Updating a day early because YOLO
"Is that why you left us?" I say through my tears. "Because you fell in love with another woman?"
"No," my father says, his lips pursed. "I slept with Julia one night and realized my relationship with your mother would never be the same. It wasn't until this year I realized Julia and I were a...match."
"You slept with..." I begin to say, but can't seem to form the rest of the sentence. Instead, I turn and give him a look of disgust. "I don't give a shit about you and Julia. You were cheating on mom. You left us without ever telling us why."
"Jade," my father pleads. "Your mother, she-she's very close friends with Julia. I couldn't tell her. I just couldn't. Her heart would be broken."
"So you didn't tell your own wife?" I ask. "God, you're despicable. You're a coward!"
"It was a mistake," my father croaks, trying hard to keep himself together. "I slept with her once. Once!"
"It doesn't matter. You're the reason mom is still this way."
"Jade-" he starts, his eyes pained.
"I'm going to tell her," I say, wiping angrily at my tears.
"No. That's Julia's job," my father replies, suddenly calm.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"She came here with me today. I planned to tell you, and she planned to tell your mother at the same time. In fact, she's catching up with her as we speak," he says quietly, his lips set in a grim line. He obviously knows I won't react well to his words.
My jaw drops. "You let her come here? You let Julia tell mom?" I ask in disbelief.
"Do you know how heartbroken Luke and I were, not knowing why our parents left us to fend for our own, and do you know how bad mom's condition has gotten ever since you stepped foot in this shitty town? And to find out you'd both left your families for a stupid affair-"
"Honey...Luke already knows."
The car fills with dead silence.
"W-what?" I ask.
"Julia was a stronger person than me. After the affair, she told her family everything and filed a proper divorce right away. Whereas I...ran away," he says and ducks his head in shame. But that's not what I'm worried about. It's what he said about Luke. Nothing else matters at this point but what he said about Luke.
Luke knows. He had known, this entire time since I became his 'girlfriend', and even before that as well. It all makes sense now, like puzzles coming together to form a horrifying, twisted picture.
When he refused to go into details about his mother. The day he told me: "I know things that you don't know yet. And the day you find out why your father left you is the day you can start questioning me."
My heart drops in my chest.
Ignoring my father's calls, I undo my belt, running out of the car and right into Dairy Queen. I spot my brother right away. He's just in the middle of ordering the milkshakes, but I grab his elbow and pull him back so hard he stumbles into my arms. "W-what's wrong?" He stutters.
"We're leaving," I demand, and he stumbles again alongside me, out the door and down the streets. I hear my father call our names behind us, chasing after us like a madman. Cam keeps asking me what's happening, and where we're going, in a terrified voice, but I keep running and dragging him along. Whenever he tries to look back, I yell at him to look straight.
YOU ARE READING
Project Publicity || l.h
Fanfiction[BOOK ONE] Jade and Luke have known each other since childhood. But as they grew older, Jade became glamorous and beautiful, while Luke stayed a loser. With time, the two of them drifted apart, never to speak again. This year, everything changes. A...
