Underthink

Chapter Seventeen // The Broken Past

- Dale's POV -

~~ Several Years Ago ~~

Me and Leila were good, very good in fact. She gave me strength, encouragement and taught me how to love myself.

I was thirteen years old when I spotted her kicking stones across the street outside my grandparents house, I would watch her miserably walk around with no one to talk to or nothing to do.

"Go talk to her!" My grandad said once he realised how much I watched her from the living room window, I thought about it for half an hour before forcing myself out the front door and over to where she was sitting on the pavement.

When I approached her I had nothing to say, I was speechless. She looked even more beautiful than I had imagined, her tan skin and long black hair but wonderful blue eyes. She looked up at me and smiled, I smiled back before sitting down beside her.

"H-Hello, I'm Dale" I stuttered before holding out my hand to her, she glanced down at my hand and noticed it was shaking with fear.

"I'm Leila" She said quietly as she shook my hand, and that's where it all began.

From that moment I would visit Leila two days a week, Monday and Thursday as those were the days I would see my grandparents. She lived in the same neighbourhood as them.

Leila had just recently moved from Italy to England, her dad got a well paid job here so they had no choice but to move. Leila always told me that moving here was the best thing that had ever happened to her because she met me, her best friend.

As the years went on Leila was all I thought about, she was the reason I woke up everyday and the reason I'd go to sleep to dream about her. So one day I decided to be a man and ask her something I had wanted to say since the first time I spotted her two years ago.

Me and Leila sat in the empty park on the swings, my heart was beating rapidly. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress to match her eyes and her hair was slightly curly. I glanced over at her and waited for her to notice that I was staring.

"What?" Leila asked while giggling, she looked at me and I smiled at her.

"I wanna ask you something" I said as I started to freak out on the inside, she nodded and turned to face me.

"I really like you Leila.. And I mean really like you. I always have, since we became friends when we were thirteen years old.." I said before pausing to compose my words, Leila just continued to stare at me with a slight grin on her face.

"Will you.. be my girlfriend?" I asked quietly while my heart was beating out of my chest, literally. Leila hid her face behind her hands and began to giggle with happiness.

"Of course I will, I've been waiting for that question since the beginning" She said calmly before pulling me close and kissing me for the first time, greatest moment of my life.

Me and Leila were inseparable, we would go everywhere together and fall more in love while doing so. My parents saw her as family and her parents treated me like I was their other son, everything was perfect with her around.

The years passed, and by passed I mean they brought us to the current year.

My family life wasn't good, my mum and dad were fighting a lot and eventually dad left which hit me harder than anything. After being so happy for so long I didn't know how to deal with the sadness and the heartache so I began to drink and get into the wrong crowds. Leila hated this, she was afraid of me when I was in this state.

I stopped for a while because Leila was more important than anything and I didn't want to drive her away, she took care of me on my low nights when I couldn't handle being at home as not seeing my dad was slowly killing me. Her family were always happy to let me stay at their house, even if that meant me being there for days on end. They were the most supporting people I have ever known.

Leila was busy with school most of the time, her parents were very strict with her grades and how much concentration and time she would put into her school work. This meant I was alone most of the time, they didn't let me go to their house when she was studying so I was stuck watching my mum drink herself to death and then take the divorce out on me.. Which I couldn't handle so I met up with a few friends one night and we got into a lot of trouble.

We got drunk, stoned, we damaged property, we set fire to random objects, we beat each other up and that resulted in me going to hospital for multiple things. When Leila found out about this she was furious, I stayed in the hospital over night as I wasn't stable enough to leave which meant Leila showed up at the hospital the next morning.

"D-Dale?" Leila whispered as she entered the hospital room, I opened my eyes slowly and looked over at her and instantly feeling ashamed for what I had done. She looked terrified, her face was pale and her eyes were baggy like she hadn't slept for days.

I was a mess, I broke both of my arms and fractured my ribs, my face was completely fucked up with bruises and cuts..

"I'm sorry Leila, I'm so sorry" I said quietly while closing my eyes, I couldn't look at her knowing I had upset her this much.

"You told me you weren't going to drink, you told me you would stay away from those guys who aren't good for you" Leila said while approaching me and beginning to cry. I stayed still and silent while trying to picture myself anywhere but here.

Leila kissed my forehead gently and her tears met my bruised skin, I opened my eyes and looked at her.

"I love you Dale, I love you so much but I can't look after you any more because I have to look after myself. You're putting so much pressure on me and I can't take it any more.. I'm sorry" Leila poured her heart out as she cried more and more, I couldn't do or say anything to help because I was in so much pain. After she had finished speaking she headed for the door to leave me alone again.

"No! Leila! P-Please!" I screamed as she left, I tried to sit up but I injured myself even more and by then she was gone.

My mum didn't care that I was in hospital, she never visited me the whole time I was there. The moment I was allowed to leave the hospital I went straight to Leila's house to beg for her forgiveness. She is the love of my life and I will not loose her to my stupidity.

I ran all the way to her house and when I got there I fell to the ground and screamed, I cried, I told myself off for ruining everything.

She was gone, the house was empty and up for sale.

She was back in Italy.

I went home that night and continued to fuck everything up by fighting with my mother more than we had ever before, she told me she never wanted to see me again and I left. I left with four bags and two broken arms.

I left with a broken heart.