Chapter 17: 10 Minutes

“Nice bar you picked, Ricky.” I said sarcastically, as Ricky and I sat in this dank, little hole in the wall bar. It was sleazy, and there were a lot of “interesting” people walking around.

Only Ricky would pick a place like that.

“It’s not that bad. It’s pretty cool.”

The bar was called Enzo’s. Some short Italian guy owned it and kept giving me free drinks. It was eerie, especially since he kept winking at me and tried to get me to give him my number.

“Eh… I guess… except for Enzo.” I shuddered as the scary man blew me a kiss.

Ricky of course, burst out laughing and I turned a deep scarlet. Just my luck, another loser to add to my belt. I swear, I think I had the worst luck with men. I got scary psycho mobsters and scary perverted men.

WOO HOO FOR ME!

“Oh come on, Nat, he’s sexy.” Ricky snickered and I slapped his arm hard.

“Fuck you!”

I sipped my disgusting drink that Enzo sent me and cringed. I passed it along to Ricky and he greedily downed it. That boy loved anything with alcohol.

He could drink me under the table. It was crazy, because Ricky looks like this skinny little weak guy, but in reality he’s a strong motherfucker.

“Oh please, you love me Nat. You know it.”

I rolled my eyes and smirked at him and stuck my middle finger up at him. Ricky stuck his tongue out at me and laughed. What a dork.

“Just a little though.”

“You mean a lot!” Ricky laughed and I couldn’t help but to lay my head on his shoulder and sigh happily. Ricky and I could be doing nothing and always have a great time.

I love the fact that he always brings out the best in me; he always makes me smile and keeps my spirits high. He’s always had faith in me too. I was so happy to have him in my life.

“Come on let’s bail, this bar is lame.”

Ricky and I headed out of the bar, leaving a two dollar tip for Enzo on the bar. He screamed after us, DOUBLE THANK YOU. We just laughed and kept walking. If we only knew our evening wasn’t going to continue on such a high note.

We stepped out of the bar and instinctively, I grabbed onto Ricky to protect me from the perverted men outside of the bar. We headed down the street to his car, just giggling about stupidities.

“Remember that bitch you were friends with in high school…? What was her name…?” Ricky scratched his head and I giggled.

“Hollie…Yes. You hated her and you’d curse her out like all the time. That was when I had that huge crush on you!”

I ignored the fact that there was someone following us. Thinking back on it, I was naïve, I should have pulled Ricky and ran. But I just acted like nothing was going on.

“I’m sorry… but that girl was a stupid, ignorant bitch. I hated all your friends in high school. Except Kayla, she was cool.”

“Whatever. You were just anti-social and hated everyone.”

“Well that’s also true but your friends were also cunty bitches.” Ricky smirked and I just rolled my eyes. He always had to be right.

“I guess that category includes you.”

The footsteps behind us grew louder and I quickly grabbed Ricky’s arm tighter and placed a kiss on his cheek, just so that anyone that was coming would think he was my boyfriend.

“I love you so much, Ricky.” I said to him, and by the way I pinched him, he knew the drill and knew he had to say it back.

“I love you too Natalia.” He leaned in and hugged me tightly. Whoever was following us, just stopped and stared.

Chills ran up and down my spine, and I quickly leaned in and whispered to Ricky what was going on. He looked up at the figure before us and glared.

“Is there a problem dude?”

“Yeah there is a fucking problem…” A familiar voice hissed.

I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out who it was. It was a guy obviously, but I couldn’t quite place who it was.

Ricky and I exchanged weary glances and then looked back at the person who stepped towards us.

Justin.

Oh my fucking God. Oh my God. FUCK!! It couldn’t be him. He couldn’t be back. This had to be a nightmare.

I tried pinching my arm to wake myself up but it didn’t work. I just ended up with a bruise on my arm. Fucking great. Ricky looked at me and raised an eyebrow; he could tell how distraught I was. I just tensed up and slowly started to back up.

“Justin…”

“Yeah, Natalia, It’s me.” He shook his head at me in disgust. “So the whole time you were fucking me and kissing me, you had a boyfriend back home? You’re a whore.”

