Mutiny Below

Natalia

"Come on, come on, come on!" Eric shouted excitedly as he bounced up and down on the edge of my bed. I picked my head off the pillow long enough to look at the alarm clock before burying my face in it again. 10:46am.

"Go away," I mumbled into my pillow.

"No! Get up! Come on, I'm hungry!"

"It's too early to get up!"

"It's almost eleven! That's not early!"

"It is considering you kept me up til five this morning watching those dumb movies."

"Aww, Nat, those movies were awesome!"

I shook my head at him and I felt the bed shift. When I picked my head up from the pillow again, Eric's face was just inches from mine. I jumped back and he grinned as I shoved his shoulder.

"Natalia?" he whispered.

I brushed my fingers through my tangled bed head. "Yes, Eric?"

"GET UP!"

I rolled over onto my side with my back to him. "Jerk."

"Get up, get up, get up, get up!"

"Whyyyy?" I whined. I really just did not want to get out of bed because I was so comfy.

"Because I want to take you oooout," he replied, mocking me. "Come on! Get your lazy ass up!"

I groaned and threw the covers off my legs, thinking about how in the hell he could be so cheerful when he'd gotten even less sleep than I did. I went over to the dresser and grabbed some clothes before going down the hall to take a shower. Once I was dressed, I dried my hair and went back to my room to put on my shoes. Eric was, of course, waiting impatiently at the door.

"I thought maybe we should invite John, Jayce, and Nick to come too."

I shrugged my shoulders as I walked outside into the heat. "Sure."

"Shit! I forgot my phone. Will you go get them?"

"Sure."

Eric went back inside while I walked over to John and Jayce's apartment. I knocked on the door and waited a few seconds but I was positive that they wouldn't be able to hear me. What I recognized as old S Club 7 blasting through the apartment was enough to muffle the sound of my knocking so I just decided to go in. I gently pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking around for signs of people. I tentatively stepped into the living room and that's when I saw Jayce over the top of the couch, half naked.

"Oh my God."

Jayce's head snapped over to my direction and her eyes widened as she fell backwards off the couch. I seriously wanted to die. Walking in on John and Jayce would be the epitome of awkwardness and I just could not handle that.

"Wha-"

I almost had a heart attack when my brother's head appeared. There was absolutely no way that Nick was here, in John's apartment, doing that with John's girlfriend. This could not be happening. If possible, it was even worse than walking in on John and Jayce would have been.

"Oh my God," I muttered to myself again.

As soon as Nick's eyes locked with mine, I snapped out of my daze and turned to leave the apartment as fast as I possibly could, accidentally slamming the door on my way out.

My head was spinning as I walked back to Eric's where he was waiting in the car.

"Finally! What took you so long? And where's everyone else?"

"They-....didn't want-....to come."

Eric raised his eyebrows at me curiously. "Really? None of them?"

I shook my head weakly and he shrugged. "Ah well. Guess it's just you and me then!"

He turned the volume up a bit on the radio and backed out of the driveway while I just sat curled up in the passenger seat, still baffled at what I'd seen. What I couldn't un-see.

"Where would you like to go for lunch, my darlin'?"

"Doesn't matter," I answered automatically. There was no way I was thinking about food right now.

"Well, in that case, we're definitely going to the diner in town because I fucking miss that place."

"Sure"

I didn't realize we'd already pulled into the lot and parked until Eric's door shutting snapped me out of it. I scrambled to get out of the car and went around to the other side where Eric was waiting for me. He threw his arm casually around my shoulders as we walked inside and went to sit down at a booth in the corner.

The middle-aged waitress came to take our orders and while we we were waiting for our food, Eric tried to start up a conversation about.....something. Honestly, I wasn't paying too much attention to him as I stared down at the tiny blue patterns on the table.

"Nat, are you even listening?"

"Huh?"

He chuckled. "Well, I guess I answered that."

"Sorry."

"Are you okay?"

I nodded slowly but I didn't look up into his eyes. I didn't like the feeling I got by lying to Eric when he'd been such a sweetie to me.

"Are you sure? Because you've been really quiet this whole time."

"I'm fine, Eric."

He grabbed my hand across the table and held it tightly. "Are you really sure?"

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Yeah. I'm sure."

He gave my hand a squeeze before releasing it. "Good."

Inside, I was still reeling. Shocked did not even begin to describe what I felt. But I tried to pay attention to what Eric was saying to me. answering his questions when he asked them and smiling when it was needed. Still, I felt like Eric knew something was up. He kept giving me these looks, like a mixture of confusion and worry, which only made me feel guilty.

"Nat, damn it, you need to eat something."

"I did."

"Two bites of a hamburger does not count."

I sighed and picked up three french fries, putting them in my mouth at the same time. "Happy?"

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his hair, which made it stick out in all directions, only making him look even more stressed/worried.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I guess."

I slid out of the booth and followed him to the counter to pay, which of course he wouldn't let me pay for mine. We walked out to the car in silence and the ride back to Eric's apartment was just the same. When we pulled up into the driveway, I noticed Nick sitting on the step smoking.

When we approached, he blew out a puff of smoke and looked at Eric. "Can I talk to Natalia?"

Eric looked between us for a moment before nodding his head. "Sure. I'll just-....go see what John's up to."

Eric left in the direction of John and Jayce's while I passed by Nick to go into Eric's. He put the cigarette out and followed me inside but I didn't say anything. I curled up on one end of the couch and he sat on the other, just looking at me, while I looked at the floor.

"Natalia-"

"She has her reasons for keeping it a secret, Nick? Really? She has a boyfriend! And not just a boyfriend. A boyfriend that loves her and cares about her; like really, really cares about her, and," I paused to recollect myself before delving into the millions of other things about John that I wanted to say. "And he's your friend. How could you do this to him?"

"I know it seems like I'm being an asshole, Nat. But I can't-....I can't even explain it. Jayce is the most perfect girl I've ever known. I can't even sleep most nights for thinking about her. She makes me feel things that I've never felt before."

I focused on twirling a strand of hair around my finger instead of looking at him.

"Natalia, I'm in love with her. I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't."

There wasn't much I could say to that reason. I looked over at his big puppy dog eyes. He knew just how to make me cave.

I sighed. "Fine."

The corners of his mouth twisted upward into a small smile. "So you're not going to tell anyone?"

"Of course not. Even if what you're doing is crazy, you're still my brother."

He lunged forward, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Nick....can't breathe....."

"Sorry," he chuckled as he released his hold on me.

"I love you, little sister."

"Love you too, big brother."

It wasn't that I wanted Nick to be unhappy. But the thought that kept running through my head was John. The fact that Nick and Jayce were going behind his back made me feel that feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know how it didn't make them feel that way.