I open up the gate and look down at my watch; it’s only eight thirty and I feel giddy. I wonder if parents are still up. I park my car and grab my bags. I think about the cocktails and smile; I guess it wasn’t that bad really. The few times I had snuck a drink with Ethan when I was in high school I really hated it. It made me feel sick and the head ache that followed was just too much to bear, but these were nice but I do still think it’s going to give a damn headache. I walk up to the door and then I think about him standing there kissing some girl. I scold myself for feeling so sad about it. He had a girlfriend and he was clearly cheating on her so it’s best to stay away from him. “Hi… I’m home” I say and walk down the hall to the lounge. I find my parents sitting in front of the TV sipping on a glass of wine. I want to join them and talk to them a bit. “Hi…” I say and put my bag down on the floor and fall into the couch opposite theirs. My father narrows his eyes at me and I wonder what he could be thinking. I narrow my eyes too and then he sits up and moves in to have a closer look at me. I sit up and move in too. Then I see him smile brightly. “Are you drunk?” He asks and I see my mother almost choking on her next sip of wine. I’m shocked at his words and feel appalled. I put my hand to my heart feeling a bit hurt but its only fleeting. “Father how you could say such a thing… You know I don’t drink” I say and my mother lifts her brows at me. “Well… You never come home this late…” He says and looks at his watch. I feel angry now and get up from the chair. “Well the last time I checked I was twenty three years old and old enough to stay out as long as I like… That is what adults do right?” I ask and then suddenly feel confused. My mother looks at my father and he stops smiling. “So tell us how your night was” He says and sits back down on the chair and pulls my mother back with him. I feel giddy again and start telling them about the great night I had and the cocktails I had drunk, but I also assured them that I was not drunk and that I drove home very carefully. “Remind me to have a chat with Garett and Nicole the next time they are here regarding their drunk driving.” My mother says as she gets up and walks to the kitchen. “Would you like some coffee?” She asks and I shake my head no. She stops and looks at me. “I think I need to get to bed. My head is going to hurt like hell in the morning” I say and get up. My mother continues walking to the kitchen and pours a glass of water. She takes out the pain pills and comes walking towards me. “Here drink this… It will make your headache in the morning less severe” she says and I take the pills and swallow it quickly. “I think I should get to bed I really feel tired…” I say and get up again and pick up my bag and start walking up the stairs. There was something I wanted to tell my mother but I had completely forgotten. I will remember in the morning; hopefully. I think as I walk up the stairs to my room. I put my bag down and walk to the bathroom. I open the tap and let the water run for a bit. I stand looking at myself in the mirror and for the first time I see something in me I have never acknowledged before. I was beautiful; really pretty. My hair was dark and my eyes looked Asian. I wasn’t brown but I wasn’t white either, I was the perfect shade of coloured, I just didn’t get my father’s blue eyes. I think about his blue eyes, how light his skin was with just a touch of beige for effect. He had spikey hair which he wore short in the back and long in front, it was so hot and sexy. His body was hard and tough with every muscle he had flexing at will. He was like caramel; sweet and addictive. I feel a chill go down my spine and my nipples harden suddenly. I feel the chicken skin ripple through my body and my lady bits start to throb. I hated the effect he had on my especially since I had no effect on him. It wasn’t fair, why was this happening to me now? Why had this not happened years ago? I realize that the water has been running for a while now and I quickly undressed and got inside. The water was nice and warm and I just let it pour all over me. I try to get my mind of him but it’s hard. Frustrated I start washing myself vigorously and get out. I walk over to my dresser and take out some undies and a sleep shirt. I climb into bed and roll onto my side. I look out the window at the moonlight shining in and I know I wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight. Maybe I should go down stairs and steal some of my parents wine and get hammered. I decide against it. I wonder why he would ask me if I had ever been in love? What does that have to do with Romeo and Juliet me having been in love? I sit up and sigh. I climb out of bed and get the book from out of my bag. I look at the cover again.
