Talk // Chris Martin

9.

Chris opened up my scrapbook, looking at the first page.

"Aww! Is this you?" He asked, pointing at the picture taken of me the day I was born.

I nodded, and he looked back down at the book, reading on.

He flipped through the pages, finding a photo of me and my brother.

"Ella And Joseph.." he said to himself, reading the writing below the picture.

He went through the next pages, and my heart began to sink as I realized he was getting closer to where my life became sad.

I looked down at my hands as he flipped to the page with my mother's obituary.

His face fell as he looked at it, but he kept going.

As he got to another page, he studied one of the photos of me. "Are those...bruises?" He asked quietly.

I nodded a little, and he flipped to the next page.

"This picture is of you in the hospital.." he mumbled, his eyes growing sadder. "There's a bandage around your throat.."

His blue eyes flickered over to the next page, which was the photo of my father's mugshot.

Taped Beside it was his court order. Chris' lips moved as he read the text.

His eyes met mine as his face fell. "Your father did this to you?" 

I looked down at my hands, sighing and nodding.

He closed the book, setting it down on the counter. He hesitated, then suddenly wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"I'm so sorry.." he whispered.

I felt tears well up in my eyes. He is the first person to ever be this...well, compassionate to me about this. I mean, Joseph was sorry and all, but he tended to not want to bring it up.

I hesitantly buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent.

He squeezed me a little tighter as I began to let out gentle, quiet sobs.

Then the oven beeped.

I pulled away from him, quickly rubbing my eyes and getting off of my chair. I made my way over to the oven, taking a deep breath as I opened it up. I grabbed on oven mitt from on the counter, pulling the pizza pan out. I set it up on the stove, looking over at Chris and giving him a small smile, motioning towards the pizza.

He smiled the slightest bit, but seemed to have something on his mind.

I knew I shouldn't have told him. It'd only been a few days since I met him, I should've given him time to fully get to know me.

I opened up the drawer and went to pull out the pizza cutter, but accidentally touched the blade and cut my finger.

I gasped, pulling my hand away as it began to bleed.

"Oh no! Are you hurt?" Chris jumped out of his chair and jogged over, holding my hand in his and looking my finger over.

I smile at him to let him know I was okay.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "Do you need a bandage?"

I shook my head, before going back to the drawer and grabbing the pizza cutter. Chris stood beside me as I cut the pizza into slices, before setting down the cutter and opening the overhead cabinet to get a couple of plates. I put one of the slices of pizza on a plate, and handed it to Chris, smiling at him.

He smiled back, taking the plate. "Thank you, Ella."

I nodded, before getting myself a slice of pizza.

We both went over and sat back down in our spot, beginning to eat our pizza.

There was silence for a bit, until Chris looked over at me.

"So...you live with your brother?" He Asked quietly.

I nodded.

"Is he nice?"

I shrugged.

Of course he was nice, but sometimes he was so strict. I think he was really just overprotective after all we've been through, but I need space. I need to be able to do stuff without having him hovering.

After I shrugged, Chris didn't ask any more questions about Joseph. Instead, he silently ate his pizza. I did as well.

After we finished eating, I put our dishes in the sink, before going back over to Chris and taking his arm, pulling him back into my room as he giggled a bit.