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

“So you went out with John and slept with Garrett?!”

“I didn’t sleep with Garrett… we were lying on his bed, talking about George Romero, and we fell asleep. It wasn’t like that at all.”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow, as if to question her redheaded friend.

“Lys, it’s not like that.”

“Okay.” The brunette smiled, leaning back against the couch.

“Do you not believe me?”

“I do believe you… I just worry, you know.”

She sighed.

Natalie was the sweetest girl, and she’d never hurt anyone, so to see that two boys were falling for her friend made Alyssa concerned. It wasn’t just for Garrett or John’s sake, it was really for Natalie’s. She’d never had any sort of experience with the opposite sex, so juggling two boys would be a bit much.

She had a feeling that the redhead didn’t even realize that the two boys were rivaling over her. Natalie wasn’t the most aware person, and she didn’t like conflict. Alyssa felt like the older sister to her and wanted to protect her from everything, but she had a feeling that this was something she couldn’t protect her from.

Natalie tucked her legs underneath her, letting out a sigh.

She didn’t know what she was so worried about… or what her friend was concerned about. Was Alyssa reading far too much into this than need be? Or maybe Natalie was taking this too lightly? She couldn’t figure it out.

All she knew was that she was definitely attracted to both Garrett and John, but attraction never hurt anyone. She wasn’t acting on those feelings. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d know what the first step of that was.

“So what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“I know you’ve liked Garrett since high school, Tals, but John…”

“I’m not doing anything about anything. I’m just going to see how it works out, okay?”

All Natalie could think of was how glad she was that the boys would be too busy in the studio to think too much about her. Or for her to think about any of them. If she could stop herself, anyway.

Honestly, Natalie had only thought of Garrett or Pat on brief occasion when she thought about people from high school. And now that the two had come back into her life as well as the rest of their band had come into her and Alyssa’s lives, the boys were all she could think about. It was unexpected and insane, but she was still very happy about it.

The older girl just wanted to be able to help her friend, but she didn’t know what she could do to help. It wasn’t like she was some sort of relationship wiz herself. She had her own trouble. Dating guys in Hollywood was a lot more difficult than anyone had told her. There were so many fakes here; she needed to find a real guy.

But first, she needed to be there for Natalie. Natalie was so impressionable and so unexperienced, she needed a friend like Alyssa. There was no way she would let little Natalie get hurt if she could help it.

Alyssa smiled softly, as if that was enough of an answer.

Garrett sighed, unable to focus on his bass part. “This is worthless.”

Matt Squire had torn apart much of their prewritten material, saying that the majority of it was complete trash. John was attempting to work on new lyrics, and Garrett was trying to get a great bass line, but all he could think about was Natalie. It was insane to think that he’d dated the same girl all throughout high school and she never affected him the way Natalie was doing right now.

It wasn’t like he had a real idea of how to charm a girl or how to work his ways. Most girls, he imagined, would be impressed with him based off of the fact that he was a musician. Didn’t a lot of girls dream of dating a musician? But he wasn’t cocky or confident the way a rockstar stereotype should be. He knew that things weren’t totally in his favor.

He loved the bass, he loved playing it, but he knew that it pushed him further from the spotlight. He was all but ignored, and he didn’t mind being out of the center of attention, but with Natalie, he wanted all of her attention on him. Still, he knew that girls didn’t often fawn over the bassist.

It was usually the singer, and John was willing to take advantage of it. Girls simply liked that he was the singer. Dreamed of him singing them to sleep or whispering sweet nothings in their ear… or they found his awkwardness adorable and endearingly attractive.

There had to be something about him worth her time. He would give her the world if he could… treat her better than she’d even dreamed of. They could cuddle and watch old horror movies. They could just hang out, and talk about nothing. She was smarter than he was, and he was well aware of it. And he liked that more than he’d admit.

“Gary?” A voice called and soon the longhaired drummer was sitting next to him.

“Hey Pat.”

“Are you alright?”

“Just caught up in thoughts.”

“What happened with Natalie last night?”

“What do you mean?”

Pat sighed.

Garrett was his best friend and he cared about him like a brother. Though the drummer was barely any older than Garrett, he couldn’t help but feel responsible for him. Garrett always acted like the older one, but it wasn’t true. All he wanted was the best for his friend, but he didn’t know what was stopping that.

“She’s so cool, Pat. We’re so alike, and she’s so smart, and pretty, and chill… but, I don’t know. John seems to have a thing for her as well.”

“Well, whose bed was she in last night.” The boy raised an eyebrow.

“We fell asleep. Nothing happened.”

“Still.”

Garrett sighed, shaking his head.

“Look, she’s a great girl, but are you even totally over Rach?”

“Don’t speak her name.”

