Chapter 8: I Lost Everything

"Hey, I'm gonna go call Miranda and Victoria to check in at the store. You okay?" Kristina asked Rosalina. They hadn't said a word to each other for the past 30 minutes.

"Mhmm, go ahead. I'm okay." She said. Kristina got up and walked down to the bathroom.

"Alright guys, I'm going in." Nat said. He got up and made his way over to Rosalina. She saw him walking over to her and she looked down.

"What do you want?" She asked, not looking at him.

"I want to talk." He said, sitting down next to her. She moved as far away from him as she could.

"Good for you." She muttered.

"Alright, if you don't wanna talk, then listen. I know what I did to you broke your heart and I'm truly sorry about it. I thought it was the best decision at the time and I now realized that it wasn't. I lost everything 6 years ago, my best friends, my dad, and you. You mean the world to me Rosalina." Nat told her. She rolled her eyes at him. "Please just say something."

"Do you even know what you did?" She asked him.

"Of course I know, I was there." Nat said. They sat in silence, both of them thinking about what happened 6 years ago.

6 years ago (FLASHBACK)

"I've got a new song for you. Nat told Rosalina. They were hanging out in her dorm room before they had to go to rehearsal. He grabbed his acoustic guitar and started to play it for her. "It's called Forever."

Rosalina watched a 17 year old Nat sing to her and she couldn't help but smile. The song was of course about her and it melted her heart. He sang about their relationship and how much he loved her. After the song, she smiled wide at him and pulled him in for a hug. The hug turned into a kiss and the kiss turned in to a make out session. Nat started to take his shirt off but Rosalina stopped him.

"Nat..." Rosalina said, pulling away and shaking her head.

"What baby? You don't wanna?" Nat asked, trying to kiss her again but she pulled away. She held up her hand, showing off her purity ring. "Oh come on babe, you know we're gonna be together forever so let's have our first time be special, were in the mood and ready, so let's do it."

"No, Nat, I'm not doing it." She said.

"Come on babe, stop being such a prude." Nat said, trying to kiss her again. "I love you, isn't that enough?"

"Nat...We can't..." She said, getting up from the couch. "We need to go to rehearsal."

"Oh, I guess we do." He said, looking at his watch. The two left in silence and the ride to the studio was silent.

"I'm sorry babe." Nat said, looking over at her when they stopped at a red light.

"It's fine." She muttered. "As long as it doesn't happen again, okay?"

"It won't." Nat said, grabbing her hand.

"Thanks Nat." Rosalina said, leaning over and kissing him quickly before the light turned. Nat pulled into the parking lot of the studio and the two got out and went inside. Everyone else was already there and setting up so Nat and Rosalina joined them. Rosalina noticed both Nat and Alex looked a bit nervous and tense. They whispered to each other during breaks and kept looking at their iPhones. After rehearsal, the two called a band meeting, surprising everyone including Cooper, who had no idea what it was about.

"So, umm, guys. Me and Alex wanted to talk to you about something. You guys remember a couple months back we went to London for that music thing. Well, it was actually an audition for this special music program. And well, we got in." Nat said.

"And ummm, this program requires for us to move to...London." Alex said. The band's smiles all turned to confused looks, especially Rosalina's.

"So, what does that mean for us?" Thomas asked. "You know, the Naked Brothers Band?"

"Uhmmm, well, we we're hoping it'd be okay if we took a break for a while." Alex said.

"But not a breakup, we still wanna be a band. We just wanna take a break for a while." Nat said.

"How come you guys never mentioned anything about this to us?" Qaasim asked.

"Cause we didn't wanna get our hopes up." Alex told them.

"Well, we're your best friends. Don't you think we should have known about it?" David said.

"Look, we're sorry guys." Nat said. "Is it cool if we take a break for a bit?"

"How long is a bit?" Kristina asked them.

"Uhh...4 years." Alex said.

"What?!" The band all exclaimed.

