Southern Belle

Ch. 27 What Are You Doing?

I would like to let you know that Southern Belle is a finalist in the Watty Awards Humor: On the Rise. I would appreciate it if you voted for me :* (well, if you like the book).

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Pacing back and forth across the width of this minute waiting room, I ran my fingers through my tousled mane. When the fuck were they going to let me see him? After checking my watch for the billionth time in a row, I sighed angrily after seeing that there wasn't a change in time.

Everything was going so slowly.

And no one was here to ease this pain.

As I pivoted around on my heel to start the pacing process from the beginning, a quavering voice called my name. Scanning the room, my eyes fixed onto a petite woman with a baby, about two months old, snug in her arm. Her ex-spouse's arm was draped across her shoulders, acting like a blanket.

"Belle?" my sister, that woman, murmured in a confused tone as she took three steps forward cautiously; she was acting like I was a caged animal threatening to attack at any sign of threat. Like a magnet, I repelled from her movements and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Chase coughed three or four times into the sleeve of his shirt before sending me a sympathetic half-smile. Glancing over at my sister, he sent her an exact replica of his last smile before placing a chaste kiss onto her right cheek. He jammed his hands into the front pockets of his trousers before swaying over probably to the nearby cafeteria.

"What are you doing with...him?" I spat out, my hands gripping at my sagging sweatpants. When I had left this place with Nick a little while earlier, Mel and Chase were through. Now, she had jumped back into his arms.

She pouted. "I should be asking you almost the same question. What are you doing here, Belle? You're supposed to be at school right now."

A pang appeared in my chest when she mentioned my personal form of hell. Grimacing, I shook my head to clear my thoughts of the prior event. No need to deal with that right now.

"Mel," I muttered, "you could do so much better than that jackass over there. It's one thing to be an idiot, and it's another thing to be a cheater. Don't you see that you deserve much better than this? Or do you think too lowly of yourself to actually believe that you could do what's best for you and your children?"

The harshness of my tone nearly knocked her off of her feet. Eyeing me with disbelief, she bit her lip, attempting to stop it from quivering. I could see it though, and for some reason, I didn't have the need to apologize for what I had said.

Maybe because I meant all of it.

Inhaling slowly, she began rocking her newborn back and forth. She refused to stare at me in the eye for a few seconds because her feelings were slightly damaged by what I had just told her. "I know you just said that out of anger for what you've been dealing with today and--"

"I'm saying it because it's the truth."

She huffed in defeat. "And I won't take your statements to heart. Let's stop talking about me, okay? Let's focus on Ash right now."

I couldn't disagree with that.

Nodding, I shut my mouth before another snappy comment could expel out of my mouth. My stomach then grumbled, and I decided to go grab a bag of chips from the vending machine. The last thing I needed right now was for me to pass out from starvation.

My hand slipped a dollar out of my butt pocket, and I casually made my way to the mustard yellow machine in the upper-left corner of the waiting room. As I passed by other families, I tried as best as I could to not look them in the eyes since most of them were sobbing.