Right after arriving, Alfred, Natalya, and the two micronations walked along the beach line to the nearest ice cream store. They were all desperate for some deliciously ice cold ice cream. Natalya was already overheating and the other three just wanted more sugar.
They stood in front of the side opening of the ice cream store as a middle-aged woman poked her head out to give them a large grin. "Now what can I get you four?"
Alfred didn't recognize them, they must've only just started working here.
Peter raised his hand and jumped up and down so he would get noticed. The lady chuckled and looked down at the boy. "Yes young man?"
"Can I have salted caramel, with lots of sprinkles? Ooh and M 's. And gummy bears. And whipped cream!" He began listing off. Alfred laughed and looked to the lady to whisper, "just get him a little of everything."
"And make it a large!" Peter shouted. Alfred stared down at him in bemused alarm. "You sure you can handle all of that little dude?" Peter gave him a serious nod, and Alfred not wanting to be a stickler on Peter's joy eventually agreed.
Next was Molossia, who nonchalantly walked up with his hands in his pockets and a permanently pissed off expression. "Just get me a medium size cup of cookie dough. And I'll take that plain."
Alfred turned to Natalya, the first time since they talked in her bedroom. "So what do you want?" She turned to him for a split second, but as she made eye contact she darted her eyes away. "Just vanilla."
"I mean, that's kinda boring but alright," Alfred shrugged as he stepped up to the lady for his own order. "So I'll take one medium French vanilla in a normal waffle cone, and one medium soft serve chocolate-vanilla swirl dipped in cherry coating please. Also in a waffle cone."
The lady only chuckled more as she turned to begin preparing the orders. "You must come her often with an order like that."
Alfred blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah... I live near here so I come around every once in a while." That's a blatant lie, this will be his 83rd time visiting in the past four years.
One by one the nations received their orders, first Molossia and Natalya, then Alfred, and finally after about five minutes Peter got his.
Alfred paid for them as the group began walking away, but just as he caught up with them the lady happily called out, "I hope you and your family have a nice day at the beach."
Alfred instantaneously spun around and repeatedly chopped at his neck, desperately trying to warn the nice lady to shut the hell up before she gets murdered.
Natalya slowly turned around and walked back to the ice cream store, glaring at the lady menacingly so much so she froze solid. "Say that to me again and I'll carve off your entire goddamn face!"
The lady stared back in terror, and when looking back at Alfred for an explanation all she got was a mouthed out "sorry."
Natalya turned on her heel and returned to the group as they continued walking away. When no one was looking Alfred sprinted back and paid the lady a large tip.
"The absolute nerve of that lady. How can she think we're a family?" Natalya vented to the other three.
"I don't think it's that strange to believe. To me you and Alfred are like my aunt and uncle, and Molossia is my cousin," Peter argued while chewing on some gummy bears.
Natalya and Alfred exchanged weirded out glances before looking back down at Peter. "Umm, aren't Denmark, Norway, and Iceland your uncles?" Alfred wondered.
Peter shrugged. "Yeah, but you guys are like my cool aunt and uncle that always buy me stuff and takes me places."
Alfred smirked at the micronation. "You know, you're one spoiled brat." Peter smirked back just as snidely.
"Though he does have a point, we'd totally make an awesome aunt and uncle right?" Alfred asked Natalya while poking her arm with his elbow.
She turned and scowled at him for a split second, but then shifted into an uncomfortable blush as she turned away again. "What are you even saying? Idiot."
After a little more walking they took a seat at a park bench under the nice shade of some large trees. From there they continued eating their ice cream and talking idly amongst each other.
"Wait so you've never been to a beach before?!" Alfred asked in pure amazement. Natalya shook her head. "We did once, but all the men would constantly gawk at sestra. Obviously Russia and I were furious, then one thing led to another and now we're banned from that beach. We just decided not to go to anymore after that, it's too hot anyway."
Alfred had a good laugh at her story, before responding to the last part. "Well duh, that's the entire point of going to the beach. I mean, why do you think we're eating ice cream right now? It's hot as hell."
He gasped at his choice of words and spun around to look at Peter. "I mean uhh... well hell is technically a place so is it even really a swear word?"
Peter waved him off. "It's quite alright, I hang out with Molossia anyway, and he's got the mouth of a sailor."
Alfred slowly turned to Molossia and gave him an empty look. "Is that a fact?" Molossia suddenly found his ice cream really intriguing.
