My League - Drew Starkey

chapter thirty four.

MALLORY'S POV

I messaged Natalie on Instagram the night Drew told me everything.

That was two nights ago.

It was now Tuesday night and I was currently sitting alone in the booth of a restaurant as I waited for Natalie to join me. The longer I sat here, the more anxious I felt myself become. I wanted to rip the bandaid off. I wanted to confront her one last time and never look back. I knew in my heart this was the end of her stupid game, we all knew it. But my mind was circulating thoughts of this not being the end. What if she doesn't quit? What if she  continues to harass us for the rest of our lives? I couldn't think like that. This was the end, and I knew it.

The last  thing I wanted to do was to come face to face with her again, but this had to be done. Mainly because I wanted to see the look on her face when I unfolded everything out in front of her. The idea of seeing this bitch in person one last time caused me to tremble under my skin. I was not a confrontational person, so addressing this to her was a huge step for me. 

To ease my nerves and my  racing thoughts, I looked over to my left and saw Drew, Chase, and  Mads sitting with Elaine on the other side of the restaurant. Yes, Elaine, Rudy's ex-girlfriend. She was the one who texted Chase the other night. She was the one helping us get back at Natalie. This wouldn't be possible without her, so it only felt right for her to join us.

My boyfriend and friends waved to me and I felt myself instantly relax at the familiar sight of them. Drew sent me a thumbs ups and his lips read you got this. He was right, I do got this. It was all of us against the wicked witch of the west and my friends made sure I knew of one thing, I wasn't alone in this. Their support meant the world to me and I knew for a fact I couldn't do this without them.

Over the course of the last week and a half, I've dealt with the embarrassment of being publicly humiliated, the fear of losing the love of my life, and the pressure of possibly ruining careers. This was one of the toughest times I've had to go through mentally, but Drew wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't going anywhere. He stuck beside me throughout this whole thing, as well as Mads and all of our friends, and I couldn't imagine going through this with anyone else.

Snapping back into reality, I remembered that Natalie would be arriving any second. I didn't want her to see me looking over at Drew when she approached me, so I looked down at my phone to occupy myself. As I began to answer an encouraging text from Drew, I heard the familiar, squeaky voice that could cause my ears to bleed.

Here we go.

"Mallory," Natalie made her presence known and I looked up at her to see her fake smiling as she slid into the booth.

"Hey," I forced a smile. "Sorry, I just have to answer this." I pretended to type out a message, but I went into my voice memo app instead. It may have been illegal for me to record our conversation without her consent, but I was determined to get her to admit everything on recording. And also because my friends wanted to hear this conversation. I pressed record and placed my phone on the seat next to me. "Thanks for meeting up with me tonight, Natalie." I addressed, making her name known in the recording.

"Of course." She nodded.

"You told me you were already in Charleston, right?" I asked her, setting up our conversation.

"That's right." She answered.

"What brought you to town?" I took a sip of my water as I waited for her response.

"I was finishing up a project last week when I saw that nasty article was released about you. I decided to stay in town a little longer just in case Drew needed the company."