“Hey” Bradley said “Where’s Neilson?” she asked.
“Cafeteria, he went to grab something to eat” Bradley said to her.
“Well I checked with your nurse…very cute by the way” she said.
“So I’ve noticed” he said.
“And she said it would be okay if you had some of this” she said handing him a cup.
He gasped “Sweet” he said taking it from her “Thank you.”
“No problem” she said sitting on the edge of his bed
“Gotcha in a sling huh?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, guess I have to trick it out somehow” he said.
“Oh yeah? I could probably help you with that” she said “So…how are you?” she asked.
“Well…I was shot” he said.
“I know I was there” she said.
“And uh my parents think I should see a shrink” he said.
“Oh” Natalie said “And you don’t think you need to?” she asked.
“Uh no, not really” he said “Nat I got to be honest with you about something” he said.
“I’m not exactly a therapist you know” she said.
“Nat, I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, I honestly thought I would die” he said.
“I know” she said.
“Nat…if I hadn’t of passed out…I probably would’ve told Neilson what happened between us” he said.
“Oh…” she said.
3 weeks earlier:
The doorbell rang frantically, Bradley bounded down the stairs and raced to the front door “Just a second! Hang on!” he yelled, flinging the door open to see Natalie standing there looking distressed, her face tearstained, her cheeks flushed red “Hey” he said upon seeing her.
“Hey, uh is Neilson here?” she asked sniffling.
“No, he took off…you okay?” he asked letting her inside.
“We had another stupid fight” she said tearfully.
“Again?” he asked "I was wondering what all the screaming was about" Bradley said to her.
“What is happening here? Everything is falling apart” she said whimpering.
Bradley looked at her sympathetically and pulled her into him, holding her tightly.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing wrong half the time” she said, her face pressed against Bradley’s chest.
“Yeah I know” he said softly “You know, Neilson feels the same way, he doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time either…then again Neilson doesn’t know what he’s doing in general” he said cracking a smile.
“I know, I know” she said laughing lightly “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be dragging you into our drama” she said pulling herself away from him.
“Wouldn’t be the first time” he said jokingly.
She slapped him playfully “Look when Neilson comes back can you just tell him to call me?” she asked.
“Yeah sure” he said.
“Thanks” she said approaching the door.
“Hey, you want to just hang here with me for a bit?” he asked.
“Yeah sure, if you don’t mind” she said.
“No it’s cool” he said.
"So what's up with you guys? You've been picking at each other lately" he said shuffling a deck of cards.
"Mm no offense, but your best friend is a stubborn ass" she said taking a drink.
"You think you're telling me things I don't know?" he asked passing the cards between him and Natalie.
“How do you deal with him?” she asked.
“Nat I’ve known Neilson for practically my whole life, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing which of his moods to avoid” he said to her.
"You're a real help you know that?" she asked him, he smiled as he threw his cards in a pile.
"I just hope he's not somewhere doing something stupid"
"Like oh say sitting here getting drunk with his best friend's girlfriend?" Bradley asked taking a drink.
"We're not drunk" she said to him.
"Not yet" he said to her as they laughed.
"Why can't Neilson be more like you?" she asked.
"Oh come on I'm not that great" he said.
"Oh no I know" she said to him.
He looked at her "Oh you're funny" he said flicking a card at her.
They threw their cards into another pile, she scooted closer to him, they sat up against the bed.
"You're a really great friend you know" she said looking intently at him.
"I try" he said shuffling the cards in his hands, they laughed.
"Bradley?" she asked setting her bottle on the floor.
"Hmm?" he asked turning to face her, she pulled his face towards her and pressed her lips softly to his.
They kissed softly and innocently at first it began to escalate becoming more intense, she wrapped her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into him. His eyes opened for a split second before reality hit him.
“OH!” he yelled breaking the kiss “oh, no, no, we can’t do this” he said “This can’t happen” he said standing up. “You…you’re…and I…this can’t happen” he said once again “I can’t be here right now…I have to go” he said quickly leaving the room.
