Datalie One Shots

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Tensions were running high as quarantine had just been extended in LA. The virtual engagements like zoom meetings with colleges they had planned to visit before all this started and the multitude of graduation live streams hosted by a plethora of companies kept David and Natalie busy but nonetheless, they both felt on edge. 

Natalie walked into David's room like most mornings the past few weeks trying to get him out of bed. Noon seemed to be the earliest she could convince him to wake up so that they could hop on a few phone meetings and finish the day by posting a few tik toks or Instagram stories. To both of their surprise, anything they posted was getting immense engagement only encouraging them to keep filming quirky stories or humorous tik toks that inevitably ended with Natalie somehow getting soaking wet. 

David had so many things planned for the summer; his engagement was sky rocketing and his socials were through the roof and the only thing stopping him right now was the quarantine. Natalie was doing her best to get David involved in any project she felt he was a good fit for but everything coming his way seemed to pale compared to what he had originally planned. 

"David, let's go! It's almost 12:30 and we have a meeting with Jack and the podcast company at 1:00." 

"Nat , 10 more minutes please, I'll be up I promise," David whines back but Natalie knows those 10 minutes are different from the ones that most of us run on. She goes over closer to grab a pillow that was sitting a few feet away from him and chucks it at his head. Gently of course. 

With a groan and a few hurtful words mumbled under his breathe, he makes his way to the bathroom and Natalie leaves the room satisfied with how quickly she was able to get him out of his bed. 

Thirty minutes later he emerges from his room and Taylor hands him his green tea. It was one of the few things he had grown to accustomed to and liked having something warm to sip on as he prepped for the day. He glanced at his white board realizing that all the ideas were pertaining to his vlog he had just posted giving out gifts to people around the LA area. The response had been satisfying but he was eager to move on and work on the next project but there was something he had to do before they delved into the next thing.

"Nat, can we talk for a minute? Alone?"

It was definitely out of character for David to want to talk to Natalie alone especially since Taylor has become a huge part of their team. Besides, Natalie liked having Taylor whenever David was planning something so that if she missed anything, Taylor would be there to tie the loose ends. They walked into her room and she sat on her bed and David followed sitting on the edge. She could tell he was averting her gaze and trying to find something to lead the conversation with.

"I want to apologize for my attitude recently. I know I've been a hard ass this whole time but I'm just having trouble processing the whole situation we're in. Everything I've been planning for this summer was suddenly thrown out the window and I've been having trouble coping with not having someone of something to blame." 

Natalie was stunned. In the three years of working with him, she had never heard David apologize to her. Nor did she want him to. Natalie took pride in the fact that she could separate her work from her friendship with David. Anything he said during a stressful shoot or a an argument regarding the business, she made it a priority to not take it personally. After all, they were both fighting to make David's brand grow. 

He continued, "I know you're trying your best to keep things going around here and I'm going to try to be more cognizant of that. It's just that I-" 

"It's fine David, you don't have to apologize for anything. I get it, I'm frustrated too but whatever we do, we gotta do as a team right?" She could tell he was going to ramble just like he used to in high school after they had an argument and she jumped in to save him from the embarrassment.

She could tell he was thankful she cut him off and she also did something she'd hadn't done in a while except for Instagram stories that David posted of him teasing her. She leaned in for a hug and she felt his body stiffen. It took a few seconds but he responded with a quick pat of her back with one hand while he awkwardly held his empty mug with his other hand. Natalie let go and David chuckled softly as he got up to start brainstorming the next tik tok he could post with Natalie. 

Finally, they were both on the same page.