Chapter Text
They had agreed to meet at the parkinglot of the wiskayok high school. Van and Taissa had arrived together, Misty was also there, already talking non-stop. Taissa wore a dark green dress. Van was wearing a dark green suit, complimenting her red hear. They were wearing the same colour to match.
Misty was wearing a chic blazer and a pencil skirt with black and white elements. The next to arrive was Shauna, she was wearing a dark dress with flowers on it. She stood a little awkward with the others as Natalie arrived. They were all unsure how they felt about seeing their old high school again.
Natalie was wearing a simple black dress, heels and her signature dark eyeliner. Misty was, of course, the first to greet her.
"So, should we go in and get this over with?" Natalie asks. She didn't want to come at first but Taissa said it would be fun and good to get unter people so here she was. But that didn't mean she had to stay long. She would chat a little with the others and then leave.
"Uh, we're actually still waiting for someone," Van said.
"Wait, I'm not the last to arrive? That's surprising. Who are waiting for anyway?" Natalie was surprised because all of them were there. Well all of them except...but surely she wouldn't cone?
"We invited Lottie", Misty said excitingly and waiting for Natalies reaction.
"Wait. Lottie? As in...our Lottie? Natalie asked in disbelief. She hadn't seen Lottie after she once visited her in switzerland over a decade ago. Natalies heard began to flutter, before she even had the chance to thing about seeing Lottie again.
The others nodded and just in that moment a very chic, old looking and expensive car arrived.
Lottie knew the others were watching her. She hadn't planed to be the last to arrive, but there had been a lot of traffic on her way. She was really nervous since she hadn't seen them since they got rescued. At least she had seen Natalie as she visited her in Switzerland but the thought of seeing Natalie only made her heart go faster. She knew she'd be lost the second she saw the italian with the smokey eyeliner she had missed so much. She didn't know why, but when Natalie had visited her, something had changed, well, not changed but rather clicked. It had made sense. Under medication it became clear that it wasn't the wilderness who favoured Natalie. It was Lottie herself.
She hadn't asked Taissa if Natalie was coming, but she had hoped she would ever since she got the mail from Taissa.
She looked in the mirror one last time, took a deep breath, grabed her purse and then stepped out of her car.
They all couldn't believe their eyes, finally seeing Lottie again after so much time.
Lotties arrival had the most effect on Natalie, who felt like she couldn't breath. To Natalie it seemed like Lottie was stepping out in slow motion. At first she noticed Lotties black high heels coming out of the car. Then she finally saw the rest. Lotties hair was traped over one shoulder, still as dark, long and beautiful as it had always been. She didn't quite allow herself to look at Lotties face so she looked at her dress instead... which definetly was a mistake. Lotties dress was sexy, very sexy. The dress was in a beautiful dark blue and hugged every curve of her. It wasn't too revealing but Natalie could imagine just fine what was under it. And the big blue stone hanging on her cleavage didn't help. Lottie looked fucking beautiful so Natalie immediatly threw her plan to leave the reunion early over board.
She wouldn't leave the first chance she got, no, she would stay as long as this godess of a woman would staying. That was for sure.
When she finally looked at Lotties face, her breath returned but she was breathing way to fast and tried to manage to control her breath so that the others wouldn't notice. Lottie looked a little bit older than the version in Natalies head, had a few wrinkels around her eyes, "god her eyes", Natalie thought, which made Lottie even more attractive.
As Lottie stepped out of the car, she gave them all a smile before her eyes betrayed her and went straight over to Natalie. Natalie looked incredible sexy. Still like the Natalie she knew but sexier. She could see that the alcohol had aged her face a little bit faster but that didn't make Natalie unattraktive in any way. She looked like someone who hadn't had a boring life. And to Lottie that was incredibly sexy. "God those eyes", she thought as they briefly held eye contact. She had missed Natalie. Had missed the comfort Natalie had given her when they were jounger.
She was glad the others were talking first so she could find her voice.
Lottie had greeted Natalie first as she was standing the closest to her. She had noticed Lottie was equally nervous which calmed her own nerves a little bit because now she knew she wasn't the only one. She only hoped Lottie was nervous for the same reason as she was.
When everyone had hugged Lottie, they held a little bit of small talk and shared compliments, Natalie and Lottie always stealing glances at each other. Fortunatly for them none of the others seemed to notice. Or so they thought.
As they walked into the reunion, everyone starred at them. To be fair, they all looked really good. But they were also the survivors, the only remaining survivors. And all of them were there.
