I'll make this short and sweet since this chapter is a roller coaster, but thank you all again so much! And for all the new people that have favorited and followed this fanfic recently (and there have been MANY of you recently)... Welcome to you all! :) This chapter starts 2 weeks after the previous chapter and we open on our favorite toxically hot mess of a pair Kelsé at their fancy suburban home in the Ottawa area. Enjoy!
Mid-morning in suburban Ottawa
({No POV})
Natalie was making her way downstairs at her parents' house, looking annoyed as usual that she was roped into another one of her parents' 'ass-kissing' events for her Wilson grandparents.
But, she knew there wasn't a point in bitching to her parents anymore at this point in her life over this kind of thing… So Natalie instead just settled on setting her suitcase on the ground at the foot of the stairs and pulled out her phone to try and mindlessly do anything else.
Natalie kept going about killing time while her mom and dad (more so her mom) got themselves ready to head out on the road to go to the Toronto area for the country club event they were going to after they saw her grandparents.
Eventually she glanced up as she heard footsteps and saw her dad walking in, but not before stopping to look at himself in the mirror in the adjacent hallway.
José smoothed back his hair with a smirk before straightening out his suit jacket, making Natalie roll her eyes a bit at her father's usual superficial 'vanity' when it comes to himself.
Once he seemed finished with his admiration, José stepped more into the foyer and looked around until he looked up the stairs and caused Natalie to flinch slightly when her dad yelled up the banister, "WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE TAKING YOU?! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE ROAD 15 MINUTES AGO!"
Immediately Kelsey shouted back in annoyance at her husband for rushing her (despite her also doing it to him all the time as well), "WILL YOU STOP BITCHING?! I'LL BE DOWN THERE IN A MINUTE!"
José immediately started grumbling to himself in displeasure in a mixture of Spanish and English at his wife and immediately went to pull out his phone like Natalie did to kill time… until his stomach dropped and his eyes went wide in dread at what happened next.
In his rage and rush of pulling out his phone from the inside breast pocket of his suitcase, his bottle of 'male enhancement' pills also flew out of his pocket and onto the hardwood floor before rolling right next to Natalie's foot, causing her to look down in surprise.
The label for the most part was facing down and Natalie tilted her head at it in confusion for a few seconds until she jerked back slightly in surprise as she saw her father's hand come in and snatch the bottle off the floor like lightning, practically almost in a panic that his daughter possibly just became privy to his 'secret ED diagnosis' that he was still hiding from Kelsey.
But, as José stuffed the bottle back into his pocket and looked back at Natalie (along with seeing her total confusion), he wasn't sure if she did 'see anything' after all as they kept looking at each other.
He wasn't willing to find out if she did know; however, and decided to 'handle' the situation in the best way he personally knew how to make sure his daughter kept her mouth shut about it. So, he dug into his pocket, and pulled out a wad of cash in a pretty hefty and ornate money clip.
Ever since José discovered the effective (while illegal and underhanded in many cases) practice of bribery in his teens, he wasn't above using it in any and every situation to get his way when all else failed.
Sure, while cash was not a 'common form of currency' anymore in most countries, José always kept at least $5000 in Canadian $100 bills in his back pocket just in case he needed a quick and untraceable way to bribe anyone in a pinch.
And it appeared this situation was no exception as he took the money out from the clip and started counting out bills until he just stopped abruptly counting and just handed the entire stack (the whole $5000) over to Natalie without a second thought and shoved it into her hand as he said, for once making direct eye contact and speaking to her directly rather than just ignore her like he usually did, and spoke lowly as he used his right index finger to gesture for emphasis, "Put this in your bag and none of this ever happened, sí?"
Natalie just kept looking at him in total shock and confusion as José just kept staring right back expectantly.
Eventually she decided to just put the money into her purse like her father wanted just to stop this situation that was still slowly but surely annoying, confusing, and creeping her out.
Right as she did so, José seemed to get a new fire lit underneath him as he called up the stairs once more in annoyed rage at his wife, "QUÉ CARAJO?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Though right as he said that Kelsey finally emerged with her suitcase at the top of the stairs and she yelled back in equal annoyance to her husband, "I'M RIGHT HERE, YOU ANNOYING SHIT!... for the love of fuck…"
José decided to just ignore his wife's passive aggressive grumbling as all of them finally made their way out to the car to go off to Toronto.
Later that night in suburban Toronto
(Natalie's POV)
Ugh… why the hell am I back here again?
Oh wait, that's right! Because my parents are a couple of 'yes man' attention whores that will do anything at the drop of a fucking hat for my Wilson grandparents just to schmooze their way more into the will to get more after my grandparents eventually kick the bucket.