After a moment he turned his attention back to Natalya. "So you really can't swim, can you?"
Natalya's face contorted in anger and offense. "I can! How many times do I have to explain this to you?!"
"Until you stop lying to me," Alfred fired back with a sly grin. That only served to enrage Natalya.
"Why would I lie about that?" She asked rhetorically. "I'm hundreds of years old, not learning how to swim in that amount of time is impossible."
"It's not impossible, besides didn't you just say you and your siblings avoid beaches all the time?" He questioned her contradiction.
She sighed inwardly and rolled her eyes. "You do realize beaches have been around forever before becoming tourist attractions?"
Alfred shook his head in disbelief. "I'm still not convinced, I think you'll have to prove it to me."
She glared darkly at him but got to her feet. "Very well, I will prove I can swim and show just how much of a moron you are."
After taking a final bite of her ice cream she turned and walked away to change, leaving Alfred feeling victorious for baiting her into something she most likely wouldn't have done otherwise.
"So are you two joining us or are you just gonna chill out here?" He asked while looking at the other two.
Molossia looked to Peter, as he was going to follow him around for the whole time. "I'll join eventually but first I've got to finish this ice cream," Peter said while holding up the still massive pile of his delicious treat.
"I'll stay with him, he needs to be supervised anyway so he doesn't hurt himself from the inevitable sugar rush he'll get," Molossia added.
"Right, then I guess I'll get going, be safe," Alfred requested while standing up. In one swift movement he ate the rest of his ice cream, threw off his shirt, and ran to the lake.
A few minutes later Natalya came out of a building wearing a bikini while holding her dress in her hands. It was a normal straight black two-piece, but it just felt so... revealing. Especially since all she wears are dresses and leggings that reveal as little skin as possible. Why couldn't he have at least gotten her a one-piece?
Trying to hide herself as much as possible from the public, she quickly snuck her way over to where the micronations were sitting and placed her clothes next to Alfred's. She then retreated back to the bathroom and looked for Alfred from there.
She found him in an extra empty part of the lake, with the closest person about fifty feet away. At least he had the consideration to make this slightly less uncomfortable.
Making sure no one was looking she jogged her way over to him. Instantly he noticed her and glanced up, before darting his eyes away and covering his mouth with one hand.
'Holy shit, holy fucking shit!' He panicked, practically shaking in place. He had never seen her wear so little before. And her running toward him like that? Looking would just be disrespectful.
She entered the water and waded her way over to him. Once she was in front of him she nervously looked around at all the people while crossing her arms, not noticing that she was smushing her breasts together.
Alfred glanced down for half a second before looking away once again. 'That bikini is so skimpy. I didn't know her bre— chest was so. . . large.'
'I mean... look who she's related ta. One's Ukraine, no explanation needed, and apparently da other one is packin' heat.'
'Ugh don't remind me,' Alfred cringed.
'Y'know, doll face has a pretty good balance. Great cans, an even bigger behind. I reckon she's quite the beautiful lady.'
Alfred nervously scratched his temple as Natalya turned to him. 'Yeah, very uhhh... yeah.'
"So, you wanna prove me wrong now?" He asked her, slowly bringing himself back to normal.
She rubbed her arm with just as much nervousness as him. "Umm... sure."
Slowly she walked into a deeper part of the water, then looked back at him for approval. For a second he wasn't sure what to do as they eyed each other awkwardly, but knowing staring blankly would only increase that awkwardness he opted to fake a cocky smirk.
"Well, are you gonna start swimming or do you want to admit you can't?" He asked, which successfully dissipated any lingering embarrassment from Natalya... now she was pissed off again.
"I'll show you," she grumbled as she bent down and began swimming around him. She can swim, he'll admit that much, but it was incredibly slow. Mix her furious scowl with that amateurish doggy paddle and Alfred was about to lose it.
Unlike last time Alfred couldn't hold it in and began hysterically laughing, which made Natalya freeze up and hide everything up to her neck in the water.
"W-What? What's so funny?!" She yelled as her face turned dark red once again. Alfred could only point at her and stutter out incomprehensible mutterings before laughing once again. At one point he collapsed and almost drowned, and only then did he begin to quiet down.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting that," he apologized while wiping at his eyes. Natalya stared at him confused. "What do you mean? I proved you wrong!"