"Come on guys, we want to become better musicians and this program will help so much." Nat pleaded.

"Shouldn't this have been a mutual decision?" Qaasim asked.

"It is, were telling you guys right now!" Alex said.

"Yeah, telling us! We had no say in the decision." David said.

"You guys already made the decision; you're just breaking the news to us." Thomas said.

"Nat, I can't believe you kept this from me." Rosalina told him. "I thought we agreed that wed tell each other EVERYTHING."

"We did babe, but me and Alex didn't wanna get our hopes up." Nat told her.

"So what Nat? Did you even think about us? Me and you?"

"Of course I did." Nat said. "I haven't stopped thinking about how much it's gonna suck being away from you."

"Do you guys even wanna be in the Naked Brothers Band anymore?" Rosalina asked them. "Honestly?"

Nat and Alex looked at each other and the rest of the band could tell what they were thinking. Rosalina shook her head and got up. "That's what I thought."

She ran from the room in tears and Nat followed after her. "Rosalina, wait!"

"What? Wanna tell me more about this new life you've got planned out?"

"Rosalina, I'm sorry." Nat said. "But, come on, this is a once in a lifetime chance babe, I can't turn it down."

"I get that Nat, but what about us?" Rosalina asked. "You're just leaving us in the dust as you guys go solo. It does gonna happen; you guys are the stars of the band. Were just here for backup."

"We didn't think the band was what you guys wanted to do the rest of your life." Nat said.

"How do you know? You and the guys are still juniors, Kristina graduates next week and Alex is starting high school next year." Rosalina said. "Have you even asked them what they wanna do for the rest of their lives?"

"Uh no but it's not like you guys write the music or anything." Nat said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa we all write music!" Thomas said, barging in through the door. It turned out; the whole band had been listening from the other side.

"Yeah, we just know if we show it to you guys, you'll turn it down because you wanna be the stars of the show." David said.

"Guys, were sorry!" Alex said.

"Yes, we know! You've only said it like 10 times!" Qaasim said.

"Alright, guys, stop yelling!" Rosalina said. "Nat, are you and Alex leaving the band?"

"Yes." He muttered. Rosalina shook her head and walked away.

"Fine, I guess were done talking about this." Nat called after her. "Just walk away like you always do Rosalina, I guess things don't change!"

"What are you saying Nat?" Rosalina yelled back. "I'm walking away because you're being so ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous? I'm trying to break this to you lightly but you're making it so hard." Nat told her.

"I'm making it hard because I have to. You're being so stubborn and stupid." Rosalina said. "Nat, you and Alex are throwing your lives away!"

"We are not throwing our lives away! This is our dream Rosalina, why can't you wrap your head around it?"

"I thought your dream was to spend the rest of your life with me. That'd we'd never leave each other's side until the day we died." Rosalina said. "What happened to that?"

"I...I" Nat struggled to answer.

"Oh wait! It all makes sense now! This is why you tried to push me past my limits earlier. You wanted to have sex before you left so that you'd be experienced when you got there. You knew how much that promise I made means to me and you just wanted to do it."

"You did what?!" Thomas asked Nat. "Did you try to have sex with her?"

"It's not really any of your business Thomas." Nat said, trying to avoid the truth.

"Yeah it is, you know how much that promise means to her and you wanted to make her break it." Qaasim said, stepping in as well.

"Guys, this is really just between me and Nat started to say but he was too late." Thomas, Qaasim, and David all stormed away. Kristina followed them as well. Rosalina looked at him and took off the bracelet he'd given her when they were little. She placed it in his hand and shook her head.

"I'm done Nat." Rosalina said, running her hands through her hair. "Goodbye."

Rosalina ran after the rest of the band, leaving Cooper and the brothers. Cooper stepped closer. "I really wish you guys would have told me. But, I guess I see where you're coming from so have a good time."

"Well keep in touch bro, thanks for understanding." Nat said hugging him.