Mutiny Below

Natalia

John and Jayce had only been gone since last night and Nick was already moping around like someone killed his puppy. He'd decided he would hang out with Eric and I while they were gone so I shouldn't have been surprised when I got up at 9am and he was sitting on the couch.

"What are you doing here already?"

"Bored."

"Why aren't you, I don't know, sleeping?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't."

I rolled my eyes at him and went back to the bathroom to take a shower. By the time I'd dried my hair and gotten dressed, Eric was awake and sitting on the couch with Nick, both of them slumped down and eyes glued to the television. Eric got up and went back down the hallway so I took his place on the couch.

My phone began to beep from where I'd set it down on the coffee table so I leaned up to get it, confused as to who it could be since Nick and Eric were both in the apartment with me. Turned out, it was John.

Holding down the fort alright?

I furrowed my eyebrows as I read it. It was so out of the blue random and I wasn't sure how to even reply to it.

Okay, I guess

I turned the volume off so that it wouldn't beep obnoxiously the next time and pulled my feet up under me. My phone vibrated against my knee and I picked it up quickly before Nick noticed.

Is Nick in a better mood today?

Um...What do you mean?

I looked over at Nick briefly but he was focused on reading whatever was so interesting on his phone screen. Probably Jayce.

He seemed kinda down yesterday

Oh. Well, he seems fine today

I didn't want to lie but I also didn't want John to start investigating to try to find out what was wrong with Nick.

Good, good

I couldn't think of anything to say back to that really so I put my phone back down and went to get a bottle of water from the kitchen. When I returned to the living room, Nick was holding his phone in one hand and mine in the other and he was definitely staring down at mine.

"Uhm, hello? What are you doing?"

"You're texting John."

"So?"

I snatched my phone from his hand and flopped down on the other end of the couch. John had sent another text.

So what's up with you?

"So?! Natalia, you lied to me!"

"No, I didn't," I mumbled. We both knew that in itself was a lie.

"Ohhhh, yes, you did. You do like John. I knew it."

"It doesn't matter, Nick. He's with Jayce and he loves her."

Nick ran a hand through the mess he called hair and sighed.

"Fuck, Nat. We are screwed up. I'm in love with a girl who's never going to leave her boyfriend and you have feelings for the oblivious idiot standing in my way."

I frowned at his words. Saying it out loud just made it seem even worse. We both sat there silently for a few minutes. I couldn't help but reply to John's test and Nick quirked an eyebrow at me for doing so.

"Natalia, I've got it!"

"You've got what? A mental problem? Yeah, I agree."

He rolled his eyes. "No, butthead, a plan. I have a plan."

"A plan for what?"

"To break them up! Come on, Natalia, get it together."

"Nick, we aren't going to be able to break them up. They love each other."

Nick scoffed. "Nat, all we have to do is make John jealous. You can pretend to have a boyfriend, John will realize he likes you too, then he'll get jealous and do something about it. Once he realizes he likes you, he'll break up with Jayce! It's that simple!"

"You know what would be more simple? Jayce breaking up with John."

"She won't ever break up with him. She won't hurt him like that. She feels like she owes him because of something that happened a few years ago."

"Oh..."

"See, so you have to do this. Nat, we can both get what we want."

I shrugged my shoulders at him. I wasn't so sure about this plan.

"Now, what we need to do is find you a fake boyfriend. And I know just the guy."

I gave him a sideways glance and he grinned.

"HALVO!"

I shook my head. "Nick, no way is this going to work."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"One, John will never fall for it and two, Eric will never agree to it."

Eric came down the hallway, stopping at the very end where he could see Nick and I. It was obvious Nick had interrupted his getting ready, since he was still dripping wet and had nothing on but a black towel wrapped around his waist.

"Yeah, man?"

"Want to be Nat's fake boyfriend for awhile?"

"Sure."

Without any explanation whatsoever, Eric agreed and turned to go back down the hall to his room. Nick looked back at me and smirked.

"See? Easy."

I just shook my head. I had definitely not been expecting Eric to agree, especially since he'd had no explanation on why I even needed a fake boyfriend in the first place.

Nick seemed to be in a better mood and the smile was permanently plastered to his face as he picked up his phone and resumed texting who I assumed to be Jayce. I just sat there thinking. Was there any possibility that this plan might actually work?

Eric emerged from the hallway again, this time completely dressed.

"Alright. Ready to go?"

"Where are we going?" I asked, clueless.

"We're going bowling tonight, Nat. Did you forget?"

"Yeah," Nick added. "The whole group."

As soon as Eric walked past us, Nick mumbled, "Perfect opportunity to lay some groundwork for our plan."

I rolled my eyes at him and followed Eric out to the car.

We were the last to arrive at the bowling alley and everyone had come, minues of course John and Jayce. Our group alone took up six lanes. Eric grabbed my hand as we were walking toward the group and he asked, "So when does this fake boyfriend thing kick in?"

"Now, I guess."

He nodded without asking anymore questions and Nick raised his eyebrows and grinned at me. Eric sat down next to Kennedy and pulled me onto his lap. I guess we looked like a couple but I really didn't know what else to do to make us seem like more of one. We already held hands and he constantly had his arm around my shoulders. Short of PDA, I couldn't think of anything else.

Kennedy got up and Gemma took his seat. I stood up to let Eric up so he could bowl his turn and Gemma grinned at me mischeivously.

"Hey, Gemma?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Oh?" Her eyes widened and she leaned a bit closer to me.

"Well, Eric and I-"

"ATTENTION EVERYONE! NAT IS OFFICIALLY MY GIRLFRIEND!"

I immediately turned bright red and glared at Eric where he stood proudly on top of the ball return after making his announcement. The guys all gathered around him and Gemma pulled me into a death grip hug.

"Oh my God, I knew it! I'm so fucking happy! You guys are so adorable together! You two are cuter than-...than fucking.....baby bunnies!"

"Thanks, Gem," I choked out, patting her back. She wasn't giving me much air.

She finally released me and I looked back at Nick, who winked. The guys had gone back to their game already and Eric came back to sit with me.

"I'm going to kill you, Halvorsen."

He just grinned and snaked his arm around my shoulders. "Aww, don't be like that, Natty."

Throughout the rest of the night, Gemma constantly reminded me that she thought Eric and I were adorable together.

Constantly.