The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

The Warlock and the Maiden

Previously: "The Gentleman and the Warlock" 

[Text by rugal]

"Do you really want to know?"

Natalie looks at you and nods silently. The look on her face is serious, almost pleading. It's the most serious you've seen her since the two of you met so you know that she's not fooling around, either. It's that uncharacteristic seriousness that solidifies your desire to tell her the truth. You can tell that it might hurt her, after all she seems to desperately want to believe that something is controlling Gillian. But that's why you don't want to lie to her. Feeding into a delusion might keep her sedated but it might also reinforce her and cause her to be even more reckless with the masks.

Besides, you want to continue being friends with Natalie... and maybe you'd like to be more than friends with her. When she'd offered to get inbetween Mansfield and Lisa, you didn't feel the same temptation as you'd might have felt a week or two earlier. Indeed, you don't feel attached to the idea of Lisa because you don't need her anymore. You have Natalie.

Oh to be sure she's impulsive, pushy and even exhausting. But she's also fun and, in her way, thoughtful and you can't help but to think of her as a kindred spirit. In lots of ways she's different from you but in many other respects she shares similar insecurities and worries and you think that you'd like to be there for her and show her that she has nothing to worry about.

But if you want this relationship to continue then you feel that you need to be honest with her and that includes things concerning Braydon and Gillian. So you ask her once more if she wants to know the truth; she gulps but nods. She probably knows what's coming. So you take a deep breath to steel yourself.

"The truth is that there isn't any hex," you state. "Yes, Braydon has this ring," you hold up the finger where it'd go, "but it seems to work on nobody else and he suspects that it might not be doing anything to Gillian either. He believes that it's supposed to amplify the wearer's charisma, yet it hasn't produced any tangible results."

"Except on Gilly," your double says, his face pale. You watch as he places his hands to his face. "Hey, what was that stuff you needed to say to get these things off, again? I kind of feel like going back to myself."

* * * * *

You help Natalie get the mask off and then sit down and remove your own mask. At this point you've seen one another naked multiple times so it barely seems to register for her as she quietly strips off your clothing and puts her own back on while you get dressed yourself. Natalie is quiet as she hops onto the largest table and allows her legs to dangle and swing. She looks downwards but doesn't seem to actually be staring at anything.

"I kind of knew," she says lifelessly. "About Gilly and Braydon, I mean. I guess I didn't want to admit it, though."

"I guess love doesn't always make sense," you say sympathetically.

"It's not just that," she responds. "You've seen how she is. She's the type of person who's just going to do her own thing regardless of what others think, y'know?"

"I can see that."

"I've known her a long time and I always felt like we were the only people who really got one another,," she says. "But when she got with Braydon... I just didn't get it. I really didn't understand just what she saw in him."

"I guess I could put the mask back on and lo—"

"No," she cuts you off. "I don't even really care about that right now. God, it's not even about feeling like Gilly's slipping away, either."

She's quiet for a moment and you yourself say nothing. She looks over at you with a defeated look. "I'm a senior and yet—" She cuts herself off as her voice become shaky. "You felt it, right? When you were in my head? Everyone's planning for their futures and getting boyfriends and girlfriends and yet here I am, dressing like I'm thirteen, playing around with stupid shit and acting like a brat because I don't like my friend's boyfriend! No wonder my friends and my parents and everyone treat me like I'm still a kid! Everyone, even my best friend, is leaving me behind!"

She's getting worked up and on pure instinct you reach out and grab Natalie and pull her in close. You almost want to panic at what you're doing but in spite of it, you clasp her and hold her close to you. She doesn't struggle and instead you feel hands pushing into your shoulder blade, pulling you closer. She sniffles and you begin to feel a dampness through your shirt as she buries her face in your shoulder.

"I really get how you feel because I always feel the same way about myself," you tell her in as comforting a voice as you can manage. "But I guess hanging out with you has shown me that there's nothing wrong with that. You have fun and I'm having fun too. You're fine the way you are."

