Imperfect love

Chapter twenty-nine

We must have fallen asleep on the couch because I woke up on top of Athena, I turned to look at her and she was just starting to wake up, she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at me.

“Good morning beautiful” I said.

“Good morning, Alex” I started getting up, so she could move. “Where are you going?”

“I’m getting up.”

“No, lay back down” she pouted, and I smiled, I laid back down, my head was on her chest and I could hear her heart beat. My phone rang.

“You have a message” Athena said looking over at the coffee table.

“Who is it?”

“Your mum” I moved and grabbed my phone I opened the text and read it.

“Your father and I want to talk to you.”

“No way I’m coming home mum.”

“Then let’s meet at a public place.”

“Okay, how about we meet at that café, espresso break?»

“Yes, what time?”

“In about an hour and a half”

“Okay, we’ll be there.”

I put my phone down and sighed .

“Is everything ok?”

“My parents want to talk to me.”

“Alex, you are not going back home” she said in a strict tone.

“I’m not, we are meeting in a public place.”

“Okay, when?”

“In one and a half hour”

“Just be careful ok?” She said and I nodded, she motioned for me to get up and I did.

I took a shower and got dressed, I wore sweatpants in case I needed to run, I sat with Athena until it was time to leave, we decided that she would drive me there and when it’s time I’ll text her to pick me up if I don’t then she’ll come looking for me.

We got in the car and I was anxiously moving my leg up and down, I’ve never had a civilized one on one chat with my parents so I was nervous. Athena put her hand in my thigh to calm me down but that made me even more nervous.

“Can you please keep both of your hands on the steering wheel?” I begged.

“Yes, I’m sorry” She seemed disappointed.

“No, I’m sorry, I’m just getting nervous.”

“It’s okay, it’s going to be okay, and if anything happens just text me immediately, okay?”

“Okay”

We got to the café, and I went inside, my parents were already sitting at a table, I sat across them and looked at them waiting for them to speak.

“We wanted to talk to you” My mum said.

“Sure” I shrugged.

“We are attending couples therapy as well as individual therapy.”

“Oh, good for you.”

“We know what we’ve done to you, and we know that we’ve been cruel, we don’t expect you to forgive us, but we want you to know that we are trying to change, we don’t want you to live in fear.”

“Whatever, the damage is already done mum, I wake up at night from nightmares of him beating me, I keep feeling like something is missing, so many things I never got to experience because I never had a normal family, all the guilt I’ve been feeling for what happened that day, even if it’s not my fault, these can’t just be forgotten, I can’t just start acting like a normal teenager, because I’m not a teenager anymore, I lost the chance to be one.” Venom was dripping from my voice and tears rolled down my face, I was so mad.