NATHAN came over my direction, glaring at me as if I was the one who did something wrong. I bit my lower lip, before wiping away my tears, not wanting him to see me being weak and vulnerable. After all, he is not my best friend anymore.
“What’s your problem?!” he asked, as if questioning me.
“Did you really come here just to ask me that?” I asked him back, my voice slightly breaking out.
“Yes. You’re making a big deal out of picking colors for our booth. You are making me look like a bad person.”
“Because you’re being one, Nathan! Why are you acting like a jerk all of the sudden? Is this because–”
“This conversation is over.”
He was about to walk away when I pulled his arm, not wanting him to go without finishing our conversation. He pulled his arms away from me, retrieving it while glaring upon my direction.
“Let go of me!”
“Nathan... Just tell why you’re being like this... You were my best friend before.”
“You already said it yourself. Were best friends before. It’s over now, and I’m sure that you know that real reason why. I just hate being with you, Natalia.”
I gulped, before nodding several times as his words slowly sink into my mind. I feel like my heart has been crumbled into tiny little pieces, and Nathan is crushing it even more each time that he will take a step away from me... Until he finally vanished out of my sight and that’s when I started crying.
The next days flew so fast. I spent most of this days avoiding Nathan, still thinking of what he told me the last time that we had an argument. I can’t keep on holding on and apologize for what I did if he will keep on acting like this forever. Until I realized that the next thing I knew, it was already our school festival, and we are gathered here today wearing an orange shirt along with our classmates. Turns out, it was the color that Nathan picked for our booth.
“I hate this color! It is not matching my skin tone!” Freeda complained, before Lia and Elyzz laughed at her. “What are you laughing at, huh?”
“Nothing. We just find it hilarious that your blond hair is almost matching the color of our shirts,” Lia stated, before they chuckled.
Freeda glared at them, before her eyes landed on mine. I could feel like she wanted to say something, so I pretended like I didn’t hear anything even though I badly wanted to laugh at their conversation. I continued to present our booth products, but then, I realized that we already ran out of foils.
“Scott... I think we ran out of foils,” I stated.
“Oh... Wait. I can’t leave these cakes. Nathan, my man, can you do us a favor and grab some in the stationery room?” Scott asked him, and Nathan immediately nodded.
“Sure.”
“Thanks, man."
He is wearing a black, leather jacket, but beneath that is our orange shirt that was meant to be seen by our customers. I sighed, before watching him go without any hesitation. Maybe he hasn’t change so much at all.
I continued to do my work, until I realized that Freeda is still glaring at me, maybe mad that I was the reason why Nathan leaves. If I haven’t mention about the foils, he wouldn’t go and leave us all. I tried to ignore it, but I just can’t. Until Freeda came towards my direction, before she “accidentally” slipped and pour the glass of cold water in my shirt.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you, Natalia without H.”
Freeda walked away, as if nothing happened. She didn’t even bother to apologize. I clenched my fist out of irritation, not knowing what to do next. And then Scott came over towards our location, checking out what happened to me.
“Are you alright? You got wet. You need to change clothes or else you will catch a cold,” he stated.
“I know, Scott. Those girls...” I trailed off, sounding as furious as ever.
“Don’t mind them, alright. They are just jealous of you because our color suits you that much,” he chuckled. “Anyways, do you have an extra shirt?”
“I do. It was in the locker room. I’ll go and change for a while if that will be fine with you.”
“Of course. Just take your time and I will watch the booth.”
I nodded, before walking towards the building where our locker room is located. I sighed, while trying to hold my wet shirt so that it won’t touch my body. But then, I bumped into someone that caused both of us to fall. When I tried to look who it was, it was no other than Nathan himself.
“Nathan...” I asked, my eyes widened in surprised.
“Why can’t you watch where you’re going?!”
“Sorry...” I looked down, before getting up myself.
I sighed, before I tried to say something to him. But it was already too late, because the next thing I knew, someone grabbed both of our hands and put on a handcuffs on it. I gasped in shock, as well as Nathan who cannot believe what just happened between the two of us.
“Come with us to the jail booth. You are under arrest.”
“What?! Why? What did we do?” Nathan asked in confusion.
“You are wearing the same color shirt. That is a crime.”
“This is insane! Are you crazy? Of course all the students will have the same matching shirts since it was school festival,” I complained.
“We are only capturing those whom is out of their perspective booths. So now come with us. You can keep your mouth shut, anything you said, might be used against you. Wait for a friend to pick you up and pay for you as a bail.”
And just like that, they dragged us both towards their booth, and Nathan and I was left with nothing to do but to follow their instructions. The moment that we get inside of their booths, they immediately removed the handcuffs, so I started to stay away from Nathan as much as possible. Thankfully, I have my phone with me, so I started calling the first person I know who can help us out. It is no other than Scott. But he is not answering my calls, so I tried it over and over again while walking around the cell.
“Can’t you stop for a moment and wait until someone finally pick us up?” Nathan called me out, maybe getting too tensed by what I am doing.
“If we wait here until finally comes on their own, I’m sure that you will be too grumpy by then. I know how much you hate being with me, Nathan,” I answered sarcastically.
“So what are you going to do now, huh?”
“I’ll keep on calling Scott. Maybe he can help us out.”
“And do you really think that he will come here just to get you out?”
“He will. Not like you, Scott never leave me alone.”
“Really? Am I the one who first left? I bet to disagree on that. It was you who chose Tyler over our friendship, right?”
I pursed my lips, before sitting at the corner after hearing his words. Looks like he haven’t read my emails at all, or maybe he is not interested in knowing what happened between the two of us when he left the country. It was an awkward silence that reign in that moment. I gulped, knowing that it was partially my fault.
“Your shirt is wet,” he stated, looking upon my direction that made me cover myself up using my arms.
“What happened to you? And where are you going earlier?” he asked me.
“Nothing. It’s not like you care about me. It’s none of your business.”
“But it is, Natalia. If you haven’t bumped into me, then we wouldn’t be here at the first place. Now would you care to explain?” I sighed, finally giving up.
“Freeda... You wouldn’t understand. She likes you so much to the point that she is getting mad at me even though I’m not doing anything to her. I bet you already guess what she did,” I stated, before looking down in my shirt.
“Come here,” he ordered me, but I didn’t follow what he wanted.
And so, he stood up, before removing his jacket and putting it around my body, just to make sure that the wet shirt will be covered by it.
“Nathan...” I blushed, realizing that our faces are only inches away from each other. He backed away, noticing it.
“I guess it will still be a long time before the two of us can get out of here. It’s better to keep you warm for now or else you will catch a cold.”
I smiled to myself, thinking that he still care about me. I was about to thank him when all of the sudden, someone entered the room, holding another captive that made our brows furrowed. It is no other than Scott and Becca.