A Long Road Ahead

Chapter 14

I breathe heavily as I put my hand on the doorknob.

"Chlo, relax, it's going to be fine." Massi assures me as he approaches the door.

"Let me be nervous." I say, turning in his direction.

"Everything will be perfect." He tells me, quickly kissing me before opening the door and grabbing my hand.

I have been so nervous since I woke up.

Last night I was rushed in and went to bed so quickly that I didn't meet Massi's parents or Malia.

When we get downstairs they are all waiting in the living room.

"It is so wonderful to finally meet you!" Massi's mother exclaims and she gets up to greet me with a hug.

Malia is quick to push her mother out of the way to hug me.

"I have been waiting for this day for years." She tells me.

"Sorry." I apologize for taking so long to actually meet them.

"Sis, it's fine, you were keeping yourself safe, and based on what you look like, you were not exaggerating, because that looks painful." Malia tells me, looking at my face.

"I'm fine." I tell them.

It doesn't hurt worse than anything that has ever happened in all my years of cheerleading.

"Your parents did that to you?" His dad questions.

"Yeah, but I'm okay, really." I say.

"Well, you stay here as long as you need, because you are not going back there." Massi's mom says to me.

"Oh, no, I can't, I was only going to stay for a day or two, I can't do that to you-" I start.

"Chloe," Massi says, and I stay quiet because we haven't discussed this enough yet apparently.

"He's right." Massi's mom tells me. "Now I want to talk to the girl in peace, so you people go." She tells her husband and kids.

"I'm next!" Malia exclaims as her Massi and their dad leave the room and go upstairs, leaving the two of us alone.

The first thing she does is pull me into a tight hug.

"I am so sorry for what happened to you." She tells me once she pulls away.

"I am seriously fine." I say as she leads me over to the couch and sits me down.

"Chloe, you can say that all you want, but we all know that you aren't. Your parents did this to you." She reminds me.

"I know, but I've been preparing for this for years, I knew what was coming, and it's better for me to not be there anyway." I explain.

"No parent should ever hurt their child." She says to me.

"I know, but, I knew it was coming, and I am okay." I insist.

"Thank you." She tells me.

"For what?" I ask. All I have done is make a mess of her house and make her son hide a secret from her for nearly four years.

"Chloe, what do you mean?" She asks, as if what she is saying is obvious.

"I didn't do anything." I say, unsure of what is going through her head.

"You have done so much more than you realize." She tells me. "You make my son so happy, and I can not thank you more for that. And I know that you feel bad for keeping this a secret for so long, but obviously you did what you needed, and you were right. I don't care about what happened, but know that I am not mad or upset about anything. I don't care what you look like, all I care about is that you make my son happy." She says to me.

"Thank you." I tell her, crying at this point.

She is quick to hug me tightly.

"If you ever need anything, I am here." She tells me once we pull away. "Your parents clearly were not very good parents, so if you ever need anything, we are here for you. I cannot believe that they would ever put anything above not only your happiness, but your health as well. But you are beyond beautiful and I am so happy my son found you." She says to me.

"Thank you so much." I tell her, crying. I never really had parents that cared, or were nice to me, I am so happy to have anyone saying this to me.

"Of course, you didn't deserve anything that they put you through." She says to me. "And I am going to apologize now, but I'll send Malia in, and she isn't always easy to deal with." She says before heading upstairs.

Malia runs down the stairs and tackles me as she hugs me while I sit on the couch.

"Sorry, I am just so excited and happy to finally meet you." She tells me.

"It's fine" I laugh.

"First of all, you are stunning, like oh my gosh." She tells me.

"So are you." I tell her.

Malia is on the taller side, she is slim and has her natural hair down to her shoulders.

"Oh, shut up." She says with a laugh. "I cannot believe that after all of these years, I finally get to meet my sister, and I know you aren't my sister yet, but you will be, so I'm calling you my sister." She tells me.

"I've always wanted a sister!" I say to her.

I have always been so alone with parents who were not around much and gave me money and other material goods in place of love.

"Same!" Malia exclaims. "And before you say anything, you did nothing wrong, we all love you, no one is mad at you, and don't blame yourself for anything because girl you went through so much and have no reason to be sorry." She continues.

"I know, I just don't want to inconvenience anyone or anything-" I start.

"Chloe, trust me, we want you here, you deserve to live in a loving household. I trust my brother's judgment and obviously he sees something special in you, and you are already part of the family. We are all so excited to have you here and finally as a part of our lives as well. Trust me, Chloe, you are in no way an inconvenience and we are so happy to finally get to know you." Malia tells me.

"Thank you so much." I tell Malia, giving her a tight hug.

This went so much better that I ever could have imagined it.

I am so happy that Massi has such an amazing family.

It's midterm day. So instead of studying, I got here 2 hours early to cry in my car.

I need this book to take my exam and I can't find it! The bookstore better come through, but it opens at 10 and I have class from 10:05 until my exam is over, but it's on zoom, so I'm just going to join it and go to the bookstore and pray they have what I need, if not, I'm going to beg someone in the group chat to give me an extra out they have one(it's just a test taking book, it's just plain with lines) because I am desperate because this is 20% of my grade.

I checked the vending machine the last two days and they have been all out 😭😭😩😩

Apparently vending machine dog school supplies are a thing in college, who knew 🤷🏼‍♀️