Smile

"I won't call him. I swear."

And she meant it. At least, she meant it for the moment. It was hard work reigning in the desparate urges she kept having to call him, but it had to be done. Natalie was done with this, done with the whole waiting for Kasey to text her back thing. It was a waste of energy and a waste of time. All she'd done was tell him how she felt about him; the least he could have done was tell her how he felt about it in return. And that had been the worst part about it. Kasey hadn't emailed her back or even texted, since that day. If she had been of anything less than what she was, Natalie probably would have been crying her eyes out for him. But she wasn't; and that was good. She didn't need any of his shit in her life right now. She had enough of her own to work with. If he felt the tiniest bit for her, he needed to get his ass into gear and let her know. The window of that particular opportunity was closing quickly and she wasn't sure how long it would be until it was completely sealed off.

I don't care, Natalie told herself, I'm stronger than that. I don't care if he doesn't like me back.

Shutting the book before her with a little more force than was necessary, the girl got to her feet and made her way to the bathroom. She tried to ignore the bright blue cell phone that lay atop the pile of books on the floor.

"Let him make up his mind," she said again. This time, she was staring at herself in the vanity mirror above the sink; blue eyes glaring back her. "Let him go if he has," she whispered.

"Let him realize what he's missing."

Meanwhile, she was going to have her fun. Tony had invited her to another party and as much as she didn't want to go, Natalie knew that she had to. She wasn't going to spend any more of her time pining after that man. It hurt but she wasn't a puppy. Stepping out of the pajama pants and top she had been wearing for the better part of the whole day, the girl grabbed a towel off of the towel rack and turned the shower faucet on. She was going to do good tonight. She was going to dress up, put on her make up and go the ridiculous party. When she got there, she was going to smile and pretend to like people that she hated and hate on people that she loved. And if Kasey just so happened to be there tonight, she was going to walk up to him, say hello and walk the hell away. Natalie was going to own tonight.

Checking the water temperature one more time before stepping in, Natalie had already shut the shower curtains behind her before she heard the knock on the door. Turning the water down, she waited for the second knock before stepping back out. Whoever this was better have a damn good reason to have to taken her out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around herself, the girl tip toed through the mess of books on her floor, past the kitchen and to the front door. She didn't even bother checking the peep hole first before flinging open the door. When she had, she wanted to kick herself for not doing so.

Kasey stood in her doorway, dressed in a dark leather jacket and ripped jeans. He looked embarassed and more than a little upset. Natalie didn't know whether to run back into the apartment and hide or wonder at why he was at there in the first place. Another larger part of her mind was acutely aware of the fact that she was dressed only in a towel. She didn't have any time to say anything, though, because in a single rushed breath, Kasey started to speak.

"You never texted me back," he accused. Natalie's brows furrowed and she frowned, "Excuse me?"

"You never replied to any of my messages. Is it some sort of game you play - To convince guys that you like them and then completely ignore them the next day?"

Natalie's jaw dropped.

Excuse me?

"Because if it is then I'm here to tell you that I think it's pretty stupid. You can't just drop a bombshell like that and completely ignore me afterwards. I thought you were different, Nat," he finally stammered.

Natalie was confused, "What are you talking about? What messages?"

Kasey pointed into her apartment, "The texts. I sent them from my work cell."

Natalie turned, spotted her phone lying where it had been five minutes before and then glanced back at Kasey. Then, deciding against her better judgement, she turned and went to pick her cell phone up off the floor. Flicking the cover open, she scrolled through the messages and found nothing. Her anger started to flare.

"You're lying. There's nothing in my inbox," and then, smarting from the accusations, she turned on him. "How dare you come into my house and say something like that to me! You don't even know me. And just so you know, I don't play games. I told you how I felt and you completely ignored me. Now you're lying for god knows what reason and ..."

"I'm not lying," Kasey defended, his face was turning red. "I sent those texts as soon as I got yours. Why would I come all the way to your apartment to confront you on something that I'm lying about?"

Natalie walked back to where he was standing, her hand sliding over the doorknob and readied herself for what she was about to do. She had liked Kasey, yeah, but there was a line and he had crossed it. No one came into her home and accused her of being a tease and got away with it. "I have to go get ready for a party, Kasey," her voice trembled, and her grip on the doorknob tightened, "so if you don't mind, goodbye."

Swinnging the door, and visibly upset the girl had already reached her bathroom when the realization hit. Her phone didn't accept messages from unknown numbers. And Kasey had said that he had texted from his work number which meant that...

Throwing the offending phone on her bed, she sprinted back to the front door. Kasey had reached the stairs when she flung the door open. "Wait!" she yelled out.

He stopped walking and glanced back her. He looked hurt, humiliated. Natalie walked towards him, "I don't have your work number." Kasey frowned, "So?"

"It's not on my contacts list," she said again. Kasey wasn't getting it. He still seemed pretty peeved. Natalie tried a smile, "My phone doesn't accept messages from unknown numbers."

And he understood. "You really didn't get them, did you?"

She shook her head, "No, I didn't."

He stared at her for a second longer before he threw her an unsure smile. "Why don't we just start again?" Natalie offered. Her heart began on a rampant pound-fest in her chest. He looked down at her; the wide blue eyes, fair hair and shrugged, "Works for me."

Stretching out a hand, she looked up at him, "Hey, I'm Natalie." Chuckling, he covered her small hand with his and shook it, "Nice to meet you, Natalie. I'm Kasey."

And the smile that stretched Natalie's lips made him happy that he had come.