You're Living a Lie, You Just Can't Hide From Me

Natalie sighed, as she sat on Garrett's bed, trying so hard to concentrate, but her boyfriend was a horrible model. She shook her head, putting her sketchbook aside and dropping her pencil, reaching forward to smack the bass player lightly. He just chuckled, pulling her ontop of him and pressing their lips together.

"Baby!" She giggled. "You're ruining my concentration. I really want to draw you."

He just smiled, running a hand through her hair. "I wanna see it."

The redhead rolled off of him and handed him her sketchbook. Natalie just smiled softly, slightly worried at his reaction. It was something she'd always done for fun, not that she thought she was very talented with it. She didn't consider herself an artist, and she didn't consider herself talented. Still, as Garrett turned the pages, his eyes widened. He was an amateur artist himself, but his girlfriend had a talent that he had never realized before.

"Nat," He began, looking up at her. "These are amazing. Why didn't you tell me you were an artist?"

She shrugged. "I'm not. Alyssa told me I should apply to Otis, but I don't know... Its something that I do for fun, not something that I really... thought of as a career."

The russet haired boy looked back down at the sketches. She'd had every member of his band as well as Alyssa pose for her, but it was obvious that the one she'd spent the most time on was John. She'd done his in charcoal, and every contour of his face looked perfect. Even in black and white, Garrett could see that he was the more attractive of the two. He'd never really felt less attractive than John, and had never felt insecure about it. Even with Natalie, he knew what her choice had been, but he couldn't reason with himself that she had no interest in John.

It was almost as if Natalie could read his mind when she took the sketchbook from him, placing it aside on his bedside table and moving back ontop of him. She hugged him tightly for a minute, before looking him in the eye. Neither one of them said anything, but the look seemed to explain all that it needed to. She was in love with him, not John, and there was no desire to change that. She stroked his cheek affectionately, before attaching her lips to his.

"I love you." Natalie reminded him. He'd never get sick of hearing it and she'd never get tired of saying it.

"I love you." He repeated, staring into her ocean eyes. It was the truth, and he wished he knew how to further express it.

"Now, can we continue?" The girl called out, "Gary, I've wanted you to pose for me for a while. I mean, you're making me laugh and screwing me up. Its not gonna be pretty."

"Hey, if you wanted pretty, try a self-portrait." The boy chuckled. "Because if I tried to draw you, it'd be a stick figure."

She giggled, kissing him once more before reaching for her sketchbook.

John frowned, watching the couple interact from the open doorway. He felt like a stalker to be watching, but he needed to see them interact. He understood that Natalie had always loved Garrett, and that any chance he'd had before to be with her was gone. The singer had never felt jealous of the bass player before.

He'd never had to compete for a girl, because girls always flocked to him. There was something about Natalie that was unlike all of them. She wasn't falling into his lap like all the others. He didn't know why he couldn't stop... Garrett loved her, and she loved him. But to John, he felt like she'd slipped right through his fingers.

The taller boy shook his head, moving away from the doorway and walking straight into the ginger haired guitarist he called his best friend. Jared took one look at the taller boy and shook his head. He knew that John wasn't over whatever happened between him and Natalie, but knowing her back story, Jared was protective over the girl. He was glad that things had worked out with Garrett, but he felt loyalty to John. He wondered if somehow, he could find a girl for him or something. John wasn't himself while he still longed to have with Natalie what Garrett did.

"They're really in love, aren't they?" The singer asked, more to himself than to Jared.

The guitar player nodded his head.

"I should stop, I know."

"John, you're my best friend, but Natalie... has been through a lot and Garrett's the only one who can understand that. They've got this crazy connection that you or I could never understand. I know you still have feelings for her, but its not healthy."

He nodded. "S'okay. I need to work on this new song anyway."

"Dude, come on. We could go find you a girl... Maybe she and Lyssa have some other friends-"

"I'm not interested, J."

Jared sighed, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Garrett sighed, his arms wrapped tightly around the sleeping girl against his chest. Part of him couldn't believe this was real. He had been attracted to Natalie for the longest time, but had never had the courage to approach her. He hadn't been able to save her from the self-doubt and worries of self-worth that she had felt.

He hadn't been able to save her from losing her virginity to some creep who drugged her drink. He knew that it had been inadvertent, but he had hurt her - intentionally or not. He was the reason that she was so broken, and he was the one to fix her.

He lay awake wondering if he'd had the guts to ask her out in high school, how different things could have been. Maybe she wouldn't have ever left Tempe or maybe they wouldn't have been successful, but he was curious. Natalie would never admit that she was still healing. He knew that she wanted him to believe that now everything was okay, and he would never let her know that he knew the truth.

Natalie Evers was broken. He didn't know how to fix her, but he was trying to glue the pieces back together. Garrett hadn't ever known what he had done to her, even without trying. How could he have? He hadn't been able to summon the courage all throughout high school, and suddenly now, when she was at her weakest, he miraculously did. Perhaps it was because he had grown up a little bit. Perhaps it was because he wanted to finally show off to John. Whatever it was, he was really happy that he'd been able to get the nerve.

