Chapter 37

Natalie's POV

I watched Xander for a while, taking in all of his expressions. He seemed pained... Lost and confused. Like he'd missed a part of him and didn't know how to put it back. Well, Xavier is a part of him, I reminded myself.

“So, what are we going to do now? Do you want to go back there?” I asked him.

“Go back there... And risk seeing the look on his face? I don't know... But I don't think I'm up to that.”

“So you're not going back there,” I stated.

“I don't think I can.” He muttered. I sighed.

“Okay... Since you're not going back there, why don't you leave me behind here? I'll see what I can do.” I said, and he glanced at me.

“Leave you here..... What are you going to do?” He asked. I scoffed.

“Judging by what you've heard from him, you're the last person Xavier wants to see right now.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I have brothers, silly,” I said, but he hesitated. “Don't worry, he'll be fine, I'll make sure of that. Just go on ahead... Oh and don't go home either, go somewhere else.”

With one final glance at me, he let me go.

“Okay.... I'll leave you to your work.”

“Thanks....”

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I watched as Xander drove off to the cemetery before going up to pick up a Lily flower. Fixing my appearance as best as I can, I walked into the place, searching for Xavier. Eventually, I found him and walked up to him. He was still squatted but was facing upwards. I took in a deep breath and squatted beside him as well, dropping the flowers on the grave.

“Good evening Mrs. Anderson. It's so nice to finally meet you.” I greeted, startling Xavier. He glanced at me, and I did too, shrugging.

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Xavier's POV

If this is a dream, then I had better wake up from it. What the hell is Natalie doing besides me??? But it's not a dream, because she looked real... At least I think she was. I kept staring at her until she turned and began talking to the gravestone like it was an actual person.

“Your son Xavier has been a jerk lately. Imagine him disappearing and not leaving a message! Like, who does that? He had the entire school worried... Most especially me!” She exclaimed and hit me on the arm. I winced but chuckled... It was kind of cheering me up.

“Please tell him never to play stunts like that ever again. Because the next time he does that....” She stared at me full in the face, “I will not look for you.” Then turned back to the gravestone.

“That's all for now. We'll talk later. Bye.” She waved and stood up. I just kept staring at her, surprised at her behavior.

“Come on, Xavier..... Stand up. She needs to rest.” She prodded. I chuckled and stood up.

“Bye, mom,” I added, before leaving with Natalie. When we got out of the cemetery, I stopped. She stopped as well and glared at me, folding her hands.

“Really? How did you find me, anyway?” I asked.

“I didn't, Xander did.” She replied. I looked around. "..... And where's he?”

“He left. I told him to.”

“Oh....kay.” I drawled and put my hands in my pocket, watching what she'll do next.

“Seriously, Xavier... Why would you suddenly disappear and not leave a message? You had Everyone worried. We almost called the cops!”

“I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking...” I muttered. She sighed.

“Anyway, I'm glad we found you. Let's go home. You look beat.” She said and began walking in the direction of my car.

“Keys....” she called when she got to the driver's seat. “Don't worry, I'll drive. Although I don't have a license, let's just hope we don't get caught.”

“Isn't that going from frying pan to fire?” I asked. She shrugged.

“Hmm... Well, it is, if we get caught. Hop in.” I threw her the keys, and she caught them, getting in. She looked especially sexy behind the wheel, and it was hard not to stare... But I had to control that. We drove out and got onto the highway.

“Where exactly are we going to?” I asked. She glanced at me, shrugging.

“Your house.” She answered simply.

Wait... My house???

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We did go to my house and Natalie came down from the car. I came down as well, still finding it hard to believe. We got to the door and very cautiously I punched in the password as if I was scared Natalie would change her mind. She didn't however, walking in with me.

“Nice house. Typical boy setting kind of decoration. Like it.” She said as she took in the interior decoration. She glanced at me and noticed I was still staring at her.

“And why are you staring at me like that?” She asked. It was a turn to shrug.

“I don't know... It's just....” But she didn't let me finish.

“It's just what??... You don't think I should be here? Or you don't want me to see Xavier being Xavier. Which one??”

“All of the above?” I piped up. She scoffed and raised her brows.