I open the book and start reading the prologue:
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
I take a deep breath and start reading again… Act 1 Scene 1…
Chapter Eight
I hear a buzzing sound as my phone goes off under my pillow. I feel my eyes are still heavy and sore from the reading last night and I can barely focus as I try and figure out what was splashed all over my phone screen. It was a text… From Nicole I manage to make out and sit up. The sun was shining hard through the curtains and the room was lit up from wall to wall. I glance over to my clock ten o’clock. Gosh I never sleep this late. I’m surprised that my mother hadn’t come and woke me up yet. Unless she was in here already and saw that I was as good as dead under these pillows. I see Romeo and Juliet lying in between the covers and I sigh. It was a terrible story. I get it now. And felt hurt and pain in places I never knew existed. All she wanted was love and all he wanted to give was love and be loved in return. I sigh again and then I look down at the screen. How is the head feeling today? I read Nicole’s text and think about it for a second. I didn’t have a headache but I felt exhausted. I feel like shit… stayed up all night reading… what did you guys get up too? I text back and get out of bed. I walk to the dresser and looked at my tired sleep deprived face. I know if I get more sleep I was going to feel even worse. The best remedy now is my mother’s pancakes and coffee and then a lounge session in front of the TV and then a cool shower. That always worked for me when I studied all night for an exam the next day. I hear my phone go off again. The usual… Catwalk Bohemia and then we headed to a house party in the Valley. She texts back and I shrug my shoulders. Don’t be late for the party tonight… I’m leaving at 7… I text and then she texts me back a smiley face, fist bump and a kiss. The days of proper language usage is now replaced with emoji’s. I shake my head and put my phone on charge. James hadn’t let me know what he has decided yet and I sigh. Should I let him know that my feelings have changed about Romeo and Juliet? No I will wait until he contact me and then I will tell him how I feel. How I feel about the play I rectify my thoughts quickly and blow out the hot air building up inside me again. I walk down stairs and my stomach starts growling as the smell of pork fills my nostrils. “Good morning infidels” I say and my father looks up at me over his newspaper and stares at me questioning. “Like seriously dad who still read the actual newspaper?” I ask as I walk over to where my mother was standing making the eggs. She looks at me and smiles. “Can I help you with anything mom?” I ask and she points to the bread in the toaster. “Well I will have you know that according to new studies it has been found that more people are now conforming back to the old method of reading than to your new digital platform. They had found the digital platform to be more distracting and manipulates the mind to not focus on the real issues at hand” I hear my father say and he
snaps he paper at me. I open my mouth in sarcastic horror. “And who did this study?” I ask and lift my brow at him. “That doesn’t matter… The point is there is nothing wrong with reading the actual paper newspaper” he says and I start laughing. My mother starts laughing too and I look at my dad. “I have to agree with you dad… I think books are back” I say and see him smile at me. I loved his blue eyes guess that why I’m so madly in love with James. Oh God I nearly drop the plate with the bread as my mind starts thinking in a direction I had never dreamt of thinking. Well not right now that is. I was in love with him? Could it be? “Hey… Are you okay?” I hear my mother ask as she grabs hold of the plate too. I feel hot and embarrassed. “Yes… I’m fine…I just lost my balance there for a second… aftermath of Cubana’s cocktails” I say and hurry over to the table as she grabs the plates from the counter and comes walking over to the table to join us. I was in love with? Was it even possible for me to feel such a thing? I don’t even know him? Then I think about Juliet and how she had fallen in love with Romeo… Was it actually possible love at first sight? I feel the frown forming on my face and look up into my father’s eyes. “Is everything okay?” He asks and I feel hot and flustered. “Yeah… Everything is fine.” I say and smile at him and start digging away at my breakfast. I don’t talk much as my mind is suddenly swept away to the mid-evil century and I was Juliet and James was Romeo. No no! Don’t be fucking ridiculous Annabelle this is no movie this was real life and in this real life James had a girlfriend who is half way across the world and he is cheating on her with every available women on campus. I sigh and feel desponded. Why did my heart have to choose to be moved by him? This was the worst thing ever. Being in love with an assehole smartass rugby buffoon with the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. This wasn’t fair. What had I done to deserve this kind of punishment? I moved to the couch after my mom and I tidied the kitchen. I wonder how he must be feeling. Stop it Annabelle. He barely thinks about you; why are you forever allowing him to be in your mind. I get up from the couch and run upstairs. I needed to do something other than lie on this couch today and think about James King. “Hey… Do you want to go shopping?” I ask my mom as she sits in front of her laptop in the extra bedroom they converted into a sun room. She looks up at me confused and I smile. “Sure… That would be great… I