Tuesday 21st February

6:30am- Toronto

Running as fast as I can, I reach the stop sign and tap it, reaching my goal of 4km. Sweat was dripping from my body, and I could feel my legs giving in.

Gotta keep going.

Blinding Lights blaring through my headphones as I jog at park close to my apartment building. I remember what happened that night. Kissing Natalie against the door. Along with yesterday when she fell on top of me.

What is wrong with me? She's driving me crazy.

I jog up ahead and see a little girl looking up at a tree, noticing her wearing a ladybug hair pin. I look up at the tree and see a red balloon with black dots on it up in the branch.

I stop jogging and bend down, facing the girl.

"Do you want me to help you get your balloon?" I ask the little girl.

"Yes please Mr." she murmurs.

I smile and push myself up. Jumping onto the tree, I climb up to a high branch and carefully get the ladybug balloon. As I carefully slid down, I injure myself in the process. Shaking it off and giving her the balloon, she giggles happily.

"Thank you, Mr. You're a nice man. Bye!" thanks the little girl before running off to the playground.

I jog back to my apartment block and open my condo with my ID card. Taking off my jacket, I see Natalie in her pyjamas making oatmeal.

Natalie takes a knife out of my drawer and tries to cut an apple into slices. She suddenly drops the knife and winces.

On instinct, I run towards her and yell, "Natalie, what the hell are you trying to do!?"

I take a Band aid out of my drawer and try to wrap it around her finger. Stopping when I realised something...

Natalie's blushing.

Why is she blushing?

Why am I blushing?

She snatches the Band Aid off me, grabbing my hand.

"I'm not hurt but you are. How the heck did you get that scratch on your hand?"

Holding my hand, she carefully puts the Band Aid on my hand and lightly presses it down.

"Thanks Nat." I spoke.

"Whatever." She replies letting go of my hand and facing the stove.

"I'm serious though. I was climbing a tree and hurt myself so thanks."

"Why were you climbing a tree? I'm not even going to bother with this nonsense, Joseph." Natalie replies in an annoying tone.

I jeer in annoyance and sit on the counter, taking out my phone and scrolling looking at the news. As I scroll, I hear a clang and look up from my phone.

Natalie is on her tippy toes, trying to reach the higher shelf to get the bowl. I close my phone and watch in amusement as she tries to reach the bowl. She notices me looking at her and ignores me, still trying to get a bowl. A smile forms on my face as I push myself off the counter and walk behind Natalie.

"You can't do anything without me, Hazelnut?" I tease, easily reaching for two bowls and placing them on the counter.

I feel Natalie's hazelnut hair, brush against my chest. We're really close right now. Natalie turns around and I see an unreadable expression. The only recognizable feature was that the tip of her ears is red.

Her eyes gaze down at my tall, sweaty figure, inches away from her face. My sweat wasn't helping as my white shirt had become see through. I stop myself from saying anything as she looked back up at me.

My heart was racing at this point.

"What...are you thinking right now?" I whisper.

She is still looking at me, my heart was on a tempo. I take a step forward, my breathing getting slightly heavy. Was it going to be like that night?

"What are you thinking, Josh?" asked a familiar voice.

Natalie covers my face using her hand and awkwardly turns around. Cory was standing at the doorway watching at Natalie and me. His arms crossed and a face of curiosity. I move Natalie's hand and walk to the living room table.

"It's nothing Cory. I should go shower. Nat, hurry up with my breakfast." I inform Cory and walk to my bathroom, closing the door behind me.

Gosh dammit, Cory.

I hop into the shower and wash the sweat and frustration off me. What would have happened if Cory hadn't interrupted?

Why do I care so much?

I finish showering, leaving the bathroom and into my bedroom. Changing into my work clothes: simple white collared shirt with a tie and black pants. I look at myself in the mirror and look at my attire.

Might wear contacts today.

I open my drawer and take out my contacts, carefully placing them in.

Leaving my bedroom, I walk in to see Cory talking to Natalie. He was being his usual social self; cracking jokes and making Natalie laugh easily.

I grab my car keys off the table and quickly call out Cory's name. he turned and successfully catches the keys, as I walk right up to stove. I take a spoon and try the oatmeal that Natalie had made.

She is getting better.

"You could do better. I didn't hate it." I complained smiling as Natalie glares at me.

Cory walks into between us, takes my spoon and tastes her oatmeal before complimenting, "It's good. Great job Natalie."

"Thanks, Cory."

"No problem, Nat. Love your pyjamas by the way. They're- "

"Alright Cory, we're heading out." I interrupt grabbing Cory by the shoulders and walking to the doorway.

We walk out of my apartment and take the elevator to the car park, hopping into my car, I drive out.

"Hey Josh, is Natalie the mystery girl?" Cory asks me.

"She's not."

"Mm. I'm not sure about that. The way you've been acting tells me something else."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't mentioned your ex from high school. Emma or something. You've been talking about Natalie and not Emma."

"It's Emily, Cory." I correct, arriving at our workplace car park.

We hop out of the car, and I take out my phone, clicking onto messages. This thing going on with Natalie must stop now.

Just see her less and It'll be fine.

I click onto Natalie's contact, Hazelnut, and text her:

Don't cook for the rest of the week