seven souls seven sins - Chapter 59: Chapter 59

Natasha's pov:
I wake up to the smell of warm, fluffy pancakes. I quickly do my morning routine which usually consists of a shower, skincare, makeup and clothes. I grab my backpack and trample down the stairs. It's been 2 weeks and a bit since the football final and everything has gotten way better.
Life is worth living nowadays.
"Morning Adri." I greet him and he places kisses all over my forehead. "G'morning Sunshine." He smiles at me and prepares my breakfast. The aroma smells heavenly. The rest of my brothers walk in with pink streamers and confetti. "Morning Nat!" They all cheer.
I rush over towards them and we share a group hug.
I am overjoyed with a collection of "I love you's." and "Happy Valentine's day." From all of them. I've been smiling non-stop since the moment I woke up. "You're all so sweet." I compliment them. Adrien serves me my heart-shaped pancakes and I scoff them all down.
"Let's getcha to school kiddo." Vincent carries me off the stool.
"Hey Vince, can I talk to you about something." I ask him, anxious about his response. "Of course Nat. What seems to be the matter Princess?" He escorts me to a quieter place, near the garage. "Nico has asked me out on a date this evening, and I'd really like to go." The truth was that I'd already said yes, and that I was going to go anyways even if Vincent said no.
His eyes deepen and he swallows saliva which seems as if he isn't persuaded.
"Please Vince. If I asked any of the others, they'd immediately shut it down but you're the only one that might actually let me go." I even display my puppy dog eyes. After a moment or two, Vincent reluctantly agrees and I jump for joy. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I squeal and wrap my arms around him.
"I'm only saying yes because Xavier and Xander are both going out with their girlfriends too, so you and Nico going out as friends isn't a problem."
I pause when he says the words friends. Does he really think that Nico was trying to be my friend this whole time? I shrug it off and wait in Xander's car until he and Xavier arrive. Once they hop in and are strapped up we hit the road. "A little birdy told me that you two are having fun tonight." I tease them.
"We're going on a double date." Xavier sounds happy but Xander on the other hand doesn't seem as amused.
"You're going with Chelsea and Vanessa right?" I ask for clarification. Xander rolls his eyes when he hears Vanessa's name being uttered from my mouth. That's strange. "Yea, the girls picked the restaurants. We had no say." Xavier shrugs his shoulders. "All I wanted was to eat my Bacon Cheese Barbecue Burger, but the girls wanted a fancy ass restaurant instead." Xander groans.
"I don't blame them, if had the choice I would do exactly the same." I mention.
"Must be a girl thing then." Xander turns into the school parking lot. We get out and start making our way up the stairs. "Does Goldilocks and Flynn Rider have anything special planned, or are they going on a date with themselves?" Xander rudely inquired. "For your information, It's Seb and Flynn Olsen, and they're going out to a club downtown and praying for a one night stand." I elaborate their plans for this evening.
"To be in their position right now." Xander pretends to manifest and I hit his arm hard.
"Hey, Vanessa is right over there. If you don't like her that's fine, but don't say that when you're in a relationship with her." I critique his stupid behaviour. "Alright, alright." Xander backs down but red coats his vision once he spots who's at my locker. "What is he doing there?" Xavier abruptly asks.
"Mr.Loverboy is gonna get it." Xander cracks his knuckles.
"Woah, woah, woah. Back it up Xand." I managed to hold him back. "You aren't touching him." I use myself as a human barricade. "Why do you even care? It's not like you two are an item yet or anything." He makes an excuse but tilts his head in confusion when I stay eerily silent.
"Nat." Xavier warns, I swear I could see steam coming out of his ears.
"You're coming with us." Xander automatically grabs my arm and yanks me outside, Xavier helping him in the process. They take me to a place where no one is around so it's just us three. "Let me get this straight, are you and Harper a couple?" Xavier interrogates.
"No." I answer honestly, not yet anyways.
"Have you guys.." Xander hints. "EW! GROSS! No! We're not fuck buddies." I'm appalled that they would even think that. "So then what are you two?" Xavier crosses his arms. "It's kind of complicated. We just kissed, that's it." I reply with upmost honesty. Xander tightens his jaw and looks down.
"When?" He grits through clenched teeth.
"Two and a half weeks ago, at the football finale." I admit, trying to determine how mad they are on a scale of 1-10, it's looking like a solid 6 right about now. "So that's why Harper was late to the ceremony." Xavier pieces the puzzle together. Xander is giving off a 6.5 right now.
"Of fucking course I should've seen the signs." He curses and looks up to the sky.
"After that, the man was practically glowing. He unfortunately wouldn't take any of my creative insults to heart, and wouldn't even acknowledge me at times. I thought that he was happy about the win but it was actually you all along." Xander connects the dots, with a frown forming, and a storm brewing.
He's nearing a 7.
"We haven't done anything since then, just small talk here and there." I try to lighten the damage. "That doesn't make it better that you still kissed. I swear to fucking god I want to punch his skull so bad right now." Xander fiddles with his fist. "Stop that." I gently place my hand over his.
"You guys are being too overprotective. You two have your own girls to worry about, and I have mine."
"Just don't hurt him, for my sake." I plead with desperation oozing out of my eyes. "No promises." Xander refocuses his gaze towards the steps. "Nat are you sure you know what you're doing? He's a dangerous man." Xavier adds, hinting at the setback a few years ago.
"You're not really accepting this, are you?" Xander asks Xavier in disbelief.
