After the falling out between them, Alfred and Toris avoided each other like the plague. Without Toris, Alfred was desperate to branch out with his sociability and make new friends. He began talking to anyone who would give him the time of day, which caused him to make friends left and right, yet none of the friendships went deeper than talking in the hallways and sometimes in class. Alfred began to feel desperate, until a new girl transferred to his high school halfway through the first quarter.
Her name was Charlotte Schmit, but she insisted on being called Charlie by everyone in class. She had long, blonde hair that curled into soft ringlets at the ends and big, sparkling green eyes. And the best part was that she was assigned a seat next to Alfred in two of his classes. He was determined to be friends with her.
"Uh, hey Charlie, do you have anyone to eat lunch with?" he asked her after class. "I mean, if you want, you're more than welcome to eat with my girlfriend and I if you'd like. The more the merrier."
"Thanks, Alfie Jones," Charlotte chirped at him, smiling widely. "I'd love to!" She walked with him down the hallway, stopping upon seeing Natalia. "Wow! She looks so lovely! Who is she?" Charlotte discreetly gestured to Natalia, eyes lighting up. "Do you know her?"
Alfred grinned at Charlotte. "You really think she's lovely?" he asked. "Well, Charlie, she just so happens to be my girlfriend." He waved Natalia over and waited for her to reach them before beginning introductions. "Hey babe, this is Charlie. It's her first day here, so I thought I'd welcome her properly. Charlie, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Natalia."
"It's so nice to meet you," Charlotte said with a smile. "I was just commenting to Alfie Jones about how beautiful you were at a distance, but now I can see that you're just as beautiful up close. He's lucky to have a girlfriend like you."
"I think he's lucky too," Natalia replied, a smirk playing on her lips. "Thank you, Charlie. You're too kind. I hope our dear Al hasn't bothered you too much. He recently had a falling out with a friend of ours that he was close to, so he's been trying to make more friends."
"No problems here," the other girl enthused. "I'll be your new friend, Alfie Jones! It sounds fun!"
Alfred smiled sheepishly and snuggle-hugged his girlfriend. "Natalia, you always say for me what I don't have the courage to. No wonder I adore you so much." He kissed her cheek, causing Natalia to blush a brilliant red. "Charlie, you were absolutely correct. I truly am lucky."
Charlotte smiled. "I'm glad that you know that. It would be a shame if you didn't." She winked at Natalia, who managed to give her a small smile. "I hope that the three of us can all be good friends. It's been awhile since I've met someone so energetic, and an even longer while since I've met someone so cute." She looked to the other girl. "Please let me know if I'm being too much, and I'll stop. I'm also in the market for new friends, and you two seem ideal."
"You're fine," the other girl replied. "And not that this conversation isn't great and all, but I am starving. Do you mind if we move this conversation to the cafeteria? Charlie and I can go grab seats for us if you don't mind getting us food, babe?"
"Sure thing," Alfred chirped. "What would you like, Charlie? I'll grab it for you."
"You can do that?" Charlotte asked, blinking in surprise. "If that's the case, could you just gra lunch. That one sounded great. Thanks, Alfie Jones!"
"It's not a problem. See you guys at the table." With that, Alfred headed off into the cafeteria.
The lunch line was long, but he managed to get through it quicker than normal, balancing three trays on his arms. He sat at the table and distributed the lunches, smiling to himself over how deep in conversation the two girls were when he had arrived. Personally, he had never seen Natalia hang out with anyone, but when observing her and Charlotte, the atmosphere was as if the girl were best friends. It made him think of him and Arthur. He wondered what his own best friend was up to.
Natalia startled him out of his thoughts when she placed her small hand on top of his. "Thanks, Al," she told him. "I appreciate you grabbing lunch for Charlie and I. You're truly the best." She flashed her boyfriend one of her rare smiles. "And also, you truly did find a diamond in the rough. This girl is awesome and actually has a personality, unlike all of the other girls in our grade."
Charlotte giggled. "Natalia, you flatter me too much," she said, blushing. "But thank you. I appreciate that."
Alfred smiled. "I guess I'm just a good judge of character. Number Three: I'm a good judge of character."
"Number three?" the new girl asked. "What does that mean?"
"He and his best friend made lists of the best things about each other," Natalia began to explain.
"The very best," he interjected.
His girlfriend rolled her eyes. "Sorry, the very best things about each other. Anyway, his best friend moved across the country a few years ago, so they made these lists and put them in notebooks along with anything else that reminded them of each other. It's actually pretty neat. Al here has memorized the entire list Arthur made about him, so when he hears anything about himself that reminds him of anything on the list, he'll rattle it off along with the number."
"That's adorable," Charlie enthused. She smiled at Alfred. "Your friend must really be something special, Alfie Jones. I'm glad that you have someone like him in your life." Her eyes flittered down to her tray. "When my friends back home found out that I was moving, it was more like a 'We'll Remember You Fondly' thing. But the fact that your best friend and you made notebooks to remember each other by is something that only true friends really do. I like that."