"Yeah but it was so slow, and you looked so mad!" He chuckled giddily. Natalya sputtered in absolute mortification. "Sh-Shut up! I'm a landlocked country you dick!"
Alfred forced himself to be quiet, knowing she was about a minute away from drowning him right there. "Look, I can be the bigger man and admit you were right, but to be frank your skill is hot garbage." Natalya frowned deeply at him. "But luckily for you I'm a great swimmer, so I can teach you."
Natalya's glare was replaced by shock as Alfred walked up beside her and put his hands on her waist. They were so warm against her exposed skin, if it wasn't for this situation she would probably find it relaxing.
She looked up at his face in wonder, seeing he had the smallest of blushes. "Alright so just lay forward and I'll show you how to do freestyle swimming," he requested.
Before he could move her forward, she stopped herself by gripping to his arm with both hands. "Alfred there's no need for this. If you demonstrate for me I can copy you."
"You could but it'll take longer, this way you can get the form down without having to constantly sink and restart," he argued.
"Ok..." she finally agreed. Alfred nodded and slowly tilted her forward into the water.
"So the first step is to be as straight as possible, if your legs are under you then you'll sink like a rock," he instructed, to which Natalya rolled her eyes. "I know how buoyancy works."
"Right, so next step is the arm movements. You want to bring one arm out of the water and place it straight in front of you. Oh and make sure to turn your body with it."
Natalya followed the instruction and extended her right arm up while turning the left side of her body up. "Good, so then what you'll want to do next is simultaneously move your other arm up in the same way while pushing your other arm down toward your center. Then from there it's down, up, and out behind you. Also your body should turn the other way while doing so."
She did that as well, though very slowly to get the rhythm down. Alfred smiled and nodded approvingly. "Sweet, now just start kicking your legs back and forth... though you have to remember not to bend your legs or else you waste a lot of your energy on nothing."
As she started kicking Alfred got splashed in the face with a massive amount of water. He spit out what got in his mouth and shook the hair from his face. "Not that much, try to make the kicking narrower."
She followed along and calmed down a little bit, finding herself already going somewhat faster. "See? You're catching on quick. At this rate you'll be an Olympic swimmer in no time."
Her cheeks became tinged pink at the compliment. "T-Thank you, but I seriously doubt that."
"What do you mean? You've got super strength, that's why I'm such a good swimmer," he explained. "Also I was taught by Prussia and border three oceans and the Gulf of Mexico but that's not important."
"Right, well anyway you can let me go now," she stated. Alfred raised an eyebrow at her. "We haven't even practiced yet, first let's just try putting into action what we've learned while I'm guiding you. If you can manage that I'll let you do it yourself."
So Alfred began slowly guiding her though the water while she swam, and when he finally thought she was ready he steadily increased the distance between his hands and her waist.
When he removed his hands fully she got about ten feet before losing her rhythm and sinking. Alfred caught her last second and pulled her back up. "Dammit I had that," she groaned.
"Don't worry about it, even nations need practice for things," he assured as they tried again.
After a few more attempts Alfred removed his hands one final time, and to his surprise she started swimming on her own without stopping.
He jumped in joy and cheered for her with a thumbs up. "Nat you're doing it!" She shortly laughed in disbelief. "I actually am." 'Eat shit big brother and sestra, I know how to properly swim too now.'
She circled back around and stopped in front of him, then on impulse they enveloped each other in a hug while he spun her around claiming how proud he was.
Both paused and shot their eyes open, shuttering at the feeling of their wet skin clinging to one another. In a split second they had thrown each other off, with Natalya going a little too hard resulting in Alfred at the bottom of the lake.
After reaching the surface and walking back to her he decided to act like nothing happened. "So next you should try endurance swimming. Try to uhh... try swimming out to that buoy thing over there.
She followed where he was pointing to a line of a buoy rope barrier out in the distance. "I can do that, though first let me get a few more practice swims in."
Alfred nodded and watched as she swam away, finally giving him a moment to rein in his emotions and stop acting so awkward. Luckily the perfect distraction seemed to come right out of nowhere.
"Hey there stranger, fancy seeing you here," a voice called out. Turning around Alfred saw it was the group of women from a month ago. The ones he had initially turned down.
"Oh sup... ladies. Sorry I never actually got your names last time," he apologized while rubbing the back of his neck.
