For the next few days Henry met Natalie in the practice room before school and after. Sometimes she was in a bad mood and would barely acknowledge him, so he'd just sit down and listen to her play.

But when she was in better moods he'd sit down next to her and tease her about classical, and she'd argue with him about jazz, and sometimes he played. One day while he played Natalie said to him skeptically.

"But, if you're playing jazz..there's no notes you HAVE to play – how do you know if that's how it should sound? If you're doing it right? You're just, banging on the keys, making shit up."

"Um, ever heard of the act of creation?" Henry fired back. "

Oh, you're one of those pretentious, stoner types." Natalie said, rolling her eyes. It had been well established over the past few days that Henry smoked marijuana. He smelled like it, his breath smelled like it, and sometimes he was a little out of it. Natalie felt like some kind of foreign idiot because for some odd reason…the smell of pot mixed with whatever light cologne Henry seemed to wear…put her at ease.

"That's not fair….I'm not a…well, I'm not pretentious." Henry giggled and Natalie couldn't resist smiling. "And I'M not classical…it's so rigid, and obnoxious, and structured – there's no room for being yourself or improvisation. You have to play the boring notes on the page." Natalie laughed at him,

"Oh, yeah…you're totally right – Mozart had no clue what he was doing, why didn't he listen to you and smoke a joint and jam on twinkle, twinkle little star?"

"Ohh yeah, let's do that."

A couple of weeks later, they're routine remained. Sometimes they barely talked. Or they talked about music, or occasionally about school. They never really talked about much else.

"I have a recital, with administrative officers from Yale coming up in a couple of weeks and I am wasting all of my practice in here with you improvising." Natalie admitted as Henry jammed at the piano, his eyes closed, rocking back and forth to the beat.

"It's a better use of your time, trust me." Henry said, stopping his playing and turning to Natalie,

"You're getting in so there's no use stressing about it and over practicing." He assured her.

"How do you know I'm getting in?" Natalie asked snarkily.

"Because you're amazing." Henry told her. Natalie blushed a little and then said.

"We should get to class." And began quickly gathering her things.

"Hey, do you want to go get some…ice cream, or food, or…or something?" Henry asked 3 days later after their afterschool session.

"Oh, um, will you drive me home after?" Natalie asked.

"Of course." Natalie skeptically nodded.

"Okay." They walked out to Henry's beat up car together and drove to the local diner, and had milkshakes. Henry had a huge order of onion rings too, but Natalie stuck with the milkshake. Henry invited her because he really wanted to talk to her about something besides school and music. They talked a little about Henry's family, and then about their math teacher, and then a little bit about TV and movies.

"What about your family?" Henry asked. Natalie nearly spit her milkshake out.

"Um..I..uh, they're uh…interesting. My Dad is…protective. And my mom is….ignorant, pretty out of it. Neither of them really care that much about me though."

"But you just said your Dad is protective." Henry said.

"Of my mom. And about me and my mom, but not about me…if that makes sense. He cares more about our family reputation than anything." Henry nodded, getting the sense that Natalie didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"You wanna come over? Now and maybe…um…study, hang out, or something?" Henry asked awkwardly.

"I….I guess so." Natalie replied.

"Great." Henry replied and after they finished, they headed back out to the car and drove to Henry's house. Neither of them had ever been in a more awkward situation in their lives.

Natalie rummaged around in her bag while they parked in Henry's driveway, looking for her phone to text hr Dad she'd be home a little later. Henry quickly got out and opened the car door for her.

"Oh, thanks." Natalie said, getting out.

"Sure." Henry replied and smiled they walked in, and Henry's mom was in the kitchen.

"Hey Hen…oh, who is this?"

"Uh, this is Natalie, Natalie…this..is..my…mom." Henry murmured.

"She uh, plays sometimes with me after school." Henry explained.

"Ah, well it's nice to meet you." Henry's mom said.

"You too." Natalie replied.