We were literally just here at grandma and grandpa Wilson's country club for their New Year's bash and now we're here again two weeks later for some stupid-ass Winter Fundraiser whatever the hell for the women's group my grandma is apart of.
Which is basically an event where the vast majority of the rich people in here throw money at charity causes that they really don't care about but just do it for the 'show' of everything to make it seem like they care about something other than themselves.
Honestly, if it weren't for Felix and Diego making me straight up stop smoking (even though I only did smoke for like 3 months anyway), I wouldn't even hesitate to go outside and smoke right now rather than pretending to like being in here with these spoiled, selfish idiots.
I always knew smoking wasn't good for me, but the way I saw it was if the tar and smoke didn't kill me then spending time being suffocated by the 'smugness' at these things would eventually.
Ugh… I just hate it and I can't wait to get the hell away from all this crap.
Every day that goes by and every match I win, I just feel like I'm that much closer to finally being 'free'.
But, at the rate I'm going, I'm already there.
Between my winnings and the random five grand my dad gave me this morning after 'whatever that was'... I'm pretty much ready to strike out on my own and get a pretty nice apartment.
Even though Maria and Luís told me I'm welcome to live with them if I ever needed a place to stay, but… they already do enough for me with what little they have.
It still drives me crazy that they won't take any money from me.
I swear, when I make it… I'm just going to fix up the whole neighborhood there and give back in a real way after everything they've done for me.
Because I know even when I make it and start making hundreds of G's each match if not more depending on how far I get, Felix wouldn't ever leave the garage or his lifestyle to ever live in a fancy mansion or anything.
And… I don't really want to leave the city either.
My mind was so off course that I hardly noticed my parents as I watched mom clinging to my dad's arm and both of them seeming all 'fake smiles' despite being a loveless shamage [sham marriage] and only stay together for sex, status, money, and convenience to keep up this fake 'Perfect Image' of a couple when they're just so full of shit.
Yup, I can't wait to get the hell out of here.
Although… At least I know I won't be 'leaving' alone now.
Okay, not gonna lie here, I'm still pissed at Diego a little when he told Abuelo and Abuela about me and Felix and my plan to cut and run from everything and I wanted to kill him for squealing when I thought I could trust him to keep his mouth shut.
But after I talked to Abuelo and Abuela when they came over from Spain to meet Felix and his family… okay, I'm actually glad Diego told them now.
Especially since I know they support me and are fully in my corner now just as much as Felix and Diego are with me.
Abuela especially surprised me when she could hardly stop talking about Felix and said she thought Felix was a 'very nice young man'. Yeah, Abuelo's approval meant a lot to me too, but I've always been close to Abuela and it meant a lot to me to know that she liked Felix and didn't care about his 'status' or anything like that.
I was about to see if I could sneak a glass of champagne from one of the servers and try to 'buzz myself' through the rest of this shit show when I looked over at who I saw take a seat at a table across the room with some friends.
Claire.
Honestly, and as much as I think most of the people in this room are a bunch of spoiled and fake-ass posers, I never thought Claire was like that.
Believe me, I've been raised in this environment and I'd sooner die than be fake 'besties' with some spoiled, shallow hookers my age I meet at events like this or at school.
But Claire… I've always been cool with her and never thought she was totally full of it or putting on an act. That and Diego trusts her so that made her okay by me.
Diego…
Dammit. Look, he may be my cousin and I love him and he's one of the bravest and smartest guys I know… but, FUCK he pisses me off when it comes to this.
He's had a hard on you could see from fucking SPACE for Claire for literally forever, but he's too much of a scared, insecure little chicken shit to tell her and does nothing but bitch to me about it.
Fuck…
I still have the repressed urge to knock him out after Claire started going out with that one dipshit at her school for like half a second and he did nothing bitch and moan to me about it and act all pissy and put out.
And I don't know why… but, I just couldn't stop looking at Claire as all those thoughts took over my head.
Eventually I scoffed and rolled my eyes as I exasperated, deciding to just rip off the band aid, "You so owe me big time for this, Diego."
I didn't even care what happened. I have been on the receiving end of Diego's bitching about this for WAY too long… and I've had it.
So if he doesn't have the balls to tell her… then fuck it!
I'll do it.
Besides, as the saying goes, an eye for an eye. You don't want a secret let out, Diego? Well, then you shouldn't have told Abuelo and Abuela mine and just sacked up enough to tell Claire yourself sooner.
Because now… I'm gonna do it for you and you can't stop me.
I strutted across the room and didn't even care as I interrupted whatever the hell she and her friends were talking about as I cut in abruptly, "Hey."
Claire and these two other girls she was talking to looked at me confused, well until Claire smiled a little and said, "Oh, hey Natalie. Actually I'm so glad you're here."
Um… what? She's 'glad' to see me? Why?
