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fourteen . silent treatment [ narrative ] JULY 3RD, 2024 even Ariana. lizzie's pov
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"WHATS GOING on with all of you guys? Mr. Aiden is sad all the time, and you haven't spoken to Mr. Malachi since Monday." Ariana points out.
I sigh. "Nothing, Ariana. Go to sleep." I mumble, but she ignores me.
"You and Mr. Malachi are always together though. Did you get a divorce? Did he cheat on you?" She asks, and I consider the fact that maybe her parents are not the best influence at home.
"No, Ariana. We're just both very busy trying to make sure you all are safe. Nothing is wrong, and we're not divorced."
"So you are married!" She cheers, and I groan.
"That's not what I meant." I tell her, and she points to the door.
"Well your ex husband is at the door." She says quite loudly, and I sigh as I turn to look at Malachi, who's standing at the door.
"Can we talk?" He asks, and I attempt to ignore him, but Ariana pushes me towards the door, and Malachi grabs my hand, yanking me out of the cabin.
I discreetly roll my eyes, but I walk with him anyways. We walk through our usual trail, but I pull my hand away from his.
"So... we're divorced now, huh?" He attempts to make a joke, but I don't say anything back, so it falls flat. He sighs. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you, Ranger. I shouldn't have said you're overreacting, you're not. I have no idea what your situation was like, and I had no right to act like that..."
"Yeah, you really didn't." I scoff, and he doesn't defend himself.
"Is there anything I can do to make you not mad at me?" He asks, and I shrug.
"I dunno."
"Cmon, Liz. Give me something to work with. You can't stay mad at me forever." He groans, and I just stare at the ground, walking beside him silently. "Seriously? The silent treatment now?"
I don't answer, and he scoffs. "Come on, Lizzie. Don't be like this, I'm trying to talk to you."
"Yeah, well I'm still upset!" I snap, and he raises his hands in defense.
"Okay, okay. Im sorry." He mutters.
I think it was a little hard for me to process that Malachi had taken my brother's side in this because he'd seemed so protective and caring when we'd first gotten close. Are we still compatible? Is this gonna happen every time we argue? He'll say I'm overreacting...?
I walk in silence, and he walks at my side. I don't really want to talk to him right now, but the longer we're walking, the more my resolve crumbles.
"I'm really upset that you said I overreacted, Mal... you've never met my mom." I mutter, and he nods.
"I know, I just— I don't know what I was thinking, and when you said you were done... it put me in my place. I don't want to lose you over this." He tells me, his voice full of guilt. "If you really need somewhere to go, my house in LA has an extra room. It can be yours if you need it."
He feels bad. I acknowledge in my mind the fact that Malachi has never hurt me before, and I consider that maybe he wasn't considering how bad my mom could actually be since his home life is good.
"I don't want to intrude." I mumble, and he shakes his head.
"Wouldn't be intruding. You could never intrude on anything that has to do with me." Malachi tells me, and I feel a soft smile creep up onto my face.
"You make it so hard to be mad at you, Mal." I whisper, and he smiles.
"That's the goal." He teases.
I turn towards him, and we stop walking. His hands interlock with mine, and his face goes serious.
"I'm always on your side, Ranger." He tells me. "Always."
"You are?" I ask, and he nods slowly, not breaking our eye contact.
"I always am, and I always will be." Je answers, walking me down the rest of the trail, helping me over the occasional fallen tree.
We sit down in the spot we used to go to when we were getting to know each other better, but he's closer to me than usual.
"Liz?" He whispers, and I lay my head on his shoulder.
"Yeah, Mal?" I mumble.
Malachi throws his arm over my shoulder, leaning his head on top of mine.
"I'm not ready for this summer to end. I don't want you to go back to your mom's, she doesn't treat your right. Cant you just stay with me?" He asks, and I laugh softly.
"I wish I could, Mal, but my mom would never approve that, and since you're not family she has to." I inform, and he sighs.
"I'll get Aiden to fix this, I promise." He kisses my head. "And if I can't, I'll just kidnap you."
"Don't promise things you can't change..." I remind, and he shakes his head.
"I can change this if I really need to, Lizzie. I'm rich. I can give his parents the money they need for a new house. Hell, I'll even buy them the new house myself as long as you get to live comfortably with them." He scoffs out a laugh. "I don't want you to suffer anymore, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure you don't."
I pull my head off his shoulder, turning to face him fully before placing my hands around his neck.
"You don't have to do all that, Mal." I whisper, and he nods as he places his hands on my face.
"I do. You're basically my girl, after all." He smirks, and I raise a challenging eyebrow at him.
"I am? I didn't know that." I tease, and he shrugs.
"Maybe I'll ask you soon." He leaves me in suspense with his words.
I can only hope he will...
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jenna speaks!
THERES LIKE TWO CHAPTERS LEFT OF THIS BOOK WHAT??? I CANNOT BELIEVE ITS ALMOST OVER.
speaking of; re-checking who's interested in Belle and Dylan's fic? It'll be our soon after this is finished since it's the next book in the series, and I wanna make sure there's enough interest!!
anyways, thanks sm for reading and I love you all so much!
