Beaulieu's Girl

Chapter 34

++++Rosalie's POV++++

After getting ready in record time, I emerged from the bathroom to find a very dapper looking Nathan Beaulieu.

"Well good evening Miss. Eller, you look ravishing." he said in a fake posh British accent.

"Looking handsome yourself Mr. Beaulieu." I copied his accent.

"Shall we?" he asked holding out his arm for me.

"Uhh Nate I don't think that will work." I said.

"I absolutely hate crutches." he groaned.

"Let's go." I said holding the door open for him.

We got to the ballroom, and there was roughly around 200 people there. I felt fine about giving my speech before we walked into the room. We were seated around a table with ten other people.

"You must be Rosalie Eller, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ruth Kelly." a lady sitting next to me said.

"It's nice to meet you too. Are you speaking tonight?" I asked.

"Yes, this table and those two over there are for the speakers." she said.

"Nervous?" I asked.

"No not at all. The first time I told my story I was a nervous wreck. I go around to universities telling my story, and what people can do to prevent sexual assault from happening to them or others. It gets easier each time. Are you nervous?" she asked.

"You have no idea. That's great what you are doing." I told her.

"Thank you, and don't worry about it. You'll be great up there." she said and left the table.

Nathan was talking with some of the other people sitting at the table mostly about hockey. I couldn't distract myself from the fear of speaking in front of all these people.

"Excuse me." I said to the people at the table.

I walked out of the ballroom, but then ran into the bathroom. There I found a toilet and threw up. Who was I kidding. I would never be able to get up in front of those people. If I can barley talk about to people I'm close to without breaking down how will I be able to tell it to 200 strangers?

++++Nathans' POV++++

Rosalie got up abruptly without saying anything to me, and I knew exactly what was wrong. It was a struggle to get out of my chair because of my leg, but I managed to get to the women's bathroom. There was a faint cry I could hear through the door. I didn't care if I went into the women's bathroom because my girl was hurting.

"Rosie?" I called out.

"Nathan please don't come in." she begged.

"I have to make sure that you are alright." I said and made my way over to the stall she was in.

She was sitting on the floor near the toilet with a bit of throw up on her lip.

"Oh baby it's gonna be fine. You'll get up on that stage and be the best speaker there ever was. Who gives a damn if you mess up on stage. I'm going to be right there next to you while you talk. You have nothing to worry about. They don't know you like I do. They are all here for the same reason, to stop what happened to you and many other women and men from happening again." I told her.

"I just don't know if I can get through it without crying." she laughed.

"Is that what you're worried about?" I asked.

"Yeah." she said quietly.

"It's gonna be more than just you crying up there on the stage silly." I said.

"Okay let's go back in there." she said.

"Rosie you might want to get fixed up before you leave the bathroom. I'll be waiting at our table." I said.

"Haha thanks. See you out there." she said.

++++Rosalie's POV++++

So far there has been about 5 speakers, and then dinner came out. After that there was a demonstration from a group that teaches how to get away from an attackers. Finally it was time for me to go up.

"Ladies and gentlemen please give a very warm welcome to our next speaker, Rosalie Eller." the announcer said.

"Oh god." whispered to myself.

Nathan and I got out of our chairs and went up on stage.

"You can do it." Nathan said.

He took my hand in his and stood besides me.

"Hello everyone my name is Rosalie Eller. I have a story to tell just like many of you. For me it's hard to tell so bare with me here." I said in a shaky voice.

Nathan rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand and gave me a loving look.

"Well it was back in October that this all happened. I had a rough history with alcohol. One night I went out clubbing and drank way too much. I wanted to get some air so I went outside. When I was out there it felt like my body was slowing down and becoming heavy. What I remember because I was drunk and drugged was my attacker on top of me. My boyfriend here can tell you what happened." I said moving away from the podium with tears starting to form.

"Hey everyone my name is Nathan Beaulieu, Rosalie's boyfriend. That night I was put in charge of watching Rosalie to make sure nothing happened to her. When she disappeared and wasn't with our other friend I got worried. I looked everywhere in that club but didn't find Rosalie. So I check the only place outside. There I heard screaming, and my heart stopped. I didn't want to believe that, that scream was from Rosalie but deep down I knew. I ran towards the sound and found Rosalie being rapped by a man. I ripped him off her and punched him in the face. I brought Rosalie to the hospital thinking the whole time that I was going to lose her. A thought came into my head as I waited in the emergency room, 'it's all my fault'. That was in my head and sometimes still is that it was my fault that this happened. But recently I came to the conclusion that there was nothing I could have done it wasn't in my power. But now I know not to let this one out of my sight." Nathan said and kissed my cheek with tears streaming down his face.

*~*

The rest of my speech I talked about what happened after I was sexually assaulted including the abortion and what happened with Cedric. Nathan and I got off the stage to a thunderous applause. It has never felt better to get that off my chest. Being able to talk about that with other people that this terrible thing has happened to made it so much better. There were many people in the audience crying as I talked. I was actually the last person to speak because after me it was dessert time and then it ended.

Nathan and I went back up to our room after talking with several people. One lady wants me to come talk to her students at McGill which works out perfectly.

We changed out of our clothes into pajamas.

"You have no idea how proud I am of you." He said wrapping his arms around me.

"You were right about not having anything to fear. Thank you for making me do this." I said. 

"Goodnight Rosie, I love you." he kissed me.

"I love you Nathan."