Nathalie was wondering what was taking up Danny and Lisa's time. They were supposed to be here by 3, and now it's 30 minutes past. She was definitely going to give them a piece of her mind if they made it here an hour late.
She took out her phone and started to scroll through TikTok to kill time. Nowadays, she'd been a bit scared of going through the app after she and her boyfriend broke up two weeks ago. He had left her for a senior at their school, and the damn girl had made it her life mission to rub her new relationship all over social media.
"Bitch," Nathalie cursed as she rolled her eyes.
She hated the thought of Valentine walking away from her. They had always been together since the beginning of senior year and often hung out with Danny and Lisa for double dates at this restaurant twice a week after school if they didn't have anything planned.
But now, she regretted it. She regretted bringing him here to her favorite spot, and the thoughts of him smooching and being all touchy with that vixen Dina made her want to drag her well-manicured hands across the polished wooden table before her.
How dare he?!
"Hello Nathalie," came an angelic voice. Nathalie whipped her face up in surprise — she hadn't noticed Lisa and Daniel.
"Oh," she said, fixing her hair behind her ear. "Hello Lisa." She smiled before standing to give her a hug.
"How have you been?" Danny asked with a concerned tone.
"I'm fine," Nathalie said as she avoided his eyes. She knew her twin and his girlfriend were worried about her, but she couldn't bear the thought of them looking down on her in pity. She wanted them to continue to live their lives as it had once been — only that it wouldn't feel the same without Val.
"Sorry for being late," Danny continued. "We had a bit of an issue on our way."
"What happened?" Nathalie asked, genuinely curious.
"Nothing you should concern yourself about," Lisa replied with a smirk, and Danny started to blush. Nathalie got the message immediately.
"You shouldn't have said anything. That's absolutely disgusting," she gagged, rolling her eyes. Lisa started to laugh while Danny scratched his messy hair, embarrassed.
"Let's order something," he said immediately, trying to change the topic.
After an hour, they drove to a small thicket with a lake. Valentine and his cousin had discovered the place when they went on a walk with some of their friends. Then he showed it to Nathalie when they first started dating, after which they both introduced it to Danny. And when Danny met Lisa, they all agreed that she should be introduced to it as well. So it became their second favorite place to hang out as a group. It was hidden, the water was beautiful, and they could swim in it. They all loved the place because it gave off ethereal vibes and not many people really knew about it, so they considered it their spot.
They'd had fun memories there. Sometimes Valentine would fulfill Nathalie's weird fantasy about making love under a tree. She said it made her feel like she was in a book — or whatever she meant. But to be fair, there was this special bond they had whenever they did it. Being all alone, skin rubbing against skin, hair sprawled out on the grass like she was some earth goddess, and her view being the beautiful blue sky instead of a damn ceiling. And Valentine being over her with his handsome face hidden at the crook of her neck while he gave his gentle but powerful ministrations. She could moan as loudly as she wanted without caring about her neighbors hearing her.
But now, she thought sadly, as her eyes fell on the tree she and Val had those wonderful moments under, "I suppose it's all in the past," she whispered softly to herself.
"What did you say?" Danny said behind the wheel.
"Nothing," she said, snapping back into reality. She hadn't noticed how long she had been staring or how much she had tried to ignore the pang of pain that came with the memories. She felt her heart hurt.
"Are you alright, Nathalie?" Daniel implored, looking worried this time. He knew how much the breakup affected Nathalie, but each time he wanted to console her or try to talk to her about it, she shied away from the conversation and made small talk instead. His heart broke each time he saw Nathalie zone off or go quiet.
He played some songs of her favorite K-POP idols, but she was too zoned out to listen or even vibe along. He and Lisa had looked at each other, but since she wasn't ready to talk to any of them about it yet, they let her be. They knew she would talk to them once she felt ready enough to do so.