"Hope you play something else besides that jazz crap he does." Henry's mom teased.

"She does…Mozart." Henry answered.

"Well, someone in the practice room after class has good taste." Henry's mom replied and Natalie laughed.

"Hey, two against one is not fair!" Henry cried. "Well, uh, we have to go study." Henry said nodding to Natalie in the direction of the stairs.

"Study…?" Henry's mom asked, teasingly, sensing something more than a study buddy relationship between the two.

"YES. Mom, study." Henry said quickly, not wanting to freak Natalie out. Natalie followed Henry upstairs.

"Sorry, I didn't know she'd be home."

"It's fine, she has good taste." Henry stuck his tongue out while Natalie giggled.

"She won't bug us." Henry assured her. Natalie just nodded while they got their books and binders out.

"Alright, I have Mr. Hummer's math worksheet…." Henry told her,

"And I have Fischer's bio lab questions.." Natalie finished,

"Trade." Henry said, smiling sweetly while they both chuckled and handed the other the opposite piece of paper to copy each other's answers. About half an hour went by and Henry groaned.

"What?"

"I don't know any of it." Henry replied, frustrated

"I gave you the answers!" Natalie cried.

"No, I don't, I don't get it…any of it."

"Here, let me…" Natalie offered.

"No, I don't need help I need…" Henry got up without finishing his sentence. "God, I hate school. So much pressure." He said, rummaging in his closet. "I need to get away for a minute or two…or more." He muttered, pulling out a bright green bong. Natalie smiled slightly.

"Do you care..if I…? If you do, I won't I don't want to…"

"No, it's fine."

"You sure?" Henry asked.

"Yes, go ahead. But…" Natalie watched Henry light it, and start smoking on the floor, tilting his head back and smiling.

"Hm?" Henry asked.

"Your mom is…downstairs." Natalie said not believing his nerve. Henry puffed out some smoke and chuckled lightly.

"She's in denial, trust me. It's totally convenient because my Dad's never home either so.." He looked back at Natalie and smiled. "You look pretty stressed too. This shit it's….it's therapeutic, really takes the edge off of…off everything. It's good for ya." Henry offered, getting up and sitting beside her on the bed.

"Right…it's medical marijuana to treat your ADD." Natalie teased.

"Totally." Henry laughed out of nowhere and then turned to her, "Huh?" He asked.

"I don't put anything into my mouth that's on fire." Natalie replied.

"Right…I uh…that's a good rule, I guess." Henry answered, staring into her pale brown eyes. "You have good rules, you're smart like that…" He rambled, the pot obviously kicking in. Natalie raised her eyebrows.

"Smart, and, and uh, and funny, and a really shitty jazz player, but you're good when the notes are on the page." Henry told her, leaning closer and smiling. She smiled gently and then tensed up. "And..and pretty." Natalie blushed and Henry leaned in further, and when their lips were just millimeters apart, Natalie jumped up.

"I can't do this." She said simply, gathering her things.

"Wh…why?"

"You…not..you.." She couldn't get the words out. "I'm not dragging you into my life…it's a total disaster, you don't understand."

"Your life is not a disaster." Henry insisted.

"It is." Natalie got her coat on. "Trust me." She added.

"No…Natalie…please just…"

"Just what?" Natalie snapped, her hand on the doorknob.

"Give me a chance." Henry begged, gently grabbing her arm and facing her. "Please, I mean – we've had so much fun the past few weeks, we could...we could be even more than that." He said softly.

"I just….something like this doesn't belong in my life." Natalie replied. "Just doesn't fit, I'm sorry."

"I'll fit, I'll make myself fit, Natalie!" Henry held her arms tightly now, not letting her go. "Please, just give it a chance. I'll do anything, I…I'll make myself perfect for you, whatever it takes. Please."

