CAPO

9. Arabella

She stood in front of Marcus as he sat on the barstool, his arms crossed over his chest. She waited in anticipation, nervousness making her hands shake slightly.

"I'm sorry about not coming home," He said. His voice sounded genuine, but his eyes told her that he was lying. She narrowed her eyes, deciding in whether to start an argument or not.

"It's fine. Where were you?"

"I was working late at the office,"

She scoffed, turning her back towards him. She rounded the island, leaning forward on it, "You know I don't believe you, right?"

"Not after you cheated on me that one time," She added. Marcus rolled his eyes, standing. "Come on, you can't hold that over me. I was drunk,"

"I was drunk a week ago and did I cheat on you? No, I didn't."

"You know it didn't mean anything, Bella."

She rolled her eyes, making her way to the bedroom. She heard him follow behind her, muttering words she chose not to listen to. She entered her bathroom, turned the shower on before she made her way back to the bedroom.

"Bella, will you stop and listen?"

"No."

She went to her closet and pulled out shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She forgot about her dinner plans and when she remembered, she smiled to herself, her nervousness making goosebumps appear on her skin.

She then turned to Marcus, "If you want to tell me what really kept you away without lying, come talk to me. If you want to keep fucking around, then you can go back to wherever the fuck you came from. Am I making myself clear?"

"Bella, I know you're mad but you have to calm down, you know what happens if you don't-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Marcus! If I did what you did, you'd be on my ass all hours of the day!"

He scoffed, standing, "You're dicking around with that Giorgio dude and you don't see me on your ass!"

"Giovanni,"

"What?"

"His name is Giovanni, Marcus," She said, narrowing her eyes. The man ran his hands through his hair, "Whatever. Listen, I'm sorry, Bella. Okay? Is that good enough for you?"

Her face contorted into one of anger then, and she clenched her fingers around the pair of shorts, her knuckles turning a pale white.

"No, it's not." She whispered. Marcus sighed, taking a step closer to her, "I'm sorry, darling,"

"Don't call me that," She said, spinning on her heel. She dashed into thr bathroom and shut the door, locking it. She leaned against it and bit on her bottom lip, willing the tears from her eyes. Red hot anger burned in her ears and her skin warmed up, her nails digging into her palms.

She avoided the mirror and her reflections curious eyes. She stripped off her clothes and just as she was about to step into the shower, her phone dinged on the counter, next to the sink. She unlocked it, frowning at the message.

It was from Giovanni, and it read: "Forgive me, doll. But we'll have to raincheck on dinner tonight. I'll make it up to you."

She sighed. She was overly excited for it and begrudgingly, she typed out: "No worries x" Before she locked her phone and put it on the counter, finally stepping into the shower.

It felt like all her anger had disappeared the second she saw Giovanni's name. It confused her but she brushed it off, telling herself it was because of the distraction that she lost her anger.

Arabella stood in the shower for a while, just staring up at the white ceiling as the water ran over her skin. She thought about her and Marcus, and she thought of Giovanni and Joy and Cleo, smiling fondly at the thought of her two bestfriends.

She dried off, all the while dreading to leave the bathroom. But once she stepped out she noticed Marcus shrugging on his jacket, his eyes landing on her.

"Have to get back to work," He muttered, slinging his laptop bag over his shoulder. She merely nodded and sat at her dresser, brushing out the knots in her hair. Marcus spared her one last look before he left their bedroom, to which she avoided his eyes and her reflection, looking down at the crisp white dresser she sat at.

Once she heard the front door close, only then did she let the tears drip from her eyes. She hated fighting with Marcus and she hated feeling like a burden to him, and that's exactly what she thought she was.

The girl then stayed the entire afternoon on her couch, eating ice-cream and watching Friends. Her cats where layed at either side of her and Salem, her black cat sat on her lap, purring loudly. She didn't have a single thought in her head, she was completely focused on the TV in front of her.

It was only when her phone went off that she was snapped from her mindless watching.

"Arabella speaking,"

"Hello, doll. How are we?"

Instantly, she felt the corner of her lips tug up into a smile. "I'm all right, I suppose. Why are you calling?"

"Well, I felt awful for cancelling dinner, so I'm calling to reschedule for tomorrow night. Is that all right?"

She swallowed, looking down at Salem. "That's okay," She whispered, "Arabella? What's wrong?" She concern in his voice made her eyes tear up almost. She shook her head, "Nothing, really. Marcus and I had a fight,"

"Yeah? I'm sorry, darling. Do you need anything?"

"No, Giovanni. Thank you," She smiled, biting down on her lip. "Tomorrow, then, "

"I'll see you tomorrow, doll. Be good,"

She sighed once he ended the call, her chest burning with hot, red flames. Arabella turned off her phone then, her stomach rumbling. She made her way to her kitchen and decided she wanted pasta then.

Arabella made food and danced around her kitchen to music, completely covering her counters with cookbooks and failed pasta doug. She sat in front of her TV and ate three serving sizes of pasta and followed that with ice-cream. She didn't notice the sun had gone down compepletely and soon enough, the girl was sound asleep on her couch.