A/N: Sorry for not updating for awhile! Updates will get more regular now because I've got a fantastic new computer!

.

With each day that passed, Alfred found himself becoming more and more intrigued by Natalia. She was like a puzzle to him. One day, she would be nice, and the next, she'd nearly bite his head off over something that hardly even made sense. He would go to school, never knowing what to expect from her, but he was determined to figure out the small, hot-headed girl. After all, there had never been a puzzle that Alfred Jones couldn't solve.

Finally, Natalia had enough. "What is your deal?" she finally asked, exploding on Alfred in the schoolyard one September morning. "I don't understand you! No matter what I do, how I act, how I behave, your attitude for me never changes! Aren't you sick of me?"

"Why would I be sick of you?" he asked, confused. "Wouldn't that make me a shitty friend? I'm not that type of person."

"But I don't want to be friends with you!" she finally shouted, exasperated. "Why can't you get that through your thick skull?! I can't take it anymore! I don't want to be your friend!"

"Then how about my girlfriend?" Alfred casually asked. "Would that be better? I wouldn't mind it at all."

For a moment, Natalia felt as if her brain had completely shut down. Had he really just said that to her? He wanted to be her boyfriend? She'd never dated anyone before, so she didn't really know what to expect when being asked out, but it surely wasn't something like that. Did he mean it? Did Alfred Jones really want to date someone as temperamental as her?

"Excuse me, what?" she slowly asked. "Did you just ask what I think you did? You want me to be your girlfriend?"

Alfred shrugged and smiled at her. "Why not? We already spend a lot of time together. It's not like it would be too drastically different from how we are now, right?"

Natalia blushed. "I mean, I guess you have a point," she quietly stated. She stared down at her sneakers for a few moments as she thought. After a few moments, she had made up her mind. "Sure," she decided. "Why not? Let's try it."

He smiled so brightly that it even made his eyes shine. "Really?" he asked. "I've never had a girlfriend before, so please don't be too harsh on me as I learn the ropes, okay?"

She scraped the dirt beneath her with the toe of her sneaker. "I've never had a boyfriend before, so no worries. We'll figure it out along the way, you know? Together." Her heart was pounding in her chest. What had this boy done to her? Even if he was the only boy who regularly spoke to her, she didn't expect him to just suddenly ask her to be his girlfriend, especially in the manner of which he did. Though she couldn't figure out why she had told him yes, the swelling, fluttery feeling in her chest assured her that she had made the right choice.

.

Present Day

"That's right!" Arthur suddenly exclaimed. "I knew your name was familiar. You were Al's first girlfriend! I've been trying to figure that out all afternoon!" Satisfied with his realization, he looked back up at Natalia. "You know, he always talked about you."

Natalia blinked in surprise. "He did?" she asked, stunned. "What sorts of things did he say?" A light blush dusted her cheeks. "I always wondered if he ever talked about me to you, if I'm honest. Because let me tell you, you were who he always talked about to me. The whole time we dated, I always felt as if I was second-best to him, you know?"

"I assure you that wasn't the case," he replied. "He called me nearly every night and went on and on about all of the things you two did together. The first time he referred to you as his girlfriend to me, I could hardly understand him through his excited giggles. He was so proud to have you for a girlfriend and talked about you to me at any chance he got."

She blinked a few times, eyes glossy. "Thank you, Arthur," she softly stated. "You have no idea how badly I've always wanted to hear something like that." Her blue eyes went to the clock on her wall. "It's starting to get late. You should probably get to your hotel. Come back here tomorrow morning, okay? How does ten sound?"

"It sounds great," Arthur replied, standing up. "I'll see you in the morning then. I hope that you sleep well tonight." He walked over to the front door and slipped his shoes on.

"Tonight, I know I'll sleep better than I have in years," she told him. "After all, now I know what Alfred truly thought of me after years of wondering. Thank you, Arthur. Drive safely, and I'll see you tomorrow."

After seeing Arthur off, Natalia shut her front door and sunk to the floor in front of it as she burst into tears. "He really did care about me!" she wailed, knowing that no one else would hear her in that moment. "Alfred really cared about me!"

.

"So explain to me what the hell made you do something this crazy!" Elizaveta shouted at Arthur over the phone. "You decided to go on this wild goose chase on a whim and planned it all in two days without telling me?!" Her fury was quite evident. "We promised to communicate with each other, Arthur! This is how trust gets broken!"

Arthur sighed. "Liz, I know I should have told you before I left," he began. "You have every right to be angry with me. But this is important to me. I can't leave the country without settling things with Alfred. I've told you about everything that happened between us. You should know how important this is to me."

"So you can go settle things with someone you haven't talked to in three years before leaving the country, but you can't spend time with your own girlfriend?!" She wasn't, by any means, going to settle down anytime soon from the way it sounded. "This old friend you lost touch with three years ago is suddenly more important than the girl you've been dating for nearly four years?! That's pretty messed up if you ask me! You're about to go to school in another country, and instead of spending time with your girlfriend before then, you're going and meeting up with strangers all in an attempt to try to reconcile with someone who may not even want to see you after all this time?!"