"There's nothing we can do, we can't kill Nico because of the contract, and even if we beat him up again, Vincent will be hella pissed." Xavier gives Xander the honest truth. "That's the difference between you and me, you play by the rules, I don't." Xander tsks and shakes his head negatively.
He starts walking off but I grab his arm this time.
"Xander don't do this. I begging you." I plead with him. "I get it, you're mad a-" I get interrupted by his inner fury. "You don't get it Nat. You're so innocent, and he's a player. He's going to hurt you and I will not, as your big brother, stand to the side and watch that happen. It's my job to protect you from incoming dangers, and Nico Harper is a walking red flag." Xander tries to get me to understand.
"You may not see it now, but he's going to leave you heartbroken." Xander scoffs and walks off, his level reaching 9.
"Xander!" Xavier shouts, trying to get his twin to come back. Xavier turns to face me. "He might have the wrong execution, but he has the right intentions. In the past, Nico screwed us over. Xander was the worst victim and it still affects him till this day. Personally, I don't trust Harper but I do trust you. And I trust in whatever decision you do make, but just be wary of his previous actions." He elaborates.
"Let's get back indoors, we don't want to keep Harper waiting." Xavier helps me inside.
"I think I'll do this by myself." I break away from Xavier and slowly walk towards my locker. The anxious Nico that was once there mere moments ago, had disappeared into thin air once he saw me in his field of vision. "Well hello there, Ms.Perfect." He greets me with a smily face.
"Fancy meeting you here, Mr.Mysterious." I play along.
"There's a little somethin' somethin' in your locker." He hints and nervously waits for my reaction. My eyes soften at his worries and I cup his face and place a peck on his cheek to help calm his nerves down. I open my locker to find a heart-shaped box of chocolate, another bouquet of flowers, a stuffed teddy and a red velvet box.
My heart melts at his kind gesture and I immediately rush to hug him.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for the surprise! I love it." I squeal as he twirls me around. He chuckles at my excitement and tilts his head towards the box. "Do you want me to open it now, or should I wait till later." I tease him. "Open it now, there's much more surprises awaiting you this evening." He hints which only causes me to grin more.
"I love when you smile. your dimples are adorable." He caresses my cheek.
I pick up the velvet box and slowly open it, revealing a gorgeous gold necklace with a heart pendant at the bottom. "Open it up." Nico eagerly anticipates my reaction as I open the locket. Inside the heart, there a picture from the football match. It's a picture of when Nico rushed up to me during the kiss cam and he kisses my forehead.
"You didn't." My eyes meet his, thinking how could someone be this sweet.
"Oh I did, Ms.perfect." He smirks and helps me put it on. "It's gorgeous!" I'm ecstatic. "The jewellery matches the owner." He compliments and leans against my locker, towering over me in the process. "Speaking about later, what should I wear for this mystery date that you have planned?" I ask as we walk to Business together, the perfect Friday morning.
"Wear a dress that makes you think of Brazil." He challenges me as our hands interlink.
"I have just the perfect dress in mind." I wink at him as we enter the classroom.
Time Passes:
"Thanks Seb for bringing the fake IDs, I don't know where I'd be without you." Flynn thanks Seb for bringing his only way into the club. "Next time don't leave it at home, Idiot." Seb reminds him and chomps down on his lunch. We're sitting at our table in the cafeteria and Seb got a burger, a salad and a juice box.
"Does anyone want this knock-off Ribena?" Seb asks whilst both me and Flynn are eyeing the carton.
"Yous both grab it on, 3, 2, 1." Seb counts down and we both lunge forwards to grab it but Flynn grabs it in the nick of time before me. "Score!" He celebrates and fiddles with the paper straw. With just one sip, he finishes the whole box. "Hey! Sharing is caring." I pout.
"I'll buy you a bottle of vodka from the club." Flynn winks.
"You're the best." I smirk back when all of a sudden my phone rings by an unknown number. "Who's calling?" Seb curiously asks in between his chews. "I dunno, only one way to find out." I say and pick up the phone. "Hello? This is Natasha Clark speaking." I answer in my usual chirpy voice.
Xander's pov:
"So what did you buy for me Xandy." Hearing Vanessa's irritating high-pitched voice makes me want to claw my eyes out with a dagger. I ignore her once again, not taking my eyes off of Nat as she plays some sort of game with Flynn and Seb for the juice box. She loses but somehow there's still a smile on her face.
Hold up, I look down and there's a new necklace on her neckline.
It's gold with a heart-shaped pendant. That has Harper written all over it. I switch my gaze towards the imbecile that my sister has chosen to like. He's watching her too, how convenient. I look back at Nat who has her phone sandwiched between her ear and her hand.
All within the same second I watch as fear consumes Nat's usual bright face.
Although she's far away, I can tell she's petrified on the inside. I can't tell what she's saying but she looks as if she's going to cry. Water collects around the brim of her eyelid as she holds back tears. I watch her stand up and hastily sprint out of the cafeteria. Goldilocks and Flynn Rider both share a worried glance and drop everything on their table to sprint after Nat.
What the fuck. Something must be up.
Why did she bolt like that? Who made her scared because I'll kill them myself. What did they say to her? A thousand thoughts flood my mind and I need to get to the bottom of this. I turn to get Xavier's attention but it appears to be that he's been watching her too. We don't even need to say anything as we both immediately hop up and chase after the two guys.
They're pretty slow runners, we can catch up in no time.