the understudy

Lola had never been good at being on her own. If you were to ask her, she'd probably tell you it stemmed from having grown up the youngest of six – but the truth was, it cut deeper than that. When you were around others, there were things to distract you. If you were doomed to spend an hour in your own company, you were trapped with your own anxieties.

Nat hugged Lola back so tightly, the Squishmallow tumbled from her arms, forgotten. Her eyes squeezed shut and the hug turned into one of those hugs where they rocked back and forth. Contentment flooded Nat's chest and as she pulled back, she waved Lola's words away. "Never give me space. I don't need space. I'm a needy little baby who needs her friends all the time. And I'm so sorry that I went radio silent." Her eyes said she had more of an explanation should Lola want it, but it was not in the hall type conversation.

parker's grin, prompted by nat's growing one, only widened into a full-on smile. even the brunette's insistence that nothing—or, nothing more—was going on couldn't dampen her growing excitement. not to put an unnecessary amount of weight and responsibility on something, on someone, but it was an immense relief to have something good to investigate. maybe love or whatever was in the air, it fueled, maybe things could turn around for the better.

Nat's brows rose when Parker told her she was back with Jesse. She couldn't— and wouldn't— judge because she knew a thing or two about the old flames that refused to die, but she was surprised to hear they were back on. "As he should be," Nat said, a grin curling at the corners of her mouth. "Should I go give him the 'hurt her and I'll hurt you' talk now or later? I have a lot of pent up aggression and I've been looking for a reason to spend it." Her smile widened in an I'm joking kind of way before her face softened. "I'm happy for you. I always thought you guys were cute together." And Parker seemed genuinely happy which was all that mattered as far as Nat was concerned. "Do you have any Valentine's plans that aren't... this?"

"It does make sense," Ollie said, nodding his head. He was sure the more they thought about it the more holes there would be in that theory as well. That they were just trying to make sense of something nonsensical. Or at least something they didn't have all the information for. Yes, G could be absolutely crazy, or at least human, and have completely veered off the path of what they wanted. Or maybe a very Joker wanting to watch the world burn type of person. But they just didn't have a bead on them. Everything G released was, obviously, not about themselves but about Greer. Of course. He wondered if he was so caught up on G, especially after what they had done to Sam, that he'd started to miss the Greer point of it all. Sometimes he felt like that… But how was he supposed to let any of what they had done go? He just couldn't.

Nat was more than happy to leave the theorizing behind them. Talking about it felt like therapy ...for a time. And then she'd remember this was real life and it was tangled, and messy, and it made very little sense. Maybe Nat was only good at guessing plots in a book, when she was handed everything she needed on a silver platter. Maybe this didn't need to have rhyme or reason behind it. Maybe it was just this big, awful thing that they'd all gotten themselves mixed up in, and that's just the way it was.

the more nat resisted (waving off, presenting an ulterior motive), the more parker pressed (maintaining eye contact, nodding insistently). "oh, yeah, okay," she teased before giving the flower another adoring look. then, with the delicacy required of handing a real flower, she tucked it away into her bag for safe-keeping.

Nat should've known. She shook her head at Parker, rolling her eyes, even as the corners of her mouth fought off a smile. It won in the end, which only earned another eye roll from her. Truthfully, she wasn't sure where she stood with Eddie. It was like they shared moments that felt like something and then enough time would pass before a follow up that she was left to wonder if it had meant anything. But that wasn't something she wanted to burden Parker with. Or really even say out loud. "My options are all fully open," she said, narrowing her eyes playfully on her friend. "Should at least one blonde boy want to try and sweep me off my feet, then he's welcome to try. But the night's young." She shrugged, batting her lashes. But that was enough about her. Nat straightened herself and fixed Parker with a look that said your turn. "What about you? Got your eye on anyone here tonight?"

Ollie made a quiet and thoughtful 'hmmm' sound as he rolled up his ball putting it on the ground and starting to roll it through the snow on the ground to gather it up into a larger ball. "I don't think you should feel bad for feeling resentful," he finally said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm fucking pissed. I'm so fucking mad, and upset, and …" Ollie bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head, "hopeless? Scared… I worked so hard to get here." Or well… He worked so hard his senior year at least. He'd kind of coasted the first three years of his High School career. But he was working hard now. "Sam worked even harder to get here. Ida probably did too… Did you know she got into a phd program in Yale? And now she'll never get to go. And Sam's life is fucking ruined. And I'm sure Penny would have been off to do great things too. And like we have to be worried that some psycho is out there just fucking with peoples lives." He didn't know if he thought that G had anything to do with Penny's death, but they had said Ida was dead because that was what they wanted. What the fuck?

Something rattled loose in Nat's chest at the feeling of being understood rushed through her, inflating her lungs with it. The feeling sank like a stone at the mention of Sam and Ida and Penny, the measure of their losses against her crying about having a hard time at college making her feel incredibly selfish. Her head hung for a moment as she brought herself back to reality and took a moment to just feel all of the loss and heartache and anger that they'd all had to contend with, simply for the people they'd chosen as friends and the university they'd been accepted to.

Monty grinned wide enough for the both of them, waggling his brows and straining forward against the table a touch more, trying to tempt Nat into cracking by not breaking eye contact. "Are you sufficiently in love with me now? Do you wanna wear promise rings?" He broke first, giving into a snorting laugh while falling backwards in his seat, releasing Nat's hands as he went. The sorority-assigned Cupids were circling already, getting ready to usher them along. "Would you believe it if I said that was the best pick-up line I had?" Monty shifted where he sat, about to raise to his feet, but not before pointing a finger at Nat and demanding, "I wanna hear yours next time!"