"Go back to sleep." Natalie's voice was soft, clearly still half asleep.

"Can't." He sighed.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking at him. "Gar?"

"I could have saved you..."

Her small smile dropped. "Garrett-"

"No. If I had known-"

"Garrett," She interrupted. "I don't want you to feel guilty. I don't care what happened because we ended up together."

"You don't think about if things had been different."

"Of course I do." The girl spoke. "Its not your fault though."

It was probably the first time she'd actually admitted that it wasn't his fault. Somehow, she'd convinced herself that it had been, even if he hadn't known. Or perhaps it was Rachael's fault. She had scooped Garrett up before Natalie could get the courage to start a conversation with him. He hadn't summoned the courage to ask her out, and yet Rachael had. But none of that mattered. It was her father's disapproval that had her rushing into the arms of whoever would make her feel as if she mattered.

Garrett may have been the boy she'd always wanted, and his rejection, without his knowledge, had upset her. He had been the only boy she'd ever had feelings for, and not understanding his passivity, she'd taken it as rejection. It hadn't been, but the fact that someone had claimed him before she could had ruined her.

Besides, he and Rachael were in love. They'd been each other's first everythings. The fact was that even though he'd known who she was, he would have never known about her feelings. He had no responsibility in her breakdown, though she made it seem as if he had.

"You said that things happened for a reason..."

Garrett frowned slightly.

His mother was a firm believer in destiny and fate. She said that things would always work themselves out, but he couldn't understand how that explained all of the pain that his girlfriend had gone through. Natalie had done nothing to deserve all of those assholes using her like they had. The idea that she was someone's personal sex toy made him sick to his stomach. He couldn't understand how she had felt so worthless, but, then again, he had never made her feel worthy until now.

"I think that all of that... It made me understand something." She whispered.

"And that is...?"

"Love." Natalie spoke in a way that almost made the word sound like a question. "I mean, when you look at me, I... I know its not... its not like they would look at me."

He didn't respond. He didn't know how to.

"Gar, you make me feel like... like everything's okay, and that you'll be able to protect me, save me from the world. I've never felt safe before. It was like... I was so exposed, and left to rot, you know? You make me feel new and worthy of love."

"Natalie," He stroked her hair gently. "I won't ever let you feel the way you did before. I can't."

She smiled softly.

"I love you." He repeated for what felt like the millionth time that night. "God, Nat, I love you."

The redhead lifted her head from its place on his chest in order for their lips to meet. She smiled into the kiss, feeling his hands tilt her head in order to deepen the kiss. He made her feel whole. He made her feel nowhere near as broken as she actually was.

Natalie smiled softly, humming to herself as she showered.

It was funny to her that she'd basically become a mainstay at the Maine's apartment. She'd told Garrett that no matter what, that night, she was going home. She missed her room and her record player. Of course, she expected that he would sleep over, but that was another story.

She thought it was so cute that he'd bought her a separate set of toiletries so she wouldn't have to bring them back and forth, although she figured it was his excuse to use her fruity smelling shampoo and conditioner. He always said that it smelt amazing.

Giggling to herself, Natalie rinsed off her yellow loofah, before hanging it back up and rinsing out her conditioner.

John hadn't acknowledged that Natalie might be in the shower. He really needed to pee and he couldn't exactly hold it. He figured none of the guys would care if he went really fast while one of them was showering. He shrugged, making his way into the bathroom.

Before he could stop himself, John found his eyes drifting towards the figure in the shower, and yelped in surprise. The shower curtain was pulled back, giving him a perfect view of Natalie's near perfect figure as she rinsed off, humming to herself. He had always found her beautiful, but being exposed to him like this, he realized that she was more than that. She was breathtaking.

The girl must have sensed someone was watching her, as her eyes snapped open and met John's. She blushed, gasped in surprise and was fumbling for a towel, trying to cover herself as best she could. The towel was slightly out of her reach and closer to him. The girl sighed, wrapping her arms tighter around herself and attempting to hide behind the plastic shower curtain. He had already seen every inch of her even if she'd tried to hide it.

God, she hadn't even let Garrett see this much of her or her of him, and now John got a full view. She was angry, embarrassed and absolutely stunned at the boy before her. He didn't look embarrassed or shocked, just guilty. She wasn't sure if he was just being a pervert who wanted to look at her or if it had been an honest mistake, but either way, she was disgusted.

"Turn around." She told him firmly.

"I've already seen you."

She sighed. "John, for the love of-"

He looked away, reaching out to hand her the towel she'd accidentally dropped.

Natalie wrapped herself in it quickly before stepping out of the shower. "I...I..."

"I need to pee." He finally spoke.

She rolled her eyes. "Bathroom's all yours now."