Find me in Stonebrook

Twenty Four

*Tessa's POV*

Parker drew circles and squiggles and lines over my skin. Over and over again. His touch warming me entirely. All I could think about right now was how beautiful this moment was. The sun from his partially open curtains burning my face, a slight summer breeze making the scorching room feel a lot cooler, hair on my skin standing to attention, greeting it welcomingly.

"How about we go to the beach today? Me, you, Wells, Jules and the guys. Make a day of it."

"That sounds nice." I nodded against his chest. "I can go text them. I need some water anyway."

"I can-"

"I can get my phone and 2 glasses of water Parker. Stay there. You've moved enough this morning and last night." He smirked. I was achy. All over. From my neck all the way down to my toes. He had pushed me to the very edge of my capabilities. Taking more and more each time and it was too damn good to say no. I stumbled into the kitchen, knowing I needed to get my legs moving a little if I had any hope of acting somewhat normal with the group today. They were already going to be asking about what happened. Where we went to, what's happening with us, am I coming home, what about Ben. My stomach churned and I tied to shake the thought from my head. No. We're happy right now. Not making decisions right now. We can decide what to do with Ben later.

"Glasses are-"

"In the cupboard second from the left." I smiled to myself. Like I expected him to keep his things anywhere different to where his Mom kept things in this very house. Nothing had moved really. I filled the glasses up, setting them on the sofa and looking through my purse for my phone.

Ben

Hey Tessa.
I know today's the wedding, hope everything
goes okay and you have the best night. Give
Jayde and Aiden my love.
Listen. I've been thinking about a lot since we
spoke the other day and I need to get it off my chest
so if you want to save this until tomorrow morning,
that's fine.
Okay. Here goes.
Tessa, I know things aren't great with us right now
I know you still don't trust me and I know you're
going through something that you don't want to
share with me for whatever reason. I know I'm going
to be spending the rest of my life regretting what
happened. Sleeping with Natasha was the worst
mistake of my life. I can see it hurting you still
Tessa. I can see the way you look at me and
how much you hate me for what I did. I honestly
wouldn't blame you for wanting to hurt me and
doing something stupid whilst you're down there.
I hope if you're reading this the morning after the
wedding that you woke up alone and you're going
to come back to me so we can fix this. Because I
want to fix us Tessa. I really want to make this
better and I'm willing to do anything to get us
there.
I'm guessing you found the ring Tessa and that's
why you ran and why you told Wells about everything
I feel so guilty Tessa. I just wish you were here so we
could talk about why it's so scary for you to put
this ring on your finger.
If you're not ready yet Tessa, we can talk about it
Whatever it is. Anything. We'll get through it.
I promise. I love you Tessa. Please come home to me.
Speak soon Sweetheart x

"Tess, come back to bed babe."

My whole body turned to ice as reality set in.

I have Ben at home. Sitting on the couch sending me texts a mile long because he cheated on me and I've been pushing him out, whilst I'm laid naked in bed with my ex. That's what this boiled down to. This was no better than what Ben did 3 years ago. This was going to hurt him like it hurt me. I breathed in, locking my phone and putting it back in my bag, walking back to the bedroom with the glasses and forcing my hand to be steady as I put it down beside him.

"You okay angel?"

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. I text the guys. I should go home and shower and change though. Get Wells up and everything." I leaned over, pulling my underwear back on from the floor, scanning the room for my dress.

"What's the rush?"

"I'm sweaty and it's already half 10. If you want to make a day out of it we should be out there before lunch and I need to pack food and drinks and whatever else." He climbed out of bed, pulling on some clothes himself. "You can stay here Parker, it's not a long walk home."

"No chance baby. I'll drive." He grabbed my hand and I pushed everything to the side. I'm a trained actress. I can do a 5 minute car drive acting like everything's perfectly fine. Like he is my audience and this has to be the best performance of my entire life.

"Okay." I nodded quickly, grabbing his hand and placing a kiss on the back of it pulling him through the house. Parker laughed, falling behind me.

"Slow down Tess, I need to grab some shoes." I grabbed my shoes and bag from the side, swallowing as I stared at the flowers on the side. Don't cry Tessa. You cannot cry right now. Keep it together. "Okay, let's get you home."

We climbed into the car and I slid down the bench as close to him as possible. My heart was shattering in my chest and this time it felt so much harder than it did the first time. Because I knew it was coming. I knew this was going to happen. I knew what spending time with Parker meant and I was stupid enough to forget about New York and Ben and everything he's done for me and how shitty of a person I'd become. Who does this? Who comes home to work out a plan for their future and ends up falling back in love with their ex whilst they're in a long term committed relationship? God was I fucked in the head or something?

I sat up straight, slowly pulling his arm off me as he pulled up outside of Mom's. I leaned up, pressing a hard kiss against his cheek before climbing out of the car.

"Pick you up in an hour?"

"We'll meet you there. I've got Wells and he takes forever." I rolled my eyes, smiling softly. "Head down there when you're ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I nodded quickly. "It'll be a nice walk. Wells is probably hungover and I can show him all the little side streets I haven't been able to yet."

"Okay. I'll see you down there then." I shot him another smile as the tears started flowing, turning on my heels and walking up to the house, and pushing the door open.

"Wells?"

"He's upstai- What's wrong Tessa?"

"Nothing. But I'm going back to New York."

"What? When?"

"Now. Can you - uh- can you help me get my stuff together, I really need a shower before I go home."