Locksmith

My alarm went off, jolting me from my sleep with force. When I gained my bearings, I blindly reached for my alarm to turn it off. When it finally stopped screaming at me, I relaxed back into my mattress. I heard the garage door open and close, and I knew Pietro had left for school. Why he insisted on going in so early was beyond me, but I didn’t have anything against walking. After giving myself a few minutes to lay in bed, I pushed myself up to get ready for the day. Getting ready to go to school wasn’t very difficult; it was springtime in Ohio, so a hoodie with a t-shirt under it and some jeans would be perfect for any kind of weather. When I’d pulled clothes on, I slowly made my way to the bathroom. My morning routine wasn’t complicated. I’d given up putting makeup on every day last year, so the only things I needed to do were brush my teeth and hair. Pietro, on the other hand, loved a good skincare routine, and he took much longer than I did in the morning. When I finished in the bathroom, I grabbed my things and checked the time to see if I could eat quickly. The time on the clock told me that I had time to grab a muffin from the kitchen and eat it on my walk to school.

I went down the stairs quickly, hurrying to the kitchen. My dad was sitting at the table, and I slowed to a walk, not wanting to upset him. When he sensed my presence, he glanced up from his paper before quickly returning it. I grabbed two muffins and wrapped them in napkins before heading to the door. I slipped my shoes on and walked out the door. Normally, Yelena was walking out the door at the same time as me, but when I looked at the porch, it was empty. I assumed she was either getting a ride from Nat or had left early. As I started walking, I unwrapped one of the muffins and started eating. Just after turning the corner off of my street, a car pulled up behind me. I would know the sound of the engine anywhere and tried to keep a smile off of my face.

“Hey, pretty girl, looking for a ride to school?” Asked a familiar voice.
“Me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and approaching the car.
“Absolutely you.” She said with a grin.
“No, Yelena?” I asked as I got into the car.
“Your brother actually picked her up. I let them both know I would wait for the sleepiest girl in all the land.” She said, scrunching her nose with her smile.
“Gross. Do you have a crush on me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“So much more than a crush. Believe me.” She said with a hum.
“If you like me so much, where’s my kisses? I’ve been in the car for at least a minute, and my lips are kissless.” I said with a dramatic sigh.
“Right, you are, sweetheart. You do sit there kissless.” She said with a breathless laugh.
“Why don’t you use your tinted windows for good and fix that then?” I asked, batting my eyes.

She shook her head but couldn’t hide her smile. With her driving, we had plenty of time to spend together before we had to be at the school. I watched her bite her lip before pulling off into a side road and putting the car in park. My stomach swam with butterflies, all fluttering around and making their presence known. It was nauseating in the most addicting way, and I craved that feeling from her. She turned her head to face me, and her eyes burned a hole straight through me, making my heart race even faster than it had been before. Her hand came up to hold my face gently, and as she leaned in closely, she allowed our breath to mingle between us. She knew exactly how dizzy it made me, and she took every opportunity to make it happen. After an impatient whine left my throat, she took pity on me and connected our lips. She poured every ounce of love and care that she could into the kiss, making me feel how much she’d missed me since the last time she’d seen me. It felt a little dramatic, given that she’d seen me through our windows the night before, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. I craved the desperation she kissed me with. As if I was the only thing putting the air in her lungs and she couldn’t get enough. When she pulled away, I was still dazed by the kiss, and it took me a while to open my eyes to meet her gaze. She winked and scrunched her nose at me before focusing back on the road.

“Did your parents not feed you last night?” She asked with an amused look as we pulled out of the side road.
“You know that I normally feed your sister breakfast,” I said with a snort.
“What about girlfriends? What do we get?” She asked with curiosity.
“You can have a muffin?” I offered with a grin.
“I’ll take the muffin, but I also have a proposition for you.” She said, looking nervous.
“Proposition away,” I said with a nod and a reassuring smile.
“I talked to Yel, and she said she had plans tonight, so I wanted to see if you wanted to have a last sleepover before I graduate, maybe talk about a few things,” she said with a hopeful look.
“Of course. I’m assuming my house?”I asked, wanting to be sure.
“Look at you, pretty and smart. I lucked out, huh?” She asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Shut up. You love squishing together on your bed until we fall asleep.” I teased.
“Didn’t fool you, did I?” She asked with a breathy laugh.
“As if you could,” I said, shaking my head.
“I love you, you know.” She said gently.
“I love you,” I said, my cheeks turning a dark shade of pink.
“Lucky me.” She said with a hum as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.
“Oh, you sure are.” She said with a giggle.
“Hey!” I said, reaching over to smack her arm.
“O,h now it’s wrong for me to agree with you?” She questioned.
“You know why you’re in trouble!” I said firmly.

