Chapter 14: Chapter 13 - Nat

Thursday 3 December

~*Nat’s POV*~

“Are you ready to go shopping?” Cody yelled through my bedroom door. “Get your arse into gear! We have shops to visit, people to see, and money to spend!”

I groaned. A borrowed book from Cody lay in my hands to pass the time, as I had already been up and showered for hours. I knew what the plan was for today, so I had put on the loose-fitting dark green cargo pants and light-grey shirt Cody had bought me, both of which were, unsurprisingly, too big for me. The Ugg boots completed my ensemble. I wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but at least the clothes I wore covered me.

Another restless night of waking up every couple of hours had only resulted in making me feel worn out. Thankfully, Auden and Cody hadn’t stayed up like the previous night, so I could remove the guilt I felt at keeping them awake to check in with me regularly. Apparently, Auden said that my nightmares could continue indefinitely, and as I was in the habit of waking myself up from them, it was better just to let everyone try to sleep and get them used to my screaming.

It didn’t stop me feeling dreadful when I knew I needed to go shopping with Cody for more clothes. My memory still wasn’t back, and I needed to get a few more changes of clothes to fill out a relatively bare wardrobe. I didn’t yet have enough clothes that could tide me over on washing day, nor did I have any clothes that properly fit, so today’s trip to the shops was to remedy both those situations.

I suspected Cody was far more excited than I was about the prospect of spending more money.

Opening the door, I found Cody beaming at me and dressed in skin-tight black jeans and a slightly too-big-for-her dark green t-shirt that slipped off her right shoulder. It was around ten AM, which, according to Cody, was the perfect time to start a full day at the shopping centre. As Auden had predicted a couple of days ago, my feet were feeling much better, especially after the physically lazy day we all had yesterday, but they were still a little tender. I really didn’t want to push myself too hard by walking for hours just in case the wounds re-opened.

I scowled at her smiling face. “I swear to God, Cody, if you make my feet swell up like balloons with the amount of walking we need to do, I’ll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them.”

She burst out laughing. “Well, I can see someone is in a great mood!” She turned around and flounced out of the apartment’s second exit. “Best get moving, sweetheart!”

I growled at her as I shut the door behind me. I just knew I was going to hate her today.

We walked downstairs and out the building’s front door. While I followed her to the carpark, I looked around at the surrounding forest, breathing in the clear, cool air of the morning to calm my morning grumpiness.

I stopped in my tracks and blinked in shock when my eyes finally drifted back towards Cody to find that she had stopped in front of a dark blue four-door sedan with two people leaning against the side.

“Bells?”

Cody turned around to look at me before she burst out laughing.

“No,” she said, giggling away. “This is Bells’ twin brother Tatum.”

“Twin?”

“Didn’t I mention Bells had a twin?”

“Can’t say that I remember anything about it…”

“Oh. Um… Nat?”

“Yeah?”

“Bells has a twin.”

“God, Cody, really? I never would have guessed.” I rolled my eyes at her in exasperation.

I stared at the tall man in front of me and started to see slight differences between him and the gorgeous hunk that I had met only two days prior. Both had stubble, but in varying thicknesses. They had similar hairstyles, but Bells’ hair was a touch longer.

Both brothers had the same warm, dark brown eyes filled with intelligence and curiosity, that made whoever they were looking at feel immediately at ease, although now that I studied Tatum’s face, I could see that his face was ever so slightly fuller than Bells. They both looked incredibly trim, with rippling muscles shown off by well-fitted t-shirts.

Their dress sense was completely different. Where Bells had appeared scruffy but neat, Tatum wore immaculate clothes without a wrinkle in sight. Tatum wore a bright white t-shirt that almost glowed it was so clean, alongside black jeans and sneakers. His tailored clothes fit him exceptionally well.

I noticed I didn’t have to shift my gaze down when I looked at Tatum. He was maybe an inch or so shorter than me, which delighted me to no end. It was nice to look someone almost directly in the eye after talking to Cody and Auden so much over the past couple of days, both of whom were much, much shorter than me. Judging how far I had had to look up from my seat when I had met Bells, I figured Tatum would likely be a good indication of his brother’s height.

Although a feeling of calm washed over me when I looked at Tatum, there were no butterflies flapping their wings in my stomach. I couldn’t deny that Tatum was just as gorgeous as his brother, but the instant attraction I had felt with Bells simply didn’t exist with Tatum.

He waved at me from his position next to the car as Cody turned back to him and his colleague.

