A New Life

twenty eight.

"Yeah, me too."

Danielle's POV

"I have an idea," I say, turning to look at Abby.

"Okay," she says, looking up from her phone. A couple of hours have passed since Stefania made the visit to our hotel room, and in that time we went downstairs to the dining hall to have breakfast with everyone again.

"How about we do go back home today," I start saying my plan, and notice the look of fear on Abby's face. "But you stay at my house tonight so you don't have to go back to your house yet."

She looks up at me with a blank expression.

"That way we don't have to stay in this hotel room again another night, and then you can get used to my house for a night. I wasn't kidding earlier about you staying over with me sometimes, so I don't want the added fear of going somewhere unfamiliar when you're already worried about something at home."

"Okay..." she says apprehensively.

"It'll be fun!" I assure her. "It'll be just like a sleepover."

"We've had a sleepover here the past four nights," she laughs at me softly.

"It'll be more fun than this...we won't have to go to sleep early or have to worry about being awake in time for set." I can see the thoughtful look on her face. "Please?" I stick my bottom lip out slightly.

"Yeah, okay." She says quietly.

"Yay!" I exclaim. "So do you want to head back soon? Krista said we're good to go whenever."

"Yeah I just need to pack everything up but then I'll be ready whenever you are."

...

No longer than 3 hours later we finally arrive at my house. Abby was pretty quiet the entire ride, but I'm assuming she's just tired. We both haven't gotten much sleep with what happened the first night and then our extremely early call times the past couple days.

We stopped for lunch on the way home, and once we arrive at my house it's about 2 p.m. I'm proud of myself for coming up with this idea of Abby staying with me tonight. This way, she can get used to being at my house and I also got the chance to show her how close she lives to me, since she's always saying how I don't need to keep giving her rides to and from set.

"Here we are," I say, unlocking my front door and leading Abby inside of my house. I throw my keys down on the counter and lead Abby into the living room.

"You can just put your suitcase down here," I motion toward an empty space next to the couch.

"Alright," she replies, setting her bag down.

"Come on, I'll show you around a little so you know where everything is." I motion for her to follow me. "This is the living room, obviously." I open my arms out while standing in the middle of the room. "And then that's just like the entry way slash mug room where we first walked in...and over here, this is the kitchen." I walk into my kitchen with her. "In this hallway there's one bathroom in that doorway, and then the door after that is just a closet...the door on the other side of the hallway is an office...and thennn..." I lead her to the other side of the house now. "Over here is my room...and then that right there is the guest room. There's also another bathroom in my room. You can either stay in there tonight or you can sleep in my room with me." We both begin to walk back out into the living room.

"Okay," she says kind of quietly and smiles. I lead her over to the couch and sit down, her sitting down beside me.

"Are you okay? You seem quiet today," I say, a little worried about how reserved she's been today.

She lets out a sigh. "I don't know, I'm just in a weird mood." She admits. I reach out to put my hand on her leg while I look at her, thinking of what to say.

"What can I do to help?"

She shrugs her shoulders.

"Do you want to talk about something or do you want to do something to take your mind off of everything?"

"Take my mind off of it," she says, looking down at her lap and twirling one of her rings around her finger.

"Okay," I pause, thinking of what we could do to kill a few hours. "Stefania invited me to go to the park with her and Jeff today, do you want to see if she's still up for that?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." she tells me.

"Me too," I smile.

...

Less than an hour later, we arrive at the park located between Stefania and I's houses.

"Jeff!" Abby yells as the small dog comes running up to her. She squats down to the ground to greet Jeff while Stefania walks over to me.

"Hi," she smiles at me.

"Hi," I smile back shyly. There's nothing I want more than to kiss her right now, but we're out in public so I decide against it. You never know who will see and Abby is still the only one who knows about us.

"How is she?" Stefania asks me quietly, referring to Abby who is still preoccupied playing with Jeff at the moment.

"I don't know," I say honestly. "She's been a little weird ever since our first night at the hotel. She had...a rough first night, like I told you before. But she told me she feels vulnerable after everything she said and I just don't know what the best thing for me to do is."

"Just be there for her," Stefania tells me. "You've seen that she's willing to talk to you when she feels ready, so just keep assuring her that you're there and you aren't going anywhere. If you force anything it might do more harm than good."

"Yeah," I let out a sigh, looking over at Abby and Jeff. "I'm just really worried about her. Some of the things she told me..." I bring my hand up to my forehead. "I'm scared it's just getting worse by the day and I feel guilty letting her walk into that house. I don't know what her stepdad is capable of doing, and I'm scared to find out."

"I get that," Stefania says, and Abby walks back over to us, so we drop our conversation.

"Do you guys want to walk around a little?" Stefania asks, reaching down to put Jeff's leash back on her. "I need to get some of her energy out."

"Yeah, let's go!" I say.

We take a long walk around the park before stopping at a bench that's located next to a small pond for a while. We spend a long time at the park...walking, talking, playing with Jeff. It's a beautiful day out today and it's nice being able to relax after such a hectic week. I'm hoping this is taking Abby's mind off of whatever was bothering her, too. I didn't want to pry earlier, and I want tonight to just be a fun girls night, so I won't ask any more questions unless she comes to me first.

"Alright, well I should probably get Jeff back home soon." Stefania says after a couple hours of us hanging out at the park. "It's getting a little chilly and I need to feed her dinner soon." She checks the time on her phone, showing that it's just past 5:00 p.m.

"Today was fun," I say. "We should do this more often."

"Si, we should." Stefania says with a smile. "Abby you should join us more often too. I really enjoy spending time with you." She walks over to give Abby a hug.

"Yeah, I had a really great time." she smiles.

"Okay bambina, I'll talk to you later?" Stefania asks me, also giving me a hug.

"I really want to kiss you right now." I say once she releases me from her arms.

"I know bambina, but we can't risk it." She says to me quietly. "We don't know who could be here right now."

"I know," I say sadly.

"I promise I'll kiss you during our date tomorrow night," she says with a shy smile, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Okay," I blush slightly, remembering our "third date rule" agreement.

"Ciao belli!" Stefania says, walking away from us with Jeff.

"Bye Stefania!" Abby says.

"Want to head home now?" I turn towards Abby and she nods her head.