𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐒 • Luke Dunphy

xi . fire

TW this chapter contains themes of child abuse at the start.

A gay wedding was never something Tiana's parents would let her go to. Along with the addictions and child abuse, they were also homophobes. Shocker, right? So, when Cam and Mitch invited Tiana to their wedding, she told her parents that Cam was short for Camila. They didn't question her. They barely did.

The night before the wedding, Tiana's parents had been drinking pretty heavily. She reminded them about the wedding, which they'd previously agreed to, but they clearly forgot.

"What wedding?" Her mom slurred, "I haven't heard about no wedding."

"Alex's aunt and uncle," Tiana told her, "Mitchell and Camila. You said I could go, mom. I have the voicemail of you giving me permission, listen!"

"She doesn't need to hear a voicemail to know that she said no," Tiana's father piped up, "Now you get back up those stairs and don't mention this fake wedding of yours again. You think we don't see through your tricks? We know this is all some ploy so you can go to a party."

"Dad, if I was going to a party I'd just tell you. It's a wedding. Why would I come up with such a stupid lie?"

"Are you calling me and your mother stupid?"

"What? That's not what I said!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me!"

"But you're not listen-"

SMACK.

Right in the face.

Then it kept going. Until her shoulders, arms, legs and face were all bruised. Her father hadn't gotten this bad in a while. Every blow brought her back to middle school, when her dad beat her because she forgot to hand in a homework assignment.

With her dad, it wasn't a certain level of things that got him going. Sometimes, she'd be caught sneaking out, skipping school, and he'd give her no more than a telling off. Sometimes she could be two minutes late to school and get a full on beating. It wasn't about what she did, it was about how her dad was feeling when she did it. Right now, he clearly wasn't very happy.

Tiana sat in her mirror, using foundation to cover up the bruise on her face. Her parents had forgotten about the argument last night, so she was still allowed.

She covered every exposed bruise in foundation. Her legs, her arm, her face. It wasn't comfortable, but it was better than people seeing them. At this point, after the trouble it had caused, she wasn't in the mood to go to a wedding, but she didn't wanna let Mitch and Cam down on their big day. Plus, she loved weddings.

After an uncomfortable cab ride with a particularly weird cab driver, Tiana finally arrived at the venue. A few people seemed to be stressed, but she found Luke and Manny.