Forever Love

by Jade Whitfield

  "I was mugged." She rushes out, he eyes getting a crazy glint in them. I think I must attract the attentions of psychos or some shit, maybe I need to see if there's a repellent somewhere I can invest in. "Yeah, yeah, that’s right Daddy. I was mugged, it was horrible."

  You have got to be shitting me, the girl is clearly a few tools short of a shed. I notice something out of the corner of my eye and my eyes near enough bug out of my head. Looking down at Brandy hands which are down at her sides, its her fingernails that grab my attention. They're covered in dry blood, red and purple marks covering her knuckles as if she's been punching something. Oh shit, she really is crazy.

  "Um, hey I hate to interrupt whatever this is." I gensture between the psycho and her Dad. "You should probably take a look at her hands, I'm pretty sure they'll answer your questions."

  Grabbing Brandy's hands, he inspects them, turning a hard gaze towards his daughter and then an apologetic one towards everyone else.

  "What's going on now?" Chase whispers.

  "Either she been in some fist fight where the other persons as bad as her or she's done that to herself." Pam whispers back out of the side of her mouth.

  "I am so sorry for this Phil, Pam. Liv, my apologies, I just assumed." He runs his hands through the Ronald McDonald colored hair. "I'm so embarrassed. Brandy go and wait in the car. NOW!"

  She jumps before scurrying off like the sewer rat she is.

  "Gerald its no worries, just teenage stuff, no reason to be embarrassed."

  "Phil I know it’s a lot to ask but could be keep it in this room please. I have a feeling when I get home I'll be calling quite a few therapists."

  "No worries, have a nice Thanksgiving Gerald. Though I would appreciate it if you could try and keep your daughter away from mine, at least until she's better. She obviously has some kind of problem with Liv."

  With a nod, Gerald walks out the front door, his tartan scarf flapping around him.

  "What the hell was that?" Noah says.

  "Well who said the holidays have to be boring, huh?2 My Dad slaps his hands together. "Liv, are you ok?"

  Seriously?!

  "Am I ok? Are you kidding me right now? Maybe you should get a ride with Brandy to the looney bin because I am definitely not ok. Why is it that you always take everyone's side over mine?"

  "Liv-"

  "No, you take that Bitch in Atlanta's side over mine, you take that Bitch heres side over mine. Why can't you just have my back for once. The only person that had my side just was Pam."

  "Liv calm down, you have to understand-"

  "Hell I do. You just automatically assumed I did it. Do you know what? Screw this, I'm going to my room."

  I huff and puff all the way up the stairs, leaving four shell shocked people behind me. I yank my bedroom door open before slamming it as hard as I can shut. Screw this, if I wanted to live somewhere I get blamed for everything, I'd live back wth the Bitch in Atlanta.

  I pace around the room, mumbling to myself like a completely crazy, maybe I'm the one that should be riding shotgun with nutty Brandy to the psycho hospital. I hear a gentle knock on the door and before I can scream at whoever it is to leave me the hell alone it opens. Noah sticks his head round the door as if expecting me to attack.

  "Are you ok?" He looks at me as if I'm a snake about to strike.

  "Oh you found your voice did ya? There was thinking you suddenly turned mime since you were as silent as one when Brandy's Dad was ready to rip me a new one."

  "Wait, you're mad at me? What the hell did I do?"

  "Nothing, you did absolutely nothing."

  "What did you expect me to say Liv? I didn’t even know you'd seen Brandy today since you didn’t mention anything to me." He glares at me as he says the last part to show that hes pissed too. Oh no way! He's got no right to be pissed, I'm the wronged one here, I'm the innocent party in all this.

  "You had the nerve to ask me if I was the one that did that to her face!"

  "Well you did hit her the other week so how was I meant to know if you'd fucking done it again since, an I'll say it again, YOU DIDN’T FUCKING TELL ME ANYTHING!"