She laughed, a free and unburdened laugh, the kind that reminded me of every reason I fell in love with her, to begin with. She rarely let people in enough to see her silly side, but I loved it more than anything to see her let her guard down completely. Not only her laugh, but her smile was bright enough to rival the Friday night floodlights. She drove us to the school and walked me in before disappearing for the day. I made my way through the day, going in and out of classes that stopped mattering a week prior, biding my time until lunch. As I was making my way toward my last class before lunch, I saw Yelena waiting by my locker.

“Hey, stalker. I missed you this morning. Your sister got your muffin.” I said with a shrug.
“What? What kind?” She asked in shock.
“Chocolate chip.” I said, popping the ‘p’ loudly.
“That’s evil.” She said with narrow eyes.
“Well, you ditched me and let my brother drive you instead of walking with me. Traitors don’t get muffins.” I said with a dramatic sigh.
“Being overdramatic must run in your family. What are your plans for the night?” She asked with curiosity.
“I think Nat and I are having our last post-graduation sleepover. She said you had plans.” I said nervously.
“You know, she’s not running away. You’ll still see her.” She said with a laugh.
“She asked, I said yes. What are you doing tonight?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“There’s a bonfire tonight. I planned on inviting you, but maybe you and Nat could both come?” She asked slowly.
“Yeah, I’ll ask her! Just tell me where it is and when it starts.” I agreed, knowing we wouldn’t be going.
“We’ll be at the tower. Everything starts around ten.” She said with a nod.
“Perfect!” I agreed easily.
“See you at lunch?” She asked.
“For sure!” She said before taking off for her next class.

I shook my head as she ran off to her class before making my way into mine. Because it was the class before lunch, everyone always got a little squirrely thinking about food. Pair that with the fact that our classes stopped teaching us anything useful when we were close to graduation; there was no use in trying to force lessons on people who had already checked out for the year, and it was something that I was grateful for. When the bell rang, Pietro waited for me at the door so we could walk together. It was stupid, but he figured that we should go together to defend our table instead of leaving the job to only one person. I unfortunately couldn't argue with the logic of it, there was strength in numbers. We got our food and sat down at our usual table to wait for everyone to join us. After only two minutes, I was spotted from across the lunch room, and I prayed that he wouldn’t come over to the table. My prayers were quickly ignored as he walked as fast as he could.

“Hey, Wanda,” Victor said softly.
“Oh, hey, Victor,” I said, glancing at him.
“I… I was wondering if you’d maybe like to hang out later tonight. Like at the bonfire?” He asked slowly.
“Wait, what?” I asked with a frown.
“Yeah, Pietro said you’d be going… Are you not going?” He asked, glancing at Pietro.
“I am not going… I just found out about it. But I have plans tonight.” I said as politely as I could muster.
“Oh, right. Cool. Cool. Uh, maybe another time?” He asked with hope.
“Sure. Maybe.” I confirmed with a nod, wanting to get rid of him.
“Cool. See you tonight, Pietro?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.
“For sure!” Pietro agreed easily.
“Sweet!” Victor said before turning to walk away.
“You told him I’d be there?” I questioned with annoyance.
“Yeah? I thought you would be. What are you doing instead?” He questioned with a frown.
“Does it really matter? You don’t speak for me.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“When are you going to give Victor a chance?” Pietro asked with a laugh.
“I don’t like him. What’s so hard to understand?” I asked in annoyance.
“Mom and dad love him. Why can’t you just make life easier for yourself?” He asked with a sigh.
“So I should just be sold off to whoever our parents like best? You sound stupid.” I said with a scoff.
“Hate to gang up on you here, but she’s right.” She said as she sat down across from me.
“Right, the two of you hate to gang up on me.” He said with a scoff of his own.
“Well… How come you don’t need to date anyone to gain their approval?” She asked.
“I don’t know, okay? I’m just saying she could try.” He said with a sigh.
“So could your parents.” Nat shot back.
“Do you ever get tired of fighting her battles for her?” He asked, rolling his eyes.
“You mean the ones you are supposed to help her fight?” She questioned.
“Don’t you have better things to do? Why are you even here today?” He asked with a frown.
“You know I could never resist a chance to make fun of you.” She said with a wink.
“Where is your sister? I need backup. It’s an unfair fight.” He grumbled.
“She was with you this morning, drag race champ; you tell us where she is.” She said with a shrug.
“I safely brought her to the school. Once she gets out of the car, that’s all on her.” He said, holding his hands up in surrender.

