Chapter 5
Juliana
I lean against the sink and clean off my hand carefully. I let out a huge breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. I try to count each breath but it only makes me start to hyperventilate so I close my eyes and try to just breathe normally. My breath returns to normal after a few seconds. I can hear my heart beating loudly in the silent bathroom.
“Calm down. There is no need to panic.” I reassure myself, whispering so Kurt can’t hear me if he’s standing near the door. I stare at the crazy person in the mirror who is telling me there is a reason to panic.
I grab my phone and see that I have 6 missed calls, and two voicemails from my mother along with multiple texts from her and my dad as well. Two missed calls from Tatyana and three texts from her. I also have a lot of missed calls and unanswered texts from Callum. I have no intention of reading or responding to Callum’s messages but all the other missed calls and texts have me confused and worried. I listen to my mother’s voicemails first. Once I hear her first message, I can’t bear to hear anymore.
Juliana, you better pick up your phone right this instant. She says, clearly frustrated. Callum just called me and told me the news. Why didn’t you mention this to me before? I didn’t realize you and Kurt were even dating. Call me right away.
Shocked, I drop my phone and I can feel my stomach beginning to turn. I throw myself down to the floor and grab the toilet hurling violently into it. After a few moments, the nausea passes, and I rest my head on the cabinets next to the toilet.
I stay that way, trying to calm down. The tile of the bathroom feels cool under my legs and butt. I yank my skirt down trying to cover myself more. I hear a knocking on the door and groan, remembering where I am.
“Juliana? Are you okay? Do you need any water?” I hear Kurt’s voice, sounding worried through the door. And I try my best to regain my composure. I stand up, grab my phone off the floor, and read a text from Tatyana.
Tatyana: Are you okay? Your mom just called me. She said you’re engaged????
Shit. How many people have my lie spread to? I send Tatyana a quick text saying.
Juliana: WTF is happening rn?
I want to wait for a response but I know Kurt is waiting outside the bathroom for me. I check my phone one last time before slipping it into my pocket, flushing the toilet, and washing my hands. I look at myself in the mirror and I am a bit freaked out to see how disheveled I look. I splash water on my face and run my fingers through my hair. My fingers don’t help tame my hair so I end up tying it up. I brace myself for the conversation I know has to happen then I open the door to a confused face and apologize profusely.
“I am so sorry for everything that has happened tonight.” I need to tell him what happened before he hears it from somewhere else. I need to get on top of this situation. It really shouldn’t have escalated the way it did but now I have to deal with the consequences.
Kurt leads me over to the table in his kitchen. I sit down and he pulls a chair for himself in front of me. Before he sits down, he turns on the light right above us so he can see my hand better. He has the first aid kit set out on the table. When he holds his hand out, I place my hand in his, with my palm up. He lightly dabs up any remaining blood to start with.
“Yeah, about that. What exactly happened?” He asks and continues his work with my hand. Once he gets a large bandaid on my hand, he sits back and looks at me, waiting for my answer. I swallow nervously then before I clam up for good I let everything pour out of my mouth, fast.
“Callum is my ex-boyfriend. He was never great toward me and before long he started getting physical with me, pushing me around and asking for things that I wasn’t comfortable with and wasn’t ready for and I couldn’t… He eventually broke it off and it didn’t end well. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of months until tonight and he started hitting on me, getting too touchy/feely… I couldn’t take it and I thought that if I told him I was seeing someone else, he would leave me alone.”
Halfway through my spiel, Kurt gets up and goes to his fridge. He grabs himself a beer and then pours a glass of water for me. When he returns to the table, he slides the glass of water to me and I take a sip before continuing.
“But that didn’t happen…and now I’ve just made everything worse...” I trail off and look up at him, standing above me, and see him slowly taking everything in. He nods, understanding then his head tilts in confusion.
“So, he thinks that you’re seeing me now?” He asks, trying to piece everything together. “That would explain why he told me not to ‘take his woman’,” Kurt chuckles a bit and I hope he can keep that same attitude for what I am about to say next.
“Well kind of,” I say then stare at the ground, unable to make eye contact. “I told him you were my fiancé.”