The Bright Side Of The Life - Stefanielle Love Story

Chapter 9

POV Danielle
It is 6 p.m. now and  I just came back from work. It wasn't a long day today.
Stefania left for her trip this morning and I don't why, but I had to think about her often throughout the day. I often have to think about the conversation I had with Stephanie and maybe something clicked since then. I want to put her proposal into practice today and talk to Barrett about everything. I want to ask Jaina to come over too so she's aware of what's going on with me as well. I'll just text them.

Danielle: Hey guys, can you come over later today?
Barrett: Of course, everything alright?
Jaina: Sure, I 'm in, D.
Danielle: Cool. It's all good, I just feel like I want to talk to you about something.
Barrett: I'll bring food.
Jaina: And I'll get us something to drink. When should we come?
Danielle: Thanks. At about 8, I guess. See you then.

I hop into the shower and while washing my hair I think about what I want to tell them exactly. I am not even sure how I feel about the whole situation. I just know that I miss her. A lot right now.

The girls arrive just about the same time.
"Hi, D!" Jaina says as she pulls me into a tight hug. "Hey, guys," I say to them.
"I got something from the Chinese restaurant of my street. I hope that's okay" Barrett says after she hugged me too.
"Totally," I simply answer. "You can go into the living room already. I'll get glasses for the wine you brought, Jaina"
"Cool," they say almost in sync.

As I go into the living room the two of them already settled down on the couch. Jaina's going through the Netflix movie selection. "Should we watch Kissing Booth?" Jaina asked with much excitement in her voice.
"J, we've already watched that movie. I hated it." I say to her in a serious tone.
"Oh come on, Dani. You haven't watched the second part yet. Maybe you'll love it"
"I doubt that, to be honest"
"Please" she begs me.
I let out a sigh. "I don't care. Play it"
She happily claps her hands. "Thank you"

"Ok, so, guys-" I eventually say after a while. I am currently sitting on the armchair and they are sharing the sofa.
"I want to talk about someone"
"Oh my god, oh my god. Who is it? Who's the guy? Do I know him? Please don't say it's this one guy again you talked to like 2 months ago, I can't stand him"
"No, not him, Jaina"
I look down onto the floor and breathe in deeply. I look up again, in Barrett's direction.
"Is it-" she starts and I just nod. I can't get out any word as the first tear makes its way down my cheek.
"Wait, who are you talking about?" Jaina asks with curiosity. She clearly has no idea. Of course, she hasn't. Barrett was the only one who asked me about her before, besides my sister.
"Dani? Are you okay? Who is it?" she asks again but this time very calmly.
I take up my all courage and finally answer. "It's- It's Stefania:"
"Wo- Oh." she just says.
"Yeah"
"That- That- That's great. Isn't it?" Jaina is clearly overwhelmed.
"I don't know."

"Listen, Dani." Barrett eventually says. "It's a good first step that you told us. It appears that you must have thought about the whole topic quite a lot in the last time, right?"
"Yeah, kind of. I don't even know if it means something. It can just be a phase."
"It maybe is. But it also maybe isn't" Barrett says.
"Was there a particular moment in which you realized that she may mean more to you than just as a friend?" Jaina asks me.
"I- No, I don't think so. It's just- I can tell you something that had happened. She came with me to my sister's birthday because I told her what was going on with my dad and everything. And I asked her if she'd come with me and she said yes. It was a beautiful day at first. We went on a walk with Jeff, her dog, and I showed her the lake. You guys know which one I am talking about, you've been there already."

They nod in acceptance. "Yes, I saw your Instagram story too," Barrett says. I smile at the thought of when I took the picture of her.
"Anyways-" I continue. "Everything was fine and when we were back at the house my dad ignored me like usual. But after dinner, Stefania and I played Mario Kart with the kids and my dad must have seen us. We were literally just playing the video game and I don't know, I helped Stefania a bit because she didn't really know how the game works. Well- My dad freaked out. He screamed at me- at us. I was so sad and angry, everything at once but I couldn't say a word. Stephanie came as soon as she noticed something was off and she kicked our father out of the house."