UNCONDITIONALLY YOURS

Thin Wooden Door // 46

Another week passed, and with Summer by my side I was feeling a little better. She didn't make up for the hole in my heart Parker had left, but she contributed. 

I convinced myself daily that I could do it without him. Before him, I was doing okay for myself, and I could get back to there. I hoped. It was evening and Summer came back into the gross apartment. She smiled at me warmly.

"Hey, how are you doing?" She asked sweetly. I smirked faintly.

"Alright thanks. I got out for a run, I'm looking for somewhere to work. Everywhere is associated with my father or Parker, though. If I try to work somewhere that my father owns, I won't be given the job, but if I try somewhere Parker owns, I will get the job. Too easily, with his help, not independently and I won't have worked for it myself." I explained half-heartedly.

 I was losing the motivation to get up each day, but I knew I had to put through it. It would only get worse otherwise.

"Riley, you should know that Parker is a mess, he just wants to help y-" She began, and she tried to get her words in quickly so she could justify herself, but I wouldn't give her the chance.

"I don't want to know." I said neutrally showing not the slightest bit of the emotion I felt. Truthfully, I couldn't bear to hear his name. It hurt me. "I can do this." I assured thought she must have been sceptical because it simply sounded like I was trying to convince myself.

"I need to tell you why Noah told you everything, Riley." I looked up at her because she suddenly sounded awfully serious. I had not even thought to wonder why Noah told me, I had been too distracted.

But come to think about it, it was strange. Noah and Parker were best friends. Beside I knew they were still seeing each other and were still on good terms. It didn't make sense.

"Go on then." I encouraged.

"I don't know why, so don't ask okay?" I nodded and waited impatiently for her to continue. "I'm just going to spit it out because it is what it is. Someone held Noah and I at gunpoint." She opened her mouth to get a more specific explanation in, but I butted in.

"What!?" I exclaimed loudly. It had to be my stepmother's doing, there no way such things could be a coincidence.

"It's fine Riley, I am okay now, Noah sent the message and they left us alone." She explained annoyingly calmly. 

But she must have thought it was a one off, she did not know all that had happened with my stepmother. She did not know I had put my friends in danger. Well, friend seeing as Noah was now part of what Parker did to me.

"No it isn't!" I strode to the other side of the room in panic and turned back to her. "You don't understand Summer. This goes way deeper than you think, there's more you don't fully know."

"Tell me then." She shrugged and said it so frankly, like it wasn't even hard for me to open up. 

At times I forgot she didn't know what Parker knew, and she didn't have the same understanding he did. Summer was very understanding, undoubtedly, but Parker was unimaginably understanding. His patience tolerance with me exceeded humane limits, Summer was great, but she wasn't him.

"Summer, I can't tell you. It is a big deal, trust me, and you have been kind and lovely to me, but I am not comfortable. It's always been just me that knows. I only ever felt comfortable talking about it to-" She stole my habit of interrupting and finished my sentence.

"Parker? Right? I know you are hurt and all but soon enough you need to open up your eyes. Parker is waiting for you, just take my advice and give him a chance." How could she even say that? After she had seen the state I had been in, even after she knew how much mental pain, I was in.