Coming Back Home

Chapter 8

My eyes widened as I turned back to face the door. I grabbed the handle and shook it, but nothing happened. She was definitely right, we were stuck.

"What, did you think I was lying to you??" She snidely asked.

"No - I don't know, I panicked okay? Damn, give me a break," I said.

She rolled her eyes at me and leaned her back against the wall.

"Well this is just great," she said.

"I'm assuming people don't come down this way very often?" I asked.

"You assumed correctly," she responded.

"So uh, what do we do?" I asked.

"Wait until we hear someone coming this way I guess, until someone can come and fix your mistake," she said.

"Seriously Natalie? Why would I have known that the door was going to lock behind me? You could've told me that in the first place," I said in an irritated voice.

Natalie shook her head at me but she didn't respond. She slid down the wall slowly and sat on the floor.

"Might as well make yourself comfortable, it's going to be a while I'm sure," she said.

I looked around at the confined space, and the only place to sit was directly across from her. I tried to keep as much space in between us as possible, but there really wasn't much.

I began to smell her familiar perfume again as I leaned my head back against the wall. It sounded weird, but it almost had a calming effect on me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to stay as relaxed as I could. I wasn't expecting Natalie to say much, which would make our time stuck in here seem even longer.

A few minutes passed, and the only sound in the room was the whirring of the computers and control panels around us. Part of me wanted to try and start a conversation, but I was tired of failing at that.

I began to tap my fingers against the floor, making a quiet noise as I fidgeted.

"What are you doing?" Natalie asked me in a much calmer voice than I was used to.

I picked my head up and looked at her.

"Oh so you can speak to me like a decent human being," I said sarcastically.

Natalie narrowed her eyes at me and I kept my gaze on her.

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

"Oh sure you don't," I said as I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back again.

I wasn't going to play this game anymore.

"You know," Natalie said after a few minutes of silence, "it's not what you think it is."

I picked my head up again and looked at her.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked.

"What happened in high school..." Natalie hesitated, "is not what you think."

She put her head down and looked at the floor.

This was more than I had gotten out of her since I started, and I knew I had to be careful with how I responded.

"Why don't you just explain it to me then? Because I honestly have no idea what to think," I said, "didn't know then and I don't know now."

Natalie shook her head and looked like she immediately regretted saying anything.

"No, just forget that I said anything. It doesn't matter now," she said.

For a brief moment, Natalie looked like my old best friend, but I could tell this vulnerable side of her wouldn't last long.