Chapter 7
“I’m home!” my mom screams while dropping bags in the foyer.
“We’re in the living room!” Gabe shouts back.
“Oh, you’re here too! Goodie!” Gabriel has always been her favorite.
She kisses each of us on the forehead.
“How’s Gram?”.
They went out of state to go visit my grandma who had just completed her first round of chemo and had some complications.
“She’s doing better. She’s home and doing well, so we got the hell out of there” my mom chuckles. She and my grandma have a very odd relationship, they love each other so much that they hate each other. They are constantly bickering. Just then my dad walks in the door.
“Hi, Ella Bella” he screams from the doorway.
“Hi, dad!” I shout back. Gabriel may be mom's favorite, but there’s no denying that I am dad’s favorite.
“Your mom said you talked to Noah. How did that go?” he asked, gripping my shoulder, genuine concern written all over his face.
“You talked to Noah?” Gabe exploded, smacking my arm before I could answer. His hand landed right on my bruise, and I sucked in a sharp breath, wincing.
“Yeah, I talked to him,” I said, forcing a smile as I rubbed my arm. “We didn’t get very far before your mother so rudely interrupted us.” I shot my mom a playful wink.
“Oh honey,” my dad said softly, already at my side as he pressed an ice pack into my hand. “What happened?”
“Dad, it’s nothing. I’m fine,” I said. “Just a bruise.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Tell us what happened.”
My parents pulled chairs closer, flanking the couch where Gabe sat beside me. The room suddenly felt too small.
I took a breath. “Liam came to Liv’s with me. Noah was there, and he… lost it.”
Gabe’s jaw tightened.
“He was drunk,” I continued, staring at my hands. “Barely standing. He started begging me to take him back-said he’d made a mistake, that he still loved me-”
“I told him he’d had six weeks to talk to me,” I said. “He didn’t. So I moved on.”
I paused, then added, “When I tried to walk away, he grabbed my arm.”
My eyes dropped to the bruise, my thumb tracing the edge of it without thinking.
“Liam saw and went to confront him. I stopped that before it could turn into anything worse. I told Noah to let go, he was drunk, emotional, not thinking straight. I didn’t want to make a scene.”
I lifted my coffee and took a long swallow before continuing.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Gabe cut in, his voice sharp with anger.
“That son of a bitch, I’m going to kill him” my dad shouted, pushing to his feet, his face tight with hurt.
“Honey,” my mom said evenly, reaching for him. “Sit down. You’re not going to do anything to that boy.”
After a beat, he did.
I took a breath. “After that, Liam and I went back to the party. Liv got completely smashed, threw up all in her hair.” I let out a small laugh at the image. “So I cleaned her up, and we all went to sleep.”
My voice softened. “The next morning, Noah saw me with Liam. He noticed the bruise and immediately blamed Liam..he didn’t remember anything.”
I swallowed hard. “We ended up in a screaming match in Olivia’s front yard, with poor Liam just sitting there, watching it all. Then he brought me home.”
My eyes stung, and I focused on breathing, forcing down the lump in my throat as the night replayed itself.
“That’s it?” my mom asked.
I grinned, lifting my coffee. “Oh no. So I get home. Immediately after Liam leaves, Oliver texts me.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Gabe screamed, slapping the couch like it personally offended him. “He did what?!”
“Yeah, so I went off on him for being completely disrespectful,” I said, taking another sip. “Got some answers, shut him down, then jumped in the shower to get ready for the ceremony. And while I’m finishing up-the doorbell rings. Guess who it is?”
“It wasn’t fucking Noah, was it?” my dad grumbled.
“Ding, ding, ding!” I said, grinning at Gabe.
Gabe threw his hands in the air, pacing like the world had personally betrayed him. “Okay, hold on. What were Oliver’s excuses?” His voice was dripping with drama, like he was narrating a soap opera.
“He wanted to see where it went out with a coworker instead, that he was seeing at the same time”.
“That motherfucker,” Gabe muttered, pacing the room. “Do these men not realize what a fucking catch you are? Like, seriously, what’s wrong with them?”
“Clearly not,” my dad said, shaking his head, voice tight. “I mean, Bella, do you know how rare it is to find someone like you? They’re blind if they don’t see it.”
Gabe threw his hands up. “No, seriously! You’re literally the nicest, most pure-hearted person I’ve ever met. And they’re like… ‘eh, maybe this next girl is kinder than Bella.’ Like, are you kidding me? There is nobody who could even come close to you. At least not in this shithole of a town!”
My dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Exactly. And I’m not just saying that as your dad. I see it too. They don’t know what they’ve got, and it pisses me off.”
Gabe spun around dramatically, pointing at an imaginary audience. “I mean, I can’t just let someone disrespect my sister like that. It’s not allowed. Someone crosses her? I go full tornado. It’s instinctual. Protective mode: always on.”
“Awe thanks, Gabey. See you really do love me”
My mom snorted, covering her mouth to hide her laugh. “Oh Gabe, there’s not a single protective bone in that dramatic body of yours.”