was just thinking I needed a new pair of jeans” She says and smiles at me brightly. “Okay… I’m just gonna change and then we can go…” I say and dash out of the room. I open my closet and look through the clothes. Everything was either black or grey or blue. There was not a single bit of colour. I think that maybe Garett and Nicole was right, I need a wardrobe change. Okay maybe not an entire wardrobe change but defiantly a change in colour. Yes today I will put a little colour in my life. What was going on with me? I have always been a classic girl never taking risks, maybe because I have been so obsessed with school and with succeeding that I never really noticed everything that was going on around me. I pull on my jeans and the most in fashion t-shirt I have and my sandals. I leave my hair loose and put some lips gloss on. I look at myself in the mirror and feel giddy again. Without alcohol? I smile at myself and head out of the room. I hear my parents talking down stairs and meet them in the kitchen. My mother is glowing and my dad seems strange too, he has a look on his face I can’t really place… He looks proud. “You ready?” I ask and she smiles at me. She grabs the keys to her car and I frown. “No… I’m driving you’re coming out with me today” I say and smile as I walk out. I see her smiling at my father and then she follows me out the door. We climb into my car and strap ourselves in. “So Waterfront?” I ask and she smiles brightly at me. “Wherever you want to go is fine with me” She says and I start the car. The day was amazing. She helped me buy some new tops and shirts and we remembered to get a gift for Summer and I helped her find jeans. We had lunch at a restaurant on the dock and then we headed home. It was five in the afternoon and it was a day well spent. Today was the first time in twenty three years that my mother and I didn’t argue. It was something else watching her choose out clothes for me and me being open to her weird tastes and style. It wasn’t really that bad any way. “So did you speak to your partner about the assignment” I hear my mother asks as we drive back home. I can’t lie and say that James had not been on my mind the whole time we were out today. Every outfit I had tried on I was wondering what he would have thought if he saw me in it. It was really bad. “Yes I had talked to him and told him how I felt and I asked him to think about whether he would work with me and make me understand what it is he wanted me to see or read or whatever” I tried sounding as calm as possible. My mother shakes her head and agrees. “That’s good…” She says and looks at me. “Have you heard from him yet?” She asks and I close my eyes dismally. “No… But he did ask me something really weird…” I say and I don’t know if it’s something I would want to discuss with my mother but I decide to just tell her. “What was it?” She asks as I stall for time. I feel hot as I see her look at me. “He asked me if I had ever been in love” I say and she looks surprised. “What did you tell him” She asks and I blow out hot air as it gathers in my head. “I told him the truth… No” I say and she looks out in front of her. “You’ve never been in love?” She says out loud and I feel weird. “Well of course not mom… did you see any boys walking after me in high school no… and I never brought anyone home so… do the math” I say and suddenly feel annoyed at her oblivion. “Why?” she asks and I feel stupid all of a sudden. “Why…” I repeat the question and think about it for a second. This was something he was going to ask me too and then I will have to have answer. “I don’t know… I just didn’t feel like dating… I was focused mom… My schooling was very important to me and I saw the way boys treated girls and I kind of vowed to myself that I never wanted to be hurt like that… I wanted to do everything I want to do before I tie myself down to someone” I say and she pulls an excepting face. “And oddly enough… It’s never really bothered me but now that I’m basically done… It’s like my minds so open and its thinking about things that I never would normally think about” I say and my mother sits listening to me. We drive on in silence for a while and then I look over at her. “I’m sorry I was such a terrible child… I know you wanted to protect me from becoming the very person I had become today. I just wanted to make you proud. I think success became like an obsession and everything and everyone who stood in the way of my succeeding became a threat. I know now that you only wanted me to be happy… And even thought I tried to convince myself that I was happy… I wasn’t, well not completely… But the time has come for me to explore…” I say and smile at her. I see the tears glistening in her eyes and I take her hand and squeeze it tightly. “Today was one of the best days of my life… Thanks mom” I say and then she cries. We start laughing. “It was one of the best days of my life too… If Grandma Alice was alive she would say it’s going to rain cats and dogs tomorrow… Very sarcastically” I say and we start laughing even harder. We pull into the gates and I see that my father was watering the front garden. He closes the hose and comes walking towards us. We had stopped and picked up take-away’s for them for supper and I was going to be late for Summer’s party if I didn’t get ready now. “Let me go and get ready… The guys are going to be here any second now and I don’t even want to think about Garett’s mouth if I’m not ready” I say and dash inside as my dad and mom hugs for a bit. “Good day…” My dad says and my mother sighs and smiles from ear to ear. “Great day…” She says and they kiss.