Look, again I have nothing against her, but why the hell would she want to talk to me?
Finally she decided to spare my confusion as she elaborated, standing up from her seat in the process, "I wanted to ask you about something, if that's okay?"
My mind kept contorting in confusion, but hey I wanted to talk to her about Diego anyway away from her stupid poser friends so that's fine by me, I guess?
"Sure." I said with a shrug, trying to not look confused and make the situation weird. She smiled and said, "Cool." Claire looked at her friends and said, "I'll be right back guys."
Sure her friends were still looking at me weird, but if I had a dollar for each time I gave a fuck about what strangers thought of me, I'd be just as if not more broke than Felix.
We eventually got out to the practically empty hallway outside the ballroom as I started, wanting to get to the point, "So, what's up?"
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she started, "Actually… I wanted to ask you about Diego. I know you're really close to him too and I thought maybe you'd know."
Huh?
She kept going as I quirked up an eyebrow in intrigue, "After Diego was on his mom's show a couple weeks ago, I couldn't help but notice something he was talking about."
My eyes went wide reflexively, seeing where this could be going.
Shit… did she figure it out on her own?
"Look, I'll be honest here. Diego said he had a 'crush' on someone and I was just wondering about something?" She started as I felt the relief of a truck getting lifted off me.
GOOD! Thank GOD at least one of them has any fucking common sense!
This'll be easier than I thought!
Claire continued on after I gave her a nod to wait for the blank to FINALLY be filled in after all the bitching I had to listen to for YEARS as she said, "So… Do you have any ideas on who it is? Because I keep asking him and teasing him about it but he won't tell me anything. Any ideas?"
Right then all that relief and hope I was feeling immediately came crashing down. All my rage, annoyance, and dread seemed to bubble back up to surface as I took in 'whatever the hell she just said' to me just now.
UGH! Fuck! I give up! These two fucking deserve each other for how fucking annoying and oblivious they are in this entire fucking situation!
I couldn't even hold it in anymore as whatever was left of my verbal filter was ripped out as I spouted, "Oh for fuck's sake, it's YOU!"
Look, I know this seems harsh and blunt as hell even for me, but you do not understand how long I have been in the middle of all this shit and how much I just want it to end already.
I don't care.
She's asked for it now.
Claire's eyes went wide at me after me practically almost exploding, until she shook her head and started, sounding both confused and surprised simultaneously (like she didn't totally process what I said yet), "Um… what?"
Dammit…
Look, I don't think either of them are stupid… but DAMN if they aren't oblivious as hell about all of this crap!
Finally I practically almost blew my top as I just let anything and everything fly out of my mouth at her that I've been wanting to let out for years, "Look, I'm telling you right now. It's YOU! You, you, YOU is all he's ever talked to me about for YEARS! Considering he's had a fucking hard on for you bigger than that needle tower thing in downtown Toronto all this time. God, and don't even get me started on that time you were going out with that one moron and he started sham-dating that one chick for half a second just to try and make you jealous since he's a fucking idiot. And then annoyed me for a million-ass fucking years with his bitching and moaning just because he's too much a dickless wonder to just TELL YOU HIMSELF! So there you go! Do what you want with it! I don't even fucking care anymore?! MIERDA!"
I know I seriously looked like I lost my mind since Claire was just looking at me with the widest eyes ever and had her mouth open at this point.
But, I didn't even care to stick around as I just left her there and went to find an exit to find something outside I could take out my rage and frustration on.
Well… looks like Claire knows about Diego's crush now, doesn't she? At least Natalie's frustrated explosion on her has now made it obvious hasn't? Lol. XD But, what does Claire think about this you may ask? Stay tuned ya'll! ;) Apart from this, I also hope you enjoyed the look into the dysfunctional and mental-emotional hell that is Kelsey and José's home life that Natalie has been trapped in her entire life? Again, you may once again ask, why the hell do José and Kelsey even still live and share a bedroom despite seeming absolutely miserable together? Well, to quote an old phrase 'misery loves company', and at this point this phrase oddly applies to Kelsey and José in their early middle age years now. Because while on their own they are both empty, angry, and lost souls that spend all their time wanting money and fake compliments to fill their emptiness to no avail. So rather than divorce or even just separate, they now hit a point in their life that they're secretly both terrified of being alone or breaking up a marriage they are always on the receiving end of compliments about by acquaintances and colleagues that they just find it easier to just put up with each other (since they know no one else would put up with either of them respectively) for the show of it… and the sex even now since some things for some people just never change. Anyway, now that the 'cat is out of the bag' in terms of Diego's crush on Claire… What will happen next? Make your guesses and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! As always constructive feedback is always very much appreciated and I hope you are all staying well out there!
Stay Classy!
Dexter1995