Nat, ever the one for a flair of drama, widened her eyes, hand pressed against her heart. "Promise rings?" she asked, blinking slowly. "I thought we were heading straight to the chapel." Her lips pulled down in a pout that fought a smile at the corners. When he said it was the best pick-up line he had, her act dropped and she snorted. "I would, actually. It's probably the best one I've ever heard, if it makes you feel any better." Her eyes slid to the people she knew were about to start shooing and then she settled a genuine smile on Monty. "You got yourself a deal. This was actually really fun, thank you for being the best three minute date I've ever had."

Cara's eyebrows slowly arched up on her forehead, blinking slowly. "Okay?" she said, her lips pursing out ever so slightly, expression returning to what seemed to be its petulant default. "She was my older sister. I think it would be weirder if she hadn't ever done a favor for me, no?" she pointed out, a hint of impatience coming into her tone.

Immediately, Nat was annoyed. Nothing she could do seemed to be able to ruffle Cara. Not the way she managed to ruffle Nat. She'd thought maybe she'd get something out of it: an eye twitch, a stance change, anything. But unflappable Cara only fixed her with annoyance, like Nat was nothing but a nuisance invading her space. She just shrugged, though. "It sounded like they were insinuating something, but maybe I'm wrong. Just thought you'd want to know people were discussing you like that."

"And his friend would be a turtle, right?" he answered with a smile, instantly thinking of The Tortoise and the Hare, but reworked for a newer, kinder generation in need of a moral preaching teamwork. Monty looked down at their hands and shrugged, confessing on an exhale that was nearly a laugh, "Truthfully? I have no idea." He blinked back to Nat's face, something playful sparking in his eyes as he laid his free hand overtop hers, leaning forward with his elbows balanced on the table between them. "I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand…"

Nat's face split into a grin, rolling her eyes good naturedly. "Probably. The foot race thing didn't really work out for them, so maybe they need a redo." Her eyes narrowed on him when he admitted he didn't actually have any idea and she opened her mouth to protest when he followed it up. She snorted, shaking her head with clear amusement. The cheesy, charming stuff worked on her and had this been a real date, she would have fallen for something as simple as that. "Smooth," she gave him, lips still pressed tight together as she tried to hold back her grin. "I think we can cancel the rest of the dates, we have a clear winner."

"Well, Milo was giving me the silent treatment at the time, so it wasn't very hot," Ollie said. Not much of a sexy TV show moment. If maybe he was into angry sex, and if Milo had not been literally so mad at him for… Well, a lot. He had pulled a lot of bullshit with him at that point. But he wouldn't get into that with Nat. It was an unfortunate moment, and he didn't come out looking very good (he rarely ever did in his own opinion). Besides, he'd just hooked up with Monty for the first time at the time, so doing anything with Milo was really the last thing on his mind. But he wouldn't bog Nat down in details if she wanted a concoct an ideal little moment in the supply closet in her head.

Nat didn't agree that if it was Greer behind the messages that it would make it less cruel, but that might have been her own personal bias, one that had been gaining bricks the longer her absence went on and Nat suffered for it. But Ollie had been Greer's friend, so she didn't disagree. She just plucked at the fingers of her gloves and listened quietly.

she could only nod in understanding at nat's initial answer. parker hadn't sent out any roses last year, too preoccupied by some chaos storm or another g had brewed up. not that that wasn't the case this year—a whole year later and there were still more recent tricks, more sinister threats. maybe, though, that was the reason for her insistence this time around. after playing the blame game, people could use a bit of love.

Nat beamed at Parker's reaction. It wasn't like she'd invested tons of time into the little flowers, especially once she'd gotten the pattern down, but she was pleased that they could make people happy. Even if they were bound for the trash the next time someone needed to declutter their dorm.

"i guess not," Court agreed, unable to resist giving Nat another squeeze as they pulled apart, a small smile curling up his lips as she linked her arm through his, giving no protest as she tugged him along with her. "I'll grab a drink with you," he answered, like he wasn't already being pulled along without any protest, "but I fear that's because there's not much Coco tea to be had," he continued, a wrinkle of his noise accompanying the admission. "How about you catch me up on you instead?"

Nat blew raspberries in his direction, playfully booing his lack of gossip. "Well that's no fun," she complained good-naturedly. It left her in a bit of a predicament, though. Because she did have things to share, she just didn't want to be the only one. There had been Mari, and there had been Eddie, and she was bursting at the seams to talk about both of them. Any of them, really.

His head tossed to the side with a playful little eyeroll, fingers wiggling in Nat's direction until she reached out and loaned him her hand. "Alright, so, let me set the scene," Monty began, focusing in as he cradled her hand in his own, palm facing up. "Over here is a wide open field" -- he tweaked Nat's pinky -- "where a rabbit has been happily living. Hoppin' around, munching on greens, all that good stuff. One day, though, he sees a beautiful tree waaaay over here" -- Monty tapped the pad of her thumb, wearing a small smile as his eyes flicked up to her face -- "that he thinks would be a great new burrow. There's one problem: a river separates the two points." Featherlight, he slowly traced his index finger from Nat's inner arm, across her palm, and up to the tip of her middle digit. A pause for dramatic effect before asking, "How does the rabbit make it to the tree?"

Nat did her best to listen to Monty as he spoke, but she was distracted by the barely-there touch of his fingers as they traced across her palm. "It tickles," she murmured, watching his hand move before narrowing her eyes and settling them back on his face. If this was a riddle, the answer was likely one of those creative, outside-the-box answers and she was so annoyed with herself that it wasn't immediately obvious. "The rabbit phones and friend to swim it across." But since that was clearly the wrong answer, she shook her head. "I don't know. How?"