We ate our lunches talking about lighter subjects, like what Nat was doing after graduation. It hurt my heart to know that she wouldn’t always be right next door whenever I missed her, but I knew she was excited to get away from the town and the state itself. I wanted to as well. She didn’t know it, but wherever she chose, I planned to follow her. If I wasn’t able to get a soccer scholarship wherever she was going, I would try to get academic scholarships. Regardless, the plan was to finally be able to be with her in the open and love her as loudly as my heart screamed it every time I saw her so much as smile. The rest of the day dragged on, and before I knew it, Pietro was driving us home, talking about track brightly. I tried my best to listen to him, but my mind kept drifting to images of Natasha and me when we were finally alone again. It had been only a few minutes since I last saw her, and yet my heart ached. I dreaded to think about when she left for school. When we got home, we went to our respective rooms until dinner. Pietro talked about track with excitement, occasionally trying to open the conversation to topics that were more geared to me, but our parents weren’t receptive to it. For the first time in a long time, he sent me an apologetic look, and I knew that he really had tried to get them to care. I never questioned if he loved me; he was an older brother, part of his job was to make my life more annoying, and he succeeded. After dinner, Pietro left for the bonfire, and I moved to my room to give Nat the signal from my window. When I pulled the curtains open, she was already sitting at her window waiting for me. A smile slowly spread across her face when she saw that I was looking at her, and with a nod, she disappeared. I let the curtains close once more and moved to the bed to wait. A couple of minutes later, I heard the front door open and a polite greeting thrown to my parents. They asked the usual questions for someone who was about to graduate, and she answered them happily before her feet hit the stairs. My stomach fluttered as I listened to her feet hit each step, counting down the seconds until she opened my door. A few seconds later, there was a light knock on the door before it was slowly opened, and Nat made her way into the room.

“Hey, pretty girl.” She said with a hum.
“There you are,” I said with a smile.
“I’m sorry, am I late?” She questioned, tilting her head.
“You’re always late when I miss you,” I admitted.
“What can I do to make it better? Will kisses bring that pretty smile back?” She asked with a faux pout.
“I can’t be bribed,” I said, shaking my head.
“No one said anything about bribes, sweetheart.” She said with a frown.
“Kisses are a bribe.” I pointed out.
“Are you saying you don’t want my kisses?” She asked, sounding sad.
“No! Not saying that.” I said quickly.

She shook her head before closing the door behind her and made her way over to where I was sitting. Her smile was teasing, but her eyes were soft. My eyes couldn’t help but follow her movements, completely entranced. One of her hands grabbed my chin and tipped it up towards her. I couldn't stop myself from staring at her lips; they were so close, and I needed to feel them against mine. After what felt like ages, she finally kissed me. It immediately felt like she was breathing life back into me that I hadn’t known I’d lost. She slowly climbed into my lap and pushed me down against the bed, which I happily melted into. Every inch of my body woke up under her touch; it was electrifying and exhilarating. She kissed me until we were both panting for air. Her forehead rested against mine before she kissed my nose and slid off my lap to sit next to me. Her words from earlier in the day echoed in my head, and I felt my stomach drop instantly. I knew that I was probably overthinking, and if I was honest, I was shocked that I hadn’t spent the whole day overthinking it. I sat up to face her and pushed the words out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“You said you wanted to talk to me about something? Should I be worried?” I asked slowly.
“I don’t think so… But I’m not entirely sure there’s no reason to worry.” She said with a sigh.
“What does that mean?” I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“It means I did a lot of thinking about who I am, and I don’t want to hide anymore.” She said quietly.
“What does that mean?” I asked with a frown.
“It means that I want to come out.” She said slowly.
“Y-you want to come out? Now? Why?” I asked, trying not to panic.
“I’m graduating, Wands. I want to be myself and not have to worry about hiding.” She said softly.
“If you come out… That means they’ll find out about me.” I said breathlessly.
“Aren’t you tired of hiding? I… I mean, Yelena doesn’t even know! You don’t want her to know?” She asked with a frown.
“It’s not that I don’t want her to know, Nat,” I argued.
“Then what is it?” She asked, clearly not understanding.
“My parents? You think they’ll take it well?” I asked with a scoff.
“Well, first, they would have to pay attention to you for that.” She mumbled with a shrug.
“Nice,” I said, feeling the sting of her words.
“I didn’t mean it like that, I just… Do you think they’d really care?” She asked, trying to undo what she’d already done.
“Nat, I can’t tell my parents. You get to leave; you’re free of this town, this state, and these people. But me? I’m still here for another year! This is Ohio; you know how people will be.” I said with a quiet panic.
“I don’t want to hide that I love you, Wands. I can’t do that for another year.” She said softly.
“I can’t tell them. You know how they are already. I don’t need them to have more of a reason to dislike me.” I pleaded.
“Pietro would stand up for you. You know he would. And so would I.” She argued.
“You won’t be here, Nat! How could you stand up for me if you’re hundreds of miles away?” I asked desperately.
“I’m tired of us hiding. I don’t want to stay in the closet anymore.” She said with a sigh.
“What does that mean?” I asked nervously.
“I would never out you, Wands. Never. You don’t need to worry about that. But I do need to come out for myself, and I don’t want to hide who I’m dating.” She said, almost whispering.
“Can I think about it?” I asked anxiously.
“I think you already have your answer. You’re just too scared of what it means.” She said in a voice that broke my heart.
“What does it mean?” I asked, swallowing thickly.
“I have to go.” She said, her eyes not meeting mine as she stood up.
“Go? Go where? Nat, what does it mean?” I asked as she made her way to the door.
“Wanda, I can’t,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Can't? Can’t what?” I asked, my core violently shaking.
“Can’t stay here. Can’t… I just can’t.” She said with a shaky breath.
“Can’t what, Nat?” I asked in frustration.
“Don't come to graduation. I don’t want… I can’t have you there.” She said with a breathless sigh.
“I can’t just not go? I would be the only one. It would be weird.” I argued.
“You can’t be there!” She snapped.
“I’m your girlfriend. I need to be there.” I said with a frown.
“You’re not… You’re not my girlfriend. Not anymore.” She whispered, shaking her head.
“Wh-what? No. No! That’s not… I am your girlfriend.” I said firmly.
“I’m going to go. I’m sorry, Wands. I… I just can’t.” She said before quickly leaving the room.

