right where you left me | angela giarratana

chapter eighteen

RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT ME
ANGELA GIARRATANA

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"PART OF LIFE"

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ANGELA stirred in bed, opening her eyes to the wall of her childhood bedroom. the light wall was covered in theater show posters such as the phantom of the opera and les miserables and old pictures of high school friends.

she sighed, smoothing down her wild hair as she stood up. she fixed her crooked sweatpants with her working arm and shuffled out of the room.

downstairs, surprisingly, she was met by only her father who was nursing a cup of coffee in his hands as he sat on his phone at the kitchen table.

"good morning." she said, passing him to get to the coffee maker. her father, ray, looked over at her. the two shared the same face, looking like the only thing angela got from her mother was her bubbly personality.

"good morning, kiddo." ray said. angela poured herself a cup of coffee and sar across from him.

"morning." angela said as she took a long sip of coffee.

ray looked at angela and pursed his lips. "is everything okay?"

"yeah, everything's fine, why?" she asked, moving her eyes to look out the bright window behind her father.

"you've seemed off lately." ray said.

angela rolled her eyes. "jee, thanks dad."

ray chuckled, shaking his head. "not in a mean way, ang. i just have a feeling you've got a lot on your mind."

angela sighed, fiddling with the handle of her mug. "kennedy matthews started working at smosh."

ray stared at angela for a beat. "like, your kennedy?" angela nodded. "as in the girl that we all thought you were going to be with forever, kennedy?"

"you're really good at helping, dad." angela said, placing her head on the table.

"sorry, i'm just a little shocked." ray said, a smile forming on his face. "and a little amused."

angela lifted her head and furrowed her brows. "why?"

"maybe kennedy coming back into your life is a sign." ray suggested, sipping his coffee. "have you two talked about your relationship?"

angela nodded her head. "we're finally becoming friends again after a bit of a rocky start."

"what happened?" ray asked.

"oh, you know, i was a bit of a bitch at first." angela sighed. ray smirked as she kept his mouth shut.

"but kennedy didn't stop trying to be friendly which made me remember what a good person she is and now i don't know what i'm feeling." she continued, trying to make sense of her thoughts as she came out of her mouth.

"she was your first love, ang. losing her was hard for you." ray said, looking into her eyes. "it's understandable to be a little confused."

angela ran her hand through her hair. "what if i get hurt again?" she asked quietly.

ray's face softened. he remembers how devistated his daughter was when kennedy left and nothing would hurt more than seeing her like that again. however, he knew what he was about to say was true.

"getting hurt is a part of life." he said. "you can't be scared of it otherwise you'll rob yourself of new opportunities."

angela nodded, processing his words. "at least i still have a few days left of thanksgiving break. i'll deal with my feelings when i go back." she joked.

ray chuckled. "there's my little procrastinator."

I-MESSAGE
ken - kennedy matthews
ang - angela giarratana

ang
good morning!
how's your stomach feeling after thanksgiving?

ken
haha good morning
my stomach is still full lol
how was your dinner with your family?

ang
it was great as usual
john and i got drunk and did karaoke as my mom and dad were forced to listen

ken
that sounds about right lmao
god i miss your family

ang
they would never say this out of respect i guess for me but they miss you too
my dad and i were talking about you this morning and i could tell he was glad you work with me

ken
ray!!!
i love him
yall were talking about me... ☺️

ang
bahaha
all terrible things

ken
its okay
my family talked about you too since we were on twitter

ang
that's a scary place to be with your parents

ken
i was scared for my life
but it went okay

ang
hey did you drop any pie this year?

ken
that was one time nine years ago and nobody let's me live it down-

ang
you dropped an entire pumpkin pie

ken
I KNOW 😭
i did mean it

ang
lmao i still remember getting a call during dinner and i excused myself thinking something was wrong and then it was you sobbing over a pie

ken
something WAS wrong

ang
i thought you were dying-

ken
i was dying
i dropped an entire pie on myself :(

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abi speaks!
heyy
sorry about the wait! i've had less and less time for writing so sorry that this isn't the greatest chapter

anyways, happy pride month!!

see you in the next chapter!