The obvious leader of the group stepped forward with a playful smirk. She was by far the tannest of them all, with long black hair and bright silvery eyes. She also was very well endowed, which she had no problem flaunting in front of him.
"My name is Rebecca, what's your name?" She asked while batting her eyelashes at him.
"My name's Alfred, and who are the rest of you?" He wondered. The next to walk up was a tall brunette, or rather she was tall compared to the other women, Alfred still had about two inches on her.
"My name is Julie, it's nice to meet you," she greeted politely while extending a hand for him to shake. He accepted the handshake and looked to the others, who all stepped forward one by one to introduce themselves.
"I'm Harper," a curly-haired redhead waved.
"Sophie," another girl with bright green eyes and wavy blonde hair called out. Then another girl that looked just like her jumped out from behind. "And Charlie. We're twins!"
Both of them were very energetic, much like himself. Alfred grinned at them in pleasant surprise. "I'm actually a twin myself."
The two sisters turned to each other and squealed. Maybe they could score a double date.
Finally at the back there was a very short blonde with glasses and a long ponytail. She was hiding behind Julie's long legs, and would barely peak out to look at him before getting shy. "I-I'm B-B-Bailey. It's v-very nice t-to meet you."
Alfred smiled warmly at her. Having met Latvia he knew how to deal with shy types. He got down on one knee, placing half his body underwater and making himself appear shorter than her. "There's no reason to be nervous, I won't bite," he chuckled while extending his own hand for her to shake.
After a second of hesitation she took his hand and shook firmly. Instantly she brightened up and moved out from behind Julie.
He got back to his feet and looked around at the women circling him. "So where are you guys coming from? I don't think I've seen you around here before."
Rebecca popped in front of him once again. "We actually just finished college back in California. Before we go off to get jobs and stuff for the rest of our lives we wanted to take a vacation. None of us have ever been to the East Coast or D.C. so here we are."
Alfred laughed softly at the irony of it. "That's funny, I just got back from a trip around the West."
"That is funny. So where did you go?" She wondered.
Alfred put a finger on his chin and thought about it. "Honestly where didn't I go. I think I entered every state out there except for maybe Montana."
All the girls grinned at each other as their friend began luring him in. "Do tell, that sounds very interesting. Though maybe we should find somewhere more secluded so we don't bake in this sun."
Oblivious to the sexual undertones of the request, Alfred just shrugged. "The water cools me off just fine. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a good tan."
All the girls glanced down at his chest simultaneously, lustfully eyeing his own tan skin. Over the course of the last few weeks of walking around in the desert, Alfred's skin had turned from a sun-kissed peach to a proper tan, which was certainly doing him a favor in gaining the attention of others.
Harper licked her lips and giggled quietly. "Can't argue with that." All the others giggled along.
It was a little creepy but Alfred laughed it off. "Yeah, anyway so my trip started in Florida."
Meanwhile with Natalya, she did all of her practicing and successfully swam all the way to the buoy barrier and back.
"H-Hey Alfred... I did it," she spoke in between inhales. Even while being an immortal nation, swimming this much with no experience was exhausting.
After a little more deep breathing she stood up straight while beginning to brush hair from her eyes. "I'm sure I probably looked like an idiot floundering around out there. Right Alfred?"
Once the curtain of hair was removed she opened her eyes, but was confused when the American was nowhere in sight. "Alfred?"
She just chalked it up to her not knowing where she was swimming, but the fact that Alfred simply didn't walk over accordingly troubled her.
Eventually she found him off in the distance talking happily while a bunch of women surrounded him.
Instantly her heart constricted in alarm. 'Who are these women? Does Alfred know them?'
She continued observing the group, beginning to notice the lustful stares and brazen attempts to touch and latch onto him.
Slowly her hands clenched into tight balls and her unreadable expression turned into a furious sneer. Watching this display was actually getting her mad. Those women are so obviously trying to hit on him, and he's not turning them away. Is he seriously about to abandon the micronations and her to fool around with a bunch of bimbos?
Before it could go on for any longer she began trudging toward them. She wasn't about to let Alfred ruin his life for these bitches.
When she was about ten feet away she sank into the water and snuck up on them. From what she could hear Alfred was talking about their trip.
Suddenly she rose from the water right behind him, gaining the attention of the women. They all stared with confused looks, believing it was another woman here to gawk at the American beauty.
