#natalie keeps calling her skunk head.

[nathanialhowe]

doing a resist!dark urge playthru and shes goobie

[irishtowriteabook]

-Growing Pains- Part 1

🌸Summary; A throughly inebriated David blurts out some hidden feelings towards his best friend, turned carer, one faithful night. Nothing too major (not yet anyways) but it turns out seeing Natalie so openly affectionate with everyone who isn’t him has been getting him down!

Request; “Hey 👋💛 Can i have some more jealous Dave (or Natalie) please? *plot details and ideas that I won’t put in as this intro is lengthy as is*

I decided to change it up slightly as I know I love jealous fics but it can get too much! This is a two parter! Enjoy! Hope I did it justice

•

The blustering wind caused her (now loosely) curled hair to whip against her cheeks; a force to be reckoned with. Seriously, shit hurt. Natalie WOULD have rolled up the window. If the rolling up mechanism contraption thing worked, that is.

“Skype call with Ian, sponsored ad stories for boohoo, accountant meeting-“ A groan interrupted Natalie’s train of thought. “-And looking after a drunk David.”

Drunk as a skunk, Lorraine had said. I only had a Coke, David had said.

Natalie closed off her note-penning app with a swipe of her manicured finger and sighed. She looked down at a splayed out David. He took up most of the already cosy backseat with her lanky, wrangled limbs. His inebriated self held no hesitance in plopping his head down on her lap either.

David shuffled closer to her thighs, wanting to get closer to the radiating heat and bundling up her short black dress in the process.

“Quit it.” Natalie murmured. ‘I’d like to preserve what little dignity I have left after this night.’

“Natalieee..” David whined, his bleary eyes meeting hers. “I want to get off this rollercoaster. Like right now.” His words were punctuated with sighs as he voice wavered even more. The Uber driver seemed to no longer need to live vicariously through the Fast & Furious movies and instead made his dreams a reality. The car jostled harshly as he sped over speedbumps. At least Natalie THOUGHT they were speedbumps.

The neon green signage of an upcoming 711 loomed in the near distance amongst throngs of other partygoers. Natalie seriously considered asking Javi to stop for a few minutes tops for some painkillers but she was already in his bad books over making him wait.

“Fuck, my head.” David all but whispered tugging his denim jacket closer around him. Natalie froze, about as solid as Jeff’s abdomen, as David took hold of her hand and placed it upon his head. His dazed eyes couldn’t help but blink to a close as Natalie pressed the palm of her hand against his ‘throbbing’ forehead.

“This is what you get for being a dumbass around pineapple vodka floats!” Natalie quipped but her voice lacked edge in favour of a rarer softer tone. She settled her own head against the window.

Traffic lights, red ones that Javi drove through, green that Javi sped through and yellow that Javi cursed through, shone in through the tinted grass. It created various subdued hues that enveloped the pair- shit another pothole.

Natalie couldn’t help it. Her fingers mindlessly combed through David’s perspiration ridden but still majorly fluffy hair. His bottom lip jotted out. He smiled smalley up at her. She gazed down at him fondly but still kept a wary eye on the meter. She rarely Bought credit cards or much paper money with her on nights out. Nights out were usually regarded as “David needs blog content like right now” pseudos. Besides they only drank really, not gone rockclimbing. Except for that one ti-

“Why’d you stop?” Dave pouted and in his drunken stupor tried to again find her hand. He latched confidently onto her seatbelt.

The impatient stare from Javi in the mirror spurred Natalie on. She gathered her belongings at a faster rate.

“We’re home Dave” She explained quickly but his head wouldn’t budge a singular inch from her lap. Stubborn as always.

“Can’t we drive around- hey Mr Taxi Man can’t we drive around the block again? Just one more time, deadass.” David slurred out.

“Other clientele. Vamos.” Javi dismisses them courtly with a wave of his hand.

“You suck.” grunted David, matter of factly. Natalie mumbled hasty apologies under her breath and he wrenched the payment from her outstretched palm. No change? Alrighty then. Dickhead.

Lugging a floppy David into the house and onto the couch proved to be a hefty task. His eye foot coordination was 10x worse drunk than him sober.

“Whew! I used arm muscles I didn’t even know I had. I might just leave your ass and become a body builder one of these days.” Natalie glanced down at the sprawled out 23 year old.

David’s face suddenly morphed into the most downcast of expressions and Natalie felt compelled to kneel down beside him on the cool flooring. Her face embodied all that is confusion.

“No. Don’t ever leave me, please?” David frowned. Natalie damn near melted, she won’t lie, as he rested his hand on her forearm that was resting on the cushion. He looked up at her with his big brown eyes, waiting (im)patiently for her reply.

“Hey, hey, hey! It was only a joke, you dork!”

At her words David’s mood switched to the polar opposite, a complete 180°. His signature cheesy grin blossomed on his face once more albeit sleepily.

“Okay. Thanks!” He whooped softly. Natalie let out a breathy laugh before flopping down beside David on the couch, said David being totally entranced in his hands. She couldn’t blame him.

