Because Of The Bucket List

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Good morning." I smile to everyone at my dining table.

"Hey, we made breakfast. Hope you don't mind. Are you hungry?" Layla smiles at me. I nod and take a seat.

We all sit at the table and eat our breakfast. Everyone having their own conversations. Some of the guys on the hockey team are having a party and the group wants to go. I, however, do not. Of course, they keep trying to get me to go with them.

"What is this?" I hear my mom ask, walking into the kitchen.

"Mom, these are my friends. The came to check on me cause I was sick yesterday." I reply, trying not to tell her they stayed over.

"Oh, nice to meet you all. Arielle can I speak with you?" she asks and head to her room. I nod and follow her.

"What is this?" she asks again.

"I told you mom."

"You can't. You know what happened the last time."

"Mom please, it won't happen again. Please, let me have friends!"

"Have all the friends you want. Don't come running to me when you lose one of them because of your stupidity." She scolds.

"Mom, what happened to Natalie was my fault! I accept that! But I'm not going to anymore parties. It won't happen again. But you can't keep blaming me for screwing up your pathetic marriage! I lost my best friend! I lost my fucking sister!" I scream back at her. I feel the tears prick at my eyes. I refuse to cry in front of her.

"You will watch your mouth! My marriage was not pathetic! You ruined it! You ruined everything!" She yells at me, crying.

I run out of her room and go to mine. I shove some clothes into a bag, grab my phone charger, and purse.

"Let's go!" I yell to everyone. They quickly get their things and head out the door.

"Is everything okay, Elle?" Layla asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need a place to crash tonight." I tell them, asking.

"Oh, well were all staying the night at the party. It's kind of a sleepover, but a lot of people." Ryan says. They all nod in agreement.

"Okay, well, never mind I have a place to go." I lie.

"You sure?" Layla asks. I nod and give her a small smile.

"Bye!" I wave to them, as they all, but Jace, drive off.

"So, where you gonna go?" He questions, like he knows I have nowhere to go.

"A motel, I guess." I shrug. I put my things in my car and close the trunk.

"Do you even know where any are?" he asks.

I look at the ground and shake my head.

"Follow me." He tells me. I nod and we get in our cars and I follow behind him into town.

We arrive at a nice hotel and I go in to get a room. My mom keeps money in my bank account, for emergencies. Not sure what kind of emergency would require almost a thousand dollars. But hey, at least I can buy whatever the hell I want when I want. Right now, I want to blow it all because I hate when she does this. She hates me. She will find something, constantly, to bitch about. I usually just stay in my room. This time, I'm done. I can't stay with someone who hates me for everything wrong in their life. I turn 18 in a little less than a month, October 5th. Hopefully, I can stay here until then.

"You wanna come up?" I ask Jace, getting my bags, and walking back into the hotel.

"Sure." He answers.

We get to my room. It's pretty big for $100 a night. A huge king size bed, even a mini bar.

"I need to talk to you." I tell Jace, sitting my bags on the bed.

"Okay, what about?" He asks sitting at the small table.

"You told me, if I needed, I could talk to you." I sigh.

"Yes, I meant it." He tells me.

"I want to. I don't know why but I trust you." I say giving a small laugh.

"Well thanks." He laughs sarcastically.

"I need you to help me with something. But first, I need to tell you the whole story. My whole story."

He nods for me to continue.

"Well, I'm not sure where to start. I grew up in New York. My mom and I didn't get along very well at all. When I was 14, I met a girl named Natalie. We soon became best friends. She was like my sister. I could tell her anything. We were so close. Then, my mom met David in Times Square shopping. For some odd reason, they immediately clicked. She fell in love. And of course, like some idiots in love, she chose her new guy over me." I stop to make sure he didn't fall asleep.

He gestures for me to go on, so I do.

"They quickly married and were happy. Little did I know, he had a daughter. His daughter was Natalie. You can guess my reaction. I was so happy. Me and my best friend were living together. We were actually sisters. Around September of last year we went to a party. I was really enjoying myself and me and some friends were going to go to a café. Natalie didn't want to go so she had some random guy take her home. The guy who was driving was a lot more drunk than I thought. They...uhm...they got into a car accident on the way home. He tried to dodge a deer and they hit a tree head on and s-she d-died instantly." I feel the tear swell up in my eyes, and stop my story.

"It's okay." Jace tries to comfort me, while rubbing my hand.

"David was furious and kept saying it was all my fault. I believed it was too. Even my mother thought so. He started drinking a lot and beating me. Around January he kidnapped me and took me to an abandoned warehouse. He starved me, beat me, you name it. For a whole month. My mother finally called the police. Not for me, for him. She thought he left her and she tracked his phone to find him. When she found me she called the police. She tried to ask David who did it to me and he lied. Said he didn't know who, he just found me. Before the police got there, David said he was going to the car. He shot himself in the head. That's why my mother hates me. That's why I hate myself." I stop. I can no longer hold in my tears.

"Arielle, I-I I'm so sorry." Jace hugs me tightly. It feels so nice to be able to tell someone.

"It's okay. I just told you because I need your help with this." I dry my tears and hand him the bucket list. He takes it and looks over it.

"Okay, but, we can't do all of this." He laughs.

"Oh, yeah, I know." I giggle and blush a little.

"What's in it for me?" He asks.

"Anything you want, I guess."

"Okay."

"Well? What do you want out of it?" I question.

"I'll let you know." He smirks.