That all changed as Alfred turned around and smiled down at her. "Sup Natalya, I was just talking about you. Here, tell them about Ivan the Crocodile. They totally don't believe me."
All of the women's faces flipped from confused to ones of envy and hatred. Even Bailey looked peeved, though it was less obvious with her nervousness and all.
Alfred stepped out of the way for her to speak, but Natalya instead walked with him and stood in front of him as a sort of defense.
"So..." she began while looking between all of them with just as much fervent loathing. "Who are these skanks?"
Alfred jolted in shock as he immediately dragged her away. The women, especially Rebecca, was fuming. If Alfred hadn't dragged Natalya away they would've all started fighting.
Once he was a good distance away, literally about 100 feet, he turned her around and let go of her shoulders. "Nat what the hell was that?!"
Natalya's face was flat, but on the inside she was smiling. She doesn't regret a thing. "They were trying to sleep with you. I was just stopping you from doing something you would regret."
"Something I'd—" he paused to rub the bridge of his nose. "Nat they're humans and there are six of them. What the fuck do you think I'm gonna do?! And we weren't even doing anything, all I was doing was talking about the trip."
"That's what you were doing, but I saw how they were looking at you. They wanted to get in your pants," she argued. "And let me guess... California? They're all just a bunch of dolled up gold-digging whores over there."
"Hey!" He snapped. "Don't you dare talk shit about my people." She could see that genuinely struck a nerve with him, as his face had grown dark and he long abandoned trying to smile.
"Why do you even care?! You already know my feelings about growing close with humans. I'm not some idiot making the same stupid mistakes. I already..." he quieted down as he got lost in thought.
After the rant ended, Natalya thought back over the words, then grew panicked. In her mind the words kept repeating. 'Why do you care? Why do you care?!'
She actually grew scared as she couldn't place an answer. Why did she care? Why was six random women talking to him suddenly so infuriating.
Her fear only snowballed at the thought of fear itself. Besides the time Russia hit her she couldn't remember a time in which she was ever afraid, so why was she terrified now?
Alfred stood with his hands on his hips waiting impatiently for a response. When he didn't get one he rolled his eyes and turned away. "Whatever, I'm going to go apologize. Feel free to join me if you want."
As he left Natalya put her hands on the sides of her head and began tearing up. She was growing numb as the world began spiraling around her, she was shivering despite it growing impossibly hot, and it was starting to get difficult to breathe. God she couldn't breathe!
She ripped her hands from her head and began sprinting away, trying desperately to escape this feeling that she was about to die.
She ran as far as her exhausted, oxygen-deprived body could take her. Through her blurry vision she spotted a park bench hiding in the shade of a tree and ran for it.
Taking one last look around to make sure she was alone, she collapsed onto the bench, tucked her knees up to her chest, and cried into her hands.
'Why do I care?! Why am I so upset?! Why?! Why?!' She cried internally, not able to hear anything of her surroundings. Meaning she didn't notice as the sound of quiet footsteps came up beside her.
"Young lady are you alright?" A calm voice asked. Natalya didn't hear and continued quietly sobbing.
The stranger realized this and slowly reached a hand out, then gently rested it on Natalya's shoulder. At the second of contact she flinched and shot her head up from her hands to the stranger. The stranger removed the hand instantly and looked down sadly at the teary-eyed girl.
"Oh hon what's the matter?" They asked. Natalya stared in silent confusion as this short old lady took off a large blue sun hat and stared down at her. Natalya shook her head and rubbed at her eyes. "It's nothing. Go away."
The old lady was having none of that. "Obviously that is not true. May I?" She asked while extending a hand to the bench.
Natalya looked away and scoffed. "Whatever." She scooched to one side as the lady walked over and slowly sat down, then set her cane off to the side.
She took another look at the young woman, who refused to face her. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? It's not like an old lady like me could do anything to make it worse."
Natalya tucked into herself more, her foot subconsciously beginning to tap as panic set in once again. "I-I-I-I don't know, I ju-just... I don't know!"
The old lady saw the tears forming in Natalya's eyes again and put her hands in front of her. "Hey, hey look at me. Calm down, breathe. Breathe," she guided, slowly moving her hands up and down with her inhales and exhales.
After a minute Natalya began to calm down and fell back into normal crying. The lady decided to start off her questioning slow. "My name is Deborah Johnson, but you can call me Mrs. Johnson. Can you tell me yours?"
