Five Words

Chapter 44

~Ace

My plan couldn't get any messier. I am supposed to leave in approximately a month with Eric. I'm not supposed to be here. My mother still hasn't figured out that I will be leaving. I kind of made a deal with her that if she searches for colleges outside the states I might consider spending time with Adele's daughter. I only did that to distract her and get her off my back.

Eric still believes that I shouldn't leave her alone, but he doesn't try to change my mind. He hasn't tried ever since he heard my mother confess her undying love to my father. With my job and his, we have collected a good deal of money to get us to Australia. Thank god for our parents because the rest of the money needed for college are deposited in both our college funds accounts. We have sent our applications and we got accepted into respectable universities.

The only trouble would be me figuring out a way to go to the airport in this freakishly tiny town. I have no idea if there are any bus stops or cabs or any kind of transportation. I haven't seen one car since Adele drove us here. She picked us up from the airport in Paris and we've been driving for over four hours in this stupid ass car that makes you feel like you're suffocating.

I don't complain though, because though my mother is exhausted as fuck, she seems jubilant as fuck too. I'm trying to make her as happy as I can so that she'll remember that rather than the fact that I am about to leave. She doesn't know it yet, but she will soon. She may not understand that I'm doing this for her, but she will when she reunited happily with my father. I wouldn't be in her way. I will come to her and see her when I'm sure that she's back with him. I know that it will be impossible for us to live together. I haven't forgiven him, and I don't think I will any time in the future either. He doesn't deserve it. Even if he's begged, and pleaded, I can't forget what he's done. But my mother is willing, and who am I to stand in her way of happiness? She deserves to be happy.

"Ace." My mother pulls me out of my trance.

"Yeah?"

"Adele asked you if you like the place?"

I want to say that their house is bigger than the whole town. Their house is the biggest place I have seen all the way to here. But I don't. My mother wishes for me to be polite and I have to abide by her 'rules'.

"It's great. Thank you for having us." I smile at her politely.

She is about to answer me, but her eyes light up and I'm thinking that her daughter has just arrived. I turn around to see who my mother would be forcing me to interact with. My heart drops when I see him approaching us.

He stares at me slack-jawed. The surprise soon melts into anger but what surprises the most is that he approaches us calmly. I don't panic. I have nothing to panic about. I'm just worried that his presence will put my mother in a foul mood. I wanted her to get away from hearing all the accusations thrown at me constantly, the disapproving looks. I wanted her to breathe for a little while. And by the looks of it, he won't allow it.

"Adrian, what-what are you doing here?" My mother stands up and stands in front of me acting like my shield.

"The question is what are you doing here?" His tone indicates anger, but his face doesn't, "Wait."

He raises his hand in the air, "Let me rephrase that. What is he doing in this house?"

"How are you two acquainted with each other?" Adele is confused.

To be honest, I am too. What is he doing here?

"I'm a close friend of the girl he raped." He spits the word, his eyes cutting through me.

I stay unfazed and stare back at him.

"Adrian!" Adele gasps, "You can't insult him in my house."

Okay, now I'm surprised that she defended me. She doesn't even know me. I know she and Paulina are childhood best friends and she's helped us with money and emotional support. And now that she knows what my crime is, how can she be so sure that I didn't do it? How can she be so sure that my story is valid, and that my mom isn't bullshitting her?