the best surprise was you...

Christmas break (part two)

As the first week of the Christmas holidays progressed Beth and Viv started to call each other more and more often. Eventually calling at least twice a day, to much annoyance of both of their families. But Viv and Beth didn't care. They both just couldn't go without each other. As soon as their phone call had ended they wanted to call again. And if they weren't calling each other they were constantly texting. This made time go very slowly and very fast at the same time. Both Viv and Beth couldn't wait for it to be Sunday so that they didn't have to use a phone to stay in contact.
After a week of mainly staying in her room, it was finally time for Viv to start packing up her things and putting them back in her suitcase. She was so glad this week was over. It had not been fun at all. Right after telling her grandma of her breakup her mom started droning on and on about how she should not give up and that she should keep fighting for the "love of her life" as she always called Lisa. It was no good telling her or anyone for that matter that it was really over and that she wouldn't get back together with her. In the end, Viv decided it was better for her to just stay in her room and only come down at meal times. It pained her to do it because it had been so long since she had been home properly and she wanted to spend a lot more time with her brother than she was doing now, but every time she wanted to spend time with him her parents seemed to be around too.

Viv was halfway done packing up her suitcase when she heard a soft knock on the door. "can I come Viv?" It was her brother. Viv got up quickly and opened her bedroom door to let her brother in. "hey" he said softly as he closed the door. "Can we talk?" Viv nodded and sat down on her bed. Her brother meanwhile looked around the room with a puzzled look on his face. "Are you packing?" he asked, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Viv could've hit herself. Because she was so worked up about her parents she had completely forgotten to tell them that she was going back a week earlier than originally planned. "Uh yeah, I am," she said quietly. "But why?"

"I think you know why" Viv said not meeting Lars's eyes. "Can't you give it a go one more time? I know they have been less than understanding towards you but please can you just try to reason with them?" Viv knew why her brother was trying to get her to talk to their parents. He hated any sort of conflict and by trying to mend things between them he was also trying to get her to stay. "I've tried Lars but they just won't listen to me." Lars sighed and sat down next to her. "Okay, what if we go down together and just sit them down for a proper conversation. I will be by your side the whole time and can back you up whenever you need me to." Viv just stared at the ground wanting to respond but the words just didn't seem to come. Of course it was very heartwarming to hear that her brother wanted to support her so badly but she also felt that it was not his battle to fight but hers and right now she just did not feel up to fighting. "That's very sweet of you but... I just can't do it. Not right now at least." Lars put his arm around his big sister and squeezed her arm. "I know it is difficult but you'll have to face it some day and by pushing something way down isn't going to help you. In fact it will only make things worse because if you're not going to do it now then when? I mean it will only get harder the longer you wait." Viv knew that he was right. Of course he was but everytime she wanted to have a sit down conversation with either of her parents she got a big lump in her throat and she couldn't get a word out.
"Like I said I'll be with you the whole time and if at any moment you feel like it's too much we just stop okay?" Viv knew she had to give in and so she agreed to come downstairs to talk to their parents.

They sat down in the livingroom, Lars with his arm still tight around his sister he called for his parents. They came from the kitchen as they just had breakfast. They both halted when they saw that Viv was sitting there too.
"finally decided to show up then?" her mother said with a light sneer. "Cut it out" Lars said quickly. "please, just sit down and listen okay?" Lars looked over at Viv and she knew that this was the moment to say everything that was on her mind. "You can do it" Lars whispered in her ear and so Viv took a deep breath and started to talk. She told them about everything that happened that led up to the breakup. She told them about Lisa staying out late, not even bothering to ask her. Always staying up late waiting for her to come home mainly because she was not able to sleep without her by her side. She even told them about the time when Lisa had cheated on her, which she hadn't ever told anyone not even her brother. And once she was past this point, she kept rambling on and on, telling them how hurt she was that her parents were not there for her and how she had really needed a shoulder to cry on and the fact that, that wasn't them had really broken her. She told them how hard it had been on her after the breakup. How she had sleepless nights because she had so much trouble falling asleep now a days because Lisa always used to hold her while she fell asleep, and if she was finally asleep that she had nightmares, nightmares about everything from that past few months.
Viv had been talking for so long that her throat went all dry. She also couldn't even remember starting to cry but she suddenly felt tears streaming down her face and falling onto her lap. She quickly wiped her face with the back of the sleeve and looked down at her lap. She couldn't look her parents in the eye just yet.
It took a while for anyone to say anything but it was Viv's dad who broke the silence first. "I just want to say..." Viv could hear his voice cracking up "I'm really, really sorry Viv that I've ever made you feel that way. Like you couldn't come to us when you needed to." Viv knew that her dad had started crying and for the first time since the start of the week, she looked up and into her dad's eyes. She did not quite meet her mother's eyes yet though, she still needed to hear it from her too. She waited for her mother to say something but it didn't come, instead, she stood up, walked over to the couch and hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe. "oh Viv, I'm so sorry." her mother sobbed whilst hugging her more and more tightly. "I never in a million years would have thought that you were having all these struggles in your relationship. Oh I'm so sorry." Viv knew that it would take a bit more time for the wounds that her parents had made to heal but she felt that this conversation had put them in the right direction. It was like Beth had said: Wounds take time to heal but eventually they always do, even though you might get left with a little scar to remind you of your battles and how you pushed through them.