Considering the grim outlook she’d had the night of that infamous reunion, the past four weeks had been strangely decent to Natalia Belmonte. Catarina and Tiffannie were not on speaking terms, but they were being civil (as civil as one could be while avoiding each other). Her mother had been more alert every few days, giving Tal the opportunity to spend some much-needed bonding time with her. Her lack of involvement in that fateful night’s drama meant she remained in her father’s good graces, with whom she continued to spend quality time with at the gym. And best of all, in a surprising twist of events, her relationship with Danilo was almost back to how it used to be before they drifted apart.
Of course, not everything had been a cause for celebration. Even after the culmination of their friendship five years previously, Tal had never bothered to block Niles from her social media accounts. Call her selfish if you will, but it was the only way she had to keep tabs on her former friend without making it obvious. This was how he’d found out about things like when he’d started his fitness journey, when gotten his last motorbike, what college he’d been accepted to and the like. For the most part, Niles kept a quiet, low profile on his accounts, sharing the bare minimum that sufficed in quelling Tal’s curiosity (with the help of the extra insight from his sisters, of course)
But ever since he’d started dating Caitlin, his social media presence had increased exponentially. It seemed like, every other day, his stupid name would pop up on her screen with posts preaching about how ‘wonderful’ or ‘amazing’ his stupid girlfriend was, often accompanied by photos of them as a sickly-sweet, loved-up couple or dumb Cece in candids by herself. For the first two weeks, Nat had been able to shrug it off, still empowered by her talk with Creed and Jokes about the situation. But with every day that passed, her tolerance continued to dwindle, being replaced with emotions she thought she’d left behind. What made idiotic Caitlin worthy enough for his public praise, but she’d never been enough? What made this girl so special, when she hadn’t even been there to see him at his worst? Why was he being so adamant about showing her off everywhere, professing his feelings towards her everywhere and at all times, as if shouting it from imaginary rooftops? How had Cece been able to make him happier than Tal ever had?
It made her feel worthless and fucking sick.
The final straw came one early evening, when her mindless scrolling had led her to yet another long post from Niles bragging about his relationship. Fueled by all the pent up jealousy she’d been holding back for the last weeks, Natalia pocketed her phone, stormed out of her bedroom and down the familiar blocks of the Northside’s intersection of Meadow and Prairie Court. Conveniently, the house in question was located on the street behind the Belmonte home, which meant there was no long distance to travel that could have potentially pacified the incoming tornado steadily raging towards the Sinclair home.
Once at the back door, Natalia texted Autumn Sinclair, who wasted no time in confirming that her older brother was indeed alone at the home. The Belmonte girl retrieved the key from underneath the doormat (‘Even after all of these years, they still keep it in the same spot…’), unlocked the door and quietly stepped inside the house. She made sure to almost tiptoe around the kitchen, up the stairs and down the hall, hoping to not prematurely alert Niles to her presence. Finally, she reached her destination. After taking a deep breath and bracing herself for the confrontation about to take place, Natalia knocked on the door a few times, impatiently tapping her sneakered foot on the floor as she waited for her former best friend to answer.
Looking over his shoulder to his door, having thrown his tank and sweaty socks in the hamper, he wondered what his sisters were doing back and why they weren't saying anything. With only champion long mesh men’s shorts on, having just gotten done with a full body workout at Asgard Fitness, he stretched his body before walking towards the knocking. With a sore body that felt good, he made his way to the door and unlocked it.
As he opened it, before he saw who was on the other side, he scoffed in annoyance, “What do you two want, shouldn’t you be at Yasmin’s?” When his door was fully open, he stared ahead in disbelief. His expression looked exhausted, distant, and bored but internally he was shocked. “Natalia…?”
"Obviously," the woman responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
When Natalia fully focused her attention on the man standing in front of her, she found herself cocking her head to one side and slowly eyeing him up and down, her tongue pressed against her cheek. It hadn't occurred to her that he, much like her, might have changed with the years. The last time she'd seen Niles with this little clothing on had been almost four years previously-- when he'd been nothing but a skinny teen a few inches shorter than her. The man standing before her had finally caught up to her height, and had a chiseled figure that attested to hours of discipline, effort and hard work. It was a glow-up for sure, but irrelevant to the conversation to be had. She hadn't come all this way to feed his ego, after all. She needed to keep her focus on what needed to be said.
