Datalie - if the world was ending

Chapter Twenty Five

David ran out of the hotel room and pushed the button for the elevator. He decided it was taking too long and ran for the stairs. Once he had made his way onto the busy streets of Chicago he stopped for a breathe.

Okay, Nat, where would you go?

They were in Chicago instead of Vernon Hills so that ruled out her parents house and most of their friends. He doubted she would leave the city. Ilya lived in the city. Maybe she went there? No, she wouldn't want to put Ilya in a position to pick sides.

Think David! Think! He thought to himself. He looked around the street to see if there was anything in the immediate area that Natalie would be drawn too.

What did Corinna say again? Natalie said she needed air. David remembered the time they took a field trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory for biology in junior year.

'Isn't it beautiful?' Natalie had asked from one of the rooms.

'Yeah it is,' David answered, but he hadn't been talking about the room.

'Sometimes it feels like this is the only place to breathe around here,' Natalie had admitted before moving on.

'TAXI!' David called out and jumped into the cab that came to a stop in front of him.

'Garfield Park Conservatory please!' David said and the taxi took off in its direction.

The ride took longer than David would have liked, but in reality it was only ten minutes.

I hope she's here! He thought to himself as he got out of the cab and ran toward the entrance. Once he paid, he ran to the room him and Natalie had talked in all those years ago.

As soon as he turned the corner he saw her sitting on a bench. Lost in thought hugging her knees up to her chest as she looked over the room. He approached her slowly and sat next to her, breaking her of her thoughts.

'How did you find me?' She asked, not looking at him.

'Corinna said you needed air. This is the only place to breathe around here.' He told her plainly. Staring at her and hoping she would look at him.

Natalie tilted her head up and David saw a tear fall from her eye.

'I can't believe you remembered that,' she said, finally turning her head and looking into his eyes.

'Look Nat, I'm so so so sorry,' David started and Natalie shook her head.

'Can we just sit for a minute?' She asked in a quiet voice.

'Please?' She added. David nodded his head and moved closer to her. Wanting her proximity but not wanting to upset her more.

Natalie scooted a little closer to him and David took it as a sign to close the remaining gap between them. He put his arm around her and Natalie leaned into him, her knees still up to her chest.

David places a kiss in her hair and the two sat, looking over the room. They could see the sun setting through the greenhouse walls and roof. The small pond in the middle of the room was calm, and the trees around it sat peacefully. David wasn't surprised no one else was there, it was a Friday night and there were other things the busy city found itself doing.

It was about fifteen minutes later when Natalie finally spoke.

'I made a video.' She stated.

'I know,' David said in return.

'I was going to post it, and surprise you.' She told him.

'I'm sorry,' he told her.

'I've been working on it for weeks,' she added and David felt his heart break.

'And I wanted to be the one who got to tell people, because I knew how important it was to you that people knew.' David had never felt worse. He stayed silent and waited for her to continue. It was several minutes before she spoke again.

'I don't want to do this,' Natalie started and was immediately cut off by David.

'No! Nat!' He started and Natalie held her hand up to stop him.

'I don't want to do this if your first instinct is to shut me out when something happens.' She finished her sentence and David let go of the breath he was holding.

'We've always been the person we go to when things go wrong for each other,' she started to talk again and some new tears fell.

'And if being in a relationship means I lose my best friend because he won't talk to me when something goes wrong I don't think I can do it,' she choked out through her tears and David reached up to wipe them away.

'I can't lose you, so if that is how you want to handle things I say we end it. Right here and now. While we can still salvage our friendship maybe. I love you David, but I need you in my life. Forever.' She finished talking and looked away from David and back to the room. She shifted away from him a little and David instantly missed the contact.

'Nat, I don't think I can ever just be your friend again,' David started and Natalie let out a little sob and covered her mouth.

'What I mean is, now that I know what it's like to be in a relationship with you, I don't think I would ever be satisfied without having you in my life like that.' He took a little pause and continued.

'I'm sorry my reaction was to shut you out. I just felt so hurt, and I didn't want to say something I would regret later. I know we talked about communication and being honest with each other. And I'm working on it I swear, just give me some time,' a tear ran down his face as he looked at Natalie.

'Please.' He moved closer to her again, but didn't touch her. They were almost at the end of the bench and soon Natalie would run out of room to put between them.

She didn't counter his movement towards her with one of her own moving away and David took that as a good sign.

'So where do we go from here?' She asked him.