Ricky clutched my hand; shocked to see the infamous Justin he had heard so much about before standing before him.

“We didn’t start going out till…wait. I don’t have to fucking explain myself to you. GODDAMNIT!! JUST GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!” I screamed, my blood was boiling and I was ready to rip his throat out.

“No can do, Nat. You made me love you and that’s forever.”

“AND YOU SHOT MY BROTHER AND NEVER TOLD ME UNTIL AFTER YOU GOT ME IN BED!! I FUCKING DESPISE YOU!!” Ricky was clutching my hand tightly, trying to calm me down.

“Listen, dude, I think you need to step off and leave Natalia alone. She doesn’t need this right now.”

“Fuck you, you stupid prick. You may be her boyfriend now but I know she still loves me. I know she still wears my necklace because she can’t get me off her mind.” Justin’s words were so true, but I refused to let him know they were real.

“Love you? LOVE YOU? YOU THINK I FUCKING LOVE YOU!?” I ripped the chain off my neck and flung it at him. “TAKE IT BACK IF YOU WANT!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!! I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND AND NOT YOU!! YOU WERE JUST THERE, A ONE NIGHTER!!”

My words had definitely stung him. By the look on his face you could see how devastated he was. I refused to let that bother me though; I grabbed Ricky and gave him this big kiss on the lips.

Yeah it was awkward for the both of us, but Ricky went along with it. Bless his heart.

“RICKY?!” A male voice screamed. We quickly broke away and there stood Louis, in tears.

“Louis… oh my God…” Ricky’s face paled and my mouth dropped down to the ground. Oh shit!!

“I knew it. I KNEW YOU HAD SOMETHING GOING ON WITH HER!” Louis ran his hand through his hair and started to wipe his tears away. “I thought you loved me!”

“Louis, let me explain, this is not what it looks like!”

“THE HELL IT ISN’T! JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME, RICKY!!” Louis started to run away and Ricky quickly started to chase him.

“NO!! LOUIS!! WAIT!! I DO LOVE YOU!!”

The two of them disappeared down the street and I mentally cursed myself out. I knew I was only asking for trouble by making Ricky pretend to be my boyfriend.

I turned and saw Justin staring at me in disgust. I ran my hand through my hair and looked away from him quickly.

“You’re a little liar. Wow.” Justin started to laugh. “I knew he was gay!! I fucking had a feeling!”

“So you’ve been spying on me? You’re a fucking psycho. Just stay the fuck away from me.” I stormed away from him, actually running in my Marc Jacob heels.

“Natalia, come on don’t go. Let’s talk!”

“FUCK YOU JUSTIN! I DON’T WANNA TALK TO YOU!!” I scurried down the street, knowing perfectly well that I was far from my apartment building. There was no way in hell I was going to make it home without him catching up to me.

But running was better than being subdued.

“NATALIA!! COME ON!!” He was following after me and was very close behind.

My adrenaline was pumping and I couldn’t think of anything but getting the hell away from him. Memories I had desperately tried to block out of my mind were popping back in.

I made it down two blocks when the heel of my Marc Jacobs shoe snapped and I fell to the ground. I quickly climbed to my feet and clutched my hand into a fight fist.

“DAMN YOU TO HELL MARC JACOBS!!”

“Are you alright?” He was right behind me. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. I quickly grabbed my broken shoe and chucked it at him.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

I ran down the street, well, I actually limped down the street. Make that the dirty Manhattan Street with one shoe on. It was impossible to get very far, so Justin finally caught up to me and grabbed my arm.

I swear to God I almost screamed. Why me? Why? Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

I’m a good girl. I’m not a bitch or a whore or anything like that. I’m good and I just want him to leave me alone. I don’t want a bad boy, I so don’t believe a word of that cliché, the good girl wants the bad boy. That’s fucking bullshit.

“Natalia please… just talk to me. Give me 10 minutes.”

I didn’t know what to say. Should I listen? I mean it wouldn’t make any difference if I ran. He’d still follow me. I knew I had to listen to him.

“Fine… but only for 10 minutes.”

I crossed my arms and followed him to some small-secluded café. I was hoping to God that this would be the end of a long, psychologically damaging experience, but when am I ever right?

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