"I need to talk to you." Nat declared, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Years. It had been years since they last talked. Holding his door open for her, keeping his burn scar on his left shoulder to his back out of her sight, Niles waited for her to enter. His gaze softened as he watched her and observed her form up close. This confrontation happened a lot sooner than he calculated but he wasn’t going to complain. Instead, he asked, “About?”
Without saying a word, Natalia stormed into Niles’ bedroom and plopped herself down on his bed. “Your new relationship,” she said simply, crossing one leg over the other and glaring at the man. “I just wanted to congratulate you in person. It seems your dating choices are getting dumber and dumber every time.”
“You wanted to congratulate me, in my bedroom.” Niles casually responded while closing his door and reaching for his deodorant. After applying some, annoyed he couldn’t take a shower, he pulled out a shirt to cover himself up. “Thanks, I guess.” Putting his shirt on, he sighed, “Anything else?”
The dark-haired woman let out an annoyed huff. She’d almost forgotten how exasperating Niles could be with his indifference. “Caitlin Cleary, huh?” she drawled, the name tasting like the most bitter of fruits on her lips. “A whole world of possibilities out there-- especially since you went to college like I did--, and you happen to pick one of the two people I spent years venting to you about?” she asked him, pretending to be deep in thought for a second before adding, “It’s almost as if you’re purposely trying to fuck with me.”
“Am I?” He nonchalantly inquired. Even if he was, which he wasn’t, she found herself believing he thought about her a lot more than he did. “Do I need to remind you that you’re the one who stopped talking to me?” Niles was now facing his ex best friend, arms crossed, leaning against his dresser, “Or are you going to pretend that things never changed and you can dictate who I can and can’t talk with?” He raised his eyebrow, challenging the woman on his bed.
“I’m not saying I want to dictate anything, Niles,” Tal interjected with a scowl. “And do I need to remind you that the one who ended things between us was you-- after I confessed my feelings for you--” Nat began to challenge back, but her argument was cut short by Niles’ interjection.
“We were friends with benefits. I never wanted to lose you as a friend.” Niles corrected Natalia, who seemed to forget their agreement and how he wasn’t ready to commit to anyone at the time. “I did what I needed to do. At least I didn’t drag you along, or did you forget how I treated you?”
“Of course I didn’t forget how you treated me!” she replied, that sarcastic edge to her voice becoming sharper. Fully in the midst of her fury, she focused on the last part of his argument without realizing what he'd said about losing their friendship. “How could I forget the endless arguments, the manipulation tactics, the guilt-tripping anytime I did something fun for myself because you were too busy being moody--”
“Moody?!” Natalia finally got a rise from Niles who no longer was crossing his arms but stepping ever so closely to her. “I’m sorry it took me a couple years to get over my mother’s fucking death, Natalia, but I owe you nothing. And you need to stop thinking I do. You cut ME out of your life because you wanted more. And now here you are asking for answers in MY bedroom.”
“That is not why I cut you off, and that’s not even why I’m fucking here in the first place!” she cried out, leaping from the bed and getting dangerously close to the face of her ex-friend, as if poised for a fight. “I just wanted to tell you, to your fucking face, that if you think dating stupid Caitlin is some sort of payback or revenge scheme for whatever happened between us, you’re a fucking idiot!”
Niles humorously scoffed at her comment. Was she being serious right now? “Clearly it worked.” He reached his hand out and glided his finger against her cheek, “Seeing how you’re here. Right now. In front of me.”
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Natalia yelled, harshly slapping Niles’ hand away from her face. How dare he try and caress her in the middle of this argument, especially after he’d basically admitted to doing exactly what she’d suspected? As upsetting as it was, it still gave Tal the bittersweet confirmation that she wasn't as crazy or paranoid as people painted her out to be. “Things ended between us almost five years ago because YOU ended it: get fucking over it!”
“Ha.” Niles laughed to himself, stepping back and smiling, “I am. That’s why I’m with Caitlin.” Making his way to his computer chair, he turned it around and sat down, not knowing how long this was going to take. This was Natalia, after all. “You’re right, things ended between us. I didn’t want sex with you anymore. I didn’t want you like that and you got mad. You still don’t hold accountability for being the one that walked away. I stopped the sex. You stopped our friendship.”