"That's the thing, Liz," he replied. "From what Natalia had stated numerous times today, Alfred does want to see me."

"If he wanted to see you or even talk to you, then he would have already! He wouldn't have waited years for you to reach out to him! This is manipulation, and you know it, Arthur! I can't believe you're doing something like this!"

"If all you're going to do is yell at me, then I'm going to hang up. I'm not in the mood for this right now, Elizaveta." Arthur rolled his eyes. "You aren't the only person in my life who is important to me."

"But I was the only one who stuck by your side, you pretentious jerk!" There was a sharp click as she hung up on him.

He sat down on his hotel bed. She was right that this was absolutely crazy, but he still felt that it was something he needed to do. If anything, he needed the closure. What was so hard to understand about that? While he hated upsetting Elizaveta, there was no way he could just give up and go back home to her. Why couldn't she understand that?

.

The next morning, Natalia opened her door at the sight of Arthur, welcoming him into her house. She seemed so much more friendly than she had the previous day. Was she really that happy about what he had told her? "You really did come back," she stated. "I can see that you really are serious about finding him. I'm glad to know that."

"You seem more cheerful today," he replied. "Did something happen?"

Natalia thought back to the night before. Her cheeks turned red as she remembered all of the tears she had cried the night before. But there was no doubt that she felt much, much better about the entire situation after what Arthur had told her. "Nothing in particular. I'm always this happy."

He smiled to himself as he made his way to her living room and sat back in the same spot he was in the previous day. There was no way that she was always that happy. When he had met Natalia the day before, he didn't even know if she actually knew how to smile. Granted, she wasn't exactly smiling at the moment, but she sure wasn't scowling anymore. Arthur wouldn't be surprised in the least if she were to choose to frolic into the living room when it was time for her to continue with her story. Did Alfred really mean that much to her?

She walked into the room and sat back down in her chair before eyeing Arthur. "So, are you ready to continue?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Fixing him with a level gaze, she stared at him until he nodded. "Good. Then let's continue. After all, I still have a lot more to tell you."

.

Three Years Previous

The first two weeks of Alfred's first relationship flew by before he even knew it. Every night, he would call up Arthur and tell him the fun things that he and Natalia would do together, his best friend always enthusiastic, even if it wasn't always as sincere as it should be. But all he wanted was to stay connected to his best friend, yet all he could talk about was Natalia. Sometimes he would sprinkle in things about Toris, but ever since he started dating Natalia, Toris appeared to be avoiding him.

Finally, having enough of Toris ignoring him, Alfred decided to approach him. "Hey, what's been up, Toris?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "I haven't really been seeing much of you lately. Has everything been okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" the other boy asked, flipping through his planner.

"Dude!" Something about Toris diverting his attention infuriated Alfred. Any time he had previously spoken with his friend, the brunet always maintained eye contact. What had he done to make Toris act this way? "Will you at least look at me when we're talking?" He reached out and smacked Toris's planner out of his hands and onto the floor. "You're being a dick!"

"So I'm the one being a dick?" He glared at Alfred. "You're the one who literally just slapped my planner out of my hand! What's wrong with you?!"

"You've been avoiding me these past two weeks! What is your problem?! What did I do to you?!" Alfred wasn't normally one to get so upset over receiving the cold shoulder, but for some reason, it bothered him when it was Toris. "I don't understand!"

"You seriously have no idea what you did? Surely someone must have told you about me, which caused you to do this! I'm tired of people using me and then walking all over my feelings like that! I know she's beautiful! I've known since I was five! Why did it have to be you?!"

"Toris, what are you talking about?" Alfred asked, confused. "You're not making any sense. Who are you referring to?"

"Don't play stupid with me! Every guy I befriend always does this to me!" Toris's face was red, and he looked as if he were about to deck the boy before him at any moment. "Why did it have to be you, Al?! Huh?!"

The blond was growing more and more confused by the second. "You don't make any sense. I can't communicate with you if you're just going to be spouting gibberish like this! Just say it!"

"I hate cocky assholes like you!" Toris shouted. "Guys like you always undermine people like me because you know you can push me over! I should've never talked to you in the first place! Especially if I knew you were going to do this to me!"

"But what did I do?!" Alfred demanded. "Just say it!"

"Stop playing dumb! I know that you know I've been crazy about Natalia since Kindergarten!"

Alfred blinked in surprise. "I knew that?" he asked, incredulous. "How could I have known that when all you did was avoid and ignore me? Friends communicate, Toris!" He frowned, an expression that didn't suit his usually-cheerful face. "I guess maybe I was the only one who thought we were friends. My bad. I won't bother you anymore."

Before Toris could respond, he dashed off to his next class, swearing to himself to never mention a word of this to Natalia.