Possessed - Bucky Barnes x OC

Part 50

"Mags?"

She stared blank faced at the table in front of her.

"Maggie." Natasha raised her voice slightly, snapping her out of the trance-like state she was in. "What do you think about this one?"

Maggie gave her a confused look, doing a double take down at the slice of sparsely decorated cake patiently waiting in front of her. "Oh, right. Sorry." Picking up her fork, she stabbed a small piece, taking a bite. "It's good."

Natasha gave her an exasperated look. "You've said that about the last four slices."

"Cake is cake." She shrugged.

"Come on, Mags. I need you to help me decide between the lemon or vanilla buttercream."

She took another bite from each of them, humming to herself. Trying to form some semblance of opinion that Natasha would find adequate to get her off her back. She really didn't give a fuck either way, but she knew she needed help. "I like both, but more people will probably like the vanilla."

"Was that so hard?"

"No." She said with a hollow tone. Keeping her stare down, not wanting to look Natasha in the eye, out of fear she'd know exactly what she was feeling.

Maggie had kept the same cold, distant front since the breakup. Too angry to even process any other emotions. Living her life at a low simmer.

Natasha took a breath, making a flourished check mark on her list of options. "If you didn't want to come with me, you should've said so."

Maggie frowned at her. Looking at her with bloodshot eyes, sunken in from every kind of exhaustion she felt. "No, it's not that. I'm happy to help." She combed her fingers through her unbrushed hair, getting frustrated with herself. The act, a small attempt to literally brush off the gloominess she was constantly consumed by.

"It's him isn't it?" Not daring to say James' name out loud.

"I don't what you're talking about." She retorted coldly.

Maggie was barely functioning since James ended things. She hadn't gone into work more than a handful of times in the last couple weeks. The place was just another reminder of him. Everything in her life was touched by him. Everything had been molded by him. Sculpted into what it was. There was no escape from the constant memories that were crashing through her mind like a brute force. Destroying everything in their way.

She was doing everything she could to run from her feelings. All she wanted was to rip out her heart and leave it to bleed out behind her.

Going into the day with the hope that assisting with the catering selection would pull her from her spiraling, but it really wasn't doing much.

Natasha let out a frustrated sigh, completely spent with Maggie's bitter attitude. It was becoming almost unbearable. Their time spent together wasn't fun anymore. "You can't lie to me. I know you're going through a hard time."

She shot her a steely glare, eyeing her with a scowl. "I don't need him anymore. I'm fine."

Ignoring her retort, Natasha took another bite of cake. "You're worried about seeing him at the trial, huh?"

"I'm not doing it anymore." She stated matter-of-factly. "I'm not going to help him after what he said to me."

Natasha was baffled by her coldhearted nature. She had never seen Maggie be so cutthroat in their entire friendship. She would've been proud, but she knew it wasn't genuine. "Mags, you can't do that to him. Believe me, I'm all for some petty revenge, but this is his life we're talking about. He could face some serious time."