Natalya sniffed and wiped her eyes more. "It's Natalya." Mrs. Johnson was hoping for a little more information but a first name would do.
"That's a pretty name. So, Natalya, do you think you could tell me what's wrong?" She wondered while rubbing Natalya's back for comfort.
Natalya swallowed the thick lump in her throat and slowly worked her way through a response. "I'm not sure. I just saw my friend... talking to a bunch of women. I got so mad, but I don't know why. Why am I so angry? Why do I care so much? I haven't before. What's wrong with me?!" She stared down at her hands which were clenched hard, very close to stabbing her fingernails into her palms.
Before she could harm herself, Mrs. Johnson placed her hands over hers, which made Natalya loosen her grip.
Natalya turned her whole body to Mrs. Johnson, narrowing her eyes at the old lady staring back at her with a joyful grin. "Well that's very simple hon. You're in love."
Natalya's eyes shot open as she slipped her hands out of the other's and stood up. "No... no no no no no!" She gripped her hands to her head once again and started shaking it in denial.
Mrs. Johnson led her back to the bench and sat her down. "Natalya this isn't something to fret about, and you shouldn't be afraid to be jealous. If someone is messing with the one you love you have every right to be upset."
That didn't help Natalya at all. "You don't understand, I can't be in love!" She screamed as she rubbed away more tears. Mrs. Johnson looked at her strangely. "Why not? Are you already seeing someone?"
Natalya almost laughed at that. Though she wouldn't be able explain the years she wasted trying to achieve that dream. "No, I'm not even supposed to be friends with this guy. If I go off and date him I'll be a disgrace."
Mrs. Johnson became lost after that. "What do you mean by that?" Natalya was very much against explaining the entire drama with her family, so she decided to leave it out entirely.
She nervously began to play with a strand of hair as she vaguely explained. "Well, there's this other guy. He's not a boyfriend per se, but he is someone I've known for a long time and care about. The problem is that them and my friend have hated each other for years. If I were to choose my friend then the other guy would hate me."
Mrs. Johnson smiled along during the whole dilemma, already knowing what to say. "Can I tell you a short story?"
Natalya raised an eyebrow but nodded.
Mrs. Johnson nodded too and began. "So when I was about your age I had two men fight over me. They were both so strong and manly, but I knew there could only be one I would spend the rest of my life with. Over the course of the war I would occasionally see both of them, and it seemed like an impossible decision. Where one had a fault the other excelled, it was an endless battle of two equals. But... shortly after the war ended I finally made my decision and am still with them today."
"Was it that hard?" Natalya asked nervously. Mrs. Johnson gave her a humorous chuckle. "No. One of them turned out to be a Nazi."
Natalya looked at the ground dejectedly. "But that doesn't mean your decision has to be difficult either. All you need to do is pick whoever makes you the happiest. Don't waste your time chasing after a man you have to change your entire personality to appease," Mrs. Johnson advised.
Natalya looked back up now with hope in her eyes. Is it really that easy?
She looked down at her hands once more while thinking about her options. There's her brother, who acted as her protector for nearly her entire life, and with all things considered he will stick up for her if need be. But on the other hand they have been separated on countless occasions, he's normally terrified of her, and more recently he hurt her both with the knowledge of his relationship with China and physically after China was killed.
Then there's Alfred, and while they sometimes get into mild arguments and trade backhanded comments, he's always been around when she needed it. In the alleyway, the meeting, and even mild things like going to the store for clothes and tampons, he's always done far more than necessary. And above all else there's the fact that he knowingly opened himself up to a past enemy, a person he was aware was violent, terrifying, and hated him immensely.
Slowly in her chest she could feel the booming thumps of her heartbeat once again. Each beat made her chest warmer and warmer, and it was a pleasant feeling. No longer was it an uncomfortable foreign anomaly, rather it was now something she couldn't get enough of.
She couldn't deny these feelings any longer, it was now as clear as day what all the awkward, nervous, and warm moments over the past two months meant.
Natalya Arlovskaya was in love with Alfred F. Jones.
As if by magic that moment of realization evaporated any panic she still felt, and now all she felt was warmth.
Mrs. Johnson picked up on this by observing the gradual reddening of Natalya's cheeks. "It seems you've made your decision."
Natalya nodded and covered her cheeks bashfully. "Da, I have."