  There's a small voice in the back of my mind telling me that Noah that Noah hasn’t done anything wrong, that I'm taking my anger out at him. What the hell? He deserves it. He's so determined to get me to feel everything. I've spent so long looking at life with cold indifference and all he's done since I've met him is drag those feelings out of me. The love he brings out also comes with fear, fear that he won't want me anymore, fear that I'll never leave my past behind. This is just anger, that’s the only feeling I was ever able to hold onto, it was like second skin and instead of bottling it up, it's rushing to the surface. The truth is I can't handle all of these feeling rushing through me, I feel as if my head'll explode.

  I guess I kinda thought that living with my Dad would show him that all the Bitches tales were bullshit, he still considers me just the same though. It doesn’t matter what I do, I'll always be the deliquent slut. My vision clouds with unshed tears and I bite the inside of my cheek in a bid to focus on something else. I hate crying, it’s a weakness. What I hate even more is the amount Noah has seen me cry, he must think I'm a total baby, always crying over shit. Maybe I have PMS or something.

  I feel two strong arms wrap around me and I completely lose it, sobbing in his arms. I don’t even know what the hell I'm sobbing at, I guess its just the realization that I'll never be able to move on.

  "Shhhh, calm down, I've got you babe. It's gonna be ok. If it makes you feel any better, my Moms downstairs ripping into your Dad. I never saw the guy look so relieved that when he got a call on his phone and he had to leave the room."

  I can only nod into his strong muscular chest, wiping my fingers over the wet patches on his shirt from my tears.

  "I love you Liv, never forget that." He whispers into my hair.

  "I love you too."

  Chapter 27

  Noah

  I get it, I completely get why Liv was upset. I guess when you’ve felt like the world's against you your whole life and then you finally experience some good it's hard to go back to that place again. It's completely crazy what happened, I knew for a fact Liv never bullied Brandy. She hasn’t got one bad bone in her body and is about as far from a bully as you can get. I always knew Brandy wasn’t normal, I guess I just thought she was a grade A fucking bitch, I suppose it turns out she's loko aswell. Part of me wishes I had last night's spectacle on video, I'm sure showing that shit round school would knock her down a few pegs.

  I like Phil, I really really do but the guy is a douche. Even I clench my fists thinking about how quick he was to judge Liv without even hearing her side of the story. I know that Liv wants to keep her life in Atlanta separate to her life in Franklin and I know that she doesn’t want to know anything that happened with her Mom or anything else but sometimes, sometimes I get so tempted to tell Phil how much hes fucking failed her.

  I know he loves Liv, he fucking worships her for fucks sake and its not his fault that he doesn’t know shit, well it is because if he was there he would have fucking known but I know that he can't take back the past. I don’t doubt that if he knew all the shit his little girl had been through, it would destroy him and he'd probably end up on the six o clock new for murdering Livs bitch of a mother. That’s Livs story to tell though, she would never forgive me if I said anything.

  I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I met my soulmate, the girl I gonna spend forever with, High schools nearly over and everything's pretty good. Now if only my stupid ass brother would get that stupid video camera outta my face, life would be perfect.

  "Seriously dumbass, I'm gonna break it if you don’t move it."

  "This is Noah, he's completely boring." He's says into the video camera earning a roll of the eyes from me.

  "Chase, why don’t you take that out of the kitchen and see if Phil will help you with your project." My Mom says, wearing her usual light blue apron that sh
e wears every year.

  "But Mom, it's meant to be a video of a modern Thanksgiving, what's Phil gonna do that has anything to do with that?"

  "I don’t know dumbass but he might save your camera from getting stamped on."

  "Noah." My Mom warns.

  Chase drags his feet out of the room.

  "Noah sweetie, could you get eight plates out of the cabinet in the dining room, make sure it’s the best china."

  "Wait, eight plates?" I frown, counting on my fingers. Mom, Phil, me, Liv, Chase, Brady and Grandma. "There's only seven coming, why do we need eight?"

  "Actually sweetie, I don’t know if you should use the best plates they could get broken and make sure the Grandfathers urn is taken of the fireplace in case it gets broken."

  "Mom, what's going on?" I ask, taking her in for the first time today, she looks seriously stressed out.

  "Oh no, you ask Phil. This is all on him."

