TW: This book has a lot of descriptions of abuse and because of how often it is, there are no trigger warnings at the beginning of chapters. Take this as a warning for the whole book.
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Samuel never thought that moving out of his childhood home wo...
This chapter is dedicated toAlwaysTheWeirdo. Thank you SO much for reading and supporting my book! ♡
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iii. Coffee, books and break ups
It was a chilly Saturday morning and I had decided to go out for coffee. It was nice to finally have time for myself after a busy week working my ass off.
The coffee shop I sat in was as cosy as they come with soft colours, an amazing aroma of coffee, and the best atmospheric music that played in the background like a sweet serenade.
I had been sat in the shop for almost an hour now, reading a book and drinking coffee while occasionally picking at the muffin that I had bought myself. I was so into my book that I didn't notice the woman who had stopped at my table. That was until she spoke.
"Hey, Samuel." A familiar, velvety voice said. I looked up from my book to see Taylor, her raven hair in a neat bun and lips painted in a bright red.
I smiled upon seeing her, "Taylor! Hi. How are you?"
"I'm alright, thank you. Say, would you mind if I sit here?" Taylor gestured to the chair in front of me.
"No one's stopping you." I said with a grin. Taylor then pulled out the chair and sat across from me. Her red painted lips pulled into a shy smile and she looked at me.
"So how are you today? Did you get everything unpacked?" She held on to her coffee cup with both of her hands.
"Oh yeah I'm great and I did. Thanks again for helping me carry all that stuff inside, it made things go way quicker," I thanked with a smile. I wasn't happy to talk to her or anything; it was more of a polite smile. "What about you? Did you and Benjamin do something together after we were done?"
Taylor sipped her coffee carefully before speaking. "We did, yeah. He had planned for us to have dinner at this nice restaurant for this week's date night."
I raised one of my eyebrows, "So you guys have date nights every week?" I picked up my own coffee cup and sipped on it, grimacing when I realised that it was cold now.
"We try to. We're both busy with work quite often but we still try to have enough time to have a date once every week. It was all Benjamin's idea." Taylor smiled a bit brighter as she spoke about her boyfriend.
"How does that work for you? The one date night a week." I asked with curiosity.
Taylor chuckled, "I think it works quite well. We've been together for almost eight years now." 'Eight years? Damn, I'm lucky if a relationship lasts for a year.'
"He sounds like a great boyfriend," I stated as I set down my now disgusting coffee. I hated cold coffee.
"Oh he is. Most of the time, that is." The woman in front of me said, her smile fading and turning into a neutral expression. Not happy, not sad, or anything else for that matter.
"What do you mean?" I had to ask. To me, Benjamin seemed like a good guy and a great boyfriend. A bit quiet, but still a good person.
Taylor pursed her lips. "Well, he has his flaws," she explained. I waited for her to elaborate. "He's honestly just so spineless that it's boring. He'll do anything that I tell him to without having to tell him twice. And even though he's spineless, he still digs his nose into other people's business too much. Not to mention that I can't trust him around other girls or even guys." She ranted with a tone that showed her annoyance with Benjamin.
"Oh." I said, "have you tried talking to him about that?"
"So many times," Taylor groaned and before I could open my mouth to speak, her phone buzzed. "Oh shoot, I need to go. I'll see you later, bye!" Taylor rushed off, leaving me alone at the table.
'A date night once a week, huh?' I thought. Maybe I could try something like that in my next relationship since It seemed like I just couldn't keep a girlfriend.
My dating history wasn't the best, per se. My longest relationship had been a year and four months with my latest ex girlfriend Kaylee. She ended up cheating on me and things didn't end nicely between us, as you'd assume after you find out your girlfriend slept with everyone in your fraternity.
Before Kaylee was Laura. Laura was a sweet girl that I dated in my first year of college. We broke up after a few months because she couldn't focus on our relationship and her studies at the same time. We still talk occasionally. We're just friends now.
Then in high school were Brandi, Bree, Olivia, Jackie, and Caroline. Things with the first four ended after a few months and because of varying reasons. Caroline only lasted a week, though because the day she and I broke up, she told me that she was a closeted lesbian. I obviously wasn't a girl, nor did I really want to be with a lesbian knowing that she would never have any sort of romantic feelings for me, so we ended things.
We were still friends all throughout high school and college and I quickly became a wingman of sorts for her.
I had been a little while since I last talked to her, so I decided to grab my phone and give her a call.
"Look who decided to come crawling back to me." Said a familiar voice on the other side of the phone.
"Oh shut up, Carrie. How's Rora?"
"That's why you called? To ask how Aurora is doing? Rude." She said with fake hurt lacing her voice.
"Yup. That's exactly why I called you." I said jokingly. I heard a huff from the other side and I smirked. "Obviously, I'm joking. I called because I just realised that I haven't talked to you since a few days after I graduated and since you are pretty much my only friend, I thought why not call and see what's going on with you."
"Of course. You can't go too long without someone as perfect as me." Caroline said. I could hear her smile from her voice. I always loved to make people smile.
"You're absolutely correct, Carrie. How can anyone live without you?"
With a quiet sniffle, Caroline speaks, "You should ask Aurora."
