Chapter Text
Let’s get one thing straight: Jackie Taylor was not Natalie Scatorccio’s friend. She was about the last person Nat expected to be knocking on her door at ten o’clock on a Thursday night, but low and behold, there she was.
“Jax?” Natalie asked, looking out at the girl in the hallway with confusion.
“We need to converse.” Jackie replied, pushing past her and walking into the dorm room. She headed straight towards the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking out a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
“Hey! That’s my Tonight Dough!”
“Guess what? I don’t care.” Jackie said as she continued to pace around the kitchen. “Where are your spoons?”
“Jimmy Fallon worked many long hours in the kitchen making that for Lottie and I,” Nat said slyly. “But here you are, scarfing it down like it came out of your own grocery bill.”
“I’m surprised you still have a sense of humor right now, Natalie.”
“Ooh,” Nat said. “Full name usage? Whatever’s sent you into this spiral must be serious.”
Jackie sighed. “You don’t know, do you?
“Know what?”
“Check instagram, like, right now.”
Nat grabbed her phone off of the counter.
“Nice lock screen, dork.” Jackie said, peeking over her shoulder. “Would’ve expected something a little more dark and brooding.”
The lock screen was a picture from two summers ago, a vacation that her, Lottie, Van, and Taissa had gone on. It was the four of them on the beach at sunrise, laying on their towels in the sand. That was one of the best weeks of her life, Natalie thought, though she hadn’t admitted that to anyone, not even Lottie. Just like she wouldn’t admit that she had never been on a trip anywhere farther than the Jersey Shore, or that she had never had a friend quite like her. Nobody was as remarkable as Lottie Matthews.
“Well, I guess we’re both just full of surprises, aren’t we, Jackie?”
“Jeez,” Jackie said. “What’s crawled up your ass?”
“If you wanted someone to be all sorority sister with, you should have waited for Lottie to get home. I’m sure if you asked her nicely enough, she’d paint your nails whatever shade of pink that you like.”
“She’s most certainly not going to be back tonight.” Jackie said quietly. “Open your damn phone.”
Nat unlocked it. Her password, shocker, was Lottie’s Birthday. She’d made it that two years ago, halfway through their freshman year. She had only known Lottie for a few months at the time, but something inside of her had felt that they would be close for a long, long while. Deciphering the ways of Rutgers was, admittedly, hard for an eighteen year old Natalie, but she had gotten through it with Lottie by her side. Van and Tai, too, but from across the dorm hallway, not from right across the room. Shauna and, begrudgingly, Jackie, came into their little world sophomore year, as they all shared a common interest in good liquor and Friday nights spent in places other than the oh, so familiar fraternity houses. Nat much preferred Shauna’s company to Jackie’s, but she didn’t really mind Jackie being around as much as she was showing it.
That was, of course, until she saw it. What had brought Jackie here.
xoxo_lotts:
1 attachment:
hard launch?? ❤ @shaunashipps
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Comments:
lauraleelovin: knew it! love you guysss.
taissaturner: oh my god!?!?!?
vanistheman: REPLY TO MY TEXT THIS MINUTE CHARLOTTE MATTHEWS.
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“What the fuck?” Natalie yelled, throwing her phone across the room.
“So they didn’t tell you either?”
“Of course they didn’t fucking tell me, Jax, what in the actual hell is going on?”
“I couldn’t believe it either!” Jackie replied, “I mean, it’s our two best friends! They didn’t even tell us!”
“Where are they even at right now?” Nat asked. “Lottie told me she had a club thing. Something for like, baking club.”
“Oh, that’s rich.” Jackie laughed. “Pun intended. Baking club? Nat, you should know better than anyone that Lottie would burn the entirety of Rutgers down if she tried to make anything more complicated than chocolate chip cookies.”
“Okay, I get it. It was a flimsy excuse and I shouldn’t have fallen for it. Can you answer my question please? Where the fuck are Lottie and Shauna?”
“Get this: they’re literally in me and Shipman’s dorm.”
“What?” Nat replied.
“Yup. Shauna came to me earlier today and was like ‘Yo, Jax, I’m gonna have someone over later, can you find somewhere to go for the night?’ I didn’t even complain!”
“Bet you didn’t think it was gonna be Lottie.” Nat murmured.
