the secret » david dobrik au

T H I R T Y - T W O

A knock sounded on the door, and I quickly wiped my tears. In the mirror, I looked splotchy and a bit swollen, but I knew I had to answer. I opened the door to see Nicolette, a plate of pasta with two pieces of garlic bread and a new cup with a pinkish liquid in her hands. "Would you like to come to the living room? Everyone is gone except for us."

"Even David?" I frowned, but followed her out of the guest bathroom and to the living room.

She sighed and nodded, setting the plate and the drink on the coffee table and taking a seat. I sat in front of the plate and took a sip of the drink. Whatever it was, it had a lot of vodka in it. "I made you a stronger one. Thought you might need it."

"Yeah," I half laughed. "Thank you. Where did David go?"

"He went on a drive. He goes on drives when he's angry," she explained. "I'm so sorry about Alyssa. I should've known she would do something like that. She's... a difficult child."

"I can tell. Sorry for being mean to her."

"Oh, don't worry about that," she waved her hand, taking a sip of her own glass. "We've been to so many therapists and psychiatrists, but they all come to the conclusion that she's just a spoiled, depraved child. She's quite manipulative. She knows how to make them think there is nothing wrong with her. She has a victim complex, I've decided. That's why she doesn't like you. Because you are actually a victim. She's jealous of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously as I took one of the pieces of bread from the plate. My appetite was practically gone after being called a murderer just like my mother, but I still couldn't resist garlic bread.

"I don't know what happened to her, but she thinks she is supposed to have a terrible life. I guess so she can be seen as brave or strong for shining through the tragedy. She was jealous of David when she learned that Gabriel wasn't really his dad because she felt she deserved the attention of an absent father," Nicolette explained. She rolled her eyes as she continued, "She looked you up and realized you had some kind of trauma, and she's jealous because she has a perfect life. We get the girl everything she wants, but all she really wants in the end is pity and attention. I truly believe she purposely tried to get pregnant."

"That's going to ruin her life."

"I know," she nodded solemnly. "That's the point. She wants it to ruin her life. Obviously, none of this has been proven. Just my assumptions."

"That makes sense," I nodded, because it truly did. It sounded crazy, like something out of a movie, but Alyssa did seem completely desperate for attention. She had a boyfriend no one liked, she had a loud mouth, she was sixteen and pregnant. She was trying to make a statement of some kind. Trying to create some drama.

"Anyways, I apologize again for her behavior. She won't do it herself, but she will probably feel bad. She might be nicer to you now that she knows you will stand up for yourself. She's not a horrible person or a horrible daughter. She's just got some troubles that no one can seem to figure out. Gabriel and I pray for her every night."

"It's fine. It's not your fault," I shrugged. I was still hurt, but Nicolette was too sweet for her own good. I didn't want her to feel any worse than she already did.

"When David gets back, he's going to try to get you to leave," she told me. "I know you probably want to, but we'd really like it if you'd stay. Alyssa may not even come back this weekend. If she does, we'll make sure she's on her very best behavior."

"We'll stay," I smiled, then added, "If I can convince David. But I'm sure I can."

"He's wrapped around your finger," Nicolette nodded with a knowing smile. "Just watching him watch you talk... he is so infatuated. I've never seen him like that before. He's never brought a girlfriend home before, either."

"Really?" was all I could manage, a blush spreading to my cheeks. She smiled even brighter.

"He bought you that necklace?"

I looked down to see myself fiddling with the little lion pendant, something I found myself doing when I was nervous now. I said, "Yeah. For my birthday."

"He called me when he was at Tiffany's. Seemed very stressed," she chuckled. "I guess he figured it out okay. It's very beautiful."

"Thank you. He said he got it because I had the spirit of a lion or something," I butchered his beautiful speech about the similarities between me and a lion. "My mom was not an evil person, by the way. If she was in her right mind, she wouldn't hurt Maddie. She would've never hurt her if she was okay. And it's not genetic. I'm not... you don't have to worry about me snapping and killing David or anything. I would never do that."

"Oh, honey, I know," she smiled like she pitied me. "I'm a criminal lawyer. I have seen some of the worst things you can imagine. But I know there is always good, even behind the bad. Anne Frank said, in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I don't doubt it for a second."

We heard the front door open, and we both turned to see David walking in, shoving his keys in his pocket. He didn't even smile when he saw me, only telling me, "We're leaving. I'll go get your bag."

"Wait," I sat my cup down, cringing as it made a very loud sound when it came in contact with the table. Luckily, it didn't shatter. I was a little tipsy, which he could probably tell by my serious face as I approached him. "Can we talk first? In private?"

"You aren't going to change my mind," he mumbled, and I nodded like I believed him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. I sent a wink to Nicolette on the way up. We finally reached a gray-ish blue bedroom with a black comforter, very simple and very similar to David's frat bedroom.

"We should stay," I proposed as he shut the door behind us. I smiled at him, trying to calm him down since he was obviously very agitated. "Really, I want to stay."

"That shit was so fucking disrespectful, and you want to stay here?" he looked appalled.

"That's not your mom's fault. She's been nothing but nice to me since I got here. Same with Gabriel," I grabbed his face in my hands so he was forced to look at me.

"I feel like shit. I didn't even fucking defend you. You had to defend yourself to my little fucking sister," he sighed. "And then I left you alone to cry in the bathroom. I'm sorry."

"Listen," I smiled, kissing him to calm him down.

"You taste like vodka," he tried to distract me. It didn't work.

"Listen," I repeated, only smiling at his pathetic attempt to distract me. "I love you. I really do. You know I can take care of myself. I don't need you to defend me, and I'm not mad at you in any way. But I want to stay and hang out with your mom. She's really nice."

"Are you going to still think that once you're completely sober?" he frowned, trying to find any way to get out of staying.

I smirked, "With any luck, we won't be sober for the rest of the weekend."

He finally smiled. Got him.

Im so fucking bored in quarantine broooo i cant do it anymore i CANT

xoxo abby