  I walk out the room towards Phil's office which is just off the kitchen, knocking on the door I find him in there alone, his head resting in his hands.

  "You ok?" He looks up surprised on hearing my voice.

  "Noah, yes, just a little stressed."

  "Where's Chase? I thought he'd be bothering you by now with his pesky project."

  "Yes he was but I think decided Liv was more interesting, said something about cred or whatever."

  "So what's up, considering its Thanksgiving and you and Mom have been on a high for the past few days, neither of you look like you have much to be thankful for."

  "Don’t worry about a thing Noah, everything will be fine."

  "What do you mean? Are you and Mom ok?" I ask, slightly panicked.

  The guy looks more than stressed and guilty as hell. I can't help wondering about that phone call I overheard him having with Liv's incubator, I wonder if it has anything to with that.

  "Of course we are. I may have made a small mistake."

  "What do you mean a mistake?"

  "This has to be kept between us Noah, I haven't had a chance to talk to Liv about it yet."

  This doesn’t sound good and I sure don’t feel good about keeping things from Liv.

  "Oh no, I'm not hiding anything. When are you planning to tell her what you’ve done anyway?"

  "I have no choice but to tell her in the next hour."

  I get a cold feeling that seeps through me right into my very bones. That same bad feeling I get when something bads about to go down.

  "What have you done?" I ask warily, I haven't got a clue what he's about to say but what he does send the blood in my veins turning cold.

  "Livs Mother is coming to Thanksgiving." He rushes out as one word.

  I stand there gobsmacked replaying what he just said, did I hear right?

  "I'm sorry, what?"

  "She wanted Liv to spend Thanksgiving with her and I knew Liv wouldn’t go for it and then she started to guilt trip me saying I wasn’t even encouraging her relationship with Liv to get better. Then she started crying saying she was gonna be spending Thanksgiving alone for the first time without Liv."

  Well I know that’s bullshit since Livs already dropped out that she spent Thanksgiving with Trina and Ada.

  "Ok, so how the hell did you get from that to your ex wife who your daughter fucking hates by the way spending Thanksgiving here."

  "I don’t know." His hands cover his face and I'd feel sorry for the guy if I wasn’t too worried about how Liv was gonna take it.

  "Well when is she gonna get here?" And how the hell am I gonna keep myself from revealing Livs past and killing her Mother.

  "In about fifty minutes now." He looks at his watch. "I know, Liv likes you, you're friends, you tell her."

  "Oh no way dude, this is totally on you, you can't expect me to do that." I say putting my hands up in surrender.

  "Please Noah, she'll take it better from you. Shes already pissed at me about last night."

  It would sound better coming from me but I don’t think I could face seeing the devastation on Livs face when I tell her. She won't be able to sit at a table for however many hours this is gonna take across from that witch. Come to think of it, how the hell am I gonna do it without sticking a carving fork right in her chest?

  Letting out a sigh, I bow my head. Phil has no idea why this would be so hard for me, he thinks we're just friends, that we've bonded like step siblings. He has no idea that Liv is my entire life, my heart and seeing her sad or upset just breaks me. I don’t think the guy realizes just how bad this is, Livs still pretty prickly about what happened last night, I think this might just tip her and her Dad's relationship over the edge.

  "I'll go and talk to her." I say, completely resigned.

  "Thank you, thank you so much. I really owe you one for this." He ruffles my hair and I give him a glare before leaving the room. May aswell get this shit over with.

  I walk up the stairs at a snails pace, quickening my steps when I hear the sound of Livs voice shouting. Does she know? I wouldn’t put it past her bitch of a Mother tto call her and gloat. She probably thinks this is some kind of victory. Turning the corner onto the hallway I see Chase stumbling out of Livs room, ducking before a shoe hits him right in the head.

  "It's for my project!" He shouts, dodging the missiles coming towards him.

  "My underwear has nothing to do with your project, go and bother someone else before I fucking throw you and your damn camera out the window."

  "What you do now dumbass?" I ask, glaring at him.

  "I totally don’t understand chicks, so confusing." He says, shaking his head, completely flummoxed.

