I fucked up." Story of his life. "I told him about us. On accident."

[callmenatalie]

"Is that how you got that," Natalie gestured at his face, just then seeing the reddened area that he'd touched before. "Jake," Natalie really couldn't comprehend why he would ever tell Travis the one thing that would set him off. "How can you let that slip to Travis by accident?"

They'd specifically discussed how they would never tell Travis about the two of them hooking up. At first, it was just something that happened after a drunken night, but it'd happened far too many times to be referred to as a 'one time' happenstance. They were both single and friends. It was awkward. It was just...one of the things they sometimes did.

[betterthanjake]

Nodding, Jake rubbed at his jaw, feeling swollen flesh as if it needed the emphasis. Ice would have helped, but Jake felt like he deserved to suffer at this point.

"Elley was there! Travis was talking about her that ended up getting me started on you two," Jake hugged and tilted his head back again, neck rolling again the cushions for a moment. "It just came out."

On the next roll, he gave Natalie a more serious look though it was paired with a grimace. "Do you hate me now, too?"