Datalie - if the world was ending

Chapter Eight

When David woke up the next morning he was alone in his bed. Memories of the night before swirled in his mind as he pieced together everything that happened. The last thing he remembered clearly was leaving the party with Natalie.

He never should have left Natalie's side. He would have rather let it slip about their relationship then let those girls close to him. David got out of bed and made his way to Natalie's bedroom.

He knocked on the door but there was no answered. He slowly opened the door and saw that there was no one inside. Her bed was neatly made and he smiled at that. Okay, so she slept in my bed with me. That's a good sign.

David: hey Nat, where are you?

Natalie: I had a personal training sessions this morning and now I'm just running some errands. I think Carly and Erin mentioned they were coming by to shoot with you later so I probably won't see you until tonight.

David: tonight? I was really hoping we would get to talk before Ilya got here...

Natalie: sorry

David sighed as he read her last text. He began writing a response and then deleted it. He began again, and once again deleted it. Finally he settled on what to say.

David: we're okay right? I mean with everything last night?

Natalie: 👍🏻

Natalie knew she wasn't being the nicest in her texts to David. She couldn't help but feel a bit hurt about what happened last night. It didn't really make sense to her that David would choose her over girls who looked like that in the first place. She knew she needed to talk to David about it instead of being passive aggressive over text, but she needed a day to cool down and collect her thoughts.

Several hours had passed and Natalie was surprised at how busy she managed to stay. One errand led to another and before she knew it, it was 7 o'clock at night. She was just about to get in her car to go home when her phone rang.

'Hello?' Natalie answered.

'Hey Nat! Just calling to check in after everything last night.'

'Hey Jeff. Yup all good. Sorry to leave you stranded as the only sober one.'

'No problem.' There was a slight pause before Jeff continued.

'Hey listen... I don't know what's going on with you and David. He mentioned something about not being single while he was pushing those girls away and telling them to stop when they tried to kiss him. But,'

'He pushed them away?' Natalie interrupted.

'Yeah, I mean I thought he was going to puke. He had such a look of disgust on his face. It was pretty funny actually. Really put those girls in their place. Anyways,'

'Jeff, I'm going to need to call you back,' Natalie interrupted again and hung up the phone. She couldn't help the smile that worked it's way onto her face. She really needed to talk to David.

Natalie got in her car and drove straight home. When she pulled in she noticed David's Tesla wasn't there but the lights in the house were on.

That's weird. Natalie thought to herself as she got out of her car and made her way to the garage door.

'DAVE?' She called out while closing the door.

'DAVID? I really need to talk to you!' She yelled again and rounded the corner towards the living room.

Just as she turned the corner, smooth jazz started playing and she noticed rose petals in a path on the floor leading to the backyard. A smile broke out on her face as she followed the path.

David must feel so bad to do all this. She thought as she followed the rose petals. When she got into the backyard she was met with Jason holding a camera and Natalie became slightly confused. She walked a little bit closer and noticed David wasn't outside at all. It was Ilya.

'NATALIE! I have loved you for as long as I've known you!' Ilya started with a shout. Jason snickered as he kept moving his camera between Ilya and Natalie. Natalie slowly approached where Ilya was standing with a bouquet of roses and a bag of portillos.

She looked around with a confused look on her face while Ilya continued.

'I don't know what I did to deserve an angel like you in my life, but I would do it a thousand times over if it meant I got to keep you in it.'

Natalie kept looking around the yard, and right when Ilya was about to continue his speech, Natalie interrupted him.

'Where's David?' She asked. Immediately she realized that was the wrong thing to say as she watched Ilya a face fall.

'I don't know, he was suppose to be here to film but wasn't here when I told him to be...' Ilya said.

Jason made an awkward cough, and stopped filming.

'Uh, I'm just going to head inside...' Jason stuttered out.

'Ilya,' Natalie started. She grabbed his hands and led him to the fire pit area to sit down.

'I do love you. You're one of the best friends I've ever had. But,' Ilya sighed and hung his head, knowing what was coming.

'But you don't love me the way I love you.' Ilya said back. Not even a question. More like a statement he wished wasn't true.

'It's David isn't it?' He finally asked. After a couple minutes of silence.

'What do you mean?' Natalie asked back.

'Nat, come on. Don't lie to me. You like David right? I see the way you look at him when you think no one is looking. The way you've always looked at him. I guess I just hoped that you looked at me that way when I wasn't looking too.'

Natalie's heart broke at Ilya's confession. She got up from her chair and leant down next to Ilya to hug him.

'Il, I have to tell you something....'

Jason looked on from out the big sliding doors at Ilya and Natalie talking. He thought it wasn't going to go well but Natalie just hugged Ilya and now she was talking all excited with a big smile plastered on her face. He was just considering starting to film again when he was startled by a voice.

'Fuck, did I miss it? I got back as soon as I could, but I lost track of time,' David said as he ran up to stand beside Jason at the sliding doors.

'Yeah man, I think it went well too! Look how happy Natalie is!' Jason said. David looked out at Ilya and Natalie. The sun was setting and it was like a perfect picture. Ilya had his back towards them but he was holding roses and Natalie had a massive smile while she talked excitedly with her hands.

'I'm really tired Jace, I'm just going to head to bed. Tell everyone they're welcome to stay here and hang out but not to bother me, okay?' David said with a sad expression.

'Of course, Dave. You okay?' Jason asked in return.

'Fucking great.' David replied sarcastically.