How to Forget

what a legend

"You know, you really shouldn't play games with your girlfriend," I inform Nat.

Too comfortable to get up and put on some music, we're lying on my bed as the strobe lights swim slowly around the room without a beat to guide them. We don't care, though, as the drum of each other's heartbeats is music enough.

"Why not? She's playing games with me."

"You claim to be dating her, yet you just kissed me, and you haven't indicated in any way that you regretted it."

That's a good sign for me that he doesn't regret kissing me, but I value honesty, and I'd rather not be a secret in front of the girl he's actually dating, even if it's just for the public's sake or for a high school cliché.

Nat doesn't respond for a couple seconds, and then shifts from his position on the bed to grab his phone.

Confused, I sit up as well. "What are you doing?"

"I've made my choice," he says while dialing a number on his phone and subsequently pressing it to his ear before deciding to lower it back down and put it on speaker so that I can hear.

I only watch to see what he's up to.

"Nat, baby, hi!" I recognize the voice as that of Tessa Shay, his unfaithful girlfriend who is about to be nothing more than an acquaintance or less.

I start to freak out, but I am forced to reduce my anxiety to a silent struggle so that Tessa does not hear me and focus on why the other man is in the room as she's being broken up with. I didn't realize I would have to be here for this confrontation. Nat sure is impulsive.

"Hey, Tessa, I've come to the conclusion that I'm really keen on banging Link Jeffreys, so if we could no longer be an item, that would be great."

Nat is impulsive and very direct, it appears. He's even nonchalant about it all. I would say I admire him for these qualities, but I don't think they would work so well for me. I would probably end up in trouble often.

"I'm sorry, what?" Tessa stammers.

"You heard me." Nat glances at my gaping face out of the corner of his eye. "Link Jeffreys gets me all hot and bothered, and having you around is an obstacle."

"You mean to tell me you're putting me second to the amnesia kid?" Her tone leaks acerbity from its brittle skin, but Nat is unaffected by it as always.

"Yep."

Tessa isn't too thrown off by this, though. "You know, Nat, you are so two-faced and pathetic."

This would kick the air out of my lungs, but Nat only holds up his act. "I have no clue what you mean."

If I were Tessa and I were hearing this as late at night as it is, I would be losing my shit because of how frustrating Nat is being, with his purposely coy approach, but coming from my position, I'm thoroughly entertained.

"You know exactly what I mean, and that's why I'm not going to get into it at one o'clock in the morning, because I'm sure that's when you think about it the most."

This is where Nat's façade crumbles, where he struggles to hang onto the upper hand in the conversation. "Tessa--" His eyes are stained with fright.

"But no, that's okay," she says, ignoring the panicked boy on the other line. "I'll let you make your reparations."

"Tessa, you--"

She hangs up abruptly.

Nat sighs, defeated.

"What was she talking about?" I inquire timidly.

Nat smiles warmly, but it's also a smile to dismiss my worries in a tactful manner. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Nat, come on," I persist, but he interrupts me like he always does.

"I gotta get back home, or else my dad will go apeshit." He leans down to sow a kiss upon my lips, and I attempt to deepen it so that he'll stay longer, but it is over too soon despite my efforts. His hand brushes my cheek. "I'll see you at school." And just like that, he has exited my room.

I scramble out of my bed and to the window to see Nat depart in his shiny black car concealed in the night sky, my heart overflowing with warmth. But no matter how much adoration I feel for him, there is always the notion that there is something he isn't telling me.

~~~~~

A/N: sauvauge

~Dakoooooooooota