Age Of Innocence (AOI) [Sequel To IR]

Chapter 108 } Waffle House

Part 4:
Ala's POV

"Ala?" I woke up to a soft voice whispering my name. I looked up and noticed Matthew still sitting up. He smiled down at me. "We're going to get breakfast."
"Okay." I replied weakly getting up and jumping down from the bunk.
"Hey Ala." Carter said as I landed on the ground. I ran to him and hugged him tightly. The last time I'd seen him he was lying dead and unconscious. It made me appreciate his livelihood. "I missed you too." He laughed a little hugging me back.
"I love you." Obviously it was love in our brother-sister type way, he knew what I meant.
"I love you too Ala." I smiled and stayed hugging him, I didn't appreciate him enough. I didn't appreciate anyone enough.
"Is everyone ready to go?" Jake came back onto the bus and poked his head in. We all followed him out of the bus to the Waffle House that was staring us right in the face. We walked in and were greeted by a teenager that showed us to a big table in the front corner of the restaurant. I sat down on the edge and next to me at the head of the table sat Carter. The other side of me was open, Brent tried sitting there but was stopped.
"Hey Ala." Brent smiled sitting down in the chair next to me.
"Hi Bren-."
"Brent move." Matthew spoke interrupting me.
"What?" Brent asked in a whiny tone.
"I said move." Matthew clarified.
"Ugh, fine." Brent stood up but leant back down to me. "He's obsessed with you." Brent whispered in my ear. He moved to the seat next to the one he was previously kicked out of.
"I'm not obsessed with her." Matthew rolled his eyes and sat down. "I just need to make sure she's okay." He finished whispering and grabbing my hand under the table. "You okay?" He whispered some more. Nobody was paying attention so I could be honest.
"No." I whispered back.
"It'll get better. I'm always-."
"Matt, what do you want to drink?" Crawford asked, we hadn't realized the waiter was already here taking our drink orders.
"Waters good?" Matthew answered and turned back to me.
"For you beautiful?" The waiter asked, man he got over here quickly. I felt Matthew squeeze my hand tighter at his words.
"Water please."
"For sure." He smiled.
"He was flirting with you." Dillon laughed from the other end of the table.
"No he wasn't he was probably just being nice." I defended, why would he even flirt with me in the first place? I'm just the girl everyone breaks after I turn them into monsters.  I'm just a waste of space.
"He didn't call me beautiful." Kirsten informed us.
"Why are you complaining Kirsten you have a boyfriend." Chris laughed. Kirsten just rolled her eyes. I secretly envied them and their extraordinarily ordinary lives. Why couldn't I just be normal without all of this heartbreak? Why did it have to be like this?
"Anyway Ala, I was saying. That it will get better. And I know it will take time, and in that time and even past that I will be here to chase away your nightmares and haunting thoughts. Your not alone Ala. So just please don't try to be." He whispered. I knew exactly what he meant. In these situations I always push people away, I'm afraid my bad luck is contagious. I don't want them to catch the cold, there is no cure. "Promise me your not going to push me away, please."
"I promise." He squeezed my hand lightly and gave me a smile. The waiter came back and delivered my drink last with which he continued to flirt.
"I saved the best for last." Matthew lowly and quietly scoffed. Once the waiter left I turned to Matthew.
"What's your problem?" I asked.
"I saved the best for last." Matthew mocked. "That's really the best he could come up with?"
"Just shut up and stop being jealous. We all know you're still desperately in love with Ala." Taylor rolled his eyes.
"I am not." Matthew defended.
"Yeah, besides he's got that whole love affair thing with that Caroline girl." Carter protested in Matthews favor. It only reminded me of her, I'd never really even properly met her before
"Yeah what's up with you two, like are you dating or not?" Aaron asked.
"It's complicated." Matthew answered.
"So that basically means they're not together they're just meeting up anywhere they can to get frisky." Dillon laughed. "It's probably because he's still too much in love with Ala to commit to anyone else." Dillon finished.
"Get frisky?" I intervened questioning Dillon's choice of words.
"You know: get it on." Dillon clarified. I raised my eyebrow at him. "They're having sex Ala." He clarified even more.
"Oh my god." Matthew muttered almost silently in embarrassment, his hand released from mine.
"I know what it means Dillon, I just didn't know why you had to say it like that?"
"Oh well I didn't want you to feel bad." Dillon shrugged. Taylor smacked him and Dillon flinched from it being so unexpected.
"Why would I feel bad?" Taylor glared at him so evilly it made him sink in his seat.
"N-no reason." He said. I felt everyone's eyes on me. I knew what he meant, they all literally thought I wasn't over Matthew. I broke up with him. I didn't give into his begging and pleading, although it was pathetic and I almost pitied him, I never gave in. I was over it.
