Natalie and Mari both played soccer, and they were sarcastic; those things were most likely the only things they had in common. One was a “burnout,” and the other was somewhat popular, so no one expected them to actually be friends, but they were. Even if they, maybe just maybe, wanted it to be something more, they’d never admit that to each other, though.
They often hung out after school; it was always at Mari’s house, and she never questioned it because she had heard about Nat’s home life. She honestly felt bad for her, but they never talked about that, as usually, they would just gossip the whole time. Well, at least Mari would talk Natalie’s ear off while she just sat there nodding.
The bell rang as the students began to run out of the classrooms, all excited to finally go home. Natalie grabbed her bag and walked to Mari’s locker, where they would always meet up after class because the halls were extremely crowded. Before they became friends, she was always hanging out with Kevyn; he was her best friend, but they just stopped spending as much time together. She was pretty sure he had a crush on her anyway, so it honestly made things kind of awkward, because she didn’t like him back. She never saw him as more than her best friend. They’d still hang out sometimes; it was just kind of rare now.
After a bit, the halls were starting to get less crowded because people were beginning to leave the building, and Mari always took forever to get to her locker after class, so Nat would just stand there looking really, really awkward. After Mari finally made it to her locker, she smiled and waved at her. “Hey, Nat!” She said while walking towards the locker.
Natalie waved back at her, also smiling a bit. Mari spoke up again before she could: “I know this is like me changing plans last minute, but can we go to the mall instead of my house? I really want to get ice cream.”
"Uh, I mean sure. You really want to go just for ice cream?" Nat responded as she waited for Mari to finish doing whatever she was doing at her locker.
Mari shook her head in response, “No, I want to also buy a plane and fly to Canada, obviously.” That just got a scoff from Natalie. “Okay, yeah, I just want to get some ice cream with my friend.” She added after a moment, a smug smile on her face because of Nat’s scoff.
Natalie just nodded in response, letting out a quiet hum as a way of saying something like, “Sure, whatever you say.” After Mari finished doing what she was doing at her locker, she grabbed Nat’s hand, basically dragging her away toward the exit of the school.
“I can walk, Mari. I have legs, you know.” She said while freeing her hand from the almost tight grip. For some reason, Mari seemed to be in a really good mood today, and Nat had no idea why. Maybe she’d ask her about it later.
Mari didn’t reply, but she did chuckle a bit as Natalie managed to free her hand from her grip while they continued walking. It was warm outside, but not too warm; it was like the perfect weather for hanging out.
They talked a lot on the way; well, it was mostly Mari talking, and Natalie just occasionally going, “Mhm,” pretending not to care, even though she secretly thought it was pretty entertaining. Mari always had so many stories; she knew so much gossip it was insane. Natalie would probably know nothing about most of these things if it wasn’t for Mari always telling her about the latest popular kid stuff.
After what felt like literally an eternity, they finally made it to the mall and walked inside. It was very crowded today; it seemed like a pretty busy day, but that didn’t really bother the two girls. “So, I actually forgot where the ice cream shop is.” She told Mari, having to speak a little louder than usual because of how loud it was in the mall right now.
Mari chuckled a little bit before answering, “Come on, Come on, I go there all the time; I know where it is.” By the time she finished her sentence, she was already dragging Natalie toward the ice cream shop. “Nat, what ice cream are you going to get?” Mari randomly asked.
“Chocolate. What about you?” she replied almost immediately, as if she didn’t even have to think about what ice cream she wanted. Chocolate was her favorite ice cream flavor, so it honestly wasn’t shocking.
Unlike Natalie, Mari had no idea, and she had to think for a few seconds; she was a pretty indecisive person. “I think I’ll get bubblegum.” She responded. Natalie honestly hated bubblegum ice cream. She really couldn’t understand how people liked it, but she kept her mouth shut for once.
They made their way to the ice cream shop, occasionally having to squeeze through large crowds of people. The mall being crowded wasn’t really uncommon, but there were even more people than usual, and it was starting to annoy Mari and Natalie a little, even though they had literally just entered the mall a few minutes ago.
“Also, I’ll pay because I’m such a great friend.” Mari suddenly spoke up as she pulled out her wallet. Usually, she never paid for anyone, not even Nat, so it surprised her a bit.
Natalie couldn’t help but slightly raise her eyebrow. “Uh-huh… why exactly are you in such a good mood today?” She asked. The ice cream shop was right in front of them, but they stopped walking to have this mini conversation.
“Oh, no reason.” She responded in a tone that made her sound very confident, a faint smile appearing on her lips as she entered the ice cream shop, with Natalie trailing closely behind.
Once they ordered the ice cream, Mari paid for it, and they settled down in the mall, happy to be able to finally enjoy it.
“Oh wait, did I already tell you about how Danny dumped me for his fucking cousin? But I mean they're like second cousins, so it's legal, right? Still, though, I can't believe he’d dump me for her!” Mari started speaking while occasionally stopping for a second in between words so she could lick her bubblegum ice cream.
Natalie listened to her, her eyes widening a bit when Mari said he dumped her for his cousin. “That’s just weird, Mar. I mean, maybe it’s a good thing you two aren’t together anymore.” She answered, resting her elbows on the table.
Mari nodded in response, immediately starting to talk about some other drama, but at some point, Natalie stopped listening to what she was saying because she got a bit lost in her thoughts. Now that she took a moment to just look at Mari, she realized she was actually really, really pretty.
Because Natalie literally wasn’t paying any attention, everything Mari said was just kind of blurry in her mind. “Hey, um, do you think we’re going to make it to nationals?” She suddenly interrupted.
Mari paused, nodding a bit. “I mean, yeah, we play pretty well. Why are you getting nervous?” She said, obviously only adding the last part to tease Nat a little.
Natalie couldn't help but roll her eyes and scoff when Mari asked if she was getting nervous. Of course, she wasn't; she was just wondering if Mari thought they'd make it to nationals.
“I was just wondering if you also think we’re going to make it, smartass.” Natalie replied after a moment, smiling a bit; she really enjoyed hanging out with Mari.
After they finally finished eating their ice cream, they got up from where they were sitting, starting to make their way through the big crowd of people again so they could leave the mall.
“We should hang out again tomorrow if you’re free.” Mari said while looking at Natalie. “Yeah, sure, but where? Do we go to the mall again, or…” she responded.
“Uh, maybe we can go to my place next time since we wanted to today before I changed the plans,” Mari answered as they finally left the mall. Natalie nodded before smiling at her. “Sounds good,” she said as she gave Mari a quick goodbye hug. Even though the hangout had just ended, she was already looking forward to the next day so she could see Mari again.