•First Meeting•

SEVEN YEARS AGO

Natasha looked up into the dark clouds with her brows furrowed. “Hey guys,” she called out to her friends, Paul and Alyssa, who were standing behind her. She turned slightly. “I think rain is about to fall.”

Paul took a glance at the sky. “No kidding,” he said, holding on tightly to the shopping bags he had in his hand. “We should start heading home, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home on time,” Natasha said. “Paul, your house is the closest. We should just crash there for a while. Is that okay?”

Paul shrugged his shoulders. “Of course.”

“Guys,” Alyssa called as a drop of rain landed on her. “It’s drizzling, already,” she said. “Let’s get going before the rain starts falling heavily.”

The sound of rumbling thunder cut across the atmosphere and Natasha jumped, her hand instinctively reaching out to hold Paul's in fear. As soon as the thunder struck, the rain poured down heavily.

“Too late!” Natasha yelled in in order to be heard above the sounds of the rain.

“Come on guys!” Paul yelled, tugging on Natasha’s hand. “My house is just around the corner! Let’s cross the road.”

The three of them crossed the road together, the rain soaking up their clothes. By the time they got to the other side of the road, they were shivering and trembling from cold.

They turn to leave but Natasha halted, tugging her hands away from Paul’s. She squinted to see if she could see clearly. And she sure could. The sight of a guy sitting in a bench with his head bent under the rain and not making any move to leave caught her attention.

Paul stopped, turning to stare at her with confusion written all over his face. “Natasha!” he yelled above the deafening sound of the rain. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

“You guys can go ahead,” she replied, her eyes still glued to the guy who looked like he was in pain. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“Are you silly?!” Alyssa yelled. “Come on let’s go.”

Natasha’s eyes snapped towards them. “Don’t worry guys. I’ll be right behind you.” They stared at her for a while, shrugged and ran towards Paul’s house, leaving her behind. As soon as they were gone she started to walk towards the guy.

The rain was pouring down hard and she walked as fast as she could. His head was still bent even when she finally reached him. He didn’t seem to be aware that someone was standing by him.

She slid into the bench beside him and he jerked his head up.

“Hi,” she greeted, her voice raised a little bit.

He stared at her, his face squeezed into a frown.

“It’s raining,” she said. “Shouldn’t you be under a shelter instead of the rain?”

He stared at her silently for a moment, then asked, “What about you?”

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you be under a shelter?” he threw her question back at her. They were both speaking loudly, needing to be heard above the rain.

“I was going to crash in a friend’s house,” Natasha replied. “But I saw you sitting here and I couldn’t just leave. Don’t you have a home to go?”

“I do,” he said, looking away. “But I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Because!” he yelled angrily. “My girlfriend is there waiting for me! She is fucking pregnant! And she is expecting me to get married to her!”

“Don’t you want to get married to her?” Natasha asked cautiously.

“No! I don’t want to get married to her or to anyone! I'm still young!”

“You are like, what? Twenty?” Natasha guessed, crossing her arms together and shivering slightly.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you love her?”

“I do! But that doesn’t mean I want to get married now! I don’t want to get married now! I don’t want to have babies now!”

“Oh, sorry,” Natasha muttered.

He glanced at her shivering body. “Oh, I’m Malcolm, by the way. Malcolm Grayson. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Well, Malcolm, we will both die of cold or pneumonia if we stay out here for one more minute.”

“Of course. Let’s leave, then. It’s stupid anyway, running away from something I’ll eventually have to face.”

“Yeah, it really is stupid. You know, I like a guy and he doesn’t even like me back,” Natasha told him, smiling sadly.

“How old are you? Twelve?”

“Ha ha ha,” Natasha said, in between shivers. “No…. I’m…..I’m….sixteen,” she stuttered her teeth chattering.

“You are shivering,” Malcolm stated. “We should get you home. I have a car around the corner here. Where do you stay?”

“I’ll just walk to my friend’s house,” Natasha replied, standing to her feet. “He lives right there,” she said, trying to point but feeling too cold to raise her fingers.

“Alright but I’ll still take you in my car. That’s better than leaving you to walk under the rain up to that place. Come on,” he says, standing up and walking away.

Natasha tried to hurry after him but the slippery road, her cold and the rain slowed her down. “Hey, wait up,” she croaked.

Malcolm stopped and turned to stare at her. “Wow, you really are cold.” He walked briskly towards her and scooped her up in bridal style.

“What….. what….what are you doing?” Natasha stuttered.

“Getting you to my car faster,” he replied, walking as fast as he can to the car that was parked at the side of the road.

“Aren’t you….. aren’t you….atcheww!!” Natasha sneezed, the force of the sneeze causing her to hold on to his shirt tightly.

“Sorry.”

“Aren’t you…. Aren’t you cold?”

“I am. I’m just doing a better job at hiding it than you do.”

She rolled her eyes and sneezed again.

When they get to the car, he placed a button on the key holder and the car made a piercing sound that made Natasha wince. He walked over to the other side of the car, opened the door and gently placed her inside.

“Woah,” Natasha said as she sunk into the seat. “Nice leather seats.”

He chuckled, closing the door and moving round the car to get to the driver's seat. He got into the car and closed the door. “Where is your friend's house.”

“The fifth house down the road.”

“That’s not far,” he said and Natasha nodded. They drove in silence for a while. As they were closer to the house, Malcolm said, “You know, I really think you should tell the guy how you feel.”

Natasha shook her head. “Nah, it’s a waste of time. He likes me as a friend only.”

“Well, if you say so but I still stand by what he said,” Malcolm replied, parking by the house. “Here we are. We are at the right place, yeah?”

“Yes. Thanks for dropping me off.”

“No problem. And thanks for coming over to bring me out of my misery,” he said with a small smile.

Natasha turned to open the door.

“Wait,” Malcolm stopped her, putting a hand on her arm. “You haven’t told me your name yet.”

Natasha turned her head towards him. “Natasha,” she replied.