Match Made in Virginia [s. reid]

three

CHAPTER THREE
"I REALLY WISH YOU WERE HERE
RIGHT NOW, BEN."
( BAD DAY )

BEING AN ADULT WAS hard. There was nothing more tiring than waking up at the ass crack of dawn, working eight hours with teenagers, and then coming home to do more work such as grading papers, paying bills, and planning on making dinner until you realize your fridge and pantry had nothing you needed to make said dinner. Add a fifteen year old and a needy cat, and not having another adult living with you to help, it was nothing more difficult.

Natalie stared at her fridge that only had a half gallon of milk, an almost empty thing of orange juice, a couple things of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and various other random things that, if put together, would make something nasty. The pantry was no different, except there were mostly snacks and breakfast foods and drinks. Her mood worsened right then. The day had been terrible, to say the least, which she hated because it was Friday. The students didn't cooperate with her in the slightest, and they barely got through the lesson plans for each class because no one wanted to listen to her all because it was Friday. A person had also hit the back of her car that morning, making a large dent in the fender as well as making her late to work. Thankfully, Holly decided to take the bus to spend more time with Gina Forbes.

The only good thing to come out of the day was that it was officially the weekend once school was over for the day.

Natalie huffed and shut the fridge after glaring at it for a good minute, and slipped on some tennis shoes. She had changed the moment she got home into an old t-shirt of Ben's and jean shorts that had been stained with paint, so she just found the tennis shoes and put them on, letting her hair stay in the messy half-do. She found her purse, keys and phone, and walked to Holly's bed room. She knocked a few times before poking her head in.

"I'm going to the grocery store to get things for dinner, want anything specific for a later day?"

Holly looked up from reading. "No. But I'll text you if I think of anything," she said with a small smile. "Drive safely."

Natalie smiled, then, too and nodded. "Always," she promised. She let the smile fall from her face once the bedroom door was shut again, and she pushed back a few stray strands of hair as she walked to the front door, loving on Hamburger before leaving, locking the door behind her.

To make her day even worse, traffic was terrible. It was expected since it was rush hour, but to Natalie, it felt like it was worse than every other day. Someone nearly hit her again by pulling out in front of her and a few others, but thankfully no wreck happened and eventually, Natalie made it to the grocery store in once, stressed piece. She grabbed her things and turned off the engine of her car after finding a parking spot (which was hell, by the way), and locked the car as she made her way inside the grocery store. She got a buggy while walking in and put her purse in the seat that is usually used by little kids. The single mother then went on her way to get whatever she thought she needed for dinner and other days down the road.

It was stressful, only because there were lots of people and she was already stressed to a degree, no other reason. But she got it done after forty minutes of checking each aisle just to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything. A couple of times, she was pretty sure she saw Agent Jennifer Jareau from earlier that week, but dismissed it as her just imagine things, continuing on with her grocery shopping, eventually checking out after a decently long wait in line.

The bad day didn't stop there, unfortunately. Natalie unlocked her car and popper the trunk, carefully putting in the bags. Then she tried to close the trunk. Key word: tried. It would go all the way down but it wouldn't stay locked. In that moment, Natalie was ready to burst into tears from frustration and stress. She just wanted to go home, eat, and spend time with her daughter and their oddly named cat while How It's Made played on the TV. The woman puffed out her cheeks as she tried closing the trunk again, but just as before, it wouldn't. Natalie clenched her jaw and rested her hands on the hood of the trunk, leaning against it as she lowered her eyes and shut her eyes, keeping herself from publicly showing any frustration.