  If he wasn’t my brother I would have totally drowned the little fucker by now. I walk into Livs room, shes swiping sme mascara over her eyelashes. She looks incredible with her new shoes my Mom bought her on her feet making her legs look a mile long. The red skater dress showing her figure off perfectly, she looks beautiful.

  "Hey gorgeous, what's going on with you and the jackass?"

  "Ugh apparently his pervy little friends wanted to know what kind of underwear I wear?"

  "THEY WHAT?!"

  "Calm down caveman, you can't go beating on kids. Poor Chase, I think they tricked him."

  "Fuckers better stop thinking about your underwear or else they may find themselves stuffed in locker." I shout, waving my hands in the air like a complete fucking loon. "You look amazing by the way."

  "Why thank you very much Mr Travers, you look quite dashing yourself. When Brady getting here?" She bounces the long loose curls in her hands, spraying some hairspray that forces me to take a step back to protect myself from being suffocated.

  "He text me earlier, he should be here soon. Listen I, um, I need to talk to you about something." I should have told Phil to do his own dirty work, the bastard.

  "What about?" A frown mars her lovely face and I rub my finger over it in a bid to flatten it.

  "Come and sit down." I gesture towards the bed, taking a seat myself, my leg jumping with nerves.

  "Noah, what's wrong?"

  I tap the bed next to me, waiting for her to sit down.

  "Now before I tell you this, just remember I love you and your Dad loves you. Remember that I told you I would never let nobody fucking hurt you again and I meant it." I take a deep breath. "Your Mothers on her way here for Thanksgiving."

  Livs mouth open and closes a few times, I look in her eyes and notice disappointment, probably that this is her first proper family Thanksgiving in a long time and it's about to be ruined. I know she enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with Trina but it's not the same as spending it with your own family. As quickly as I see those feelings on her face, that same old mask comes down, replacing the sadness with anger. Uh oh.

  "Why would she be coming here?" Her voice is calm and quiet, her knuckles white with the clenching of her fists.

  "Your Dad kinda invited her." She simply nods before standing up. Oh fuck, the shit is about to hit the fan.

  She walks out the room, h
er fists still clenched at her side, a look of determination on her face. I'm like a duck outta fucking water, I haven't got a clue how to handle the situation or what to do. Do I try to stop her? No, fuck that, Phil got himself into this shit, its up to him to get himself out of it.

  "Liv maybe you should calm down a bit before speaking to your Dad."

  "I am calm Noah, I'm unbelievably calm, you wouldn’t believe how FUCKING CALM I AM!"

  Alrighty then, I guess she's totally calm. I'm hot on her heels as she throws the door open to Phil's office, he's sitting at his computer, a glass of what looks like scotch like scotch sitting on the desk next to him.

  "Liv-"

  "Why the hell would you invite the Devils sister here for Thanksgiving?"

  "I thought I was doing what was best, you can't keep this feud going forever. She is your Mother after all Liv."

  "Are you fuckinh crazy? Don’t comment on things you know nothing about, you hightailed it out of Atlanta as soon as you could and came to this rinky dink town to hide, you know fuck all, Just because you suddenly decided to become more than a one a month Dad don’t think you can comment on anything." Livs words definitely hit Phil hard and with a look that could cut a thousand down she storms out the room.

  It’s a good job she's wearing red because I have a feeling there'll be bloodshed at this dinner. I have no doubt that this will be one Thanksgiving none of us will be able to forget.

  ***

  Well this Thanksgiving is off to a fucking brilliant start. My Moms looking at Phil as if she would love nothing more than to roast him on a spit, Liv is sitting next to my Grandma looking as if she's gonna throw her in the damn fireplace any minute, Bradys acting like his puppy died and if Chase doesn’t get that fucking camera out of my face I'm gonna whack him over his damn empty head with it.

  The three knocks on the door knocker has me sitting straight, they do say three knocks signals a death in the family and with the way this day is going, there could be several. Nobody makes any attempt to move, my Mom and Liv glaring at Phil as if they'd love nothing more than to set him on fire. If I was him, id hope I don’t survive this day cause he in for a whole world of pain tomorrow.