Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Age sixteen
“Oh, wow. Look at you, Butterfly. You’re absolutely stunning in that dress.” Preston takes my hand and spins me around, making my floor length dark purple dress twirl.
My face heats at the use of the nickname he gave me two years ago. We started having lunch together at school and quickly started dating after that day he helped me off the hallway floor. One day while we ate, a monarch landed on the trunk of the tree we sat under.
“They’re so beautiful.” I say as I examine the butterfly, as it slowly opens and closes its wings.
“Not as beautiful as you.” Preston whispers and I snap my head, all of my attention now on him. “You’re even more beautiful than any butterfly, Lizzy.” He reaches out and strokes my cheek then leans in to kiss my forehead and I close my eyes. He is so sweet.
Tonight his family is hosting a party to congratulate his father on his new position as lieutenant governor of Rhode Island.
He’s been working his way up the ladder for years now, and his hard work is paying off.
The current governor is on his last term, and Preston’s father is all but guaranteed the position when the time comes.
“Thank you. Do you like it? Is it okay for tonight?” I ask shyly. I would hate to embarrass him or his family by my choice of dress.
“It’s perfect. I promise. You’ll be the most beautiful girl there.” He says with that heart stopping sideways smile and my insides melt.
Just then, Uncle Nick walks into the foyer of our home and smiles widely.
“You look gorgeous, Princess.” He tells me then turns to stretch his palm to Preston, who gives him a firm handshake, “Preston. Please congratulate your father for me. I’m sorry I won’t be joining the party, but something has come up with work that needs my immediate attention.
” He pulls his arm back and slips his hand into his pants pocket.
“Yes, Mr. Rossi. I’ll give him the message.” Preston responds with a tight tone. He sounds angry, but I can’t imagine why.
My uncle offers a stiff nod then looks between the two of us. “Have fun tonight kids. I expect her home by eleven. It’s a school night.”
I take a step forward and wrap my arms around his middle “Don’t worry Uncle Nick, I’ll be home on time.” He hugs me tighter to his chest and kisses the top of my head. When I pull back his eyes are on Preston, then he shifts his gaze down to me and smiles.
“Okay. You two be safe. Love you kiddo.”
“I love you too.” I smile and turn to walk with Preston out to the car waiting for us in the driveway.
We’re on our way to Preston’s house, which is about fifteen minutes away, and he has been silent since we left my house.
He’s been staring out the window with his jaw clenched and resting in his fist. I shift in my seat to get closer to him and place my hand on his shoulder.
His head turns slowly to look over at me.
“Is something wrong? You’re being so quiet.” I ask sheepishly. I replay the events of the last half an hour to try to pinpoint where his mood shifted, but I’m coming up short.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know Lizzy. You’re not that stupid.” He snaps and my stomach drops. Instinctively my hand drops from his shoulder and I scoot away from him a little bit, putting some space between us.
“I really don’t know what happened, Preston. Why are you so angry?”
What did I do?
He reaches over, snatches my hand closest to him and begins to squeeze my wrist.
“Preston let go. You’re hurting me.” I whimper as his grip tightens. I try to pull my arm away and that only makes him angrier.
“You disgust me, you know that? Telling another man you love him. And right in front of me?” He shouts as he gets nose to nose with me.
“He’s…my uncle, Preston, you know that. Ow, please let me go. You're really hurting me!” I beg and tears begin to well in my eyes.
He shoves my arm out of his grip, the force is so hard that it sends me falling across the back seat and I hit my head on the window behind me.
The tears begin to fall as I sit up straight and scoot as far away from Preston as the small space allows me to.
Reaching my hand up to the back of my head, I can feel a bump already forming where it hit the window.
I look over at him through watery eyes as he loosens his tie and undoes the top three buttons of his shirt.
“And the way he calls you Princess. It’s disgusting, Lizzy.” He says calmly.
“He’s called me that since I was a baby.” I sob.