I sat in stunned silence, listening to her as she left the house. It felt like a hole had been punched through my chest. No amount of oxygen was enough for my lungs; it felt like I was drowning above water. Once the weight fully settled on my chest, I pushed myself off my bed and pulled on new clothes before rushing out the door. As I walked down the stairs, no one acknowledged the fact that Nat had stormed out earlier, nor did they say anything about me leaving. I was more than grateful for their lack of attention as I started my journey. I felt as if I was moving in wet concrete with every step I took. I couldn’t be in the house, let alone in my room. Everything in there reminded me of Nat and of what had just happened, and it was too much. Every breath I took felt like the heaviest air I could ever imagine, and I needed to be the furthest from the scene of the crime as I could be. I walked to the tower, hugging my arms around my chest with each step I took. When I finally made it, I could see the smoke over the trees and breathed out a sigh of relief before continuing toward the noise of the crowd.

“You’re here,” Yelena said with slight surprise.
“I’m here,” I said with a nod.
“Does Nat know you’re here? You didn’t ditch her, did you? I’d never hear the end of it.” She said with a grimace.
“No, actually, she had a better offer and left early. But I was cool with it because it meant I could come here.” I said with a shrug.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Your eyes are puffy.” She said with a frown.
“I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head.
“Did you walk here?” She asked, not letting it go.
“Yel, let it go. I said I was fine.” I said quickly.
“Fine. Pietro is by the fire. You might want to let him know you’re here and need a ride home.” She said with a reluctant sigh.

Yelena and I walked over to where the fire was burning steadily, and Pietro looked shocked to see me. I could see him exchange a look with Yelena but chose to ignore them in favor of getting a drink. The first sip of alcohol burned as it went down, but I knew that it would, at the very least, help me forget about the fact that Nat just walked out of my room without stopping to reconsider her options. I wasn’t ready to blow my life up, especially not over something that may not last until the end of my life. If I was going to completely destroy my life for someone, I wanted to be sure that it would stand the test of time, and with Natasha giving up on me so easily and quickly, I wasn’t sure if it meant that I didn’t mean as much to her as she meant to me, or something I couldn’t see. But I also wasn’t sure I cared enough to find out. Having the person I trusted and loved walk out on me because I wasn’t ready to take a huge step left my head spinning. I continued to down the alcohol in my cup until the pain turned into a dull throb in my chest, and the world wasn’t so harsh around the edges.

“Hey, Wanda.” He said with a bright smile.
“Hey, Victor,” I said with a quick smile in return.
“Yelena.” He said with a nod.
“Victor.” She said with a hum.
“Wanda, I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me tomorrow?” He asked, rocking back and forth on his feet.
“Oh, uh, I don’t know about that,” I said as my stomach twisted.
“You should do it,” Yelena whispered to me.
“You should listen to your friend.” He said with a grin.
“Fine, okay. I’ll go.” I agreed.
“I’ll pick you up at five.” He said happily.