HOUSE & HOME

FOUR

After talking to Morgan, I felt confident enough to visit Simon. Morgan promised to stay here, waiting for me. 

Simon meant the WORLD to me and, thinking about a life without him broke me. I was scared about losing him but, I knew I should be strong enough for his sake. Simon is the only person who understands and loves me more than anyone, even my family, could. I took a deep, shuddering breath and stepped into his room.

Simon was sitting on the bed, gazing out the window, lost in thought. Seeing him like that brought fresh tears to my eyes. I willed myself to not cry and greeted him as cheerfully as I could.

"Amaya? Hi! Are you okay? Where were you all this time? Our parents have gone out to get something to eat, and I needed some alone time anyway," He said.

"Oh, is it? I can come back later," I offered. He frowned and, I raised an eyebrow in question.

"Since when are we this formal? Look, nothing has changed. It's okay. Come here," Simon scooted a little and patted the small place next to him on the bed. "I'm so sorry I ran away earlier. I just needed a min," I apologized and, fat blobs of tears rolled down my face. I couldn't keep it in. I mentally kicked myself because I wanted to seem strong-willed. I sobbed while Simon held me. He rocked me back and forth, murmuring comforting words in my ear.

"I'm so sorry. I am not capable of even staying strong for you," I cried.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, love. You are the strongest girl I've ever met. Crying never makes you weak. It's okay to let it all out. You are a confident girl and, don't you worry, I will be right as rain after the surgery." He reassured me, while my sobs came to a stop.

"If you miss me, just peep into the mirror. You will see a confident young lady, best friend of Simon Barlowe. Then you will remember me saying this and, you will smile!" he exclaimed with a sad but toothy grin. Suddenly, he pushed me out of the bed and nodded towards the mirror that was hanging in a corner. I sighed and dragged my feet over to look at my reflection.

"Oh my goodness. Simon, I hate you! I've been looking like this the whole time and you never had the thought to tell me?!" I yelled.

"What!? You look beautiful!" he defended.

"No, I don't! I look like a fricking zombie,"

"Pretty,"

"Yeah, pretty ugly,"

"No,"

"Yes,"

"NO! You are a gorgeous potato!" Simon yelled! And I yelled in frustration because I was smiling and I wanted to have a serious face.

"Aha! You agree! Yippie!!!" he hooted. I joined in and, we were shouting and clamouring at the top of our lungs until Dad walked in looking exasperated.

He roughly pulled me aside roughly and gave me an earful. "What the hell is wrong with you, Amaya?! Can you not see that this is a hospital and, you are not supposed to be creating a ruckus like that?" I looked at my shoes, not daring to look at his face. The nurse in the room didn't mind us yelling earlier, so I didn't know why my dad minded so much.

"Look at me, Amaya." He said softly. I raised my face a little to look at him. The displeasure was evident on his face. I felt nervous and looked at my shoes again. "...do you understand or not?! We have a fricking reputation to maint- I SAID LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, AMAYA," he roared and slapped me hard across my cheek. I gasped, and my hand flew to the source of the pain. Simon and the nurse inhaled sharply behind me and I felt passers-by stopping to look at us. My dad created a scene for a small matter. He must have realized that because he huffed and walked away.

I stood there, maintain a downward gaze, shifting my weight from side to side, and thinking about what happened a few seconds ago. I felt someone gently pull me and guide me to Simon's bed. I sat next to him, my ears still ringing from my dad's shout. I felt Simon wrap his hands around me, resting his face on my shoulder, silently letting me know he was right there.

Blood came rushing to my face when I thought about how many people looked into our room, checking what the commotion was about. New tears stung my brand-new bruise on my face. I completely caved and wept for the millionth time that day. Simon held me again in quietude, letting me cry my heart out. The thought of me being so weak makes me weep harder. I should be the one holding Simon and comforting him, not the other way around. I hiccupped to a stop, not wanting to face the humiliation again.

We sat like that for a while, until Bexley walked in and informed me that we needed to leave. I wanted to stay here in Simon's warm and safe embrace, but I knew I couldn't. I gave a hug and whispered a thank you to Simon.

"See ya on Friday, potato!" he smiled, trying to lighten up my mood. There are no visitors allowed on Thursdays, so I had to wait a whole day to meet him again. I smiled weakly, nodded and waved goodbye to him because I didn't trust myself to speak.

I followed Bexley to the car and, I kept my eyes on the ground and hands on my cheek, covering the bright pink bruise, shaped like a hand-print.

Later, I decided to avoid dad and save the awkwardness because I knew I cannot experience the pain and humiliation again. When we reached home, I went straight to bed. I was not hungry, anyway, so I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

After hours, I woke up to faint buzzing and vibrations coming from my phone. I peered into the screen blearily. I had a dozen texts from Morgan and, I panicked. I opened them quickly to see her apologizing for not waiting for me at the hospital. Her dad had some emergency to tend to. She also said that she's coming to my house tomorrow to hang out and keep me company.

I was half asleep, so I was not thinking straight. I replied with an 'ok' and a 'good night' and went back to sleep right away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:

Hello, my dear people! How have you been?

As we already said in the previous A/N, one of us has exams so there was a slight delay in updating the next chapter.

Anyway, do you think Lawrence Hughes, Amaya's dad, reacted rationally or irrationally? Let us know in the comments!

Don't forget to vote, comment and share!

You're the best!

Xoxo SlothAndBee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~