Erica Clifford - Completed

Fifteen

"Are you sure? People don't seem to respond well when I tell them." 

"100% certain." He adjusted beside me, bumping his shoulder against mine urging me to go on. 

"Fine." I sighed before turning my head back and watching the rain bounce off the floor. 

"So my ex's name is Jason. We met in high school but didn't start going out until after. Our whole relationship was essentially flawless. The odd argument but that's normal so neither of us were worried. We had really good communication, respect for each other, we didn't play games. We talked about getting married and starting our own family. Things were getting like serious serious. Especially as we were getting older. In our kind of social group, how old you are when you get married doesn't matter as much as it does elsewhere. If you find that person at 18 and you're together when you turn 21 they will usually propose not long after and that's that right?" 

His eyebrow raised and a short chuckle escaped his lips.

"I know it sounds weird now but that's just how it is. Anyways. We ended up taking the same uni course and in second year, just after my 19th birthday we had to put on like a big performance. So me and Jason had decided to work together on it. I mean you would right? We'd been together just shy of 2 years at this point so we were stable and it just made sense. Anyway, we'd been working on it for like a month. We had to do 2 songs so I was writing them both, putting the music together and everything and he was just going to play the guitar on the night and sing these duets that I wrote for us right? It was so sweet." 

"That's cute." I nodded, a small smile appearing on my lips as I gently laid my head on the edge of his shoulder. 

"It was. I was so happy. Everything was going so well. Rehearsals were great, we sounded amazing. I was so proud of it all. I'd put my heart and soul into those songs, had my dad check them out with me and we made them so they were single worthy. They could have gone so far. We were guaranteed top marks on it. So the big day comes and we get ready and we're laughing and kissing and everything back stage and we're nervous but so excited and so hyped about it all. Soundcheck went perfectly, not a single issue. Now the place was packed with like 2000 people. The most people either of us had performed for. And my dad was there with a load of investors obviously showing off his daughter and these 2 songs she'd written herself and showing them that she was the next face of the business. It was a whole huge business thing. And I was so proud of it." I moved closer to him slightly. The coldness of the rain and me only wearing a thin shirt under the sweater meant I was now freezing on top of everything else. But he was burning. His heat was so comfortable right now. Stopping me from freezing over. 

"So it's out turn, we go up on the stage and I go to speak but my mic is dead. So I look at him and he has this grin on his face as he brings out another girl from the other side and kisses her on the stage before he starts duetting the song I wrote for us. The songs about OUR relationship and he's singing them with the bimbo he'd said was just a friend. And I believed him, because we were perfect right? I didn't have a reason to not believe him. I just stood there playing the guitar, putting on a big smile for everyone. I didn't want him to see how much it was breaking me. And he knew I couldn't risk loosing the grade so I had to just stand there and deal with it for almost 10 fucking minutes."  I sighed and sat up straight now. 

"I could see my mum and dad's faces in the crowd, Mia sat in between them and I felt like I'd let them down. They came to see me. To see me do what she was doing. I was supposed to be her. It was supposed to be me. They brought everyone, for me to be pushed to the background as my boyfriend made out with some other girl in front of 2000 people. And then after we finished I walked off stage and he had the cheek to come over and say he loved me but he didn't want to risk loosing the grade because I couldn't sing. How he didn't want me to be embarrassed or upset with him so close to the show so he just didn't tell me." 

"I called it off there and then, turned and walked to get my stuff. He followed me and was harassing me, trying to stop me leaving. It turned abusive really quick in the dressing room. He had me pinned up against the door by my neck, calling me a whore and god a whole host of other things. I managed to get him off me and I just left. I didn't shed a tear or cry in front of him and didn't say another word to him. My parents didn't find out about the backstage stuff until like 4 months later when we were abroad. I knew my dad would go ape so I made sure to hide the bruises and everything and wait until there was nothing my dad could do." 

I turned and looked Levi in the eyes. His mouth open, but not so wide that it looked like his jaw was disconnected. 

"So yeah. That's why I haven't dated since, why I don't sing in front of people and why I don't let people see what I'm working on until it's ready and my dad has seen it. So he knows it's mine only."

"Ez-" 

"I'm fine." I looked at him again and took a deep breathe. "But yeah. My sister is sleeping with his brother."

"I'm so sorry. That's-" He sighed and leaned his head back slightly. "That's traumatic." 

"You can say that again." I nodded. "You asked though. And I did make sure."

"No I know. I'm not bothered about that. What a dick." I nodded and pressed my lips together. "What happened after?" 

"Nothing really. He turned up a few times a week for like a month or two. He really tried to get me back. He'd send flowers pretty much daily. He'd have my favourite food delivered and it we got to a point where we just started refusing deliveries." I shrugged. "Sorry that was a lot."  My head was back on the cold wall now, us both looking at each other, not knowing what to say. 

"Don't be sweetheart. Can you promise me something?" 

"Depends what it is." 

"If he ever shows up. No matter what. Let me know." 

"Why?" 

"Because I so badly want to beat the shit out of him for hurting you this bad." I furrowed my brow at him and he smiled. 

And ACTION.