"Hey Nat, ooh, you're not looking so good, bad day?" Bill, the owner, asked upon seeing her face.
"You can't even imagine" she said sadly.
"Sorry to hear it, what can I get you?" he asked.
"Whatever chocolate you have on the premises I'll take it and lots of it" she said.
"How's the uh chocolate molten lava sundae sound?" he asked.
"Hive me three" she said.
He chuckled "I'll see what I can do" he said.
"Thanks" she said hopping up on to a stool. She set her phone on the counter she went through the pictures on her phone, looking at them sadly. She pressed on Neilson's name in her contact list, her finger hovered over the call button when she finally pressed the home button.
"Hey Bill can I get..." Bradley said when she turned around to face him.
"Hey" she said to him, he glared at her in response.
"Hey Bradley J. , order's almost ready kid" Bill said sliding Natalie a sundae glass of chocolate ice cream covered in chocolate syrup, hunks of chocolate resting on top.
"Okay" he said as he moved over to the jukebox.
Natalie stood up from her seat and walked over to him "Hey" she said.
"Hello" he responded coldly.
"Getting food for Neilson?" she asked.
"What's it to you?" he asked.
"How is he?" she asked sadly.
"You really want to know?" he asked "He spent half the night literally crying on my shoulder, but what do you care?" Bradley said to her.
"Can you please not be this way?" she asked "I could use aa friend right now" she said.
"Oh I'm sorry, you break my best friend's heart and you expect me to be not only okay with it but also expect sympathy?" he asked.
"Bradley..." she said.
"No, don't okay, I don't want to hear your lame excuses for putting Neilson through emotional hell, he's devastated and I can't stand watching him be in that much pain because of you."
"Bradley, order up" Bill said setting a paper bag and two styrofoam cups on the counter.
"I got to go" he said going up to the counter and grabbing his order.
"Bradley..." she said as he walked out the door and left.
Kyle came down the kitchen steps looking behind him in confusion "What is going on up there?" he asked Adam thrusting his thumb backwards.
"I don't know, but Neilson's really hitting his limit on sappy break up music" Adam said irritated.
"Break up music...wait, did he and Nat break up?" Kyle asked.
"Turn it down!" Harry bellowed up the stairs as he came down into the kitchen. "Man, what is with him?" he asked "I can't get any work in my lab done because of sobfest 2010 up there" Harry said.
"Sobbing? Neilson is crying?" Kyle asked.
"That's what it sounded like, I mean I couldn't really tell over the music but I guess that's what it was" Harry said to him.
The backdoor opened and Bradley came inside, balancing the two cups and the food bag in his hand.
"Maybe we'll finally get some answers" Kyle said "Hey, what's going on with Neilson?" he asked Bradley.
"You guys didn't hear?" Bradley asked.
"Hear what?" Harry asked "All I hear is late 80's hair metal ballads" he said.
"Nat broke up with Neilson last night" Bradley said sadly.
"What?" Adam asked.
"I was afraid of that" Kyle said.
"She say why?" Harry asked.
"She basically gave him the old 'it's not you it's me' routine" Bradley said.
"Oh what the hell" Adam said angrily.
"Man poor Neilson" Kyle said "He must be crushed" he said in a sympathetic tone.
"Worst than that, I was up with him all last night" Bradley said.
"Yeah I bet you were Bradley" Adam said smirking.
He and Kyle looked at him irritated "I got to get this food to Neilson, Kyle? You mind?" Bradley asked going towards the stairs.
"Yeah sure" Kyle said punching Adam hard in the arm "Damn it Bradley!" he said irritated, rubbing the spot on his arm where Kyle punched him.
"Hey" Bradley said going into Neilson's room, he lied back on his bed, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head.
"Hey" Neilson said pulling it off.
"Got you cookies and cream milkshake" Bradley said handing him a styrofoam cup, he smiled a bit and took it.
"Thanks" he said.
Bradley unpacked the food from the bag "I uh...I saw Nat" Bradley said reluctantly, Neilson looked at him.
"How is she?" he asked unwrapping a burger.
"Alright I guess" Bradley said to him "She asked about you" he said.
"Huh" Neilson said "What'd you tell her?" he asked.
"I told her the truth" Bradley said shrugging.
Neilson nodded "What'd she say?" he asked.
"She said she was sorry" Bradley said taking a bite from his burger.
"You yell at her?" he asked smirking.
"Course I did" Bradley said as they smiled at each other.
"Thanks" Neilson said to him, they bumped their fists together and went on eating.
"Hey, I came as fast as I could, what's going on with Neilson?" Sasha asked coming into the house.
"Nat broke up with him" Nick said to her.
She gasped "No" she said "What?" she asked.
"Yeah" Nick said.
"No" she said sadly "Why?" she asked.
"Well they were fighting a lot..." Nick said to her.
"Couples fight, that's nothing new" Sasha said.
"She told him that if they stayed together and kept fighting they would just end up hating each other and she didn't want that to happen to them" Nick said.
"Oh please, that is such a cop out" she said angrily "My poor baby, is he okay?" she asked.
"Course not" Nick said.
"How bad is it?" she asked.
"He's completely wrecked, Nat was his first real girlfriend, his first love, he's heartbroken" Nick said.
She sighed deeply "I knew this would happen one day, I just...how do we get him through this?" she asked.
"I think we just need to give him space, he'll be alright" he said.
"How do you know so much about this?" she asked surprised.
"Because I've been through it...A LOT" he said "and yeah some aren't that bad but some are soul crushing, sometimes you don't think you can go on" he said to her.
"I know" she said "Our poor little boy" she said. "I'm going to go talk to him" she said going towards the stairs.
"I think he just wants some space right now, Bradley's up there with him, he's got it covered".
"Well thank god for Bradley, he's such a good friend, I'm sure he'll be able to help Neilson more than we can" she said.
"So...how do you feel now?" Bradley asked as he and Neilson sat on the floor against his bed.
"I'm numb" he said "I guess I just wish I understood more" he said.
"Women" Bradley said.
"Tell me about it" Neilson said.
"Hey" Bradley said nodding to him.
"What?" Neilson asked.
"Want to go get wasted?" Bradley asked him.
Neilson turned towards him "Yes, thank you, let's do that!" Neilson said.
Night fell, Bradley's headlights shone in the dark as he parked his car ontop of a hillside overlooking the entire town. He and Neilson got out and went to the trunk, the trunk opened and a cooler sat inside, Bradley pulled the lid open and handed Neilson and bottle before taking one himself.
"Wow, how'd you know about this place?" Bradley asked as they sat on the hood of his car.
"Nat and I used to come up here sometimes" Neilson said.
"This is awesome" Bradley said sliding on to the hood next to him, Neilson pried the cap off the bottle.
"Cheers" Neilson said as he and Bradley clinked the bottles together, they both took a drink.