I couldn’t help giggling, shaking my head. “Seriously. He looks like he’s about to storm a castle, but we all know he’d probably trip over the drawbridge on the way out.”
Gabe threw his hands in the air, mock offense painted all over his face. “Excuse me! I’ll have you know, I am fully capable of intimidation when it really counts!”
“Okay, so what happened with Noah?” my mom asked, cutting through the moment.
“Well, he’s in tears when I get to the door. I’m talking borderline hysterical-”
“As he should have been,” my dad interrupted, his voice firm.
“He suddenly remembered exactly what had happened the night before. He was completely torn up that he hurt my arm. He begged to drive me to the ceremony. So I let him.”
Gabe snorted, crossing his arms. “So within what, an hour? He suddenly remembers? Yeah… sounds like bullshit to me.”
“So what happened when you were getting ready?” my mom asked, leaning forward.
“He came up, and we talked about Oliver,” I said.
My dad frowned. “And what did he think about Oliver coming back into the picture?”
“He told me he was proud of how I stood up for myself, but was super jealous and possessive of course” I said, taking a breath.
“As for Oliver… I haven’t decided if I even want him back in my life, not even as a friend.
It feels like he only wants it when it’s convenient for him.
And I don’t want to be… just an option. No thanks. ”
“So what happened on the drive?” Gabriel asked.
“Well, he asked why I was with Liam. I gave him a list of reasons and then I just… lost it.” My voice cracked, and hot tears began trickling down my cheeks.
“I told him how hurt I was that he completely ghosted me for six weeks, and then had the nerve to tell me he needed space, and meet up with Sydney at the springs less than twenty-four hours later.”
“Who’s Sydney?” the three of them asked in unison. Gabe grabbed my hand, giving it a firm squeeze, like anchoring me.
“She’s a girl he’d apparently been seeing,” I said, voice trembling with anger.
“I don’t know when it started, but Liv, Brad, and I saw them at our spot, making out the very next day on the kayak trip he was supposed to be on with us, after saying he needed space.
” I clenched my fists, fury bubbling up.
“Anyway, he was white as a ghost when he realized I knew about her.” I stopped to catch my breath, my chest tight.
My family just stared at me, disbelief written all over their faces.
The boy we’d all imagined me with long term… had done this to me.
“The worst part is he didn’t have a good excuse for her. It was ‘you were too good for me, you didn’t deserve this, she was a mistake’ bullshit” I sniffled while wiping tears, while the lump in my throat continued to grow.
“So at the ceremony, he heard me almost tell Brad that I was in love with him, which everybody knew, except for him apparently. So on the way home, it was complete silence, until he pulled over about ten miles down the road and literally said, ‘Sydney was a mistake, it was never supposed to happen, and I love you.’” Angry tears slipped down my cheeks.
“I waited six weeks for him to give me the chance-to tell him how much I loved him, that I was willing to give him space and wait-but he didn’t give me the chance.
Even after seeing Sydney, I wanted him. And now…
” I shook my head, forcing myself not to think about the part of me that still might want him.
“And now I’m with somebody else-someone who actually seems to give a damn about me-and Noah just all of a sudden wants me again.
It’s not fair. He was supposed to be it.
He was supposed to be the one. Honestly…
if this is who he’s choosing to be now, I don’t ever want to associate myself with him again.
” The tears streamed freely down my face, hot and unrelenting.
I had never been this vulnerable about a boy, especially in front of my family, but this one…
this one hurt. Noah left a hole in my heart that I wasn’t sure would ever fully heal.
My mom reached over, squeezing my hand gently.
“I know it hurts, sweetheart. But look at you! You stood your ground. You didn’t let him walk all over you. That shows strength, not weakness.”
Gabe groaned dramatically, flopping back against the couch. “Strength? She’s a warrior, Mom! And anyone who thinks otherwise is about to meet a hurricane called me.”
I sniffled, half-laughing despite the tears. “You are ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous? Oh honey, protective is a full-time job, and we’re all overqualified,” Gabe said, giving me a theatrical wink.
Just like that, I felt as if a weight was lifted off of me. My mom and Gabe were right, even though they were a bit dramatic. I cleared my air. I am stronger now than I have ever been.
I deserve to be happy. I am worthy of being happy.
Later that night, I was in my bedroom filling out some paperwork, and depositing my first check into Castillo fall enrollment and room and board.
“What are you doing?” my mom asks, interrupting my train of thought.
“Oh just sitting here, doing some last-minute things to get the fall semester finalized so I can have fun this summer. Mom, do you think that I can get in with the GYN soon?” I ask looking up at my mom.
“Yeah, are you still having problems?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m still having terrible stomach pain, my periods have been awful and I heard that birth control can help,” I said, praying she couldn’t hear through my lie.
“Okay, honey. I’ll call and try and get you an appointment this week sometime” she says reassuringly.
“Thank you,” I said, going back to my laptop.