Chapter 14: The Natalia Act of December 17

Nat's POV

When I work up, I felt like shit. My stomach didn't hurt as much as it did yesterday, but my throat was dry, scratchy, and felt swollen (effect of swollen lymph nodes), and my nosy was stuffy, runny, but nothing came out when I blew. I knew for a fact my nose and cheeks were red and my eyes were watery. So if I was so sick, why was Rosalina so okay with being so close to me? She was tickling the side of my chest with one hand and blowing gentle kisses below my ear and in my hair, which woke me up.

She smirked at me, already dressed for the day. "You ready to go?" she asked me. I groaned, closing my eyes again.

"I feel like shit," I said in a scratchy voice.

"Get up Baby," she said. I looked at her questionably. "You have all these nicknames for me."

"I still feel like shit," I said.

"Well we're leaving for New York in ten minutes and we're going to be on the road for nearly three hours." she said. "You don't really have clothes to change into so you can just freshen up."

"Okay," I said, slowly sitting up. Gina and Stacy were there with gym bags near their feet, dressed in casual winter clothes except for their coats. Standing next to them was a young man, no more than twenty, who I assume was Leo. Rosalina came back over to me, pulling me off of the couch.

"Let's go Nat," she said more urgently. "You look like shit."

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," I said sarcastically, following her to the downstairs bathroom.

"Your welcome," she said. "Now the sooner we leave the quicker we get you home and then we can party."

"You'll need some thicker clothes," Stacy said, following us. "We found some extremely old ones from the basement, they'll keep you warm in the car along with the cost you were wearing."

"It's not as cold in New York as it is here," I said. "It hasn't even started snowing yet."

"But it's freezing here." Gina said, coming inside. "Now, here's some mouth rinse and the clothes."

"We'll be on our way," Rosalina said, heading for the door with her friends.

"Could you stay Rosie?" I asked quietly. The three girls stopped and Rosalina turned to me. "I'm gonna need some help cause I'm still a little weak." She nodded, letting her friends leave before closing the door. She tilted her head to look at me, a little curious.

"I know you don't need my help," she said.

"I just wanted to talk to you," I said. "In private."

"Okay," she said, leaning against the wall behind me.

"Do you really believe me when I say I wasn't cheating?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Sort of," she said. "I want to believe you."

"I want you to believe me too," I said. "Now that I have you in my life, I don't want you to leave. I can't imagine us not being together, or us not even being friends. When you were mad at me, it was the most awful feeling I ever felt. I felt worse than I feel now."

"How can you feel worse than shit?" she asked jokingly.

"Crazy right?" I asked. "Doesn't that make you feel better? That you're so fucking mesmerizing that when you left me I felt worse than shit."

"I'm flattered," she said.

"Can we make a promise?" I asked. "No matter what happens in our serious relationship, it won't damage our friendship."

"We should give it a name," she said.

"Any ideas?" I asked, turning to face her.

"The Natalia Act of December 17!" someone shouted from the other side of the door. Rosalina and I laughed, then linked pinkies.

"To the Natalia Act of December 17!" Rosalina said through laughter.

.

I slept the whole ride time. I didn't have any dreams though, which I was happy about because Ms. West gave me a heavy dosage of medicine and I hate having dreams when I'm sick. They're so...fucking weird! Ever watch Gravity Falls? Well, it's weirder than that Bill Cipher shit. That show had me up at night scared. Glad I got some closure. Anyway, when we got to the city in general, Rosalina woke me up. She asked where I wanted to go, and pointed them in the direction of Juanita's foster home. That's where I left Alex last night, mainly because all the guys were at the dance. Rosalina insisted that she and Gina go.

"Mrs. Mendez doesn't know either of you," I argued.

"But Alex knows me," Rosalina said.

"She won't let you see Alex if she doesn't know you."

"I'm very persuasive," she said. "How else could o drive you so crazy."

"Just let me go," I said. "This is my hometown. Do I have to remind you who had to save you the first time your friends came?"

"I was distracted and emotionally vulnerable," she argued. "And it's not like you could save me the second time."

"You wouldn't let me go with you," I pointed out. "And I left as soon as I got the call from Kristina."

"Still, I can handle myself in front of a few strangers," she said.

"Just like how you handled yourself perfectly fine when those guys tried to—"

"Don't you dare say it," she warned.

"Or what?" I asked. "I'm older, remember?"

"By six months," she argued.

"Seven genius," I said.

"Actually it's five months and twenty six days," she said. "Now, Stacy and I are going to go ask for Alex and you are going to stay in the car with Gina and Leo."

"I don't want to," I said.

"Too bad," she said. "You're not thirteen yet, and I'm in charge."

"Fine," I said, pouting in the corner. She smiled, heading for the door. She came back, giving me a kiss on my forehead before going back to the door.

"Love you," she said, walking out.

"You too," I called back.

"So your Nat," Leo said from the driver's seat. "Rosalina is like my baby sister. I care a whole lot about her."

"As do I," I said weakly. My argument with Rosalina took a whole lot out of me.

"She seems to care a lot about you," he said. "Why is that?"

"Rosalina is Rosalina," I said. "I think it's because when we met I saved her from a football I threw, but then another one hit her and she was knocked out. It really freaked me and the guys out, so we stayed until she woke up and then we made her some lunch."

"Don't lie Nat," Gina said.

"Okay I made her lunch and they played and she lay on the couch healing," I said.

"What was that thing she told you not to mention?" Leo asked.