I throw the bags on my bed and strip down and jump into the shower. I wash quickly and walk into the room. I sit down in front of my dresser and look at myself in the mirror. The girl staring back at me looks like me but different; a good different. I sigh and reach down into my bag on the floor for one of my panties. I see something in it. It was hole… Not just any hole… A heart. I throw the panties on the floor and feel the horror creep into my throat and I let out a little scream. I look down at th
e rest of the underwear in the bag and take out another panty… It had a heart shaped hole too. My hands start to shake as all the panties that I had brought from Res the day before; it all had heart shaped holes in them. I see my mother coming into the room and I feel my lips trembling. “Nicole and Garett’s here” she says and looks at her fear stricken and I start shaking. The panties lie all over my dresser. I hear Nicole and Garett coming up the stairs and I sit there naked and horrified. My mother rushes over to me and my mind can’t register what was happening. “Annabelle honey is everything okay” She says as he kneels down in front of me. I listen to her and point to the panties on the dresser. She takes them off and I see the horror in her eyes. I hear her breath get caught as she realises what this meant. “He wanted me… It should have been me” I say and then I start crying uncontrollably. I see Nicole and Garett come in as my mother pulls me into her arms. “Hey guys what is going on?” I hear Garett ask and I see Nicole walking to me and take a panty of the dresser. She looks at it and throws it back. She looks at me horrified and I feel the guilt well up inside me. “Did he attack you too…?” She asks and I see the fear all over her face and I shake my head no. “No this was the stuff I had brought back from Res yesterday… he must have done it the night he… he… Had not gotten to me and decided to punish me by hurting you” I say and feel like I was going to be sick. I push pass my mother and run to the bathroom and puke my heart out. This day that started out so wonderful was turning out to be a nightmare all over again. “What… You mean you think that he was really after you and hurt Nicole instead to send you some kind of message” I finally hear Garett speaking from inside my room. I look at my reflection in the mirror and I feel the fear creep into my heart. Even though it’s been almost a month since the attack doesn’t mean that he had given up. Maybe he just hasn’t had the chance to get to me since I was living with my parents. He was out there waiting for his perfect opportunity to get to me. My mother comes walking into the bathroom holding my clothes. I take it from her and start dressing. “You want me to call Summer and tell her you’re not going to make it?” My mother asks and for a second I had forgotten about my engagement. “No I don’t want to spoil her night by having her worried about me… We will go maybe it will do me good to get out” I say and I see my mother smile nervously. I finish up dressing and see Nicole sitting on my bed nervously. “This makes no sense… Who would want to hurt you” She says and gets up and I feel guilty again. Her eye is still a light shade of blue and it reminds me that it should have been me. Garett sits at the dresser looking into the distance. I hate that everyone was suddenly so miserable. “Come let’s go… We’re going to be late” I say and then Nicole looks at me surprised. “You’re still going… We don’t have to you know we can just stay here and chill” Nicole says and I know she doesn’t want me stressing about this attacker anymore tonight. I look at Garett and he lifts his brow at me. “No… I promised Summer that we’d be there and if I don’t come she is going to worry even more… So let’s not spoil her day too” I say and Nicole smiles at me comforting. I turn to my mother and she smiles at me too. “Well then let’s go ladies” I hear Garett says behind me and smiles nervously. I grab my bag and walk out of my room. I see my father standing in the lounge and he looks worried. “We’ll be okay Mr Spence…I will take care of them” I hear Garett say and my father smiles at him comforting. “I won’t be too late” I say and then we head out. I get into my car and Nicole and Garett gets into his. I sit there for a moment thinking about everything that was revolving around in my head regarding to everything that has happened. I start the car and we drive out to Summer’s house.
Loving Annabelle Page 13