"Nat broke up with him" Bradley said to him.
"Ah man" Charlie said "That's too bad" he said sadly.
"Yeah well..." Bradley said.
"First heartbreak is always the toughest" Charlie said stacking glass mugs on the shelf behind him.
"Fortunately I wouldn't know...as Neilson kindly pointed out" Bradley said bitterly taking a swig from another bottle Charlie passed him.
"Course it explains a lot" Charlie said drying out a mug.
"What do you mean?" Bradley asked, Charlie nodded towards a table where Natalie sat talking to another guy.
"Hey" Neilson said coming down the kitchen stairs.
"Hey" Kyle said turning around as he sat with Adam and Harry in the kitchen.
"You okay?" Harry asked.
"I've been better" Neilson said "Hey do you guys know where Bradley went?" he asked.
"I think he went over to Charlie's" Harry said to him.
"Oh, okay, thanks" Neilson said.
"Sure you want to go over there? He's pretty pissed at you" Adam said.
"Yeah I know but he's not picking up his phone so face to face is the only way to do this, mind if I borrow your jeep?" Neilson asked Kyle.
“Yeah as long as you bring it back in one piece” he said.
“I’ll try” Neilson said as Kyle handed him the keys "I'll see you guys later" he said leaving the house.
Bradley looked at Charlie irritated, shaking his head in disgust, he stood up from the bar and approached the table. He loudly cleared his throat getting Natalie and the guy’s attention.
"Bradley..." she said in surprise.
"Hey Nat" he said smiling at her “Mind if I join you?” he asked sitting at the table.
"What...what are you doing here?" she asked nervously.
“Do you know this guy?” the guy asked her.
"Uh yeah...we're...friends" she said nervously.
"Yeah we go to school together" Bradley said sitting at the table "HIGH school" he said.
“High school” the guy said, Bradley nodded.
"Oh wow...uh...this was a mistake...I should go" the guy said getting up quickly and leaving the table.
"No wait..." she scoffed "I cannot believe you just did that!" she said angrily, she got up and went to the bar.
"Yeah well I can't believe you broke up with my best friend just so you can hit on random bar guys" he said standing up and facing her. “How old was that guy anyways? Like forty? Nice to see this break up isn't as hard on you as it is on Neilson" Bradley said taking a drink from his bottle.
"How is Neilson?" she asked sadly.
"Not any better since the last time you asked" he said taking another drink.
"Then why are you here? Why aren't you with him?" she asked.
"Well he decided that one way to deal with this break up was take out his anger on me so…I'm giving him space like he so nicely asked me to" he said.
"What happened?" she asked sighing.
Bradley chuckled "He blames me" he said to her.
"What?" she asked confused.
"Yeah he blames me for you breaking up with him apparently my inability to get a girlfriend of my own lead to you dumping him or something, I don't know" he said.
“He’s just lashing out I’m sure he didn’t mean it” Natalie said.
“Thanks to you” Bradley said.
“Yeah thanks to me” Natalie said irritated “You know what’s interesting? You’re so quick to point out my part in all of this how do you think he feels about all the awful stuff you do to him?” she asked sitting back down at the table.
He looked at her confused “What?” he asked "What the hell does that even mean?" he asked.
"Oh please Bradley, just admit it, Neilson isn't your best friend he's your lackey" Natalie said to him.
"Your little lap dog that does whatever you say when you say it, you know I don't even know how he can even call you a best friend when you are so far from it" she said. “Well congratulations because now that we're broken up he can be your errand boy full time” Natalie said taking a drink.
Bradley scoffed in disbelief "Wow...is that like today's theme or something? 'when in doubt, blame Bradley'?" he said in annoyance.
“You know it’s true” Natalie said.
“Yeah fine, I can be a bastard sometimes, Neilson knows that” Bradley said to her. “Want to know what I think? I think you were going through a rough patch in your relationship and instead of sticking around and working through it you got scared and ran away" he said to her.
He approached the bar, she stood up from the table and made her way towards him "Not that it's any of your business but I broke up with him because I knew that if we kept fighting the way we were, we were going to end up hating each other, and I didn't want that to happen".
"Okay, sure, whatever you need to tell yourself” he said pulling money from his pocket and throwing it on the bar, he pulled his jacket on and made his way towards the door.
“Don’t you walk away from me!” she said, he groaned and rolled his eyes as she followed him. she grabbed her coat, threw money on the bar and followed him outside "Now who's running away?" she asked.
"Uh yeah” he said putting the key into the car door “Because see, unlike you, I have a good reason to" he said.
"So you can dish it out but you can't take it" she yelled at him as he stood by his car.
"No actually, the only thing I can't take is seeing my best friend devastated…wallowing in grief and self pity because the girl he once considered the love of his life practically tore his heart out and destroyed him" he said angrily.
"If that’s what you have to do so you don’t have to face the fact that you’re nothing but a selfish, inconsiderate, arrogant, conceited son of a bitch and the worst excuse for a best friend that anyone could ever have!" she yelled at him.
They stood there in silence, seething with anger, the tension in the air thick. Bradley put his hand on Natalie’s hip pulling her into him, they looked at each other lustfully, their mouths fusing into a passionate, hot kiss. Once they parted, they looked at each other, gasping for air.
Natalie walked over to the passenger side of Bradley’s car “You coming?” she asked as she climbed in. Bradley opened the driver side door and got in, starting the car, the tires squealing as he left the lot.
A few minutes later, Neilson walked into the bar "Hey Charlie" he said.
"Oh hey there he is, I was wondering when you were going to show up” Charlie said to him.
“Is Bradley here? I said some pretty messed up stuff to him earlier, he’s not picking up his phone and I really need to apologize” Neilson said.
“Yeah he was here…so was Nat” Charlie said.
"Nat was here?" he asked.
"Yeah, look Bradley told me what happened with you two, I'm really sorry kid" Charlie said to him.
"Thanks" Neilson said nodding.
"Just remember, broken hearts, they do heal, eventually" Charlie said.
"Yeah I know...how bad was it?" Neilson asked.
"Pretty ugly, they both tore out of here, I saw her get into his car maybe he took her home" Charlie said to him.
“Alright thanks” Neilson said to him.
“Yep” Charlie said as Neilson left the bar.
