Loving the Broken

Chapter 14

Rachel's POV

I wake up early this morning, excited to have a girl's day with Faith. Will and Lynda still aren't here so I imagine they won't be back for a while, which is lucky for me. I decide shopping probably isn't an old jumper and leggings type of day, so I pick out my jeans, with a plain white t-shirt. I'm enjoying this peace I have with Will and Lynda not around, and it's just making me even more excited for my new start in New York.

I find Faith's number on my phone and send her a quick text asking if she is still on for today. She replies almost immediately saying how excited she is for it. To be fair, I don't recall seeing her hanging out with any girls, she's only ever with boys, so I doubt she's had a girls day out for a while. The thought of her also being new to this comforts me, I remind myself to be confident and 'normal' today. Girls are the biggest overthinkers and notice every small detail, so I have to make sure my act today is perfect. Luckily, the cuts are healing nicely and I can cover them up that you wouldn't even know they are there. Just as I finish getting ready I hear a car pull up outside, and I hear music blasting from out, my chest thumping from the base. Grabbing my bag I walk outside to meet Faith, she greets me with a large, welcoming smile. "Hey Rach!" She squeals.

"Hey, this music loud enough?" I manage to shout to her over the thumping music. She replies by just giving me an even wider smile, then reaches down to turn it up even more. Concerned if my neighbours will talk to Will or Lynda, I quickly reach down to stop her, "definitely not!" I say while laughing. Faith then turns her Jeep around and we start to head to the shopping centre (or I guess I should say 'Mall'.

Once we park up and head in I'm in awe by the amount of shops here, I have no idea where we'll even start. We start walking round the bottom floor, making small talk. "So Rach, where do you want to go, I think we definitely need to take a stop at Victoria's Secret, get a treat for Xavier.." She teases me.

I stare at her in shock, what does she mean a treat for Xavier? "Xavier? Wha-Huh?" I am dumbfounded.

"Oh come on, the way he looks at you, he's there undressing you with his eyes!" She grabs my arm excitedly. I look at her, pure panic in my eyes. There is no way Xavier will ever see underneath my oversized clothes, no one can, I always have bruises and I can't afford for people to be asking questions now! Faith clearly sees the panic in my eyes as she softens her looks, "Oh hun don't worry! I know he seems like a dick - well to be fair he is.. But anyway that's not the point! He's not that bad, trust me!" I can't blame her for trying, but Xavier is not for me. Don't get me wrong he is super attractive, and the butterflies go crazy in my stomach every time I see him, but I'm pretty certain that is more stress than love.

Eventually she drags me to Victoria's Secret, with many protests from me. We step into the dark interior of the shop, everywhere I look there's lace, or glitter, some of the pieces I don't even understand what their point is - they don't cover a thing! Faith can clearly see the confusion mixed with horror on my face as she bursts out laughing. "Come on Virgin Mary, let me pick some things out for you!" Faith says, and then drags me all around the store. She starts searching through bras and pants, flinging things into the basket, I've lost count of the amount of black lacey thongs in there now.

I stare in horror at the basket, "Faith there is no way I  can afford all this!" I have an apartment and new life to save up for!

"Oh Rach don't worry, this is my treat!"

"What? No way, this is hundreds of dollars! I can't allow you-" She interrupts me before I can finish denying her.

"Don't be silly, I want to! Come on, the tills are over here" She grabs the basket from me and joins the queue, but not before throwing in some perfumes. "One whiff of these and Xavier won't be able to keep his hands off you." She says with a wink at me. Internally I groan, Xavier has to stay as far away from me as possible. The total ended up coming to $478. How Faith can afford to practically throw that money away I will never understand. 

We end up grabbing lunch at Cheesecake Factory, and never in my life have I seen so many cheesecake flavours, but I play it safe and just get chocolate - you can never go wrong with chocolate. We sit there, having girly chats, and I'm enjoying it so much, for this brief moment, my life feels normal. "So, what's the story between you and Archie?" I ask, they seem so close, it's like they've been together forever.

"Ahh, what a story, I'm not sure we even have time!" She laugh, "I can't remember my life without him, and well as we grew up, things happened. But our story definitely has had its trials and it has definitely been tested." Faith explains, but she then changes the topic of conversation to me, "What about you Hermione? Is Harry Potter your autobiography?" Ha ha.. haven't heard that one since being here..

"Ha ha I wish, no, unfortunately England isn't exactly like the books. Um, my life is pretty average I guess, just came here because my dad had a work opportunity" I try to keep it as brief as possible. I'm begging she doesn't ask too many questions.

"WHAT! Way to break a girl's dreams, please tell me the men all look like Peaky Blinders?"

"Oh wow, again I wish, unfortunately if you go to Birmingham you'll get a very different type of man" Not sure if drugs, North Face puffer coats, and all grey tracksuits are at the same level of the Peaky Blinders. Faith groans at hearing this, clearly England doesn't live up to the expectations. I laugh and get the bill, after Faith spending that much on me in Victoria's Secret I insist that I pay for lunch. 

Afterwards, we head to Forever 21 and H&M to get some clothes that I could actually wear, plus I need some clothes that aren't as warm, a British wardrobe is not cut out for the heat in the afternoon here. After picking out some shorts, and thin tops we checkout. I look at the time and realise it's 5pm. Shit. How did time go so quickly? After telling Faith that I should probably head home, we grab all of our bags and make our way to her Jeep. 

As we're driving I look out the window, I see Will held up against the wall by his neck. The guy standing him looks terrifying. He's bad, at least 6'5, probably mid 40's and massive. I've never seen so much fear in Will's eyes, even if I only get a glimpse of them. Faith notices me looking, "Oh yeah, we're driving through the roughest part, everything goes down here, drugs, murder, trafficking. Never ever walk here by yourself, even in the middle of the day" She says sternly at me, looking directly into my eyes. It takes me to remind her that she is in fact driving for her to turn her head away from me. However, I keep her advice in mind, but with a pinch of salt, I am from England, so it can't be that bad. 

Seeing Will gives me both stress and relief, at least I know he won't be there when I get home, and Lynda I can stand up to - to an extent. However, he is still my dad, my flesh and blood, and seeing him in that position breaks my heart. When I was young I was always a daddy's girl. Mum always joked that I had him wrapped around my little finger, and 4 year old me knew it. I miss those times, he's a completely different person now unfortunately. Before I know it, I see my house coming into view, lights are out, exactly how I left it - thank God! "Thank you for today Faith, I loved it." I genuinely mean it, today had felt like a dream, I felt normal  for the first time in my life.

"Anytime hun! We should defo do this again, it was so fun!" She squeezes me into a tight hug, I try to hug her back, but I'm still so sore that most of my energy goes to not crying out in pain. I flash a quick smile and get out of the car, as soon as the car door shuts I let out a deep breath of relief. I turn to see her leave, however I also make eye contact with Xavier, who is just stepping out of his house. His eyes then turn down to the bright pink bag in my hand. I feel a blush rising to my cheeks as I realise what he is looking at. I turn out to step into my house, I then hear his deep chuckle just before I shut the door, and butterflies fill my stomach.

After a day like today, saying goodbye will be heartbreaking, but I know it's for the best.