Push & Gravity

4

Javier blamed her— Of course, he did.

Natalia understood it, to a point. If anyone had done to her what she'd done to him, she probably wouldn't want to hear from them again either, even less work with them. So she understood that he was antagonistic during most of their group meetings and didn't want her on this plan and sought excuses to get her out of it.

Or at least she did, for a time. But this failure had definitely not been her fault— How was she supposed to know a car would pick up their target out of nowhere? Javier didn't know. Hell, Sofía, the detective brain, didn't know! He couldn't blame it on her trying to speak to him (What an awful thing! She tried to start a conversation when she found the opportunity because otherwise he always avoids her! Burn her at the stake!) because that car would've appeared whether she opened her mouth or not.

That wasn't it though. Nono, what really ticked her off was how attentively he watched Sofía every time she shared theories or formulated a plan. How he hung at every word she said while she told them what they would do next. How he called her brilliant and trusted her completely, even though her plans had proven to not be foul-proof, and how he had a tendency of getting close to her to reassure her every time Sofía was feeling worried or anxious or whatever.

They were all worried, anxious, and afraid— That came with the territory of dealing with psychopaths and potential killers.

And it just continued to happen. Natalia could notice it every time Javier and Sofía were in the same room— Which happened to be Javier's room most often than not lately, because they'd realized the guys they were after were very fucking dangerous, and a house with glass walls didn't make them feel safe anymore.

Worst of all, if Natalia looked back, this thing came from much earlier. Maybe it'd even started the moment Javier got to their school and started hanging out with Sofía, but she'd just barely noticed at the time because she didn't care back then. Hell— She even asked him about it! That night. And what did he say? Nothing. He kept quiet like a fucking coward.

The more she added things up, the more annoyed she got— Rightfully, she might add— and it wasn't very long until she no longer justified Javier's harsh attitude towards her.

So, the next time he jabbed her with cold words, she stayed behind after Sofía and Raúl had left, and she didn't hold her tongue anymore.

"You know, you act all high and mighty, but the night you invited me over was the same night that Pablo photographed Sofía with Raúl and Gerry," she accused with all the fire of her indignation. "Are you gonna tell me that's a coincidence?"

Javier paused mid-moving a few things on the evidence board and turned to look at her. "...It had nothing to do with that."

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. You just called me out of spite, right? You fucked me because the one you really wanted didn't want to fuck you."

"Stop it, Natalia," he said curtly, a warning in his tone. "Sofía and I are just friends."

"God, Javier, everyone knows how you look at her," she rebuked, giving him a pointed, annoyed look because he knew it was true. "...I thought I had meant something for you, but clearly not."

"Don't." Javier crossed the room and got on her face, a finger pointing at her accusingly. "Don't turn this on me. You were the one who went behind my back and made out with my dad."

"To not get killed, not because I wanted to!"

"I don't care," he said coldly, and turned around, putting distance between them once again.

Natalia stood staring at him, watching him ignore her and act like she didn't exist for the umpteenth time in weeks, and as she did so, it finally dawned on her with aching certainty what was really going on.

"You're using it as an excuse." Javier looked at her again. "Now that Sofía is angry at Raúl, you think she's gonna give you a chance— That's why you want nothing to do with me." She got on his face; anger, hurt, and spite building up a storm inside of her. "Well, you know what? It's not gonna work out as you think. Sofía is gonna keep you as her lap dog forever, and I am not going to be anyone's second choice."

She grabbed her bag and jacket and left quickly without looking back.

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Even with the ache in her heart, it came to her at that moment, as strongly as the stomping of her feet down the street, that it felt good to be the one to turn her back on him for once.

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For the following days, Natalia questioned what the hell she was doing.

She had felt responsible for what was happening— it'd all started for the money used on her after all— so she had wanted to help, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't hope that doing so would make Javier forgive her.

(And wasn't that just so pathetic of her.)

Now though, it was clear to her that, regardless of whether or not he forgave her, his feelings were somewhere else.

She considered just dropping the whole thing. Let the other three handle the investigations and the plans and all that. A big part of her wanted to say screw it, act like the selfish, superficial girl most still believed her to be, and lock herself in her room. Last year, she would have.

But she didn't. She kept spinning theories in her head, gathering information, working to find whoever was behind this day after day after day. Because she liked what she was doing. She liked that, for once, she wasn't making trouble but helping solve them. She was useful and doing something good, something that mattered for once in her life, and she'd be damned if she let anything take that away from her.

So Javier didn't like her, so what? She didn't care about that anymore.

...Didn't she?

...

..

.