“Bradley” Natalie said coming down the stairs to the kitchen where she saw Bradley with his head inside the freezer “What are you doing?” she asked.
“You know, just chilling” he said.
She rolled her eyes and pulled him out of the freezer “Not one of your bests” she said closing the freezer door “Bradley, everything’s okay” she said to him.
“Everything is most definitely NOT okay!” he said to her.
“We kissed, yes it got a little bit physical but nothing happened” she said “It’s not like it meant anything…right?” she asked.
“Course not!” he said.
“Wow, answer faster why don't you?” she said.
He looked at her irritated “What do we tell Neilson?” he asked.
“We don’t have to tell Neilson anything” she said.
“What are you talking about, of course we do” he said.
“Why? It was one kiss, that didn’t mean anything…right?” she asked.
“…Yeah” he said reluctantly.
“Okay do you really want to upset him over something that meant nothing?” she asked.
Bradley sighed “...No” he said “You’re right” he said running his fingers through his hair.
“God I love hearing that” she said.
“But he probably will find out eventually, are you ready for the fall out?” Bradley asked.
“From who? I’m certainly not going to tell him, you’re not going to tell him, who else knows?” she asked “I’m gonna go, okay?” she said going towards the door.
“Yeah, I think you should” he said.
“Please tell Neilson to call me?” she asked.
“Fine” he said.
“Okay” she said "You're actually a really good kisser by the way" she said.
Bradley nodded "I know" he said.
Bradley sat on the window seat of his bedroom, a cigarette between his fingers as he blew a cloud of smoke outside.
“Hey” Neilson said entering the room.
Bradley jumped “Oh hey, hi, you’re back” he said nervously.
“Yeah” Neilson said confused “What’s with you?” he asked.
“Nothing, nothing I’m fine” he stammered, tossing his cigarette out of the window.
"...What happened while I was gone?” Neilson asked confused.
“Why? Why do you think something happened? Nothing happened” Bradley said nervously.
“You were smoking” Neilson said.
“So? What I’m not allowed to smoke now?!” Bradley asked biting his fingernails.
“Something did happen while I was gone” Neilson said.
“No it didn’t” Bradley said to him.
“Well either something happened or you did something” Neilson said.
“Nothing happened, god Neilson! You’re so paranoid!” Bradley said.
“I’M paranoid?!” Neilson asked when he felt his pocket vibrate “It’s Nat” he said, Bradley yelped, Neilson looked at him oddly and answered the phone “Hello?” he asked confused. “Hey” he said “No, just talking to Bradley” he said “oh, no, not yet…Nat stopped by here?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh yeah, she did, yeah she was here” Bradley said nervously.
“Hang on a sec, alright I’m going to talk to her and then I’m going to come back and talk to you because there’s something seriously off about you here” Neilson said.
“Neilson…isn’t there usually something off about me?” Bradley asked.
“…Good point” Neilson said “But I’m still talking to you because you clearly need to talk about something” Neilson said as he left Bradley’s room, Bradley breathed a sigh of relief as he left.
Awhile later Bradley sat in his bed, the kiss playing back in his mind.
“Alright” Neilson said coming into his room “What’s up?” he asked “And don’t tell me nothing because I can clearly see that something’s bothering you, now what is it?” Neilson asked sitting on Bradley’s bed.
“Do you really want to upset him over something that meant nothing?” Natalie’s voice echoed in his brain.
Bradley sighed and finally said “Nothing, I’m fine” he said to Neilson.
“Dude” Neilson said.
“Really I’m fine” Bradley said.
“You’re sure?” Neilson asked.
“Yeah…so what’s going on with Nat, you guys good again?” he asked.
“Yeah for now I guess” Neilson said smirking “She said she came over tonight?” Neilson asked.
“Uh yeah, she was looking for you…seemed pretty upset” he said.
“Yeah I know” Neilson said.
“You guys going to be okay?” Bradley asked.
“I hope so” Neilson replied “I love her so much” he said.
Bradley looked at Neilson sadly, while the guilt began to eat him up inside “Hope everything works out” he said
“Yeah me too” Neilson said to him, smiling softly.