“Nope. But uh, now I know I guess.” Jackie sniffled. Was she crying? Shit- did Jackie have feelings for Shauna?
“Fuck Jackie, that kind of sucks.” Nat replied. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to try to comfort me Natalie,” Jackie smiled, crying a bit less. “I know it’s not really your style.”
“Hey! I can be comforting when need be. I’m, uh, here for you Jax.”
“Sort of funny that she kicked me out for a hookup and then ended up making said hookup her girlfriend, isn’t it?”
“Not funny at all.” Nat grumbled.
“Of course you’d say that,” Jackie laughed. “We’re in the same boat. Two girls hopelessly in love with our best friends. We should start a club. ‘Homoerotic Hell’ or something.”
“What?” Nat choked. “I- uh, you’ve got me wrong. Lottie and I are just friends.”
“Oh! Uh, oops, sorry.” Jackie backtracked. “I just sort of, you know, assumed, cause of the whole… codependency thing you guys have going on.”
“Codependency thing? What?”
“Nevermind. I came here for more than just venting, Natalie. I need your help.”
“Oh my god, literally with what? I just found out my best friend has been seeing Shauna fucking Shipman behind my back and lying about it. Shouldn’t that give me a pass from involvement in your revenge plot?”
“You see, that passion towards the subject is what will fuel the plan.”
“The plan- what plan, Jax?”
“To break them up, of course.” Jackie replied with a smirk.
“No way.”
“Please just hear me out!”
“No, no way.” Nat started backing up, getting further and further away from the madness stirring.
“Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ll be like the Spy Kids or something.”
“Spy kids? Jackie, what delusional world are you living in?” Natalie snapped. “If Shauna and Lottie didn’t tell us about this, it’s because they care more about this fling than the approval of their long term best friends, okay?”
“Please Nat?” Jackie said, quieter than she had been all night. “I just want Shauna back. That’s all I want.”
“...What does the plan entail?” Natalie groaned.
“Oh, Natty!” Jackie exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. “You’re the best, you know that?”
“Ugh, please don’t start calling me that,” Nat whined, squirming around in Jackie’s arms. “I don’t think I can take any more Jackie Taylorification of my life.”
“I actually love that term!” Jackie said with a smile, going to sit back down with her bowl of ice cream. “Now let’s talk strategy. What’s our game plan?”
“This is your idea, Taylor,” Nat said. “I’m really just an accomplice.”
“We need a little effort on both sides!”
“Keep thinking. I’ll help with execution.”
They ended up shooting ideas back and forth for a while, but were left with nothing. They sat in quiet self pity for a while, the two being dangerously close to giving up until Jackie sat up straight, a serious look now painted across her face.
“I think I have an idea?”
“What is it?” Nat asked.
“What if we go on a few dates and how they react? Maybe it’ll sow some seeds of doubt in their minds.”
“That would never work. They probably wouldn’t even care if we dated, Jackie.”
“Oh please, Natalie, those are two of the most jealous girls I know. Remember when you got closer with Kevyn during sophomore year, and Lottie practically begged you to hang out with her instead?”
“I guess?”
“And remember when Shauna saw Mari and I at that Italian restaurant on a date and signed her up for scientology? Shauna may not know that she wants me, but I know her well enough to know that she’s entirely capable of it. I swear she could.”
“You know, I haven’t seen Mari since that day.” Nat whispered. “I hope bisexual satan Shauna Shipman didn’t kill her or something.”
“You can’t say that!” Jackie giggled. “Believe it or not, that’s my best friend, Natalie.”
“How do you plan to even convince them that we stand each other? I don’t know if you can see this, Jax, but you and I aren’t the most likely to couple up.”
“It has to be a slow operation. We’ll gradually get closer. Make them wonder if we’re really just friends. Then boom! Dates, flowers, romance! They’ll go crazy.”
“You are putting a lot of faith in this plan,” Nat sighed. “What if it all goes wrong?”
“Who cares?” Jackie replied, putting her hands up in the air. “I’ve got nothing to lose at this point, do you?”
“I guess not,” Nat grumbled.
“Then we ought to get started then, huh?” Jackie stood up, face full of determination. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, Natalie Scatorccio.”
“You are so full of shit.”