Dirty Little Heart

Friend or Foe?

I wake up the next morning, walking directly towards the bathroom, brushing my teeth. While taking a long hot bath while I try to figure out what to wear tonight. I clean myself with the most expensive soap and use the only shampoo I use for special occasions.

"Angie? You awake?" Nat asks, shouting from downstairs.

"Yeah, I'm in the bath right now. Be back right down in a sec," I say.

I cover myself with a towel and go into the kitchen where Nat is. As I see her, my first reaction was what the fuck'. She had made breakfast for me, as she usually does, but this was some high-quality shit. There were fruits, orange juice, eggs, and everything that can surely keep me healthy.

"What is this for?" I ask.

"It. Uh... A peace offering." Nat walks towards me and holds my hands into hers.

"Angie. I know yesterday I treated you like shit. It's just I had a lot on my mind. It's true that my Mom is not doing well, and I was there with her. I guess I'm just sorry that I treated you the way I did."

"Can you forgive me?"

While I was standing there in front of her, the first thing that came to mind wasn't that she was genuinely sorry, it was, why would she lie? I talked to her coworker and there's no way she would forget to fill me with the situation including her family. One thing that got stuck in my mind was. A person would never give you the information you never asked for if they didn't start with it. I just stood there, silent. Reading her mind about what was going on.

Instead, I hug her.

"Come on, Nat. You know I can never be mad at you," I say.

"Oh, Angie. I love you,"

After a few seconds or so, we break.

"Okay, I'm getting late for work," Nat states.

"It's 7 in the morning, Nat. You don't get to work till 8:30."

"Oh, well, it's because I took the day off yesterday so, they called me in early today."

I smile and nod at her. She waves back and walks out of the house.

Something was off. It was very off.

-BEEP BEEP-

I check my phone and I get a text from Jonathan.

"Is your mind still fixed on the date?"

"Do I have any other choice?"

"You do. It's just that one's not an option."

Ass. Before I could text him back, my eyes fall on the closed door again.

"Fuck this."

I immediately put on some all-black clothes as if I was an undercover agent and I follow Nat. I had to know why she was lying. It's not like she never told me about her boyfriends o even friends. She just wouldn't lie for no reason. If she is? It must be something big.

I ignite my car and drive off to catch up to her. If she's taking the usual route to her office, I'll find her. If she isn't? Well, there's someone who is definitely playing with me. I drive a little faster and I get to the division where Nat usually takes a left turn. I stop at the red light and, amazingly, I catch up to her and see she's taking a right turn instead of left.

I circle my wheel and maintain my distance from hers. She drives for another 5 minutes after parking a car in front of a restaurant.

"Okay, either she's dating someone or she just lost her job at her previous one and found another there," I think to myself.

I park mine further away, not accessible to her eyes, and I follow up to her. She doesn't take the main door to the restaurant. She takes the path to the alley right beside it.

I stick my back to the wall, watching her closely and keeping myself secret. She stood there for 2 minutes, and a guy comes out from the door in front of her. He was like a hippie or something, probably selling illegal stuff. I could see them exchanging a few words and talking for like 5 minutes. Nat unzips her bag and gives him an envelope.

"What the fuck is going on? I think."

The hippie open it up and the envelope was loaded with some cash, probably $1500-2000.

"Please don't tell me you're doing something illegal, Nat."

He smiles at her and just walks away. Nat looks around as if she was making sure no one saw her. I run back to my car before she could catch me stalking her. I open the door at gaze at hers.

She comes back and just drives away.

I sit there in silence, holding the wheels in my hands. Why on earth would Nat lie to me? It's not like I judge her or anything. We tell each other every single little or big secret we have. We are best friends. So why?

I check my phone and I see I left him on reading.

"Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you before. Are we still up? I text him."

"Of course. For a moment there, I thought I'd eat dinner alone."

"I wouldn't let you get embarrassed without me watching."

"You will be the death of me, Angelica May."

I lock my phone and put it on my car's dashboard. I lean back, holding my head in frustration.

"Who the hell was that guy?"