𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗗𝗡'𝗧 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗕𝗘 𝗔 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗔, he didn’t even like doing double dates as a teenager, at least as an adult he could just get drunk and try to seem like he was enjoying himself. but after getting so much crap from shannon about the random woman who had come asking for him, he knew that he had to do something to help calm her and try to make things easier for her. plus he needed a good distraction from all the shit going on, the stress of trying to provide for shannon and the baby, not knowing how his mom was doing and just waiting for everything to fall apart. a good distraction would be a double date with bobby and the girlfriend that he had been so secretive about.
𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗗 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗨𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗬, he wanted this to be a good night, he needed it to be a good night because he didn’t like the tension between them, he didn’t like that he felt pulled between her and his mom, he just wanted a good night with her and his best friend. they had beat bobby and his girlfriend to the restaurant where they meeting, waiting for them outside and he had just been checking a text message from his mom when he heard shannon say, “ it’s her. that’s the woman who came looking for you, the one you said i was acting crazy about, ” looking up from his phone and he almost thought he was dreaming for a moment to see bobby with natalia, that he barely even heard what shannon was saying next.
𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗨𝗟, she was always the person that had made his heart race and he had thought he would never see again. as an adult, she truly was beautiful like art and he didn’t know how he found the strength to look away, trying to focus on his pregnant girlfriend instead. no wonder bobby had been so secretive about his new girlfriend. he was just shocked that neither of them had thought to mention that natalia was back in the us after leaving after the tournament, she never even graduated with them and he had never heard from her again. all he had gotten was ivan telling him to stay away from her and a threat that he would make him disappear if he ever laid another hand on natalia. this was supposed to be a good night and instead he felt like it was slowly turning into a complete shitshow.
𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡𝗡𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘, he barely looked at natalia knowing that shannon was watching him and the way she was squeezing his leg let him know that she was still pissed that he hadn’t believed her about some random redhead coming to the apartment asking about him. never had he thought that it had been natalia. he was trying to stay talking with bobby, who he knew was just talking to fill the tense air between them. between making sure shannon was okay, talking with bobby as much as he could manage, checking his phone in case his mom needed him, he was still managing to drink more than he probably should be. what was supposed to be a fun night out to make things better had turned out to be a fucking nightmare.
𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗧 𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗙𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘, instantly feeling shannon relax with her gone from the table and he barely heard bobby as he tried to explain things quickly, “ listen man, i’ve got enough shit going on. do what you want, ” he shrugs, knowing he didn’t have the energy to fight with him, he hated fighting with bobby and as much as it hurt that no one thought he’d want to know natalia was back in the country, he couldn’t even being to process that with everything else. he almost sighed with relief when his phone went off, picking it up and instantly excusing himself to speak with his mom whilst he could, knowing bobby would hopefully keep shannon calm whilst he spoke with his mom.
𝗜𝗧 𝗛𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗪𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗢𝗠 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗, but he would never not take her call at the moment, just out of fear he would miss his last chance to ever talk to her. it also helped him feel a little calmer with all the shit going on, just being able to talk to her and whilst he wasn’t about to explain everything that was going on now, he knew he would be calmer after talking to her because she always called before she went to sleep. something that his mom had said finally made sense, she had talked about seeing nat again and he had thought she had too ill to realise what was going on. as much as it stung knowing natalia had seen his mom before seeing him at all, he was glad that she had seen her because his mom had always loved nat, “ i love you, mom, i’ll come and see you in the morning, ” johnny says softly, hanging up the phone and taking this moment to close his eyes and just let out a breath. he almost wished that his mom had given him a good enough excuse to leave, instead he was going to have to go back in there and act like everything was all good. yet before he could go back inside, he looked over to see natalia crying and he couldn’t help but move towards her, “ you alright? i knew this night was a complete shit show but it can’t be that bad, ” he was trying to make light of it, there was so much he wanted to say but couldn’t say to her right now because it was not the right time.
THE THING WAS, NATALIA WASN'T EVEN MAD. She wasn't even really UPSET. She was hurt and felt blindsided by this. Yeah, she knew she should have made more of an effort to go see Johnny, but she didn't want to make it any worse on him. Seeing the way Shannon looked at her made it very known how she felt about her and that there was no chance that she and Johnny could have even the simplest of friendships.
Bobby did what he had to, she knew it. Natalia had never been one to take the hint when its waved in front of her. No, she had to have it bashed over her head for her to get it. Well, she got it and maybe this needed to happen for her to understand that they're not the teenagers they once were. Things weren't as easy as they had been.
She heard Johnny's voice and she jumped and nearly fell over, but she righted herself and lifted her hands to carefully wipe at her face as to not mess up her makeup. "Yeah -- yeah, I'm fine. Really." She smiled and looked up at him and for the first time all night she was able to really LOOK at him as she had been afraid to do it earlier. He looked... tired. A shell of his former self. Maybe she should have believed Bobby when he told her that Johnny had looked worse for wear.
Laughing at his words, she shook her head and carded her fingers back through her hair in an attempt to pretend she didn’t just have a mini - meltdown outside of the restaurant. She had never liked confrontation, even as a kid and she definitely did not like it now and hoped that this wouldn’t turn into one because she wasn’t sure she could handle it. Especially not with him. "This is a fucking disaster, Johnny. You can say it. I had no idea that he meant we were having this dinner with you. It's like high school all over again when we tried to do this and you were with Ali. But worse. At least Ali didn't threaten to punch me in the face." Which was the truth. At least she had been friends with Ali, somewhat. Looking back, she wasn't even sure that they were friends at all. But that was neither here nor there.
"Look. I have a lot of explaining to do, I know. I did try and get in contact with you. But... well, you're about to have a baby and I'm just some girl you knew in high school." She was oversimplifying it, of course. And she knew that she was NEVER just some girl. Especially not to Johnny, but it was a defense mechanism. And trying to lie to herself was the only way she could get through this without reaching out for him or saying what she really wanted to say. She had to literally keep her hands busy to keep from grabbing his hand. Even now, seeing him made her heart flutter and she could hear her pulse in her ears and if it weren't for her makeup she'd be blushing. It was the reaction she always had when she saw him. Pushing to her feet, she looked up at him and smiled and it was almost wistful.
"I have missed you, Johnny. I hope you know that. There's not a day that passes that I don't think about you, and yeah. Bobby has been on me about coming to see you after the whole... me already trying thing but I don't want to ruin your life. So it was just easier for me to stay away."
Easier? No. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done in her entire life minus leaving in the first place.