In The Darkest Hour

Part Two - Chapter Three: The Rehearsal Dinner

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Dev asked looking at Isla, they were getting ready to go to her parents’ rehearsal dinner and he was sure that it would be okay; it was going to a long night and he was worried.

Isla nodded her head, she couldn’t let her parents down when they were so excited for tonight; she had done her best to keep her head down since they had arrived back in Barcelona a few days earlier.

“We could stay in and order take-out,” Dev continued wanting Isla to be comfortable, he knew that she was still struggling with being back in her home city; he wanted her to be happy and that it wasn’t going to be easy for her.

Tracy had seemingly forget how hard this was for Isla and kept doing things that Isla wasn’t comfortable with; she seemed to think that everything was alright now after everything had happened.

“You know we can’t do that,” Isla murmured turning to look at Dev, she was trying to be okay about being back in Barcelona but she was still convinced sometimes that people were staring and whispering about her when she was out.

Isla had no idea what she would have done without Dev, she was leaning on him a lot and she was glad he was here with her; she had started taking her meds again because she felt being back in Barcelona was too much for her already.

“We could do,” Dev replied trying to ease Isla’s mind, he didn’t care how upset Tracy and Theodore would be about the decision; they needed to understand that Isla was struggling and it wasn’t going to get better just by ignoring it all the time.

Isla was always going to struggle if she didn’t have people to help her, Dev was doing his best but her parents didn’t realise how hard this was for Isla; there was always going to be a part of Isla that feared that the dark times would come back.

***

“Isla… you look beautiful,” Tracy shouted walking across the restaurant to greet her daughter, she’d had a bit to drink and was thrilled with the sight of her daughter; she had worried for a moment that Isla wasn’t going to come.

Dev glared at Tracy when everyone at their table turned to look at them, he wrapped an arm around Isla in an attempt to comfort her in some way; a lot of Tracy’s friends had turned their backs on the family when Isla had been attacked by the press.

They had only come back once Isla had been shown to be innocent and none of them had ever apologised or even bothered to see if Isla was okay after everything that had happened to her.

The table wasn’t the only one that had turned to look at the couple, the entire restaurant seemed to have gone silent for a moment and it made Isla want to leave.

“Gracias madre,” Isla murmured moving to hug her tipsy mother, she was wearing a black and white fit and flare dress paired with black strappy patent sandals for the dinner.

Dev didn’t move far from Isla, he looked around the room trying to think of every escape route in case Isla needed it; he would help her flee if it came down to it.

“Now come and sit down,” Tracy insisted leading the couple over to their table, this was her favourite restaurant and she was going to enjoy tonight no matter what.

Isla chewed on her lip, her hand seeking out Dev’s at the sight of some of her mother’s friends that had talked to the press about her when she had been verbal attacked by the press.

“Everyone… you remember Isla and this is her boyfriend Dev,” Tracy said smiling, she ushered Isla and Dev to sit down next to Kieran and moved back to her own seat.

Kieran offered his older sister a small smile, he hated that they were having dinner with these people and were only doing it to keep their parents happy.

“Just say the word and we will leave,” Dev whispered to Isla, his brown eyes looking over the table and daring any of the people to upset his girlfriend; she shouldn’t feel like a criminal anymore since she had never done anything wrong.

Isla nodded her head gratefully, she smiled at Dev glad that he was sat beside her and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

“I was thinking that we could go sightseeing tomorrow?” Dev mused smiling at Isla, he would do anything to keep her calm and distracted from some of the stares that she was getting.

Isla nodded her head, she knew that Dev would love the city and it would be good for her to get out and about while she could; she was keeping a low profile and she hoped it would stay that way.

The last thing that Isla wanted was to attract a media circus when she wasn’t here to stay, she was putting her life in Barcelona behind her and nothing would change that.

Isla didn’t feel like she could come back to the city and be happy, she was content with life in Sydney and there didn’t seem to be anything for her in Barcelona anymore.

“We should go to a Barcelona match,” Kieran said grinning, he hadn’t seen the team play live in ages and wanted nothing more than to see a match in the Camp Nou; he could imagine it would be good fun and he wouldn’t have to go alone if Dev and Isla went with him.

Dev and Kieran quickly started to talk about a match that they could go and see while Isla was silent; she liked the idea even if it did give her an excuse to see Gerard and make sure that he was okay.

Isla missed the footballer but she didn’t want to get his hopes up since she was only here for her parents renewing their vows; it didn’t seem fair to see him in person and only say goodbye again in a couple of days.

***

“I’ll see you later madre,” Isla murmured saying her goodnights to her parents, she wanted to leave as quickly as possible and she was tired of the looks that she was getting from everyone else.

Dev had been wonderful and had made sure that she’d had a nice time while he could, they had talked about work and made plans for the rest of their visit since he thought it would be good for her.

Kieran waved to their father who was chatting to one of his friends, he didn’t want to stick around and had only stayed near on two hours because Isla had needed him to.

Isla took a deep breath before she walked away from the table, she had grown tired of being talked down to as if she was a child and was glad to be leaving.

Dev and Kieran talked following her towards the door, it had been an awkward meal and the two were glad that Isla had handled it so well; she deserved so much better and in a little over a week she would be leaving again.

Isla made it to the door before someone stepped inside and walked right into her, she stumbled a little only for the man to catch her so she didn’t fall; looking up to thank him she felt her heart stop.

“Gerard…” Isla breathed staring up at the man that she had never thought that she would see again, her heart pounded in her chest embarrassed that she had walked into him.

Gerard stared down at Isla, he wondered for a moment if he had imagined her since he couldn’t believe for a moment that she was stood before him.

“You’re back,” Gerard whispered trying to think of what to say, he had never thought that Isla was coming back and now here she was right before him.