"Yeah," Alfred agreed, smiling to himself. "Arthur is the truest friend I've got, that's for sure. He's the only one I still talk to from middle school. Everyone else kinda snubbed me once we reached high school. It's not like I mind it, though. They were all snobs anyway. Not exactly my kind of people."
He glanced up at the other students in the cafeteria to see Toris sitting two tables away. There was a sharp pang of betrayal in his heart, making him wince. How could someone like Toris throw away their friendship all because of a girl? It was stupid. Why would anyone do that? Why couldn't they have just talked it out instead of the passive-aggressive avoidance bullshit? It didn't make sense. Was Toris hurting as badly as he was? Did Toris even care?
"Forget about him, babe," Natalia softly said, squeezing his hand. She had followed his gaze and seen who he was looking at. "He'll get over it eventually and come around. I don't know what happened between you two, but I've known him since we were kids. He gets over things very quickly."
Everything that isn't you, Alfred thought to himself.
.
Present Day
"The name Charlie certainly rings a bell," Arthur mused. "I'm certain I heard him tell me about her many times, but I think after a couple months, he started calling her something else." He thought for a moment. "The nickname escapes me right now, but it's fine. I'm sure I'll remember later."
"You will," Natalia quietly stated, averting her eyes. "But yeah, even I was surprised about how quickly Charlie became a part of our little group. It's probably because she was so charming and bubbly. She had a certain charisma about her, I guess. It was almost on the same level as Alfred's. That girl was a damn miracle worker, let me tell you. Whenever there were any arguments within the friend group, she would always do her best to iron it all out and lessen the damage."
"You speak so highly of her."
"I suppose I do," she answered, fiddling with a strand of her hair. "Whenever we were all together, everything felt perfect, you know? It was like we all meshed together like cogs in a machine." She sighed. "Why did that ever have to end?"
"What ended it, Natalia?" Arthur had a few ideas on what could have, but he wanted it confirmed by her before he jumped to any conclusions.
"My dad was transferred to the East Coast for work a month after Charlie transferred. And I only had a week to say goodbye to everyone and leave them all behind. I didn't want to drag Alfred down by leaving because he was still hung up on you moving away, so I did what I felt I had to do."
.
Three Years Previous
"These past two months have been really great, babe," Natalia began, looking up at her boyfriend. It was after school on a Friday, and by Monday she would be off starting her new life in Maine. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Alfred, but she didn't know how else to go about it. He had already lost Arthur, which had a heavy impact on him. She didn't want him to have the pain of his girlfriend moving away as well. "But I think we should end things."
"What? Why?" he asked, panic in his voice. "Did I do something wrong? I don't understand! I thought things were going great between us! What happened to that?"
"I just can't do it anymore, Al," she quietly said, refusing to meet his eyes lest she fall apart right on the spot. "It's nothing you did. You're amazing. Someone as amazing as you needs to be with someone equally as amazing. I'm sorry, Al." She stood on her tip-toes and softly kissed his lips. "I just can't anymore."
Without another word, she walked off toward where her mother was waiting to pick her up, fighting off her tears until she was home in her barren room. Once there, she cried it all out until she fell asleep. And the next morning, she was on her way to Maine.
.
Present Day
"I remember that breakup," Arthur quietly stated. "It hurt him really bad. You just disappeared without a trace, Natalia. How would you have felt had he done that to you?"
"I don't know," she mumbled. "That was the last time I ever spoke to him in person. The expression he had on his face still haunts me to this day. A couple years later, he finally coaxed Toris to give him my phone number. We talked for hours, and he seemed to be happy with how his life was going despite the falling-out you two had. You know, I'll never understand why that falling-out happened in the first place, but I'm glad that you're looking for him now." She reached over onto the coffee table. "Here's the name and address of the next person for you to talk to. I've never met him, but I heard he's pretty unique. Good luck with your trip, have safe travels, and I hope you find him at the end. Give him a hug for me when you do."
Arthur glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand. Her handwriting was neat, the address written quite clearly, much more clearly than he had written hers only days before. "Thank you, Natalia. I will be sure to. I appreciate you telling me all of this." He walked over to the door and slipped on his shoes. "Now I'm off to find this Gilbert Beilschmidt fellow."
"I wish you the best of luck." Natalia held the door open for Arthur as he exited. "If there's one thing I can say about this entire experience of these past couple days, it's this. I'm glad that I finally got the chance to meet you, Arthur."
"Likewise, Natalia," he told her, flashing her a bright smile. "I am forever in your debt. As how I am not sure where this entire chase will take me, I'm glad to know that I will be able to meet the ones who helped Alfred out in my absence. I will always be indebted to each and every one of you."
She felt a small stab of nostalgia in her heart as Arthur's words truly hit her. "When I met you yesterday, I felt as if Alfred may have something wrong with him. You were nothing like he used to say you were. I thought you had grown up to be an asshole, but now I've finally realized it. You truly are exactly as Alfred said you were."