“Alright.” He sighed. “Gar, I just…”

“Pat, don’t worry about me, okay? Natalie and I are just hanging out… if it leads to more, fine.”

“Ok.”

John smiled, seeing the back of a girl with familiar red hair sitting outside at Starbucks with her head in a book.

“Hey.” He grinned, moving into her line of sight.

“Hey.” She looked up, smiling at him. “Taking a break from the studio?”

“Sort of. I’m getting drinks for everyone.”

“D-do you need a hand?” Natalie closed her book, and looking up at him.

“Yeah. I mean, if you want to come hang out, see what we’re working on.”

“Sneak peek?” She grinned, standing up and placing her book back in her bag.

“Yeah. Something like that.” John smiled, giving her a hug, which she accepted reluctantly.

Natalie wasn’t used to being touched or being treated with affection. She didn’t know how to accept his embrace, but it was kind of nice. He smelt manly, and he held her tightly in a way that made her feel all sorts of emotions she couldn’t name. She didn’t really mind it though, so when he pulled away, she was surprised.

She smiled softly, nodding her head and following him into the coffee shop.

Natalie hadn’t seen any of the boys in days and she was starting to miss them. Besides, she couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t have a bunch of guy friends. Why did Alyssa assume that she couldn’t be friends with the boys without any sort of more than platonic feelings? It was silly to her that her best friend was so concerned that Natalie would get her heart broken when nothing had even happened.

To be honest, both Garrett and John had been invading her thoughts lately. But it didn’t matter because they were just here to record anyway. She didn’t need to worry about that when it wasn’t worthy of her time.

John ordered all of the drinks and paid while Natalie waited patiently by the pick up counter. He joined her soon after with a small smile.

“So, how’s recording been?”

“Our producer didn’t really like anything we’d written, so we’ve had to write all new songs… I think we kept one we wrote at home.”

“Sounds a bit rough.”

“Yeah, but I’ve had a lot of inspiration.” He grinned, looking down at her.

She didn’t notice, though, still too caught up in her thoughts.

John seemed to look even better than usual, wearing a white tank top and skinny jeans. He wore sunglasses and his hair was elegantly disheveled. Standing next to him always made her feel extra tiny. It wasn’t a complaint anyway; John made her feel so ladylike and delicate. It was something she hadn’t been able to get over.

Natalie smiled as John accepted the drinks one by one, accepting a tray to hold them in.

Even though she’d offered to hold some, he had told her he was completely able to carry them. The truth was that he’d just wanted her to come back with him and used it as an excuse to have her come with. Not that she would’ve cared anyway.

“Have you missed us?”

She smiled. “A bit.”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out… a proper date this time around.”

Natalie smiled, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Maybe…”

“Maybe?”

She just laughed, nodding her head.

“Alright.” John smiled, chuckling softly.

“Look who I found.” John’s voice called out as he led Natalie into the studio.

This drew all eyes to look up and see the small redhead trailing in behind him. She smiled shyly, waving as she followed him in.

Pat was quick to leap for her, hugging her tightly and going on about how he’d missed her. The others were next, asking how she’d been the past couple of days, and Garrett just sat there. Natalie was a bit thrown off that he didn’t greet her, but he looked concentrated on his bass.

She moved past Jared and Kennedy, in front of the bass player.

“Is this seat taken?” She asked quietly, not waiting for an answer, but sitting down beside him.

He finally glanced up, shooting her a soft smile.

Natalie didn’t like silence like this. Sure, she could handle silence by herself, when she was alone, reading… when she was out somewhere… but Garrett’s silence bothered her more than she’d admit. She was really good at ignoring things around her, but right now to be ignored bothered her more than she’d admit. To be directly ignored was terribly rude and her mother would have slapped the poor boy for it.

“Hey Nat.” His voice was soft, and his smiled widened a bit as he put his bass aside.

“Having any luck?” It sounded stupid, but she was trying desperately to make conversation.

“Not really.” Garrett admitted. “I can’t figure out this bass line… I’ve been working on it all afternoon.”

The girl’s smile dropped.

He looked sad that he was having such trouble and while she didn’t know much about music, she wished she could help. Biting the inside of her bottom lip, Natalie put a reassuring hand on his arm. He smiled back at her, hoping that some miraculous surge of inspiration would come from her presence. But nothing had, and he figured a break was in order.

The girl handed him his drink, which he promptly thanked her for before taking a sip.

Garrett sighed, a bit frustrated that something as silly as a bass line had him all frazzled. Still, he couldn’t help it.

Pat sat down on his other side. “Gar, we don’t even have to track bass for a couple days… if that helps.”

“I guess.”

Natalie smiled at him. “I think I have an idea.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Come out with me tonight… I think I know a place that could help.”

“Okay.” Garrett spoke, hoping she’d give him some sort of hint, but she didn’t.