"Well? Where is the lucky guy?" Mrs. Johnson wondered while looking out at the beach. Natalya looked out with her, spotting Alfred standing alone in the middle of an empty area of the lake. He must've just gotten back from apologizing, because he was turning in circles confused at where she went.
She pointed out to where he was with a small smile. "He's right there." Mrs. Johnson followed where she was pointing, gasping as she caught sight of Alfred.
"You're in love with Alfred?!" She asked, practically bouncing on the bench. Natalya's face went dark as she turned and glared with a judging gaze. "You know Alfred?"
Mrs. Johnson sweat dropped nervously but laughed it off. "Hon if you think I'm your competition then you've got bigger problems."
Natalya's look lightened up as she looked back at Alfred. Mrs. Johnson smiled at her. "I'm just surprised is all. Alfred kept mentioning a girl he was hanging out with, and I kept joking about her being his girlfriend. I didn't realize it was the girl that had the thing for him."
"He was talking about me?" Natalya wondered as her blush increased. "Not by name, but he kept saying it was someone that needed his help."
Natalya rolled her eyes and laughed. "He always has to be a hero, doesn't he?" Mrs. Johnson laughed along with her. "At least he's not a Nazi."
"I suppose your right," Natalya said as she calmed down. For the next few minutes they sat and talked about their experiences with Alfred, eventually coming to an end as Mr. Johnson came back around.
"Anyway I'll leave you to your man," she said as she tapped Natalya's leg and struggled to her feet. Her and Natalya passed one last nod before she walked away with Mr. Johnson, whispering to him about what she's learned.
Natalya looked back at where Alfred was, finding him swimming around by himself. She could see by his face he was considering looking for her. Not wanting to keep him waiting she stood up and skipped over to him.
She didn't even feel awkward anymore with them so close to each other, she actually really liked it. Alfred was still a little nervous but he masked it with his anger. "Oh, I thought you left."
"I just wanted to come apologize. Where did all those girls go?" She asked while looking around. Alfred was immediately snapped out of his anger, now staring at her in bewilderment. "Wait what?"
He continued gawking at her as she began walking to where she thought they would be. "Wait. You want to apologize? To a bunch of strangers?" Alfred wondered while following close behind.
She smiled and turned to him. "Of course. It's not something worth ruining a friendship over."
Alfred was stuck stiff as she turned back around and skipped away. 'What's with this flip in attitude?'
After a little searching she found them strolling past an alleyway. Perfect. "Hello ladies," she called out.
All the women turned to her, glaring as they saw who it was. Rebecca stood in the front and snarled at her. "Oh, it's you. What the hell do you want?"
Natalya continued smiling at them. "I came here to apologize for earlier." All the women looked between each other wondering if they should accept it. They didn't have time to consider it as Natalya continued, with her smile twisting into an eerie smirk. "And for not specifying earlier."
In the blink of an eye all of them were thrown into the dark alley. All of them groaned after the hard hit against the concrete, but before they could move Natalya went over and pinned Rebecca to the ground with a single hand.
The girl shuddered while looking up at the burning purple eyes and evil aura. All the other girls were frozen in fear while staring helplessly at their friend.
"Let me make this very clear. None of you šliuch are to go anywhere near my Alfred. If you even think about him, I will drag all of you to a bridge, gut you, rip out your intestines, and have you bungee jump with your own organs."
All the women started shivering in fear, with Bailey even beginning to cry, but Rebecca was feeling extra ballsy. "I'd like to see you try, there's six of us we can—" she was interrupted as Natalya punched the ground, creating a massive circle of cracks right by her head.
Rebecca slowly turned her head to Natalya's fist, now with tears coming to her own eyes as she shook uncontrollably. Staring back up at Natalya she saw the crazy look in her eyes, knowing she was fully serious.
For a few seconds Natalya glared down at her unmoving, clearly contemplating whether to just kill her now. But once she realized that would only alert Alfred she released Rebecca and got to her feet.
She pointed out of the alley with a serious expression. "Now, get the fuck out of my sight." All the girls got to their feet and ran as fast as they could, never looking back at the alley or the beach or Alfred.
Natalya exited the alley while rubbing her hand. She put a little too much power in that punch.
Looking back at Alfred, now talking to the micronations again, she forgot the pain in her hand as she skipped back to him with a smile on her face.
Šliuch - Whores