In a flash Preston comes over the seat and grabs my chin with his right hand roughly. It hurts more than when he grabbed my wrist. His long fingers squeeze my cheeks until my jaw falls open.
“I don’t give a fuck.” He says calmly and tilts his head to the side. “No man should ever call you any name like that. No one but me. Do you understand, Butterfly?” His voice lowers to almost soothing as he asks the question.
My cheeks hurt so bad, I just want him to let me go.
I’m going to have bruises on my face in the shape of his fingers.
I’m so confused. He was in such a good mood when he came to pick me up.
He was being sweet. I don’t know how I made him this angry.
None of this makes sense. Shifting my eyes to the left, I see the partition is up and I feel my heart sink.
I know that piece of glass makes it so the driver can’t see, or hear anything back here, and I quickly realize that no one will be able to help me.
“Okay. Preston, you're really hurting me.” I say as best as I can in this position. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Oh, baby.” He coos. “I’m not upset. I just can’t stand the thought of you giving your love to anyone but me. No one, and I mean no one, loves you as much as me. You know that don’t you? I would never hurt you, Lizzy.”
“I know.” I respond timidly and sniff again trying to bat down the tears that are again threatening to spill. He slowly lets go of my face and sits back straight.
He reaches out and gently rubs my cheeks with his thumbs and lowers himself to meet my eyes.
“I am so sorry. Oh, Lizzy, I didn’t mean to hurt you.
” He leans in and begins peppering light kisses all over my cheeks.
He then gently lifts my arm and presses his lips to the wrist he grabbed earlier.
He lowers my arm to his lap and begins to massage the area.
He’s watching his fingers for a minute before he slowly lifts his eyes to mine.
They’re filled with remorse and begin to glisten with unshed tears.
“I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Sometimes, I just get so angry and I lash out. I’ve never wanted to lash out at you. I hate that you just saw that side of me.” He whispers.
My heart begins to shatter and I reach out to place my free hand on top of his.
He did hurt me, but he’s never hurt me before.
I’ve never even seen him even raise his voice in the two years we’ve been together.
No one is perfect. We all have our weak moments.
Right? And he’s been feeling a lot of pressure lately.
He’s in college now at Yale and is home just for a few days to celebrate his fathers success.
His schedule is hectic and his parents expect him to maintain perfect grades in all of his classes.
His father is really pushing him to become a district attorney. Maybe, he didn’t really mean it.
“It’s okay.” I whisper and he blows out a worried sigh. “I don’t think you meant to. Just, please don’t ever do that again. You really did hurt me.”
“I know. I know and I hate myself for it. I don’t expect you to forgive me.” He rushes out as the car pulls up into the circle drive in front of his parents home. “Can we go to this party and talk about this when I bring you home? I promise.”
I offer him a soft smile and a small nod. “Okay. Let’s go inside.”
For the duration of the party, Preston is sweet and attentive. He sticks to my side the whole time, his hand resting on the small of my back. He offers to get me drinks and he introduces me to all of his family and his father’s colleagues. We dance and we kiss, everything as it should be.
The party really starts to pick up as more and more people show up.
Some I recognize as members of the local police department, some are his fathers coworkers, and there are a handful that I don’t recognize at all.
They all stand together around a table, talking amongst themselves when Preston’s father calls for them to join him in another room.
“Alright beautiful, let’s get you home. I don’t want Nick hunting me down for missing curfew.” Preston appears beside me, and drapes his suit jacket around my shoulders. Focusing my attention back to him, I smile up at him as he leads me out of the house and into the back of the car.
We pull into my driveway at eleven p.m. sharp and he gets out to come open my door for me. I take his offered hand and he helps me out of the car. Closing the door, he laces my fingers with his as he leads us to the front steps.
“I hope you had a good time tonight. I know I did.” He says as we reach the front door, turning to me with a smile.
“I had a great time. Please tell your family thank you again for having me.” I say and lean up on my tiptoes to hug around his neck. He wraps his arms around my lower back and hugs me tightly.
“I love you, Lizzy. So much.” He whispers in my ear.
