The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Wrapping the Present

Previously: "Taking the Right Path" 

[Text by rugal]

You don't really know Genevieve—even from the few days you spent in Natalie's mask—and while you appreciate Natalie trying to do what you assume she thinks is a solid for you, you can't really say you're all that interested in meeting with her. Besides, even if you did meet up with her you're not sure if you could actually do anything without clearing all of this stuff with Natalie up first. You want to know where you stand with her and you want to... well, you're not sure. But you know that you want to talk to her before doing anything else. So you text her back.

i'll think about it, is all you send her. That doesn't seem to be a satisfactory answer.

cmon will! i need 2 give her answr!

You ponder for a moment but you can only think to be bluntly honest. i'm not intrested today. maybe tmrrw.

o kay ill tell her.

You wait a few minutes but don't receive another message from her.

You head home but you're not there for long after before you start to feel restless and resolve to find Natalie. You leave, telling your mom that a friend messaged you asking you to hang out. You barely hear her response before you're out the door and into your truck. With determination you make your way to Natalie's, where you nervously ring the doorbell. You're greeted by her mother and feel yourself begin to sweat.

"Is... Natalie here?" you ask with tepid nervousness after she greets you and asks what you're looking for. "I'm, uh, Will."

"No she's not," her mother says to your surprise. "Actually, she called to say that she would be home later since she was going to be with some friends after school."

"Huh?" you reply dumbfounded. "But she told me that she was grounded."

"Grounded? Oh dear, no," replies Natalie's mother with amusement. But she must notice something about you because she adopts a more concerned tone. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

"No, not..." You trail off because it's not like you can say anything about the masks or book. But there's a warm and, well, motherly vibe radiating from her. She's far less intense than Natalie's father. So you decide to hedge things. "We just got caught up in something with her friends and, uh, I think our wires got crossed somewhere because we haven't talked for a few days."

"You know, she has been extra mopey all weekend," states Mrs. Dawkins. "Actually, she hadn't mentioned you and all and got very touchy when I asked her, which I certainly found odd seeing as she'd take every opportunity to tell me about you."

That stuns you and you feel a large pit form in your stomach. You definitely need to talk to Natalie now. "I see, thanks," you say simply. "I'll try to get in touch with her again."

You say goodbye and then head back to your truck. As you do, you send another text to Natalie.

i was at ur place. i kno ur not grounded. we need to talk. plz!!!!

You're pulling out onto the main round when your phone dings and you pull into the parking lot of a nearby coffee shop to see the message. ok. meet me @ the public library, it says.

* * * * *

You look around as you enter the library and figuring that if she's anywhere, it's going to be the tables where people tend to congregate to study, you head over there. Your hunch is proven right when you see her red hair from a mile away. "Hey," you say as slip into the seat beside her.

"Hey yourself," she says though she looks at her phone instead of looking up at you. An awkward silence falls over you before she breaks it. "So you're not interested in Genny?"

"I don't know. It's not like I know her," you answer honestly. But you didn't come here to talk to her about Genevieve. "Look, I'm sorry," you admit. That causes Natalie to finally turn her attention to you.

"For what?" she asks.

"For leaving you back there on Friday and then blowing you off all weekend."

"It's not your fault," she says to your surprise. "You're pissed at me."

"I'm not—"

"I fucked everything up," she continues, "so you're definitely pissed. You and... and Gilly and..."

She starts to sniffle and on instinct you place your hand on her back and rub it. "I'm not pissed at you," you insist. "I was a little upset in the moment, that's true. But really, I just was too stunned by everything that had happened to think straight, I guess. I thought maybe it'd be good to get a little distance and catch my breath but—"

"But I'm just a fuck up, Will!" she cries. "I'm dumb and immature and I just fuck everything up! My best friend hates me now and you totally do hate me, too! I get that you're trying to be nice but..." She trails off and looks up at you and you can see that her eyes are red and wet.