"There's just..so much going on , I can't, I can't handle all of it, and everything is just going downhill with my Yale audition, and school, and my mom it's like she's not even there anymore, I just….I can't do it." Natalie admitted, putting a hand on her head.

"Look, I know things may be tough right now, but hey, that can be what I'm here for. To make it easier. To be the one thing not stressing you out or hurting you. I want to be that for you." Henry leaned in closer to her.

"You can't fix everything that's broken, Henry. You don't even know what's broken in my life…"

"I want to know. You can tell me, you can trust me, and yeah maybe I can't fix it but I can still be there for you." Henry insisted.

"Can you just drive me home?" Natalie asked, looking down. Henry nodded.

"Alright." They walked downstairs, said goodbye to Henry's mom and headed out to the car and drove in an awkward silence to the Goodman's.

"I didn't want to make you mad." Natalie whispered.

"I'm not mad." Henry replied, reaching for her hand, which she pulled away. "A little disappointed. I expected you to go with it. I thought you wanted it to….it was a nice drag on my ego." Henry said, playfully.

"It's not that I don't want it." Natalie whispered. "I just…I'm sinking so fast..why drag someone down with me?" Henry pulled into the driveway.

"You're not sinking, Natalie. If you were, I'd jump in with swimmies and put them on your arms for you and help you swim back to safety." Henry replied seriously and Natalie laughed but then quieted down and said softly,

"You can do so much better than me."

"I really can't." Henry replied. "And I don't want to." He unbuckled. "You're perfect for me, trust me, and no one else comes close." He leaned in, "Please just give me a chance. Pretty please with Mozart and notes on a page on top?" He begged. Natalie smiled, and realized how often she'd been doing that lately. She sighed,

"Let's go." And got out of the car and began walking towards the house. Henry sighed and followed her.

"Thanks for…today." Natalie said awkwardly, looking for her key in her bag.

"Anytime. Natalie, can I just say one more thing?" Natalie looked at him. "Look, if you don't want to…be anything, that's fine, alright? I mean, it hurts, but, I'll respect that and we can go back to being friends. But, I want to be here for you, just don't shut me out. Don't shut something that could be really great out."

"But it might not be really great. It could be a disaster and then not only do we break up but we stop being friends. Disaster like everything in my life." Natalie snapped.

"Oh my god, your life is not a disaster! You're on honor roll, you're in AP classes, you're going to Yale, you're…."

"Yeah but do you know how hard all that is?" Natalie cried. "IT'S HARD. I work my ass off, I don't stop, I never get a break, and I only do it to get away from this HELL!" She yelled, pointing to the house, and looking like she would burst into tears. Henry held her around the waist and she looked up at him.

"Let me into your hell, please, I'm begging. And I'll do anything to make it heaven for you." Natalie just looked up at him, not believing how cheesily romantic, yet supportive and genuine he was being. She just didn't want to screw him up as badly as her life screwed everything up. She had never really felt cared about…it was all new to her.

"Okay?" Henry asked, moving closer to let their noses touch, he knew she was about to give in. Natalie shut her eyes and nodded and Henry pressed his lips up against hers'. They pulled away.

"The hell house looks kind of nice." Henry teased. "Can I come i…."

"Oh, god, no…" Natalie said, putting herself in between him and the door.

"Okay." Henry chuckled and they kissed again.

"This..this is crazy." Natalie murmured.

"Hm?"

"Something in my life is working out." She added. Henry chuckled.

"You've got a lot going for you, Nat. It's going to work out, all of it, I promise." Henry kissed her again. "Crazy? Yeah, maybe it is. I'll see you tomorrow." And he was off. Natalie walked inside and shut the door. What had he called her? N-dawg? Ney-ney? Natty-boo? No…Nat. Nat. Nat. She had never been called Nat before. Natalie decided that she liked it. It suited her…and so did Henry.

Any thoughts or feedback? Thanks to those who have reviewed, please continue, it makes me more enthusiastic about updating! Hope you are enjoying!