"I'm over him." They all gave me looks saying they didn't believe me. "I am over him. If any of you forgot. I broke up with him. He can be with whatever chick he wants, I dont care." The way I said this came out more coldly than expected. What I said came out more coldly than expected. Everyone's eyes were big at my words.
"Wow thanks." Matthew replied aggressively standing up from his seat. "At least I go for sluts instead of homicidal psychopaths." I agree I deserved it. But it just reminded me of everything that happened. It reminded me of being locked in the closet, thinking those were the last breaths I was ever going to take. I remember dangling from the balcony and sobbing having to admit a fake love just to live another night. And suddenly I was on the floor in Matthew's arms, being swarmed by everyone. Superb, a panic attack.
"Ala babe, I'm sorry. It was too soon. I'm so sorry." Matthew admitted tears welling into his eyes as he dug his head into my neck. "I could've lost you. I'm so sorry. I love you." He whispered low enough for only me to hear, and I wasn't sure I was even supposed to hear it. At his last three words I relaxed and I opened my eyes which I had recently realized I was squeezing them shut. Matthew lifted me off of the floor and held me in his arms. I felt so safe, too safe to let go. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head into his chest. "I'm just gonna take her outside." I heard Matthew tell everyone. I also heard an abundance of 'okay's and 'be safe's follow. I could feel Matthew walking for some time before I felt him sit, leaving me in his lap. I hesitantly looked up from his chest and noticed we were on a park bench. I stood up and sat next to him. "I'm so sorry." He sounded overly disappointed in himself as he hunched over resting his elbows on his knees, letting his head hang down.
"It's okay, I deserved it." I replied.
"No you didn't." He said sadly. "Even when we're not together, you still make me go crazy."
"Sorry." I apologized.
"It's not your fault." He chuckled a little. "But that is apart of the reason I haven't asked Caroline out yet. I don't want to just chase her away like I did with Bailey. I do still love you, and I don't want to lead Caroline on."
"Well that's very good of you. Minus the part that you just screw her instead of taking her out on a date."
"You think she'd actually go on a date with me."
"I think she'd love to go on a date with you."
"I dont know there's a lot going on right now. And I need to focus on you and make sure you get better."
"You don't have to take care of me." I defended, although I did need taking care of.
"Who would comfort you at night when you wake up screaming. Who would calm you down when you have panic attacks. And in all honesty your sanity and health is a lot more important to me than some dumb date."
"My health is fine now?"
"Mentally Ala."
"What do you mean."
"All of this, if not properly treated will make you go absolutely crazy Ala like harmfully, and dangerously crazy.  And with everything alcoholic wise I have to make sure especially now that you don't start using  again. I hate to be brutally honest but that's the truth. And I've got to do everything possible to prevent that from happening."
"That scares me. I don't want to get that bad."
"I know. And you won't, I promise. I'm going to take care of you. I've dealt with insanity my whole life." I was about to answer him when my phone started ringing, it was Cameron. "Answer it." Matthew instructed. I abided and pressed the phone to my ear.
"Hey."
"Are you okay Ala? I'm so worried about you, Matthew told me what happened. I just needed to know if you were actually okay. Oh my god I'm so sorry. I knew he was a dick when you first introduced me to him, I just didn't think he was that bad. I should've protected you, I'm so sorry." He rushed sniffling a bit at the end. Was he crying?
"Cameron are you crying?" I asked sympathetically. He shouldn't be crying, he had nothing to do with this.
"Yeah a little." He sniffed again while trying to laugh it off lightly. "It's just because it's all my fault, I feel so shitty."
"Cameron none of its your fault okay? You had no idea, nobody did. Please don't blame yourself."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, he's in jail now. I'm safe." I didn't believe it but I had to convince him.
"I wanna see you, just to give you a hug." I giggled a little. I missed him so much, and Nash, the Jacks. I felt home sick away from all of my brothers.
"I wanna see you too." I replied.
"Well I guess-." He started but was cut off.
"Hey Cam, who ya talkin' to." I heard Johnson's voice in the background, along with Nash and Gilinsky messing around.
"Ala, come say hi." Cameron called to them. "I hope that's okay, they've been worried." Cameron said directly to me again.
"Of course." There was a pause I assumed they were talking but just had the phone on mute.
"Ala?" I heard a soft voice, I didn't know who it came from.
"Hi."
"Oh my god, are you okay?" I heard Gilinsky's voice.
"I'm fine, now. Don't worry."
"Is Matt there too?" Nash asked.
"Yeah." I replied confused.
"Sup bro?" Matthew answered seeming confused as well. I had the phone on speaker now.