"You literally just said you're dating Caitlin to get back at me," Natalia scoffed, purposely ignoring the last part of his argument. She wasn’t about to tell him why she’d cut him off like she did. Tal had already made the mistake of opening up to him with her feelings once before-- she wasn't about to do the same again. "How is that getting over anything, Niles? Hmm?"
“No, I didn’t.” Niles countered, leaning forward in his chair. His eyebrows furrowed, as he explained, “You thought it was a scheme and I merely entertained the idea and said clearly it worked. I like toying with you and if I said anything differently you’d get in your feelings, like you usually do. So sure, yes. I spent the past year wooing a girl you hate just so you can come into my room late at night and visit me. Do you hear how that sounds, Natalia?” With a strained expression, he exasperatedly remarked, “Fucking insane.”
"This is why I fucking ditched you!" Natalia shrieked, her voice carrying into the deepest corners of the empty Sinclair home. Was he really trying to play the ‘you’re just seeing things that aren’t there’ card on her again?! "You always try to make me feel like I’m fucking crazy all the time when I know I'm not! I know I'm right about this!"
“Says the girl who got mad at any friend I made that wasn’t you. Boy, girl, it didn’t matter. You suffocated me and you can’t seem to own up to that. I’m the one to blame? We never dated and you agreed to it all.” At this point, Niles was getting increasingly annoyed but he stayed put in his seat. She was playing the victim when they both knew she was the opposite of one. “Cry me a river, your life is so goddamn hard without me. Yeah, right. You’re fucking who you want when you want, clearly.”
Natalia couldn’t bite back her disbelieving scoff. "So are you! That’s all you’ve been doing since we ended things! So how is that even a relevant argument?!"
“It’s relevant because you hopped on the next dick as soon as I stopped shit between us. Stop acting like you’re innocent, you don’t play innocent well.”
"You know what? I sure did-- and it was everything I ever imagined and more," Talia declared proudly, choosing to stand tall as she said it. Niles' attempts at slut-shaming her wouldn't be successful. "I wasn't the only one who moved on quickly, though, because as soon as the rumors came out that I was messing around with people you suddenly wanted to start 'arrangements' of your own. Erica Connors, Parker Byrne (the one you called ‘girlfriend’ even though you swore up and down you weren’t ‘ready to commit to anyone’), that bitch Zoey from the volleyball team, God knows how many other losers I don’t even know about…"
After Natalia listed a few of his past lovers that he barely remembered like she did, Niles couldn’t help but smirk and let a chuckle out. Amused, he silently watched her as she came to the end of her tangent. Standing up, he approached the proud Italian woman and laughed, “It’s funny, really.” Like a wolf on a prowl, he stepped closer, “You say you’ve moved on and yet you’re here to congratulate me.” Another step forward, breaching the distance, getting ever so closer to his ex, “I must’ve been the best you’ve ever had if you desperately needed to come here.” In front of her now, barely giving her any space, he spoke bluntly, “Let me ask, did they fuck you like I did?”
Natalia had been completely unprepared for Niles' last words. They had been so unexpected, so out of left field, that it took her a whole thirty seconds of wide-eyed, red-faced surprise to even come up with the ability to do more than scoff in disbelief again and shake her head. "You’re delusional…” she muttered under her breath, pointing at him as she backed away. "You are fucking delusional, and batshit crazy as hell, Niles Sinclair!” she accused for the last time before shifting her eyes away from the man and stalking off in the same direction she had entered. Whether what he was saying was true or false, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing. He didn’t deserve any more of her time. "This clearly was all a fucking mistake!"
Taking in her perky backside, with his animalistic and mischievous gaze, Niles’ stare burned the back of it, hoping she could feel him watching her as she left. “Was it?” He commented, before his smirk turned into a genuine and hopeful smile, “It was nice to see you, Natalia,” he teased, but there was no malice behind his words. Only contained excitement. He really did enjoy seeing her even if all they did was argue. “We should do this again.” He admitted, hoping he could see her sooner rather than later.
“Rot in hell!” came the girl’s response from down the stairs, followed by the sound of the front door slamming shut.
There was no denying that Niles Sinclair enjoyed this random moment. He knew what he did the past month would get her riled up but the fact that she came all the way to his house just to tell him off made his escapade with Caitlin worth it.
A world without Natalia Belmonte was quite boring, and this made him see exactly what he’s been missing. It was great to have her back.
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