Break Myself

It had been a week since Natalia had confessed everything to Marty, and she had been sure that once he knew the truth, that he would be running away from her as fast as he could. The opposite was what happened, however. Instead, the confession had brought the two of them closer.

While Marty hung out with some of his teammates on the off day, Natalia had decided to go shopping with Summer and Olivia, who she had become pretty good friends with. When she had first started talking to them, they seemed so close that she assumed she would always feel like an outcast around them. However, they had quickly accepted her into their group, and they had become good friends and talked to each other practically every day.

Summer and Olivia still didn’t know everything that had happened to Natalia or the fact that she had post traumatic stress disorder. That was something that she had told Marty to keep to himself for a little while, and he had kept his promise to keep it quiet.

“So,” Natalia began when they walked into the mall. “Are we looking for anything in specific?” she asked.

“Not really,” Olivia answered. “I mean, we don’t get too many off days, so when we get one, we like to do something fun, like shopping. I figured we could just spend the day doing some retail therapy,” she explained.

Natalia nodded her head as Summer spoke. “Oh, I need to go to Victoria’s Secret, though,” she told the other two girls.

“Uh oh, what did Pat do now?” Olivia asked, and Natalia looked over at her with a confused expression on her face.

“What do you mean?” Natalia asked her.

“Well, every time Pat does something stupid to piss Summer off, she goes to Victoria’s Secret and buys some new lingerie to make him suffer. She’ll put it on, strutting her stuff all around, and then, she’ll leave and go home, leaving him to suffer,” she explained.

Natalia started bursting out laughing. “You’re going to kill the guy!” she exclaimed.

“Not kill him,” Summer replied. “Just make him stop being an idiot,” she added with a smile.

“So, what did he do?” Olivia asked.

“He was flirting with one of the Ice Girls,” Summer said casually.

“When will that boy ever learn?” Olivia asked, shaking her head, while Natalia watched on, laughing.

“Okay, so are we off to Victoria’s Secret first?” Natalia asked, trying to control her laughter. The other two girls nodded, and the three of them walked towards the store. Once inside, Summer immediately went to the rack that had some of the skimpiest lingerie Natalia had ever seen. “You really are going to kill Pat, aren’t you?” she laughed, as she just imagined Patrick’s reaction when he saw the clothing.

Summer started laughing. “No, just give him a mini heart attack,” she stated.

Fifteen minutes later, the three girls left the store, Summer having found what she came in the store looking for. They walked around the mall for another three hours before deciding to go get something to eat. “What do you want?” Summer asked.

“I could go for some Italian,” Olivia replied. “What about you, Natalia?” she asked.

“Sounds good,” she said, and Summer turned down a road, going to her favorite Italian restaurant.

They walked in, seeing what seemed like half of the team sitting at one long table. “We just can’t get away from those guys, can we?” Summer joked.

“Nope, I guess not,” Olivia said, walking over to their table. “Hey boys, do you mind if we join you?” she asked, looking around the table.

“Of course not,” Adam Burish replied. “Have a seat, ladies,” he said, pointing towards the empty seats that were scattered around the table.

The three girls looked around, noticing that there were only two empty seats, and they looked around at the other tables around them, seeing if they could steal an empty seat from one of them, but they were all currently occupied.

“You can sit on my lap,” Adam winked at Natalia jokingly, as she was the closest person to him. Everyone around the table started laughing, and Natalia quickly looked over at Marty, knowing he would understand her apprehension. Before he could say anything, Adam continued. “It’s fine. Sit,” he said, pulling her down on his lap.

All of a sudden, there was a large clash coming from the back kitchen, and Natalia immediately sprung up off of Adam, and everyone turned their attention to look at her, wondering what was wrong. Marty instantly stood up and walked around to her. “Hey, are you okay?” he whispered once he was close enough that no one else could hear.

Natalia shook her head. “I…no,” she stuttered. She looked back at everyone around the table. “I’m sorry, I have to go,” she told them, walking towards the door.

Everyone stared at her, wondering what had just happened. They all turned to Marty, who was just standing there, staring at the door.

“What just happened?” Jonathan asked, confused.

“Is she okay?” Summer asked.

“Why did she just run out of here?” Olivia questioned.

“She’ll be fine,” Marty assured them. “I’m going to go after her, okay? I’ll see you all later,” he told them, running out the door. “Natalia!” he called, picking up his pace, trying to catch up to her.

She stopped at the corner, not being able to cross the street because of the traffic. Marty stopped behind her. “Natalia,” he said softly.

She spun around, and he could see the tears falling down her face. “I’m so sorry,” she immediately apologized. “It’s just,” she began before the tears began falling faster down her cheeks.

“It’s okay,” Marty said, wiping the tears away.

“No, it’s not! I hate this! I hate having these anxiety attacks! I hate looking like an idiot in front of your friends and teammates! They probably think I’m crazy. Hell, I am crazy!” she yelled, causing the people on the sidewalk to all glance in her direction.

“No, you’re not,” Marty told her.

“Yes, I am! God, I don’t even know why you put up with me!” Natalia screamed.

“Because, I care about you Natalia,” Marty told her. She glanced up at him. “Now, what do you want to do, go back in there or go home? I don’t care either way.”

“Marty, why don’t you go back in there, and I’ll go back home?” she asked. “I mean, there’s no reason for you to have to leave your friends, and there’s no reason for your friends to put up with me,” she explained.

“Natalia, they all love you,” Marty said. “And, either we’re both going back in there, or we’re both going back to yours or my place.”

“Fine, we can go back in there,” she sighed.

“Good,” he said, pressing his lips against her temple and grabbing her hand.

They walked back inside, and everyone at the table looked up at them. Olivia got out of her seat, sitting on Jonathan’s lap, so Natalia could have the seat next to Marty’s empty seat. “Thanks,” Natalia smiled as she sat down in the seat.

“Are you okay?” Olivia asked quietly.

Natalia nodded her head before Adam spoke up. “Hey, I’m sorry if I did anything to offend you,” he told her sincerely. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know,” Natalia told him. “It had nothing to do with you,” she assured him. Adam nodded his head, and everyone went back to their respective conversations, as Marty looked over at Natalia giving her a smile, with her giving him a small one in return.