There She Goes

Senior year; the last year. It was like doing a slow, agonizing marathon in a prison yard. Natasha was sick of John O’Callaghan, she was sick of school and she was sick of people in general. This was the main driving force behind why she asked out Eric Halvorsen, the goldfish kid.

He was, by no means, bad looking – he was a decent kid, very sweet and fun to hang around. She’d intentionally picked him because he was John’s best friend, the one that John spent weekends in parking lots with. She’d known he was trying to pick her up last year, which was another reason behind not going to the cafeteria tables last year – no matter what she told herself, she didn’t want to date someone if it wasn’t John. Other people’s arms felt strange around her waist, other people’s hands were too clammy compared to John’s warm and secure grip.

She made her return to the cafeteria, whispers surrounding her the minute she stood in line to get her food – a coffee and a donut. “She’s back.” Someone hissed. Another purposely jabbed her in the side with their pointy elbow. She nearly tripped, walking towards the old table where everyone sat in their same places, eating their food and talking loudly.

“Hi.” Natasha announced, placing her tray next to Eric’s and sliding in next to him, and everybody looked up. John was the first to smile, and Natasha ignored it completely, choosing to look at Eric instead. “Hey Eric, can I have a skittle?” She asked, smiling, and he nodded right away, smiling back. From a little bit away, Natasha could tell John’s face fell, and everyone resumed eating.

The quiet small-talk and banter with Eric and Natasha went on for a bit, before Eric asked, “Hey, I was going to go to a movie this weekend, want to come?”

“What movie?” She asked innocently, picking apart a sandwich on her tray. She’d set him up, and he’d fallen, hook, line and sinker. Eric replied, “Oh, I think it’s Day of the Dead at the matinee.”

“Sure, why not.” She replied, although zombie movies were traditionally more her and Garrett’s thing. Before Garrett could object about the movie, she shot him ‘the look’, and he fell silent. “Cool.”

And this was how Natasha ended up dating Eric Halvorsen.

--

“I mean, I don’t mind that you’re taller than me… But could you not wear heels, please?”

“Oh, my god, shut up. I’m going to wear heels. I am six feet tall, an inch taller than you. Get over it.”

“Fine.”

And so went the arguments with Eric. It was always about her height. Natasha, if it hadn’t been mentioned before, was what one could pin as a ‘striking model type’ – wavy dark brown hair usually kept short and straightened, yellow-hazel eyes and translucent skin. She was also six feet tall, just a bit shorter than John – even as a small child, she’d kept up to par with John’s growth spurts, until she’d stopped growing around last year.

Eric was only an inch shorter, which was not a huge deal to her – but it was to him. She could clearly tell that he hated how much taller she’d gotten, and Natasha didn’t mind but it did bother her when she was taller than most other ‘pretty’ girls, who were usually far shorter than herself.

After Natasha slammed her locker door shut, Eric cleared his throat. “So, do you have a date for Prom yet?” He asked, and Natasha gave him a blank expression. “No,” she replied, “I wasn’t even thinking about going to prom. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking, you know, I could take you to the prom…” He dragged out the end of the sentence, fidgeting with the end of his sleeve and smiling eagerly at Natasha. She considered saying no – it would have crushed him, she knew, but being with Eric was easy. There was no drama, no slutty girls crawling all over him like there was with John.

“… Okay.” She replied, and Eric smiled. “Cool.”

--

“I don’t understand why I had to come dress shopping with you.” Garrett whined, his hand trailing through a rack of dresses at the department store. Natasha sighed.

“I thought we had an understanding. Shopping with Jared is like going to a plumbing store for shoes.” She said, going through piles of dresses and skirts and blouses. She needed something formal enough to fit the requirements, but something laid-back enough to show that she could not give less of a shit.

“Why’d you have to drag me here though?” Garrett complained further, pulling his hand away as they passed a rack of lingerie. “It’s awkward and people are going to think I’m your boyfriend.”

“Why, do you have a problem with that?” Natasha snapped back, pulling out a floral, 60’s-style strap dress. “What about this?” She asked, putting it against herself, looking down at the dress then back up at Garrett.

“I don’t know!” he flailed, and Natasha gave up, texting Eric.

what do you think of floral dresses? She sent, and draped the dress over her arm as she went through the rack for more. “You could try being less of a whiny boy and maybe help me with this.” She tried, but Garrett had wandered off across to the Men’s section, and Natasha rolled her eyes. She checked her phone, and the text from Eric read,

eh, you’d look better in turquoise

She sent back, why, is that the color of your cummerbund? and the answer came back immediately. yeah

She sighed, closing her phone shut and digging through more dresses. This was going to take a while.

--

The night before prom day, Eric called.

“Hey Tash.” He said, and Natasha replied, “Hey, Halvo.”

“Do you want to go out tonight?” He asked, and Natasha frowned, closing the book she had been reading. “Where?” She asked, sitting upright now. She was dressed sloppily – sweats and a baggy shirt – and she really wasn’t in the mood to go out.

“Jared’s throwing a little party at his house, with all the old friends.” Eric replied. “So do you want to?”

Natasha paused, before shrugging. Why not. “Okay.” She replied, getting up off her bed now. “Pick me up?”

“Thirty minutes enough for you?” Eric asked, and Natasha replied, “Yeah. I’ll see you.”

She got dressed quickly – she pulled on a tunic tank top and a pair of leggings, she grabbed a seldom-used purse and threw in house keys, her cell phone, a stick of chapstick and a pen before brushing her hair some and getting out the door just as Eric pulled into the driveway.

The drive to the party was amicable – they made small talk, talking about the week and the upcoming prom, and once they arrived to the party, all went smoothly. Natasha was offered a beer but declined it for a rum and coke instead, and lit up a cigarette with Jared, who seemed genuinely excited that Natasha was out. She found herself enjoying the party, having a good time with everyone surrounding her and actually making social contact.

After her third rum and coke, Natasha needed to use the bathroom – Jared pointed up the stairs and said something about a door on the right, so Natasha figured she could just check the doors. When she went upstairs, the music wasn’t as loud, but there was… Noises, from the door at the end of the hall.

Cautiously, Natasha opened the door to find John in bed with some girl.

She let the door swing open as the girl squealed, and John looked over, his face flushed and his whole body sweaty. “Wai-“ He tried, but Natasha immediately walked out of the room, and ran downstairs.

“Hey, Natty, you gotta see thi-“ Jared laughed, stumbling into Natasha’s path with a beer in one hand and a joint in the other, but she pushed past him, feeling tears on the edge of her eyes, running towards the front door now. She didn’t even bother with shoes or her bag – she just pushed the front door open and ran outside, away from the party.

She made it all the way to the end of the long street before breaking down into loud sobs, collapsing on her knees and scraping them badly, crying even worse when the blood started to drip onto the pavement. She was a wreck, and when Eric came to her rescue with a towel to wipe off her knees and hugged her, she was crying even more so than before. No matter what he tried to comfort her, nothing worked.

Eric knew, instinctively, that he couldn't fix it. Natasha needed John like people needed air. It hurt him to say this, but he knew he wasn't the one for his girlfriend - John was the one that could ultimately fix it. However, he decided against his intuition to ignore the signs, and to proceed with his plans for the next night.

Natasha loved John, but Eric wanted to change that.