"Thank you. For protecting her. You have no idea how much I respect you now. Thanks, for protecting our princess." Nash said.  I smiled taking this as a sign that he'd put every mistake I'd made behind us.
"She's my princess too." Matthew smiled and pulled me into him.
"Really guys, Im fine. No need to worry." Of course I wasn't fine but I couldn't let them completely waste their days worrying about me.
"Okay well we're calling everyday just to check up on you okay?" Johnson clarified.
"That sounds fine." I smiled.
"Alright well we should let you go. We love you." Gilinsky said.
"I love you guys too." I replied and the conversation ended.
"You have so many people who care. You'll never be alone."
"I know." I replied. We sat there for a while watching little kids play around and try to impress their parents. I remember that age. That innocent age, when everything was so simple. After a few moments of silence I looked by a tree and noticed a guy staring at me, an older guy, maybe forty or something. I immediately grew uncomfortable as he wouldn't take his eyes off of me. I shifted closer to Matthew feeling tears come up to my eyes. I was such a baby.
"Ala?" Matthew took my hand and turned to face me, he saw the rising tears and panicked. "What's wrong?" He seemed so worried.
"Nothing I just-."
"Is it that guy over there? Is he making you uncomfortable? I'll go tell him to fuck off."
"No Matthew, he isn't doing anything illegal."
"Then why are you crying? And for the record it looks like he's undressing you with his eyes. What a fucking pervert." Matthew muttered clenching his jaw.
"I'm crying because I'm just scared. And not just of him or-or Noah. I'm scared of everyone. All the people here, scare me. Because they're all like Noah was. Perfectly civilized, seeming perfectly normal. But who knows, when all of a sudden they could just... Snap. I'm terrified of people now Matthew. I'm terrified... Of people." I sobbed into his chest as he embraced me in a tight hug.
"Nobody is going to hurt you. Not on my watch at least. And Noah's an asshole for doing this to you and haunting you everywhere you go. But I promise that's over, he's in jail. For a long time." He wiped my tears and I wiped my eyes.
"I wanna go wash my face quickly before we go back to the restaurant." I told him standing up. I knew I would have to walk past that dude that won't stop staring at me. So I just put on a good face and pretended like I wasn't frightened out of my mind. Matthew stood up as well and held me close to him by my waist. We walked to the restroom and reached the door I opened it and Matthew still didn't let go. "You can't come, this is the girls bathroom Matthew." I told him. He let go.
"I'll be right outside the door, if you need me okay?" He seemed worried to let me be a lone for a second, but it made me feel more secure. I stood in front of the mirror and noticed some of my bruises were becoming visible over my fading makeup. I remembered I brought extra just in case. I reapplied everything and stood some more. This broken girl in front of me looked so helpless, she looked so depressed. Well, I was. "Ala!" Matthew sprinted in the door looking panicked, he looked around the bathroom before coming over to me. "Sorry." He said.
"What are you doing?" I was beyond confused as to why he decided to burst in here.
"That man that was staring at you earlier, he just disappeared. I was worried he would try to sneak in here or something." Matthew said hugging me.
"Well you worried correctly." I heard. I opened my eyes to see the same man standing right there in front of my face. He locked the door and walked closer. Matthew pushed me behind him.
"What do you want?" He asked aggressively.
"I need to speak with Ala." He stated. But I wasn't sure how he knew my name. "You are Ala Dausonn aren't you?" He asked not sure if I was indeed Ala Dausonn. I didn't feel like her anymore. But I knew I was her.
"Yeah."
"I'm apart of the Noah Hasher case." I felt my stomach tighten. Matthew noticed and took my arm.
"Could you just talk to me about this please? This is too soon for her." Matthew said truthfully pulling me towards the door.
"And who are you."
"Matthew Espinosa."
"What's your relationship with Miss.Dausonn."
"I'm a very very close friend. Please."
"I guess." Matthew sighed and led me out of the bathroom. He turned my face to his. "Hey baby. I'm going to go talk to that guy alright. Just stay here and I'll call Carter to come get you alright?" I only nodded and sat against the bathroom wall outside while Matthew pulled out his phone. "Hey dude, can you come get Ala. I've got to talk to this police dude." He paused for a moment and gave me a small smile. "No I didn't do anything illegal, it's about, uh, Noah." He looked away from me at the name of that awful person. "Okay, she'll be waiting." He turned back to me. "No I'm not letting her be alone, she's just sitting right outside the door. Don't worry." Matthew hung up his phone and stuffed it back in his pocket. He squatted down to be at my level. "Carter is on his way okay. If you need anything, I'll be right in there." He said motioning to the bathroom. I nodded. He cupped my cheeks and kissed my forehead, standing up after. He looked at me once more before retreating into the bathroom. I sat there waiting.