“Just because you called off the bet doesn't mean it's over yet. I'm still very much involved in this... And so are you. I never asked you to leave, and the last time I checked, I still make the rules.”

“But I had no other choice....” I began, but she walked towards me and placed a finger on my chest.

“You did... But you wanted an easy way out..... You're afraid to tell people how you feel because you think it'll destroy them, so you bury it deep inside yourself. It destroys you.” The moving back a little added. “And I'm not about to let that happen. So you'll be seeing me around for quite a while. Get used to it.”

“So I guess you're staying for a little while then,” I said.

“Yes, I am.” She answered. I shrugged and sighed.

"Then I guess I'll go freshen up then...” I'm muttered.

“Yeah... You go do that....” she called from the kitchen. “You stink.” She added.

I chuckled hearing that... She's never going to stop being sassy. Well, I'm glad she's around, it makes everything better.

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I had freshened up wearing a new pair of clothes, came out of the room. Natalie was still there... Cooking.

"... Wow. Didn't know you could cook.” I muttered while resting on the door frame.

“It's just pasta. Everyone knows how to cook that.” She said and dished it out. Then placed it on the table, glancing at me. “Let's eat.” I slowly walked to the dining table and sat down, picking up my spoon.

“I already told the rest of them that you've been found. So there's no need for them to keep looking for you.” She announced. I nodded and stared at the food.

“How am I so sure you're not poisoning me?”

“You'll know when you take a bite.” She answered. I grimaced and took a bite. Munching on it a bit, I added. “You know.... We could have just ordered pizza or Chinese food.”.

“I'm pretty sure it's not that bad.” She said and scoffed. I took a spoon and stretched it towards her. “Why don't you see for yourself....” I said. She glared at me before taking a spoon. Then grimaced at the taste. I chuckled.

“I'll just order Chinese food,” I said and brought out my phone.

“Yeah, you do that.” She said and cleared the plates, throwing the food in the trash bin. After placing the order, I dropped my phone and stared at her.

“Want me to help?” I asked.

“No!” Came a curt reply. I chuckled, seriously?? Either way, I stood up and joined her in the kitchen. She glanced at me.

“I already said you didn't have to help.”

“Well... This is my house. And there's no way I'm watching you do that alone.” I said, and she scoffed.

“Whatever...” she mumbled. I splashed some soapy water on her face.

“Hey! What was that for??”

“I don't know... For calling me a jerk?”

“You're the bigger jerk here... Annoying punk.” She huffed. I laughed and held her cheeks with my wet hands.

“Just rinse the plates...” I said and passed her the one I had washed. She glared at me before collecting it from me. “Still very annoying.”

"You're welcome.”

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The Chinese food arrived, and we ate in silence. Once we were done, we threw the packages away and cleaned up. I had thought she would leave after this time, but she was still around.

“You're not leaving now, are you?” I asked after a while.

“No. Why?”

“Nothing.....” I trailed off. She rolled her eyes and stood up, walking towards me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Isn't it obvious? Come with me.” She said and stretched out her hands.

".... I have to admit. You are behaving a little strange today.”

“Are you coming with me or not?” She asked. I shrugged and stood up. Then, holding me by the hand, dragged me towards my room.

“Hey... Why did you drag me here?”

“Go to sleep.”

“What? I'm not feeling sleepy.” I countered. She huffed and walked to the bed, laying on it.

“Hey! That's my bed!”

“Yeah, that's true. Which is why you should be sleeping on it.”

I stared at her for a while, puzzled. What is going on?

“Are you coming in or not?” She asked and folded her hands. I sauntered to the bed and laid beside her, my gaze not leaving hers. Then, as I was pulled by an unknown force, she picked up a pillow and began hitting me. I was stunned for a minute before retaliating. Soon it became a full-blown pillow fight with feathers flying around.

“Hey! How the hell am I supposed to sleep if you keep hitting me!”

“I'm just trying to spend all of my anger..... On you!” She said and continued hitting me with the pillow. I didn't know when I dropped the pillow and pushed her on the bed, pinning her there. She huffed and tried to wriggle free, but I only held her tighter.