That elicits a loud cry and more sniffling and more dampness. "I still hate Braydon. I'm never going to like him," comes Natalie's muffled voice after a few minutes. "But I like you, Will. Unlike him, you're a decent guy and I really wish you were Gilly's boyfriend instead."

You stay like this until she calms down and wipes her eyes. You both decide to close up for the day and not even think about that new spell, especially when you get back upstairs and lock the door, you can see Natalie's eyes are still red and splotchy. So you take the keys for the lock and remove one of them from the ring.

"Here," you say as you hand it to her. "I figure it's only fair that I let you have the other one."

"You're actually just going to let me come and go as I please from your 'secret base'?" she asks as she looks at it.

"Sure. I mean we're friends, right? I trust you."

Natalie thanks you and pulls you into a tight, friendly hug, her mood seemingly brightened up from the gloominess of earlier. You decide to both head home for the day. You offer to drive her but she reminds you about her dad and says she'll just Uber like usual. You make no definite plans to meet up tomorrow because Natalie's not sure what she's doing, but she says that she'll get in touch with you when she has a more solid idea.

* * * * *

Thursday winds up being a rather dull and uneventful day. Even when Braydon pulls you aside as fourth period lets out to ask you what was up with you yesterday (on account of what Natalie did) he seems more curious than upset and only gives a simple "I see" when you tell him that it turned out to be nothing. You hear nothing else from him or Gillian and a text to Natalie asking if you can get together is met with an answer saying that she has family stuff today so she can't.

Friday, on the other hand, proves to be more eventful. The first event comes at lunch when, eating with your usual crew, you're accosted by Yumi, Lin and Jessica as they sit down with you. Especially odd as Jessica and Lin only rarely join Yumi when she's with you and when they do, their attention is never on you... until today.

"Hey so we were wondering," Lin begins as she gives you a curious look, "did you get yourself a girlfriend?"

You nearly choke on your sandwich and Keith who dismisses the idea. But you do ask where they heard that from.

"Tina Branson from Eastman," Jessica says. "She was asking me and Eva yesterday if we knew a Westside boy named Will. Apparently he's been hanging out with one of her friends. So do you know anyone named Natalie?"

Alyssa must have decided to play mother hen by having Tina, who did say that she knew people from Westside, ask about you. "Um, me and Natalie have been hanging out," you say shyly, "but we're just friends right now."

"Right now?" Lin asks with amusement and you feel even more anxious as the spotlight has definitely turned on you. Caleb guesses she's the one you've been blowing him off for. Keith is in disbelief. Lin, Jessica, Yumi and even Jenny grill you for all the details. James and Carson merely seem entertained by the whole thing.

You're still feeling self-conscious by the time seventh rolls around. You're so lost in your own world that you jump when a pair of hands clasps your shoulders and someone sits down next to you. "So how's it going? We haven't really had any chances to talk all week, huh?" asks Gillian as she gives you a warm smile. "Nat's said that you've been spending a lot of time together."

"Uh, well, sure. I guess," you mutter.

"That's good, I'm glad the two of you are getting along." She then moves to place her hand on top of yours. "But I've been wanting to hang out again too and my hubby's got some session with Christian and them after school. So what say we hang out for a change? Maybe do something tonight? Have you ever been out to the Warehouse?"

You can only shake your head because you're really kind of bowled over. There's probably nothing wrong with hanging out as friends with Gillian seeing as nothing's happened and Braydon, from what you can tell, doesn't seem threatened by you. But before you can give Gillian a definitive yes or no, your phone buzzes and you see a couple of urgent messages from Natalie.

pick me up after school. we need to talk.
jus the 2 of us! very very VERY important!

Natalie has something very important to discuss with you and wants to do it alone with just the two of you? At this point, you're certain that you want a relationship with her that's more than friendship. Maybe she feels the same way and wants to talk about it? But you might be getting ahead of yourself. It's probably another mask plot; a new scheme to try and get between Braydon and Gillian.

And speaking of Gillian, she's still giving you that warm expression as she insistently tries to prod you into hanging out. You would definitely like to hang out with her, too.

* To meet up with Natalie: "Safety First" 
* To hang out with Gillian "Safety Last" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"