“This is Zelda, Tatum’s girlfriend.” Cody pointed to the female, who also waved. “Guys, this is Nat. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, so forgive her if she’s not her usual friendly self.” She poked her thumb over her shoulder at me.

I glared at her back before turning my attention to the pair of strangers in front of me. “Nice to meet you both. Please feel free to ignore Cody today, as she’s been an incredibly large pain in my arse already and it’s not even noon.” I grinned at them both to let them know I wasn’t being too serious. Not that Cody needed to know that I was joking around. Let her think I was still cranky.

Tatum and Zelda both burst out laughing.

“Oh, I like her!” Zelda said to Cody. “Can we keep her?”

Cody must have given her a dirty look, as Zelda only laughed more.

When Zelda and Cody started ribbing each other, Tatum ambled over to me, hands in the pockets of his jeans. “How are you settling in? Cody said you’ve had a rough couple of days.”

“Yeah, they haven’t been great. But everyone’s been so nice; it’s effectively taken the edge off things,” I replied, smiling. “I can’t believe Cody and Auden have had me stay.”

He grinned at me, revealing perfect white teeth. “They’re incredible people. Each of them would give you the clothes off their incredibly fashionable backs if they thought you needed them.”

“I’m getting that impression, yeah. How do you know Cody?”

“We grew up together. Went to the same school. It’s a small town, everyone knows everyone else. You’ll see. You’ll get a ton of questions when we’re at the shops today. They’re all a very inquisitive bunch.”

I groaned, which only made Tatum laugh. I really didn’t want to be the centre of anyone’s attention, especially when I didn’t have much to tell people. But I was grateful that Tatum had warned me about what to expect.

I noticed Cody was now standing with Zelda on the other side of the car when she called out to us. “What are you two talking about? Whatever he’s told you, Nat, don’t believe a word of it. He’s a chronic liar. Now come on everyone! Let’s get this show on the road!” She banged on the roof of the car with both fists, then opened the rear passenger door, but waited for a response before she got in.

I turned to Tatum with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head with a huge grin on his face.

“So, tell us about yourself, Nat. What brings you to Matlock?” Zelda asked me, in a gruff, husky but still very attractive voice.

Tatum burst into fits of laughter and headed for the driver’s seat. I couldn’t stop the huge grin spreading across my face. It looked like Tatum was right.

“What? What did I say?” Zelda asked, a bemused look drifting across her features.

I shook my head at the shorter, dark-haired beauty in front of me. She was about the same height and wore very similar jeans to Cody, but that was about where the similarities stopped. Her short hair held a startling variety of browns, and corkscrew curls sprang from her head like fireworks. Her rich, dark hazel eyes glittered from her tawny beige skin, and it was plain to me she had made up her face exquisitely. She had on a snug, forest green shirt that showed off the curves she had in all the right places, making me feel incredibly envious of my wire-thin frame, but I guessed she spent a ton of time on making herself look gorgeous, where I really couldn’t care less how I looked, even with the limited wardrobe I had at my current disposal.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” I laughed. She gave me a wry grin, which made me think she knew exactly what had made us laugh, but shrugged her shoulders and got in the front passenger door, whilst Tatum started the car.

I hurriedly got into the remaining passenger seat in the back, behind the driver’s seat. After plugging my seat belt in, I looked up to find Zelda looking at me inquisitively.

I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. There was a pause. Oh, she actually wanted me to talk about myself?

“Umm, not much to say really,” I told her. “I’ve got no memory before the Tuesday just been.”

“Cody said as much, but you know how much she exaggerates. I wasn’t sure if I should believe her.” Zelda wiggled her perfect eyebrows at me mischievously.

“Hey!” Cody protested, glaring at her friend.

Zelda looked at her innocently. “Oh, hon. You know it’s true.”

Cody pouted and crossed her arms in mock denial. “Never in all my years…” She made a point of shifting her focus away from Zelda and out the window at the passing scenery.

Zelda rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to me. “I’m sorry,” she said, sympathetically. “I’d imagine that would be a tough thing to go through.”

I nodded. “It is a bit of a pain, but Cody and her mum are making sure I’m well looked after.”

Cody’s face lit up as she turned back to glare at Zelda. “See? At least someone around here appreciates me!”

Zelda held her hand up to hide what she was about to say. “Be careful with compliments. Her head is already big enough,” she stage-whispered to me, with a grin. I laughed.

“Hey!”

