A/N: Another chapter for my lovelies! Enjoy!

Another High School Love Story

Chapter 9

Natasha walked into The Diner. It was in the center of town, right next to the bakery Maria worked at. She saw Maria sitting at one of the booths and made her way over. Maria had an ice tea sitting in front of her and a vanilla milkshake waiting for Natasha.

"Mmm, vanilla," Nat said sitting down. "My favorite."

Maria laughed, "I know."

"So how are you?" Natasha asked. She sipped her milkshakes. It was delicious. She picked up the menu with the pretense of reading it. She already knew what she was ordering though.

"I'm doing good. Nothing new really." The waiter came over and took their orders. Natasha ordered a Caesar salad, her favorite and Maria ordered a cheeseburger and fries.

"How about you? How's your relationship with Clint?" Maria asked. Maria gave Natasha a knowing look.

"Oh, God. You know don't you?" Natasha dropped her head onto her arms that rested on the table. Maria laughed.

"Yeah, Steve told me."

"How did he find out? He wasn't even home!" Natasha groaned. Dammit she was hoping to keep it from them for a little longer than this.

"He said he went home to get some stuff, and overheard you two," Maria said, trying to hide her amusement.

"Oh god," Natasha groaned in embarrassment, her face turning an interesting shade of red.

The waiter came back with their food and set it down in front of them. Natasha pushed her away, not wanting to eat at the moment. Mostly she poked at her plate. Maria watched her with amused interest.

"It was a little more than he wanted to know about your relationship, but it doesn't bother him. He called me this morning shortly before I called you. He asked me to talk to you, said he would messed it up. He just wants me to make sure you're being safe." Maria said. She was very cordial about it. She didn't try to embarrass or shame Natasha for the choices she made. Neither did Steve, but he was an awkward person to talk to about these things. That was the reason he had introduced Natasha to Maria, so she would have someone to go to for 'girl stuff'.

"Thanks," Natasha said. "So, uh, what did you want to talk about? About this, I mean." Natasha asked, still a little embarrassed. She started eating her food as opposed to just pushing it around her plate.

"Well first, I want to make sure you two are using protection." Maria said after she finished the bite of burger.

"Uh, yeah. We did." Natasha said. The conversation was still awkward.

"Okay, good. Are you taking any for of contraceptive? The pill, maybe?"

"Um, no," Natasha looked down at her plate.

Maria sighed, but didn't reprimand her. "Okay, can I ask you to do something, then?"

Natasha just nodded. She looked up at the older woman sitting across from her. Maria had a caring look on her face.

"Promise me you will get on the pill. I don't want to be an aunt anytime soon." Maria smiled.

"I promise. Believe me, the last thing I need is to get knocked up at seventeen. Steve would kill me and, really, everyone else would too. I don't want to be a teen mom." Natasha said.

"Good. So, now I must ask, how are you feeling?" Maria smiled knowingly.

"As I'm sure you are well aware, I am a bit sore today." Natasha said pointedly.

"Yes, that's normal." Maria laughed a little.

"Yeah, not to mention Clint is, well endowed, to put it mildly." Natasha smirked.

"Oh, God, Too much information. I did not need to know that about him! Geez!" Maria acted horrified. Mostly she was trying not to laugh.

"Serves you right for digging into my life," Natasha poked her tongue out at Maria playfully.

"You little brat," Maria laughed. After that the conversation turned to more trivial things. They discussed Steve's engagement and wedding plans. They talked about Maria's plans to open her new bakery. She wants to move to the city to open it, she just isn't sure which city. She doesn't know if she wants to move far away or not.

"I say go wherever you want. What's stopping you from going to, say, New York or maybe Boston. San Francisco or L.A. Seriously, you could go anywhere." Natasha told her.

"I know," Maria said, stirring the coffee she had ordered. "I just don't want to go so far away from the only home I know. Even if it is just a simple small town, it's home. The people here are my family, you're my family. I don't want to leave you guys."

"Hey, it's not like you can't come back. They make these things called trains and planes. Pretty sure they transport people long distances." Natasha smirked.

"Ha-ha," Maria said. "Brat."

"You love me," Natasha said.

"God knows why," Maria mumbled. "Anyway, are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" Natasha asked.

"I have a surprise." At Natasha's looked of annoyed horror, Maria added, "don't worry, nothing life-changing."

"Why can't you just tell me then?" Natasha asked as they walked out of the diner.

"That would ruin the fun of annoying you." Maria stuck her tongue out like Natasha had earlier.

"Brat," Nat mimicked.

"You love me."

"God knows why," Nat smiled to herself. Her relationship with Maria was so simple and perfect. They were as close as sisters. Natasha was glad they had been allowed to become close to the older girl. Even though she missed her parents dearly, she didn't wish to change the past. There were so many wonderful opportunities she would have missed if they hadn't died.

"Surprise!" Maria said suddenly as they stopped in front of a nail salon. "I'm getting you a mani-pedi." Maria laughed at Natasha's truly horrified expression.

"Oh, come on! It's not as bad as you think!" Maria dragged the younger girl into the salon. The women already knew they were coming, Maria had set an appointment. The two were taken to the chairs at the back where they would get their nails done.

"What color would you like?" One of the ladies asked Natasha. She browsed the racks of nail polishes until she found a navy blue that matched her dress for tonight perfectly. She got them to add silver accents on one of her nails on each foot.

When the girls left, Maria said, "Not so bad, was it?"

"Okay, no. It wasn't bad. Please never surprise me again. Next time just tell me you want to buy me a mani-pedi. I'll go willingly," Both girls just laughed and walked out of the salon.

A/N: sorry this chapter was kind of short. I decided I wanted to make a separate chapter for getting ready and arriving at the dance.

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