"Well, you should ask her about it," I said. "It's more her business that mine. I don't know if she's okay with me telling other people."

"So you won't tell me?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"I respect your morals, but I can't intervene if I don't know what it is," he said.

"Gina knows, so ask her," I said.

"I don't like Gina," Leo said.

"Well I can't help you then," I said.

"So, how old is your brother?" Leo asked.

"Ten," I said. "He spent the night with his best friend though."

"Who are the guys?" he asked.

"These idiots that are my friends," I said. "Well, they're Rosie's friends too. Although she's particularly fond of me myself and I. There's Thomas, David, Cooper, and Qaasim."

"You don't hang out with any girls other than her?"

"Sometimes we hang out with Kristina," I said.

"She doesn't count as a girl," Leo said.

"I don't trust other girls," I said. "If you haven't noticed, I'm kinda very attractive and that's all they care about. Well except for Rosalina. She sees more."

"Do you see more in her?" he asked.

"To be honest, because of what she was first wearing, I thought she was a boy." I said. "She was wearing boy clothes and had her hair hidden in a hat and she wasn't looking up."

"Stop talking about me," Rosalina said, opening the door. "Alex isn't here by the way."

"What?" I asked in panic.

"Relax, Juanita said that Cooper came by and took him to the warehouse to finish up for the party tonight." she finished.

"To conclude, we're going to the warehouse," Stacy said, sliding in.

I gave Leo the address and we were off. I'm not too sure Leo liked me. It didn't seem like it. God, this was starting to be an awful birthday. I haven't seen my brother in what felt like forever. Other than school, Alex and I spent almost all out time together. I hope they didn't take him anywhere else. Luckily, they didn't. Thomas and David were decorating, Qaasim was moving out instruments, Kristina and Cooper were discussing business, and Alex was drawing on the giant chalkboard. Recently, we wrote 'The Naked Brothers Band' on it and we're putting random stuff around it. It was mostly Alex who did it, and when he saw us walk in, he beamed with excitement. He ran over to us, stopping when he reached us.

"Guys! Nat and Rosalina are here, and they brought Gina and Stacy and some other dude!" he exclaimed. "Happy birthday Nat!"

"Thanks dude," I said, ruffling his hair.

"Don't do that," he said sharply. "You don't want me taking back your present."

"Absolutely not," I said, laughing lightly.

"Ladies, I've missed you," Alex said to Gina and Stacy. "Have you been practicing?"

"I'm sorry Alex but I don't think we'll ever be able to drum like you," Stacy said.

"That's not the point," Alex said. "You don't have to be good. You just have to be better than Nat."

"I'm not that bad," I said, walking further in.

"Get out!" Kristina yelled at me. "Rosalina, take him somewhere. Just keep him from here."

"Why?" Rosalina asked, coming up next to me.

"Cause Nat's a distraction," Thomas called over his shoulder.

"Especially when he's sick," David added.

"I am not," I argued.

"Yes you are," the guys said.

"Especially on day two," Alex said. "That's when you get delusional."

"No I do not," I said.

"Just go to your dressing room," Kristina said, jumping in. "Take Gina and Stacy with you. And him."

"Nice to see you too, demon," Leo said.

"Go," Cooper said. "And happy birthday Nat."

"Yea happy birthday," Qaasim said.

"My son of a bitch is gonna be thirteen today," Thomas said, faking sentimentality.

"Fuck you too," I said, walking down the hall to the dressing rooms.

"We're going to mine," Rosalina said.

"Mine has a bathroom with a shower which I haven't had," I said.

"You cha shower later," she said. "It's only around eleven, you have time."

"Fine," I said, following her down to her dressing room.

Recently, we had invested in an arts and crafts project. We decorated our doors to personalize them. Alex's had the most random stuff, along with pictures he took from our house of him, him and me, him and the guys, and him and Juanita. Mine had a bunch of Beatles stuff on it, along with my own pictures, mostly of baby me and me and Rosalina. Rosalina's door was mostly pink and girlie, with a bunch of Yankees stuff on it, and pictures of her and her friends, and some of her and me and the guys. We also got to decorating the inside of our rooms.

Since we're going to Rosalina's, I'll tell you about hers. She painted the walls baby blue and had brought in a pink vanity. On the opposite wall of the vanity was a small couch and a few bean bag chairs, then a wall full of mirrors. There was a desk next to the vanity, along with a rack of her performing clothes. She had brought a few pictures from her room along with stuffed animals, and her bass sat in a corner, plugged in.

"Are you guys a band or something?" Leo asked.

"Yep," Rosalina said.

"We do YouTube videos," I said. "And a school dance once. Nothing serious."

"We're amazing," Rosalina said. "Nat sings, I do bass, Alex does drums."

"Thomas, the one with long hair, plays cello," I said. "David, the blonde one, plays keys, and Qaasim, the one with black hair, plays guitar."

"I don't approve," Leo said.

A/N: So sorry I haven't updated in forever. I am the most distracted person ever. I've been writing in 17 different cheaters at once because off how distracted I get. And I've been working on a few school projects, I'm just a mess. Anyway, this story only has about four more chapters left, and then it's finished.

Upcoming stories:

Love at First Bite

T.S.P.

The 3rd Generation: All Around the World

Upcoming chapters:

Making a Better Girl

Strange Sex Ed Class

Twisted

Sex 1-Shots

Together Forever: The Very Crazy Cruise

The 3G: Then and Now written and told by Alia Wolff

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