Troublemaker

Chapter 6

CECE'S POV

Anthony wants to take me to lunch! Yay!

He drove us to Applebees and we got a table in the corner.

"Who would want to hurt you? They said nobody in Paris wants to hurt you." He blurted. I looked at him.

"They said nobody!" I replied.

"Nobody in Paris. Who wants to hurt you from where you're from?" he looked at me.

"I...I..." I mumbled. He grabbed my hand gently. I slowly looked up at him.

"Baby...you don't have to be insecure around me. If someone is mean to you or wants to hurt you...please tell me." He said.

"At my school...there is a girl...her name is Maddie. She doesn't really like me and she's really hurtful...there's also another..." I trailed off. This is it. This is where I tell him about Justin. "The next person...I lied about to Joy and Sky...I mean...I didn' really lie, I just didn't tell them everything. His name's Justin. He's...umm...my ex-boyfriend and he...he...he used to hit me. He would call me a bitch and a slut then beat me. If Sky or Joy noticed my bruises...I told them my dog did it." There. Done. I told him about Justin.

I looked down at the table and pulled my hand away from his. I was on the verge of crying...but I didn't want Anthony to see. So I quickly ran out of the restaurant and ran into an empty ally.

I put my back to the brick wall and slid down. I buried my head in my arms, my elbows on my knees. I started crying. I heard my phone ring and I looked at it. It's Anthony. I really don't want to talk to anybody right now...I never did when I was upset. I saw a ladder and climbed up it. At the top, there was a flat roof where I could look at almost all of the town square.

I guess I lost track of time...because when I looked down at my phone, It was past one in the morning. I had almost a dozen missed calls from Anthony and a bunch of texts from him.

I climbed down and started walking when I saw a familiar building. It was Anthony's Condo. I walked up to the door and shivered. It was at least 28 degrees outside. I knocked on the door and Anthony answered. I was expecting him to be mad at me for ditching him, but instead, he hugged me tightly.

"You've been gone for hours..." I heard him whisper. "Did I do something? Say something?"

"No, it wasn't you. I just...didn't want you to see me cry." I said and he pulled me inside. He covered us in a big purple blanket.

"I would never do what he did to you..." He said in my ear.

"I know...and I believe you..."I replied back.

ANTHONY'S POV

"I know...and I believe you..." she replied.

I looked at her eyes. Her cheeks had stains from where she had been crying. I kissed her cheeks.

"Stay..." I whispered into her ear. She looked at me with a puzzled face. "Stay here...with me and Ian."

"I don't know..." she said. I looked at her. She laughed, "I was kidding! Of course I'll stay!"

She got her suitcase out of my car...wierd...never seen that before...

"Which room am I staying in?" She asked.

"Mine. We're going to share. I have a suprise for you." I said. I took her into my room and showed her her walk in closet.

"Oh my gosh! I love this!" She said, excited. She looked over at me. "Can you leave me to unpack?" I nodded my headi and left the room.

That whole night, we watched every single episode of 'The Walking Dead' and eventually fell asleep on the couch.