She's Beautiful And Mine (gxg)

Chapter Twenty Five: It's Fine.

Harley

I pulled Samantha along with me into the house and kicked the door shut. I pressed her up against the door and kissed her passionately. She kissed me back with just as much fervor and held on to me like her life depended on it. I could feel this sense of urgency coarsing through me as we made out for what felt like forever.

We finally broke it and collapsed onto opposite couches, trying to regain our breath.

"What the hell happened to you?" she said in between breaths.

I contemplated whether I should risk it and tell her about seeing Norah, but decided against it.

"I. . . Nothing. I'm on my period."

She let out a tired chuckle and settled into her couch, cuddling with one of the pillows and stretching out her legs.

"I don't fucking believe that," she said.

"And why's that?" I asked, indignation evident in my tone despite my best efforts.

"Because you're Harley. As far as I know, you're not the kind of girl who gets all emotional and cries unless they have a logical reason for it."

"Well, in this case, the logical reason would be my hormones going crazy," I deadpanned.

She let out a giggle at that. "Still don't believe you."

It was getting harder to not open up to her, but I pushed through the urge.

"Then don't," I said coldly, staring hard at the carpeted floor.

There was silence for a quick second.

"Look, I have shared things about myself with you, things that nobody else at school knows. Why not trust me with your secrets for a change?"

"I. . ." I forced myself to look at her. "I can't."

"Of course you can," she said, getting up to sit next to me. She slung an arm over my shoulder and stared at me intently.

I moved away from her and stretched my legs out on the couch, resting both my elbows on one of the arm rests. She moved to the other side of the couch, my feet resting on her lap.

"Story time," I said dryly.

She smirked at me. "I'm ready," she said.

I let out a sigh before talking again.

"You saw Norah that night at the dance, right?"

"I did," she replied, nodding.

"Well, she's my ex. More than just an ex, but still, an ex. She was my bully till eighth grade. She started coming over for tutoring before finals, since her parents knew mine. One thing led to the other and we. . . kissed. We started dating a little bit after. It was like a whole new world had opened itself up to me. It felt magical, too good to be true. I came out to my Mom in a few months. It was all great. Except for the fact that Norah had an abusive Dad and nobody else to depend on. She never liked talking about her life with him. She never mentioned herself hurting in any way. I would try and be there for her as much as possible, but it was like that part of her life was closed to me. We dated throughout freshman year and then till the end of sophomore year. One night, I decided to hang out at her place for once. She didn't want me to, but I'd insisted. I didn't realize that that night would. . . change me forever."

There was silence again.

"What happened?" she said, her voice quiet, strained.

"Her Dad came home early and caught us in her room. . . " I couldn't speak. It was like my voice wouldn't come out.

"Keep going, Harley, it's okay," she said, hands slowly massaging my feet in an attempt to be comforting.

"He called her downstairs, beat her up and came upstairs to her room again. I was alone in there. He. . ." I trailed off again. Tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn't look at her anymore.

"He hurt me," I said, forcing the words out of myself, using up all of my energy in the process. The tears spilled freely and I began sobbing.

I hated the fact that she was seeing me like this. I buried my face in my hands and cried harder. I felt my feet being lifted and then her lap moved away from under them. I felt her body shift to my right and settle beside me, lying down on her side. She wrapped an arm around me and pulled me against her, my back now pressed up against her body. The warmth was very comforting and my crying lost its intensity as I felt more calm. It was like everything I'd bottled up inside was out now and I was finally home.

I felt at home.

"I almost died. I was in the hospital for weeks. He was put in jail after a quick trial and Norah's aunt moved into town to take care of her. Norah and I didn't talk for a whole month. But when we finally did, it was like I didn't know her anymore. She kept trying to justify him, you know? She would say she was sorry but then she would say he had a rough childhood and shit like that. I would get angry and then she would cry in front of me. Like it was her who was the victim.

"Her friends at the time, meaning your friends right now, started spreading rumors, saying that I slept with her Dad and I was just trying to get back at Norah for bullying me. That I was trying to get popular. I mean, it's not a first, they always bullied me. But, as far as I know, she was silent as they did it to me. That's what hurt the most. She transferred away without a word after that and I never saw her again.

"Until that night at the dance. And then after that, at the grocery store. We kissed. We even talked a bit. I thought we had something again for a hot second. I thought that, even if we can't date, we could be friends. But then I thought back on it, you know. Days after, I thought about it and you know what I realized? I realized that she could've helped me. She could've done way more than she did. And I can never forgive her, forget what she did, or even just have her in my life without fighting with my mind every time I see her. I wanted to be peaceful about it. So, I told her to meet me at the diner. I got pissed off when she started apologizing again. I couldn't take it anymore and I yelled at her, called her names and then walked out."

Samantha turned me around to face her and locked eyes with me. She cupped my face with her hand and moved her
thumb against my skin.

"It was like I'd lost a part of myself. I might not want her in my life but I know that, deep down, she'll always have a place in my heart." The tears were free-falling again. She wiped away a tear and pressed a kiss to my forehead before pulling me into an embrace, my head resting against her chest, her fingers moving in and out of my hair. I closed my eyes and leaned into her warmth, feeling more relieved than ever that she was so supportive and kind.

"I'm sorry about my friends," she said.

"It's fine."

"No, it's not. And besides, I'm not friends with them anymore."

I looked up at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm done with the popular clique bullshit. I'm not one of them. I realized that I never was."

I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her chest again. I heard her chuckle lightly. The vibrations against my skin felt nice. Her voice felt nice, our bodies so close.

"It's gonna be okay," she whispered, kissing my temple and then resting her chin on my head.

As I laid there with her, a new sense of hope came to me.

"Yeah, I think so, too."

***

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Love,

queenred