Changed

Letter.

Alessia's POV:

I begin to wake up from the weirdest night sleep id had in a while. My eyes fluttered open, and I noticed the light beaming through the bottom of the curtains. I rolled over to no Leah in bed next to me. I started patting down the bed to find my phone, and I looked at my time. 2pm, for fucks sake. I stood up and walked to Leah's wardrobe. I took off my dirty hoodie and swapped it for one of Leah's out of her wardrobe, I knew she wouldn't mind. I also swapped my joggers for a pair of Leah's Arsenal shorts, and made my way downstairs, assuming that's where Leah was. I heard chatting coming from the kitchen, so I took a deep breath, walked in and was met with Leah and her mum, Amanda, leaning against the counters talking.

"Oh, my sweet girl" Amanda said, walking up to me and giving me the warmest, and biggest hug in the world. I smiled at her.

"Good morning you, come here" Leah said, kissing me on the lips and placing me on the counter. She stood between my legs facing her mum.

"I'm so happy you're here, Alessia. Leah's not stopped talking about you ever since she got back. I want you to know you're always welcome here, with open arms" Amanda smiled.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me; I didn't mean to randomly turn up, but I didn't real-" Amanda stopped me. "You can come whenever" she said, winking at me before walking out the kitchen. 

Leah spun around and stood on her tiptoes to kiss my lips several times. She stood there, looking at me with love in her eyes and placed her hands on my thighs. 

"I missed you." she said, kissing me again. "I missed you too, my love" I said, kissing her back. 

"What did you just call me" Leah said, looking at me. 

"My love" I said in a sassy tone, shaking my head as I said it. 

"I like that. You hungry?" Leah asked me, as she walked over to the cupboard.

"Yeah, what's on the menu?" I giggled. It was nice to finally feel free again. I was happy, so happy that I was here, with no worries about when I'd next eat, when I'd next get hit, or when I'd next get screamed at. Not for long though, typically. My phone suddenly started buzzing, and I looked at it to see it was my mum. I turned my phone to show Leah. Her face dropped, and she immediately ran back towards me, holding my hand and then she called her mum back into the room. Amanda took one look at my phone, looked at me and asked, "Can I?" I nodded, and Amanda pressed answer. 

"Hello?" Amanda answered.

"Alessia Mia Theresa Russo. If you don't tell me where the fuck you are right now you are never coming back to this house ever again, you hear me? If I hear you've ran off with one of your silly little girlfriends, you're out of this family forever you dirty lesbian. Do you understand?"

Amanda was stood there, mouth wide open. She was clearly in shock. As was Leah. I hadn't told them anything at all about what had been going on, so hearing that come from my own mother was just as a shock to them as it was me for some reason. I'm not totally sure why I was surprised at this point.

Leah grabbed the phone. "She isn't coming to your house again. Don't call." Leah said, immediately pressing to end the call before my mum had the chance to say anything. We all stood in silence for a second, and Leah pulled me into a hug and kissed my head gently. She swayed me from side to side for a while, before pulling away with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Less" Leah said, looking down at the floor and then looking to her mum who also had tears in her eyes.

"It's okay. I'm here and I'm safe now" I smiled. As hard as it was, i felt so relieved that i was here with Leah, Amanda and their family.

Time Skip - Later that evening

I had spent the day just getting to know Leah's family. It was clear to me that they were trying anything they could to take my mind off of what had happened, which I was very thankful for. Leah and I had been left home alone, as her family had all gone to do the food shopping for the week. I was sat on Leah's bed, when it popped into my head, the letter that I had written. I'm sure it was still scrunched up in the pocket of my jogging bottoms. I stood up, walked over to my joggers and pulled it out. I looked at Leah.

"I wrote this when I was back at home. I forgot I had it until just now, but it saves me explaining everything. It's all written here" I said, passing her the letter. She uncrunched it, and began to read; 

When I was 5, I told my mum and dad I wanted to play football. They continuously told me only my brothers could play football, because they were boys and girls who played footballs were lesbians. I told my mum I wouldn't be a lesbian, and to be honest I believed myself. I never had anything against anyone and who they loved, and I wished my family felt the same, but it was just something that I got used to, and it was never a problem because I never was interested in getting to know a girl romantically.

My parents started to trust me that I wouldn't date girls, and when i was 16 they saw my progress in football and kind of dropped the whole no dating girls' rule - or so I thought. It hadn't been bought up in years, which is why it never really crossed my mind when i met Leah. I think I was blinded by my parent's views, and that's why my relationships with boys were never that great. Now I've met Lee, I know what love is and I love her more than anything, but my family is my family, and I don't want to hurt them. I have to choose, and I don't want to. Its Leah, or my mum and dad...

Leah finished reading and pulled me in for a hug. I couldn't completely remember what I had written, but it didn't really matter to me that much right now. Leah pushed me down onto the bed and asked me "You love me?" she smiled. I rolled my eyes at her and shrugged my shoulders whilst giggling a little bit. She gave me the cheekiest grin ever, and hugged me so tight, i forgot how to breathe for a second.