They all sat at one table, Natalie between Lottie and Misty, Misty next to Van and Taissa and Shauna between Taissa and Lottie.
Natalie was glad she was sitting next to Misty, who she although it didn't seem like it, kind of liked. And of course she was more than happy to sit next to Lottie so she could talk to her.
Lottie had hoped she would sit next to Natalie and was overjoyed as she managed to sit next to her. On her other side Shauna sat down. She didn't really mind but also couldn't help some flashbacks from appearing from their time in the wilderness. She knew the others would soon ask her about her life so she bought herself some time by asking the others what they were up to.
She was surprised to learn that Misty, Misty who'd chopped of their coaches leg, was a nurse. But she also wasn't surprised, knowing full well Misty loved caring about others. Van owned a record store, not surprising, and Taissa was a senator, also not really surprising. She had always wondered what happened to Shauna. She was happy to hear Shauna had got a second chance at being a mother although she found it a little weird that she was married to Jeff. Natalie hadn't said anything as Lottie had asked her about her life, only deflected the question by asking Misty if she could find them anything to drink, so Lottie made a mental note to aks her again, without the others present.
Then it was Lotties turn.
"Well, I got back from switzerland over a decade ago. I opened a wellness center, which I'm very proud of." She then explained the basics of the community. The others were listening curiously and some of them couldn't help looking judgmental but Lottie was beeing used to that so she just continued by explaining how she tried to help people and what the basics of her work involved. She noticed Natalie watching her intensly but couldn't quite figure out what Natalie might be thinking. That would be the second question she wanted to ask Natalie that evening.
The evening moved on, the drinks were good and soon many people were dancing.
Natalie stood up to get herself another drink and Lottie said "I need another drink too" and just followed Natalie. She had noticed Natalie had left the drink Misty brought her unatendent. She hoped it was because Natalie was sober now. She had heart a lot of concerning things about Natalie before she got send to Switzerland. And Natalie hadn't talked about that stuff when she visited her.
"So, what drink do you want?" She asked carefully, as they were walking away together.
"Uhm, something without alcohol. I'm actually sober for a few years now, can you imagine?" Natalie joked.
"Nat, that's awesome, I'm so happy for you." Lottie would've liked to throw her arms around Natalie but that had to wait until she found the courage to ask Natalie for a dance. For now she just smiled at Natalie who smiled back at her "thanks".
After that Natalie changed the conversation, not wanting to talk about alcohol longer than she had to, and asked Lottie questions about her, as Lottie called it, "functional community". She wasn't sure what she thought about the whole thing but she also wasn't sure whether Misty should be a nurse, which was also kind of concerning.
"So now that we're alone...what do you do for a living?" Lottie asked straight forward. She could tell Natalie was a little bit uncomfortable but Natalie always seemed a little bit uncomfortable in her skin.
"I started working at a youth center after the last time I was in rehab, five years ago. I help kids who come from messed up families, I help them see a future for themselves or find them a foster home. Stuff like that. I really like it."
"That's really great, Nat. I always admire people who help other people" Lottie said and couldn't stop admiring Natalie. She was more than proud of her and just hugged her. Natalie returned the hug and they stoop there for a few seconds, finally holding each other again after a decade of not seeing each other.
Natalie got a non alcoholic drink and Lottie did the same, even though Natalie said she didn't have to. They stood of to a side with their drinks, neither of them wanting to go back to the others.
While they were drinking, they couldn't help but glance at each other.
"You look really sexy in that suit" Lottie said after she couldn't hold it back any longer. She was a little bit taller than Natalie which gave her a good view down her dress.
"Thanks, you look really good too. You always do." Natalie said in that tipical Natalie way, seemingly shy but bold. Lottie blushed.
They were both aware of the fact that their shoulders were pressed together as they stood against the wall. And they also didn't mind the music beeing so loud that they had to get really close to be able to understand what the other one was saying.
"I want to know what love is" came from the speakers.
Natalie had her hands in her pockets, not knowing what to say next. She wanted to get closer to Lottie, to put her hands on her, to hold her.
Back in switzerland she had first noticed her feelings for Lottie not beeing only platonic. But it had been a bad time then to explore any feelings so she hadn't said anything. Now that they were here together, she was scared that Lottie didn't feel the same for her, although they had always been very close.
I want you to show me
"Do you wanna dance? Lottie asked hopefully.
Natalie imeadiatly nodded "sure" and was glad that at least one of them had the courage to ask.
The song was to slow to really dance so they ended up just hugging each other and swaing to the music, their bodys close to each other.