With a flick of the wrist (and the various remotes) the television and electric fireplace switched to life. Basking in the warmth and comfortable silence with the lack of interruptions or others surrounding them was different. A good different!

It was a welcome change to the usual deafening music and hard-to-keep-up-with conversations. Natalie was sure the neighbours agreed with her stance too. Hell even the sound of fake nails scratching down a blackboard was better than- Natalie shivered.

She half tuned into the news broadcasting stations as they relayed info on rallies and the like but David’s murmurs took her attention soon after.

“I wish I was Zane, man” He said drowsily. He clutched a nearby blanket to his chest as Natalie looked on.

“Hmm? Why’s that?” Natalie pondered as she riddled with the remote, twirling it around her fingers. “Because I dont! I can’t handle Zane usually, nevermind a Zane 2.0.” She laughed good-naturedly. However her hearty laughter soon dimmed as she heard David’s pathetic attempt at a fake chuckle. Something Liza could never do, but we shan’t get into right now.

“But you love Zane!” David sniffed and stared blankly at the plasma screen television. I love you too, Natalie felt inclined to say but couldn’t. Or maybe that’s more of a wouldn’t.

“True that but-“ The brunette let her high ponytail down and shook out her hair till it tumbled down her shoulders. “-It doesn’t mean I want another one of him!” She illustrated her words with arm gestures. David paid more attention to those than her words.

“Yeah. Makes sense.” He shrugged and blinked rapidly in order to stay awake.

Just as Natalie thought David had drifted off beside her he piped up again.

“I just think that Zane’s- Zane’s real lucky.” He slurred out. Natalie scoffed and shoved him gently.

“Says the multi-millionaire! Zane has got an ant infestation for the second time this week.”

“I don’t like it when my aunt visits either.” David sympathised. He raised his arms as Natalie tucked the blanket properly over him. She smiled. The opportunity to stroke his chest during the process for a moment, just a moment, was not passed up by her.

Her fingers trickled over a semi solid resting place and her thumb grazed his chest over his, you guessed it, black t-shirt.

“Zane gets Natalie hugs. They’re the best type of hugs! And- and Zane gets- Zane gets all the hugs.” David’s head lolled about as he struggled to sit up, his view still littered with the aftereffects of alcohol.

A lump grew in Natalie’s throat as his words sunk in. She had expected his usual tirade of drunken rambling and unrealistic vlog ideas but this? This seemed much more than that.

The brunette eyed him up, pensive.

“Do you like hugs Davey?” She questioned softly. Amidst his playing with the zipper of her open jacket he replied, “Nah. I just like your hugs.”

Guilt washed over her like waves tumbling ashore and she wasn’t sure exactly why. I mean it’s not like she rejected his hugs or affection per se, aside from that one time he was coated head to toe in slime. However the pair had lost that physical closeness they had as adolescents.

A flashback struck her, multiple ones really. Of Jason remarking on her ‘disgusted’ facial expressions during Datalie talk podcast segments. Of the incredibly awkward hug shared between the pair after her car surprise. Of her hugs with Zane. Cosied up pictures with Ilya and Jeff. Where did David come into things?

It’s not that she did something wrong to David, it’s just that she didn’t do the initiating. Not really anyways. It was always him.

Natalie’s attention fell on David as he prodded her thigh.

“You okay Nat?” His face was scrunched up slightly in worry. “Usually I cant get you to shut up!” He teased happily. Natalie’s mouth dropped open in mock offence and she punched him on the shoulder.

“Oi!” She let out a giggle. ‘Wait did that sound seriously just come from me?’

His cheekiness eased a smile on her face.

“C’mere.” With that she tugged his head down on her chest and collarbone area and sunk back with him resting on her against the soft cushions of the couch. Sober David would probably have frozen him and wouldn’t be sure whereabouts to place his hands. This David was a whole other story!

The fireplace sent an orange glow around the room, paired alongside with whatever visuals reflected from the television. They were both otherwise preoccupied to notice the broadcasts.

Meanwhile Smirnoff ridden David snuggled right in against her. God the biggest smile decorated her face to the point where her highlighted cheeks ached and she tried to contain it in case he looked upwards. She cautiously but warmly wrapped her arms around him. His mop of hair tickled her rosy cheek as she rested it on there but you’d hear no complaints from her and that’s for sure!

He smelt of laundry detergent and a sort of clean cottony scent. Yes she took a sneaky breath in. She hoped her perfume, a flowery concoction, wasn’t overly empowering or strong. Him burrowing even closer served her her answer.

David wound his arms beneath her jacked and around her waist and his grip didn’t loosen until he dozed off. Shy whispers of promised changes filled the air from Natalie.

•

To be continued! This is very superfluous (new word of the day!) but I’m a sucker for detail and as is the person who inspired this🌷 I’ve been awol for god knows how long because of the leaving cert prep but I’m back! I’m filtering through requests and it’s taking ages to write them out but do send more in! It may take a while but I’ll get to them 💕 Hope people enjoyed!

It takes a second or so to like or even comment (if you’re a fast typer) but that second makes me smile for like a trillion hours.