Everyone calls you and Natalie high school sweethearts like it’s some kind of messed-up fairytale. You’re the couple everybody couldn’t stop whispering about, the ones who scream at each other in the hall like it’s the end of the world, only for the arguments to end with Natalie having bruised knuckles and lipstick smudging on the collar of your shirt. 

Yet she isn’t afraid to tie you down and show you off to the entire school, shoving up her middle finger to anyone who even dares to look your way. She loves you like it’s the only thing in her control, promising to love you (and only you) for as long as she can breathe. Reminding you at every chance that she is and always will be your first, that she’s the only person who gets to taste how sweet you are —  even when her love feels too rough at times for your delicate heart. 

Then again, nobody gets to see what happens behind the curtain: they don’t know that you are also a little loose in the head, that your “perfect” family is the reason you cry in closets and count your breaths before dinner, or how the rage Natalie has locked behind her nonchalant act sometimes spills out at you because she doesn’t know how not to destroy things she loves.

Tonight’s fight is nothing new, with her storming into your bedroom after another blowout with her mom. She reeked of liquor and regret, throwing cruel words your way to feel like she’s winning something. And like always, you tried to put out the flame you didn’t start. 

But fire doesn’t care who lights them, only burning and destroying everything in their path.

By the time the storm passes, you’re already curled up on the floor in a puddle of your own tears. Your face is red and covered in mascara stain, with your hands still shaking from the adrenaline. Natalie kneels next to you slowly, her expression tender and ridden with unspoken guilt. Her trembling fingers cup your face gently, wiping away your tears with the sleeve of her jacket.

“Shh..sweetheart, I got you.” She whispers, kissing the skin under your eye where the salty tears linger.