Ok second chapter! I have no idea where this is going but whateves! Thanks for the feedback, keep those reviews coming please!
DISCLAIMER: Once again, I don't own Next to Normal...ya...
Henry didn't call that night. Natalie hated it when he gave her the cold shoudler. Actually, he never gave her the cold shoulder before. Natalie had no idea what would happen at school.
Her dad was making her breakfast downstairs the next morning. Ever since her mom left, he did a lot of cooking. Who knew he was into that much?
"Hey, honey," he said, handing her a plate of eggs. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she said.
"Henry stormed out last night. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine, Dad," she said, turning on the attitude. "How do you know he was storming out? He might have been in a hurry. You don't know."
"Well, what happened?"
"He stormed out," Natalie admitted.
"I'm sure it'll be okay," Dan said, rubbing her shoulder.
At school, Natalie only saw Henry at lunch. She hurried to grab her tray and meet him at their table.
"Hey," she said.
"Oh, hey," he answered. He looked really tired in his jeans and plaid shirt.
"You okay?"
"Yep."
"Well, are we okay?" she asked slowly, sitting down.
"Yeah," he said, softening. "I'm sorry about walking out. I just took a drive around the block for a while. I wanted to come back and apologize, but your front door was locked."
"You were going to just walk right in?" Natalie smiled. "I think you're back to normal."
"Yeah, hopefully." He leaned in and kissed her so passionately that Natalie had chills up her spine. But of course they had to stop way too soon since they were in the lunchroom and did not want to get written up again for PDA.
Lunch was perfect, lunch was normal. They talked about bands and about Natalie's mom and about a stupid Physics project. Then a perky blonde stopped at their table. It was the senior class hottie and cheerleader, Ashley Smith. Her makeup was too flawless, her eyes too blue. Natalie couldn't help but immediately feel threatened.
"Hey, Henry," Ashley said. "My offer still stands. Call me tonight. Please?" she added, leaning in a little too close.
"Um, yeah," Henry answered, looking down at his jeans.
"'Kay. Toodles!" And then she flounced away.
"What was that?" Natalie asked, totally shocked.
"Nothing," Henry said, taking a bite of his hot dog.
"Nothing? What was she talking about, my offer still stands. Henry, what the hell is going on?"
"We have the same study hall, okay? She apparently heard about my parents being all mad and everything and said that her parents are about to get a divorce themselves. She was just offering to talk to me about it. I never said yes."
"You kind of did," Natalie corrected. "Remember two seconds ago? When you said um yeah?"
"Since when are you the jealous type?" Henry asked, getting upset too. "What do you care if I want to give her a call? It's not like I'm going to go out with her!"
"That's not why I'm mad. I'm mad that you'd rather talk to Ashley Smith about your problems than with your girlfriend."
"Fine, I won't call her," he said, getting up.
"Where are you going?" Natalie asked.
"The practice room."
"Oh no you don't." Natalie hopped up too and followed him out of the cafeteria. "The practice room is where I go to escape my problems, not you."
Henry stopped in his tracks. "Oh, so now I can't use the practice room without your permission?" he asked. "What's your problem today, Nat?"
"I don't have a problem, you have a problem!" Henry continued into the practice room and Natalie followed. He sat down at the piano and started plunking out some messed up, made-up jazz tune.
"Why won't you just tell me why you're so upset?" Natalie asked after he had played out his anger a bit.
"Because I don't want to talk," he said.
Natalie was starting to get really pissed. "Okay, either open up to me now or you shut me out for good."
"For good?" Henry laughed. "Are you threatening to break up with me."
"Yes," she said, standing up straighter. "I am."
"You wouldn't," he said.
"Yeah, I would."
"Please. We break up every two weeks, you know that. What makes this time any different?" He continued playing.
"Because this time I'm serious."
They stared at each other for a long, intense time. Henry certainly didn't want to loose Natalie, that is, if she wasn't bluffing. Natalie didn't want to end it with Henry either, but it was getting a little ridiculous that he wouldn't just talk. How would that affect their future relationship? And why was he so willing to chat with the cheerleader?
"Look, Nat," Henry said finally. "I'll talk to you when I'm ready. But I just can't right now. It's too much, okay?"
"Whatever," Natalie said, fed up. She quickly left the practice room. Henry jumped up after her and followed her to her locker. She was shoving books into her backpack.
"What, you cutting school now?" he asked.
She ignored the question. "Just call me when your ready to be Henry again." And then she ran into the parking lot. Henry stood in that exact spot until the bell rang and the rush of kids forced him to move. He had totally screwed up.