Damaged

Chapter Ten

"The truth... Is a beautiful and terrible thing, and therefore should be treated with great caution."  - J.K Rowling

 ANNA

I awake in the morning in Dante’s arms, his lips still pressed against my forehead, the duvet tucked all around us with him curled around me. I smile at his beautiful expression, at the memory of him kissing each of my scars, telling me how beautiful I was and then helping me into pyjamas before the pair of us simply lay in each others arms, no words spoken between us. I slip out of bed and take some clean clothes down the hall to the bathroom, dressing in jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt so my scars are in no way visible. “Hi.” Sophie smiles from the bench once I’ve left the bathroom. “Hi.” I smile back at her, flicking the button on the kettle. “How are you?” She asks, noticing my long sleeves and the way I tug them over my palms. “Better.” I nod my head and she smiles. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.” She then gets up and hugs me tightly, rubbing my back supportively. “Where’s…” I can’t bring myself to say her name. “She slept in here last night and left first thing this morning. She’s taken her bags and Bryan’s car is gone… I haven’t had the chance to call him yet.” I notice she’s still in her pyjamas, so it’s evident she’d only got up when I’d been in the bathroom. “Maybe he’s taken her to the station to get the train home?” Sophie shrugs as she pulls out of our hug. “Who knows, I hope so anyway, she’s caused enough trouble to last a lifetime.” I nod my head in agreement. “I’m glad we’re talking again.” I tell her as she pours us each a cup of coffee. “Me too… This past week has been so weird without speaking you… I didn’t like it. At all.” Before I moved to Florida, Sophie really only hung out with Bryan. She was friends with the rest of the girls we’re here with, but she never really hung out with them. When I moved to town, the pair of us grew the confidence together to socialize a bit more. I finally found the self belief I’d never been allowed to have. “Me neither.” I tell her truthfully, accepting the coffee she hands me as she sits down opposite me on the other side of the bench. “I think we should celebrate.”

“Not another party?!” I groan. “Why not? This holiday was supposed to be the one big party. We’ve only had like, three, and every time something shit has happened!” I nod my head, pondering the thought. “Please Anna?!” She pleads, sliding off the bench and onto her knees. “Okay, okay!” I laugh as she blinks her eyes up at me. She jumps up squealing and throws her arms around me. “Whoa, what’s all the squealing about?” Dante laughs, stumbling down the hall scratching his head and yawning sleepily. “Anna’s agreed to another party!” Sophie squeals, jumping up and down and clapping. Then she realises who’s asked the question and she stops jumping. “Wait a minute when did you get here?” I look guiltily into my coffee cup and busy myself by taking a very slow, very large gulp as Sophie folds her arms and taps her foot, looking at me suspiciously. “Before you start, nothing happened, I was upset, and we both fell asleep!” I say defensively. “I’m only kidding, it’s your room, you don’t even share with anyone!” She laughs at my expression before heading past a relieved Dante who laughs at my expression and says, “Guess nothing can disturb her good mood.”

“Nope!” She calls from her room. Dante smiles at me intensely as he sits down next to me and takes the coffee cup out of my hands, taking a sip and passing me it back before putting an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close and kissing my forehead. “How are you today?” He asks me quietly as we listen to Sophie’s distant singing coming from her bedroom as she gets dressed. “Better than I was last night.” I admit with a heavy sigh, putting my cup down on the table beside us and bringing my legs up onto the bench so I can hug Dante closer. “Well at least that’s an improvement.” He says, kissing my forehead again and hugging me tighter. “You’ll be pleased to know that Becks has left. I’m almost certain she’s gone home.” Dante smiles against my forehead. “Good riddance to bad trash, huh?” I give a short laugh and nod my head in agreement. “Maybe now I can actually start enjoying this holiday.” Dante pulls back and looks me in the eye. “Correction, maybe now we can actually start enjoying this holiday.” I smile at his expression and nod my head before kissing him, long and hard. His hand slides to my neck, cupping it softly before we’re separated by Sophie’s door clicking closed. “I saw that you know.” She says through a sideward smirk as she heads inside the bathroom.