A.N.: Half way through :D Any thoughts? ...Okay, fine. Be that way. (Kidding!)
Chapter Ten:
I Thought I Loved You
"Hello?"
"Luca," Bernard said.
"Hey, Dad."
"Is Natalee around?"
"No," she said with a hint of bitterness.
"Oh, I was just returning her call. She told your mother she was getting married," he informed her.
"Yup," was all Luca wanted to say about that.
Bernard didn't say anything.
"Well, I'll tell her you called," Luca said.
"Luca," he said. "That's all you have to say?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
Luca was silent.
"Luca, you can't keep your feelings inside," he said what she already knew. "Tell me what's wrong."
"It's not about the wedding or Nat and Nick. It's just that Greg and I have known each other for…basically forever and we've been seeing each other longer than Nick and Natalee and he has never even said he loved me, Dad."
"Have you told Greg about this?"
"Of course not."
"Well," he said. "Don't you think you should?"
She didn't say anything.
"Luca."
"Okay," she said, reluctantly. "I'll talk to him."
Greg pulled up next to Luca, who was already waiting on the sidewalk for him. She opened the door and got inside. She grudgingly accepted his kiss.
"What's wrong?" he asked before pulling away from the curb.
"Nothing." This was going to be harder than she expected.
He headed to the movie theatre they frequented as Luca decided exactly what she was going to say to him and how. Greg threw the car in park and took his seatbelt off, poised to jump out of the car. When she didn't move, he brought his hand from the door handle to the steering wheel.
"Okay, Luca," he said. "What's wrong?"
Her eyes were still forward as she bit her nails.
"Luca," he said, putting his hands on her leg. "You can tell me anything, you know that."
"It's just…Natalee and Nick," she said.
He was suddenly silent.
"I…"
"I don't want to get married," he said. "I'm…sorry. I think we're too young."
She paused for a second and finally looked him in his eye. "Greg, I love you."
He didn't react.
She nodded. "That's all I wanted to know." She climbed out of the car despite his pleas for her to stay. She would have walked back to the apartment, but she knew he would follow her, so she ran into the movie theatre and told the security guard a scrawny man with spiky hair followed her to her car so she could call Natalee for a ride.
Luca watched Greg try to follow her in while the guard held him back. She didn't feel bad until the guard knocked him onto the sidewalk. She fought the urge to pick him up and walk him back to the car. He finally walked back on his own, his head hung.
Natalee pulled up to the curb and she got in, noticing that Greg's car never actually left.
"What are you looking at?" Natalee asked.
She turned her head from Greg to Natalee. "Nothing."
Greg had kept calling Luca but never got a hold of her. She wanted to talk to him, too, but was afraid of what he had to say so she immersed herself in writing new songs and booking her own gigs. She wanted to be an individual, though she loved her job: good pay with tips and free drinks from cute guys. What wasn't to like? It was a lot better than going from coffee house to coffee house wondering if they were going to listen to her that day. But, she yearned for creative freedom.
"Greg called," Natalee informed Luca as she was about to walk out the door. Nick, who was basically living with them, looked up from the newspaper. "Fifty times."
Luca just nodded.
"You going to call him?" Nick asked, one of the few things he'd ever said to her.
"I'll try," she lied.
Natalee looked at Nick and then Luca. "You should, you know. Listen to what he has to say."
Luca shrugged. "I'll try to call him."
Natalee rolled her eyes as Luca slammed the door. She looked at Nick. "You know we need to do something, right?"