I laughed harder. Somehow, I just knew I was going to get along just fine with Zelda and Tatum. My day was looking brighter with every passing minute.

“We’re headed for the Plaza on Main, yeah?” Tatum called over his shoulder, barely audible over the laughter filling the car.

“Yeah,” Cody responded once the giggles eased. “It should have everything we need without too much wandering around. Plus, I really have a hankering for one of those wraps from Benji’s for lunch.”

“Oh, good call!” Zelda said, pumping her fist in the air. I had no idea what any of them were talking about, but I figured I’d find out soon enough.

“Tatum said he and Cody grew up together. Were you part of that as well? Or…?” I asked Zelda.

“Yup!” she responded. “We all grew up together. However, I claimed Cody first.”

I glanced at Cody, who nodded. “Zelda and I became best friends back in first grade. It took another six months for this one to realise the error of his ways.” She pointed to Tatum.

“What can I say?” Tatum said over his shoulder. “I needed to suss you both out first. Plus, none of the other kids knew how to keep up with me, so…” He shrugged.

“You were a little shit, that’s why!” Zelda laughed. She looked at me. “Do you know the Looney Tunes cartoon of the Tasmanian Devil? That was him back in primary school. Just a whirlwind of destruction!”

I didn’t know what she meant by ‘Tasmanian Devil cartoon’, but I got the gist of what she was saying, so I nodded and grinned. I’d have to look it up later when we got back.

“I’m guessing that means you all graduated a couple of weeks ago too, then?” I asked. They all nodded. “Does that mean that you’ll be going to the camp with Cody next Monday?”

“Oh Goddess, yes,” Zelda said, shuffling in her seat. I could now see where Cody could have got her energy from. “I can’t wait for it. What a way to end the year!”

“Yeah,” said a much more relaxed and serious Tatum. “It’ll be great to see everyone one last time before they all start moving away for Uni.”

“I don’t know why so many are moving so soon,” Cody said, poking her bottom lip out in a pout once again. “School doesn’t start for another few months. It seems too early to be doing all of that now.”

“You forget, dear one,” Zelda said. “It takes a while to settle into new packs and get your bearings. I can’t really blame them for wanting to move to a more populated area than our remote little slice of paradise.”

“Bunch of nonsense, if you ask me,” Cody said, dismissing Zelda’s point entirely. “They don’t know how good they have it. Just you wait; they’ll all be back! With their tails between their legs. Probably literally.” She laughed.

Zelda raised an eyebrow at her in doubt. “I wouldn’t be so sure, Cody. I know a few of them have been itching to get out of Matlock for a few years now.”

“Fine.” Cody waved her hand in the air. “Matlock doesn’t need them, anyway. Let ’em leave.”

“What about you three?” I asked, looking around the car. “Are you heading off to Uni too? Or have you got other plans?”

“Cody here has applied for the Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery course at Churchill, which she’ll be brilliant at,” Zelda began, directing her thumb at Cody. “Tatum’s a whiz with computers, so it only made sense that he applied for the Bachelor of Information Technology at the same place.” Tatum nodded.

“And you?” I asked Zelda.

“Zelda dearest doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life just yet,” Cody said. Zelda nodded with a half-hearted shrug.

“I applied for a catch-all Bachelor of Arts,” Zelda explained. “I’m hoping that it’ll give me a grounding for something down the track. Someone’s got to look after these two lugs, so I really had no choice but to go with them.” She grinned wickedly at me.

“You’re the responsible one of us, sweets.” Tatum leaned over to grab her hand before kissing the back of it. “I wouldn’t want to do it without you.”

Zelda beamed at him.

“Ugh, get a room, you two!” Cody said, rolling her eyes. She turned to me. “I swear, ever since they got together last year, it’s been hell on earth to be around them.”

Tatum laughed. “You’re just jealous, Cody.”

“Of either of you? Hell no!” she scoffed. “I just don’t see the point in getting so damn lovey-dovey when you don’t even know if you’ll be mates this time next year.”

Zelda and Tatum looked at each other, before Zelda turned to face Cody. “We’ve told you, Cody,” Zelda started. “We don’t want to regret missing out on what we have in the present, when none of us knows what the Moon Goddess has in store for us in the future.”

“Enjoy what we have today and don’t stress about the future,” Tatum agreed. “If we don’t end up as mates, then we’ll take each day as it comes after that. Who knows? Neither of us might end up finding our fated mates at all, so at least we’ll be ready to choose each other if we need to.”