i pretended to be finishing up washing my hands, seeing nat appear behind me in the mirror.

'you've been in here forever bro.' she groaned.

'what do you mean?'

'i felt you get out of bed like half an hour ago bruh stop playing dumb, i was worried.'

'oh' i laughed, 'yeah well i just been stuck in here thinking through some shit, you know?' i said.

'damn, anything you wanna talk about? you know you can tell me anything.' she said.

could i really tell her anything though?

'nah i'm cool, thanks though.'

———————————————

later on in the day we had decided to meet up with those boys from the mall for lunch; alejandro and kairi.

i wasn't completely over the moon about the idea but i didn't want to ruin the mood.

when we got to wendy's, the five of us settled into a small booth.

'uhh, y/n'

i looked up to see alejandro staring at me.

'yeah?' i said.

'the other day- the water? i'm so sorry about that, i really didn't mean it.' he stammered.

'ohh don't sweat it, it's fine i swear.' i tried my best to convince him.

i felt mattia squeeze my thigh slightly, attempting to make me feel more at ease, but only doing the opposite.

it took every muscle in my face to suppress my smile, my cheeks still turning red.

'is it just me or is it hot in here?' i said trying to cover for myself.

'i mean, i guess.' said kairi.

'mhm' mattia said with a tiny smirk.

all of a sudden, a loud thud caused the entire room to fall silent.

we whipped our heads around to see one of the cashiers on the floor and another one drop to her knees beside her.

'call 911.' she said, as calmly as possible.

a man standing behind her pulled his phone out and did as he was instructed.

everyone watched in shock.

around 15 minutes later, an ambulance had taken her away and the kneeling woman was standing by our table.

'we're so sorry about that.' she said.

'what happened?' said natalia.

'well that lady has cancer, and the fatigue makes her dizzy sometimes, she shouldn't really be working but she refuses to stay home.' she explained.

'oh.' said nat.

the woman gave a small frown and walked back towards the counter.

i looked at nat and saw that she had turned red and her eyes were beginning to well up.

'hey,' i said squeezing her shoulder, 'are you okay?'

she blinked rapidly, trying to fight the tears.

'totally.' she said, 'i'm just gonna go use the bathroom for a sec.'

mattia and i let her past us and she sped away.

'i think i should go check up on her.' i said to the table, following behind her a few moments later.

i walked in to the sight of natalia in a crying mess.

'oh my god, nat.' i said.

i pulled her into a hug and held her tight.

after she had calmed down, i let her go.

'what's wrong bubs?' i said.

she took a moment from staring at the floor to glance at me.

after a few moments of consideration she decided to open up.

'it's my mom' she sighed, 'she just got diagnosed.'

i gasped, immediately understanding her situation.

'nat, i am so so sorry and i'm gonna be here for you guys for every single minute of it.' i said, trying my best to comfort her.

'y/n, we cant even afford the surgery.'

'oh-'

'don't worry, i'll figure something out.' said natalia, suddenly pulling herself together.

'nat-'

'seriously y/n, it's fine.' she interrupted, 'let's just go and eat okay?'

i nodded and followed her through the door and back to the table.

'everything okay?' said mattia.

'yeah everything's great.' nat said with no hesitation.

maybe i could tell natalia anything.