Break Myself

Natalia woke up in a cold sweat, quickly sitting up and trying to orientate herself with her surroundings. Her breathing rate slowly came back down to normal as she remembered her nightmare. She had once again been face to face with her captors, and they were telling her that she shouldn’t be allowed to be happy. They kept saying that Marty wouldn’t be in her life for much longer, and that she better say goodbye to him soon before it was too late.

She glanced at the clock to see it was two-thirty in the morning, and she sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. She wanted to talk to someone, but she wasn’t about to call anyone at this hour. So, she made her way to the living room, turning on her television and trying to get comfortable on her couch.

As she listened to the infomercial, her eyes slowly drifted shut. However, she would jolt awake at least every half an hour, wondering if Marty was okay. By five o’clock, she was sick of attempting to go to sleep, so she walked to the bathroom, taking a long shower.

After putting clothes on and blow drying her hair, she realized it was six-thirty, and she didn’t know what to do with her time. She knew Marty would be awake by now since he had a physical therapy appointment at seven-thirty, but she didn’t want to bother him.

She changed her mind, though, five minutes later, picking up her phone and dialing his number. “Hello?” she heard him answer in a confused tone, probably wondering who was calling him this early.

“Hey, Marty,” Natalia replied.

“Nat, hey!” he said in a much more cheery tone. “What are you doing up this early?” he inquired.

Natalia shrugged her shoulders even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “I just couldn’t sleep. I’ve been up for a while now. In fact, I’ve already showered, and I’m ready to go for the day. And, I knew that you’d be up for your rehab appointment,” she explained.

“Yeah, I’m getting ready to leave here in a little bit,” he told her.

“Oh, sorry, am I holding you up?” she asked quickly.

“Nope,” Marty assured her. “I’m all ready to go. There’s just no reason for me to get there too early. So, what are your plans for today?”

“Nothing,” she told him.

“Well, what do you say we meet up for lunch?” he asked her. “Do you want to go to Gino’s?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she told him. “What about we meet there at noon?” she suggested.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” he told her, hanging up.

For the next few hours, Natalia tried to do things to keep her mind preoccupied so she wouldn’t think of her nightmare. But, every single thing she did seemed to trigger something in her mind that would bring her back to the nightmare. She didn’t know what to do anymore, so she finally just decided to go to the restaurant to wait on Marty, hoping that if she was out in public, those thoughts wouldn’t be in her mind.

As she sat started to walk back to find a seat, she heard someone calling her name. She spun around to see Adam Burish sitting there, waving her over, with a smile on his face. “Hey, Natalia,” he told her as she walked over and sat down across from her.

“Hey,” she smiled back. “Are you here by yourself?” she asked him.

“Yeah, I’ve got a meet-and-greet thing later on today, and I thought I’d get something to eat beforehand,” he replied. “What about you?”

“I’m waiting on Marty,” she told him, looking down at her watch. “But, I’m a little early. So, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m good,” he said. “Things have been kind of crazy with our schedule, and the one day we actually get off, I’m going to be signing autographs. Not that I mind, I love meeting fans, and if they’re willing to wait in line to take a picture with me, I can sit there for a couple of hours signing stuff,” he told her. “But, what about you? What has been going on in your life?”

“Nothing much,” she told him. “Just been going to your games, watching you guys on your win streak. Congratulations, by the way,” she added with a smile.

“Thanks,” he laughed.

“So, how was your Christmas?” she asked. “Did you go back home to see your family or anything?”

“No, my parents and sister came here to visit me, though,” he answered. “It was great to see them, even for just a little bit. What about you? Did you spend it with you dad?”

“No,” Natalia said, shaking her head. “My dad was working on Christmas, like he always does. But, we celebrated a couple of days beforehand. It’s become kind of our tradition to have Christmas before Christmas, if that makes any sense at all,” she said laughing. “I mean, we usually celebrate it like the 23rd since we always know that he’s always going to work on Christmas Day,” she explained.

“So, what did you do for Christmas then?” he asked. “Just spend the day watching the A Christmas Story marathon?” he joked.

A smile spread across Natalia’s face. “As a matter of fact, I did watch the A Christmas Story marathon,” she told him, and he couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Don’t laugh at me. That’s another tradition of mine. How can you not watch that marathon every year?”

“Sorry,” he said, still laughing. “I didn’t mean to make fun of your tradition.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said, joining in on his laughter. Natalia looked up to see Marty walking in their direction, and she smiled at him.

“Do I have some competition?” Marty joked, seeing that Natalia and Adam were sitting together.

“Not at all,” Natalia told him, giving him a quick kiss. “I just got here early, and Adam was here, so we’ve been talking. Well, more like he’s making fun of me watching A Christmas Story,” she explained.

“You know, I still haven’t seen that,” Marty commented.

“What?” she cried. “You told me that you were going to watch it!”

“Yeah, I never got around to it,” he said, shrugging, before turning around to Adam. “So, I hear you and Sharpie have a meet-and-greet thing today,” he said.

“Yeah,” he replied, looking down at his watch. “And, actually I better get going before I’m late,” he told them, standing up.

“You wouldn’t want to keep all your fans waiting,” Natalia smiled.

“I’ll see you later,” Adam told them with a wave as Marty took his seat.

“So, how are you doing?” Marty asked Natalia.

“Okay,” she replied, as a waitress came up to them, taking their order.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” he asked.

Natalia looked at him, not wanting to tell him about the nightmare. She wanted to get over them on her own, and she didn’t want to cry to Marty every single time she had one. “I don’t know,” she lied. “I just woke up, and I couldn’t fall back asleep.”

“Really?” he asked, and Natalia knew that he didn’t believe her.

“Yeah,” Natalia said, nodding her head. “I think it was just one of those random things where I couldn’t sleep. I’m sure tonight will be better,” she told him.

“I hope so,” Marty told her.

“So, you really haven’t seen A Christmas Story yet?” she asked, changing topics.

“I told you that when you told me you were watching that marathon.”

“Yeah, but I figured you would have just turned it on and watched it. I mean, it was on for twenty-four hours!” she exclaimed jokingly. “I was sure you would have been able to catch it one time! Well, you know what that means now, right?” she asked.

“What?” he asked cautiously.

“You now have to come over to my place after lunch and watch the movie,” she told him.

“I think I can do that,” he said with a smile.