My heart stops at his confession and just as I’m about to say it back, for the first time, the front door opens. Uncle Nick stands on the other side and puts his hands in his pockets. Preston pulls away from me and glares at my uncle.
“Thank you for getting her home on time. Come on Lizzy, you have school in the morning.” Uncle Nick says tightly.
I’m about to tell him I’ll be inside in just a minute when Preston speaks up.
“What is your problem Nick?” He hisses and my jaw drops. What the hell?
“Excuse me?” Uncle Nick booms and his body stiffens.
“You heard me. What’s your problem? You can’t give her five minutes before you come out here telling her what to do?
She’s not a baby Nick. Give her a fucking minute.
” Preston says through gritted teeth. His fists are balled tightly at his side and he glares at Nick with a fury I don’t think I’ve ever seen in anyone’s eyes.
Uncle Nick crosses his arms over his broad chest and he looks Preston up and down. A smirk pulls at his lips and he takes a step forward.
“Lizzy, get inside please.” He says coolly, eyes locked on Preston.
“She can go in when she’s ready.” My hand shoots out to Preston’s chest and he glances at me.
“Stop. It’s okay.” I soothe, but it’s pointless. Preston’s body vibrates.
He loosens his tie and yanks it off before taking off the suit jacket and tossing it to the ground.
“You need to stop while you’re ahead Preston.” My uncle warns, but it falls on deaf ears.
“No, you need to stop. You’re going to have to let her go someday, Uncle Nick.” Preston shouts and he pushes past my hand, positioning himself so he’s toe to toe with my uncle.
I stare wide eyed at the scene in front of me. Is he going to hit Uncle Nick? What is even happening tonight? He was just smiling and laughing and now he’s standing with his chest puffed out, jaw tightened and balled fists.
Preston goes to lift his arm but I quickly reach out to stop him.
“I will never forgive you if you do this. Go home, Preston. Now.” My voice is firm, my eyes pleading with him to stop before this situation gets too much farther out of hand. He drops his hand and takes a step back from Uncle Nick. He leans down to collect his coat and tie off the ground.
“Fine, I’ll go.” He leans to kiss me on the cheek then turns to walk back to his car, climbs in and the car pulls off.
I stand there for a minute trying to process what just happened when I feel a hand land on my shoulder.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Uncle Nick asks in a calm voice.
I nod. “I think so. That was just very…shocking. I don’t know what happened.” I whisper.
“Lizzy, look. I know you really like Preston, but what he just did was not okay.” He says and he ushers me in the house.
“I think he’s just really stressed with school and pressure from his Dad. This isn’t like him.”
Uncle Nick looks at me for a long minute before he speaks. “That might be true but I have a bad feeling about him.” I can tell he’s never really liked Preston that much, but I always thought it was just because all of my attention has been on him, so much so I’ve started to fall behind in school.
“He’s just having a bad night.” I defend and wave him off as I try to rush up the stairs and into my room.
“Princess, please listen to me.” Uncle Nick pleads.
I stop mid way up the stairs and take a deep breath. “Do you think you could stop calling me Princess? It feels kind of baby-ish, don’t you think?”
My heart breaks as I see hurt flash across his face. It doesn’t bother me at all that he calls me that, but I don’t want to give Preston another reason to try and fight with him, or hurt me.
“Is that what you want?” He asks me. Clearly seeing through my sorry excuse. I have to make him believe me or he’ll never let this go.
I look down at my feet, bite the inside of my cheek then nod slightly. My attempt to keep my head held high is dashed when I see just how hurt he really is. His eyes are glossed over and he swallows roughly.
“I just feel like maybe, I’m too old to be called any cute nicknames.” I state.
“Oh. Uhm, alright.” His voice cracks, then he clears his throat. “I’ll let you get to bed. Goodnight, Lizzy.” With that, he turns and walks toward his study on the first floor, his head down. In all my life, I’ve never seen Nick Rossi with his head down.
Once in my room I let the tears flow.