Damaged goods

9

ALYSSA

We arrive at his house and he follows behind me as I walk to the front door. I turn back to look at him, a laugh escaping my throat. "You actually think the lion king is better than tangled?" I ask.

"Have you watched the lion king?" he asks as if I was stupid for not thinking it was better than tangled.

"The lion king is depressing as hell." I reason.

"And it's still better."

"No." I huff.

He grins at me before glancing at the front door. "Ready to face the wrath of your father." he says with a small smirk curling his lips.

"I'll just blame you." I say, shrugging my shoulders.

"The hell you will." he says, his playful tone dropping.

I suppressed my laughter and we walked inside and everyone was sitting around the dining table. All eyes turn to us and my dad was the first to stand up.

"And where were you guys?" my dad asks, walking toward us.

"I had a nightmare and Ezra wanted to take me out to calm me."

My dad looks between Ezra and I. Ezra gave my dad a sheepish grin which I had to bite my tongue to not smile at his irritably beautiful smile.

"Well... Sneak out again and I will ground you." he says, trying to be as serious as he can be but it was failing horrifically.

I nodded looking at the floor. If I had a dollar for every time my dad threatened to ground me but didn't do it, I would be a billionaire.

My dad walked back to the dining table and I looked at Ezra who burst out laughing which only made me laugh harder.

"Come eat." Jennifer insisted.

I stroll to the table and took a seat next to my dad and Ezra sat next to me.

I set a pancake on my plate and coated it with chocolate sauce and strawberries.

I bite into the pancake, "This is amazing Jennifer."

"Thank you, honey."

The doorbell began to ring, "I'll get it," Ezra offers, his chair scraped across the floor, which made a disturbing noise.

"Do you have to scrape your chair like that?" Jennifer asks, grimacing.

"Sorry." he replies before walking to the front door.

I continued to eat my pancakes and began to scroll through social media. Someone cleared their throat which brought my attention off my phone. I looked up to see Ezra standing with Olivia next to him.

I drop my phone on the table, "Liv?" I whisper as my gaze meets her watery blue eyes.

"Alyssa?" she mutters before running towards me.

She pulls me into a hug, her arms wrapped tightly around my body as she exhaled a heavy breath into my hair. 
It's Olivia.
Liv won't hurt you.
I attempt to calm every bone in my body but my thoughts were taking over again. I hated how she was touching me.

I forced my arms around her waist. "Oh God I missed you." she mutters.

"I'm so sorry Liv." I whisper.

She strokes my back and I flinch and began to pull away. She hadn't noticed my reaction. "Don't be... It's okay. You're here now."

"I can't, I avoided you for ages and I was such a shit friend for doing that to you."