“I'm sorry, okay... I understand you're angry with me, but can you tone it down with the pillow fight?”

“I should've brought a ball to hit you on the head. What the hell were you thinking?” She muttered.

“That's the problem, I wasn't thinking....” Then more quietly I added, “I was following my heart.”

She froze for a second, but then quickly recovered.

“Can you let me go now? My arms hurt.” I sighed and slowly let her go, laying beside her. We stayed like that in the mess, staring up at the ceiling.

“I didn't know what else to do....” I began. “I didn't want to mess things up than they were already are. I thought staying away for a while would help me think.”

“And have you found a solution yet?” She asked.

“No... Not yet.”

“Told you so... “she mumbled. Taking in a deep breath, I turned and stared at the side of her face, since she was still looking up.

“You know... For a second there I thought you were going to leave without looking back.”

“Leave? And then do what? Nothing?”

“I'm glad you didn't,” I said and smiled. She turned to face me and just when our faces were about touching added, “you should learn to talk more. That way, people know what you're thinking. You can't keep hiding it forever, you know.”

I nodded. “I know.” We stayed like that, just staring at each other and not doing anything. There were feathers in her hair, but somehow we were both too lazy to do anything.

“Go to sleep, Xavier. I won't say it again.” She whispered. I grinned.

Eventually, I began to feel very tired and soon closed my eyes to sleep...

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Natalie's POV

I didn't know if he was pretending or if he was sleeping, but he looked especially cute sleeping. I stayed like that, just staring at his sleeping face. My hand itched to run across his face, but I knew better than that. I smiled, remembering what Ariana said yesterday. That I didn't know how to take the hint... Well, that makes the two of us. Kissing him softly on the forehead, I got out of the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.

I stayed in the living room, staring at the pictures that decorated the living room. Just then, someone knocked on the door. I walked towards it and peeping through the whole found out it was Xander. I opened the door.

“Hi.” I greeted. He nodded and walked in.

“Hey....” Then looking around, added, “where's he?” I pointed at his room.

“he's there... Sleeping.”

“Oh...” He trailed off. “Thanks again. For everything.”

"No problem. I'll get going now.”

“Sure... Let me walk you down.” He offered. I picked up my bag and walked out of the house. Going down the stairs, I stared at the side of the house. Something struck me.

“You have a garden behind the house, don't you?” I asked.

“Yeah... Why did you ask?”

“I don't know... Can I see it?”

“Right now?”

“Yes....”

“Okay... Let's go.”

He took me to the garden behind the house and I looked at the layout of the house. The fences were quite low, meaning someone could jump over them, without being detected, thanks to the trees.

“Do you use this place often?” I asked. He shrugged.

“Not much. Frankly, I don't think we've used it for a long while. But the gardener comes in once a while to trim the flowers.” He said.

“Okay,” I said and nodded. “If there's one mistake hired goons do, especially the novices, it's to leave their tracks behind. And if this garden hasn't been used in a long while, we can still find something.” I speculated.

“What do you mean?” Xander asked.

“I'm guessing... Someone must have planned what happened two years ago, although I can't be sure if we don't find anything. So why don't we dig in?”

Xander looked at me and we began searching the entire garden. It was hard, but finally, it was worth it. We saw a bag that was buried beneath the flower bushes with what looked like spray cans. I picked one out. Fun fact, it wasn't a paint spray can.

“What's this doing here? I've never seen anything like it before.” Xander said, inspecting it. Although it was there for a long time, I could still read some imprints.

“It says here..... Tranquilizer.”

“Meaning....”

"Meaning whoever did this, first put them to sleep, then did whatever he was sent to do.”

“But does a tranquilizer have the power to wipe someone's memory? Especially what happened the night before?”

“Hmm... Maybe not. But that's not the only thing that's here.” I said and brought out a syringe and used a bottle of medicine.

“The person knocked them out, make it seem like they spent the night together and probably called you up.” I guessed. “The person also knew at that time that Lucy and Xavier would be alone. The problem here is... Who is it? And why would they do that??”

Xander looked at me, realization and shock running through his face. Then slowly muttered... “I don't know, but I can't think of anyone.”

Sighing, I added. "Neither can I.”