Chapter 18
After finishing the kid stage of her life they moved to another venue for the teen stage, everything looked wonderful you could tell that all the decor was well thought and put together elegantly and she could easily spot Pepper’s touch in this.
Everything was going well and everyone seems to have fun which brought warmth to her heart and she was able to forget about the pain he had caused her. She never thought that she was capable of letting go of the pain, but at this very moment, she finally felt at peace and overjoyed once again. “Maybe I could let go of all this pain and anger after all.” She thought to herself.
They reached her 18th birthday this time and everybody got to dance with her. It was Steve’s turn when a familiar tune played in the background. It was can’t help falling in love, a song that Steve claimed to be theirs for it suits them. Steve was giving her his biggest smile and she knows that they played it on purpose and she could see gladness in his eyes listening and dancing to this song. They were dancing to the song slowly and gracefully. She remembered Steve telling her how he couldn’t dance and she jumped right away to fix the situation. It was this song when they had their first-ever dance and now dancing to this tune seems like muscle memory, every move they make flows naturally like everything was fine and the only thing that surrounds them were their love for each other.
As they continue to sway to the tune the world around them seems to fade and all that’s left was them.
“Close your eyes,” Steve told her lowly. “What, why?” she asked him back confusedly.
“Just close your eyes, they said that if you closed your eyes and forget about everything that’s how you’ll know your real feelings.” “Nat, I hope that this day will fill your heart not with pain and anger, but happiness and joy because that is what you deserve,” Steve told her genuinely from his heart.
She felt all of that, all the emotions came rushing down on her and she felt like she couldn’t hold them any longer so she did the only thing she’s ever known when she felt like she couldn’t take things anymore and that’s to run in Steve’s embrace. She hugged him tightly like she would always do because her safe place is in his arms and she found herself shedding a tear.
They stayed like that in the entirety of the song and she hadn’t felt that safety and warmth for years and she missed it a lot. The moment the song ended Steve was still reluctant to let her go but when he saw that light aura all over her and that genuine smile on her face he felt light like he was on cloud nine he finally saw that smile again.
The party continued until they reached her 28th and everybody was having fun. Even Maria who was hesitant at first was enjoying the event and it filled her heart with joy to see Natasha this truly happy again. They played games, ate, and drank the night away.
The morning after Nat’s birthday Steve came by the studio that morning brought coffee for everyone like he used to, but this time he also brought her flowers and he did this every single day. Christmas day came and he surprised her with 28 gifts.
Wanda and Maria helped her count the gifts and when it came to the last of it, “it's only 27 gifts, where’s the rest of it?” Maria blurted out and they all looked at Steve intriguingly.
Steve was blushing with the attention they were giving him. “I was hoping to be the 28th gift,” he uttered shyly looking at Natasha.
Nat gave him a bright smile while the two other girls laughed at them and left them alone.
Steve continued pursuing her and she finds herself falling in love with him more and more as the day passes. The sweetest thing he did was when he filled her apartment with post-its written with love notes, cheesy pick-up lines, and reasons of why he loves her and.
It was a post-it of various colors posted all over outside their apartment and when she got inside it was filled as well. She was out in the field and it took her almost a couple of days to get back and she figured Steve must’ve used that time to do all these with his friends of course and her very own Wanda who granted him access to the apartment for Maria was out with her.
She called Steve right after seeing it and they all came over to help take down the notes that afternoon. She made sure to keep the post-its and read some of them. They all hung out in her place just like before and at that time Steve felt like everything is falling into place and that filled his heart with joy seeing the woman he loves having the best time of her life with his friends whom he considers his family.