I want to know what love is
"I missed you" Lottie whispered in Natalies ear.
Natalie smiled "I misses you, too Lot"
I want you to show me
Suddenly they were looking at each other and there was nothing more to say. They hadn't even talked for more than half an hour but all that needed to be said, was told with their eyes and hands. The room seemed to be empty except for them.
"I really like this" Lottie smiled and leaned closer to Natalies face but there was a tiny voice in her head that wasn't sure if she should really risk kissing Natalie.
Natalie felt drunk of love so she said in that very Natalie like teasing voice "shit, Matthews, are we about to kiss?"
I want to feel what love is
At that Lottie relaxed and just said giggling "shut up" befor she closed the last remaining distance between them. Lotties hands gripped tighter around Natalies waist and Natalie still had her arms around Lotties neck, only now bringing a hand to Lotties cheek, wanting to feel her even more. At first the kiss was slow, but with time they got bolder and more passionate.
I know you can show me
After what felt like hours they remembered that they were in fact not alone and that people started to look in their direction.
They looked at each other breathless and in love. Both of them didn't care about the other people starring in that moment.
Natalie grabed Lotties hand and guided her out of the hall into a corner around the hallway.
"What are we doing?" Lottie asked laughing. Her chest heaved and her lips were a little swollen. Natalie just stared at her for a few seconds, hunger burning in her eyes, the same hunger she saw in Lotties eyes. She had never seen something so beautiful than the woman in front of her. "I've no fucking idea" Natalie smiled after catching her breath and kissed Lottie against the wall.
Lottie spread her legs a little to match Natalies height and let her hands roam over Natalies back until they ended up in her, once bleached, hair.
Natalie wondered if she should run her hands down Lottie's front, but dismissed the idea when she realised they were only a few steps away from a hall full of people. The air between them was already too electric anyway.
They didn't have to say much. Everything that needed to be said, they said in another language only they could understand. Time passed on and the only thing they shared were looks, kisses and giggles.
They felt like teenagers again, only better because they finally had each other.
At the table, Taissa, Van and Shauna were whispering to each other.
"What's going on?" Misty asked as she ruturned with another drink.
Van answered "oh we're just wondering where Nat and Lottie went. They left over an hour ago to get drinks."
"I swear to you they were definetly checking each other. And I bet they're making out somewhere" Taissa said at Van and Shauan.
"They didn't check each other out. Nat's not gay and Lottie definetly isn't" Misty said confused.
"Yeah they were, a hundred percent" Taissa said, but with sympathie. Everyone knew Misty had a thing for Natalie. "And we don't know if Lottie likes women. She never dated anyone in high school. And I can imagine Natalie with a woman. Plus they were already close in high school."
After that Misty was silent and just sat they with her arms crossed, thinking about what Tiassa had said.
Like on cue, Natalie and Lottie returned, holding hands. They had agreed to not tell the others what happened between them to enjoyed this moment of secrecy. But Natalie couldn't resist holding Lotties hand as she guided her back to their table and Lottie was too in love to care.
"What's up guys, Lottie and I were just outside, I was getting warm in my blazer"
Lottie giggled "yeah, it's really warm in here."
It was so obvious what was going on. Lottie's lipstick was slightly smudged and Natalie's hair looked like someone had had a lot of fun burying their hands in it.
Taissa, Van and Shauna looked at each other with a knowing look bevor they shifted their conversation to something else.
During the remaining evening Natalie had completly stopped giving a fuck and pulled Lotties chair as close to hers as it was possible. She had hugged Lottie from behind and put her head on her shoulder. Lottie had wrapped her hands over Natalies and had kisses the side of Natalies head. They even brifly kissed a few times while they were becoming more and more comfortable beeing seen together.
The others didn't really care anyway. Van and Taissa were busy with each other and Shauna and Misty had accepted that there were now two couples at their table. Although Misty wanted Natalie for herself, she could see Natalie was happy.
The remaining evening was filled with a lot of laughter and a few tears as they shared memories from their days as football players.
....
Of course Lottie had invited Natalie to stay at her place in the city and, how could it not be, Natalie had followed Lottie home.
From then on they just loved each other, although it wasn't always easy, Lottie and her community and both of them having many issues due to their childhood and the time in the wilderness. But they grew and learned to communicate with each other. Natalie managed to stay sober, even though they fought a lot in the beginning, and Natalie always comforted Lottie when she had a nightmare or when she had unconciously forgotten to take her pills and saw the wilderness.
They helped each other get better and their love for each other grew even more and more as time passed.♡