"Look, I don't think Gillian hates you. I mean she's upset, but—"

You stop because that seems to get no response. Natalie's understandably upset and you hate seeing her like this. You think back to that conversation you had with Gillian at school and you know that the only way out of this with any sort of relationship intact with Natalie is to be honest. So you gather up the courage and then allow yourself to speak.

"Natalie, I'm not pissed, I'm really not, and I don't hate you, either. In fact," you pause as you pull her in and wrap your arms tightly around her. "I like you, Natalie. Yeah, you're impulsive and pigheaded but you're fun and sweet and being around you has honestly helped make things more enjoyable." You gulp but you know what you have to say next. You've built up too much steam now to just fizzle out. "I want to keep hanging out with you and talking and doing things together and," again you give a nervous pause, "I want you to go out with me."

Natalie pushes back from you and stares at you. Her eyes, still red, are wide and her cheeks look as red as her eyes. She says nothing for a moment before she grabs your shirt collar, yanks you forward and places her lips against yours. The kiss—your first kiss!—is very sloppy and awkward as the two of you fumble around, neither one having a clue as to what you're doing or even when to stop. That only comes when you hear someone loudly clear their throat and break off to see one of the employees glowering at you.

The both of you apologize and decide to head out. Natalie says she'll treat you to some coffee and the two of you head out of the library holding hands.

* * * * *

Unfortunately, your new relationship gets off to a bit of a bumpy start when your dad, unhappy with your grades, doesn't technically ground you but does take away your phone privileges for a week over the whole mess with the report. Turns out that you couldn't even get that D grade. You have to tell Gillian to tell Natalie (against her judgment) about it so that Natalie doesn't think that you're blowing her off.

"At least you're still talking to her," she huffs.

"More than that, actually," you admit. "We kind of agreed to go out. I know you're probably still pissed at her and I wouldn't tell you to talk to her otherwise but, uh, it's important. I don't want to screw things up with her right out of the gate."

Gillian studies you for a moment and her face breaks into a smirk. "You're right, I'm still pissed at her," she says, "but I'm happy about being right so I'll do you this favor, just this once."

The upshot of asking Gillian to do that is that it ends up starting the thawing out process between her and Natalie.

What also helps is a few weeks later when Gillian shows up to study hall in a somewhat confused state. Braydon, she said, had told her yesterday that he'd gotten an opportunity to "study things" though he was vague about it. Unfortunately it was out of state but he just couldn't pass up a chance like this. Soon after that conversation, he just disappeared. Nobody really knew where and the rumor was that it had something to do with some guys from Eastman's basketball team who also just up and vanished at around the same time.

Gillian tried to maintain a long distance relationship with him but eventually realized it wasn't going to work and at some point the two stopped talking. But Natalie—who, to your surprise, wasn't gloating—was there to offer her a shoulder and things between the two began improving significantly from then on.

As for Natalie, she's mellowed out only a little but you're fine with that. You like her for who she is, after all.

In fact, dating her meant hanging around the comic shop more where you were able to score a part time job helping out Eric. Not quite the job at Salopek your dad had pushed on you months earlier but he was at least glad to see you earning your own money. Welcome to the world of being an adult, he'd said when you told him.

And it's good that you're earning your own money too because Christmas is coming up and you're at the mall with Gillian. Ostensibly, she's looking to get something for the new guy that she started dating only a few weeks ago, but she's also there to help you find something for Natalie. Of course, you don't tell her that Natalie already gave you something—or maybe it's more accurate to say that she took something—last weekend when the two of you had gone out to the Warehouse with friends.

There's been intermingling between your two friend groups since you and Natalie started dating. Genevieve, at one point during that outing, even pulled you aside and asked you to set her up with Carson, claiming that he was "really interesting".

You're also excited because Natalie said she's working on "something big" and wanted to show you stuff from the sketchbook that she closely guards. So as a sign of both gratitude and encouragement, you feel like you should put the money that you've been saving to good use and get your girlfriend something really nice.

Next: Coming soon! Check back!

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"