There's a Place For Us (Complete)

Part 28

I. An Exquisitely Tragic Love Affair

(Part 28)

While Isabella made them both tea in the kitchen, Adam surveyed the den that he was fast becoming acquainted to. It was dull, for the most part. A leather loveseat, and to the right of that, a long, cushiony couch. No paintings hung on the walls. The TV stared in the direction of the two seatings; above the fireplace. She hardly used it, Adam could tell. The ashes inside were grey and old, powder like. On the mantle of the fireplace stood a picture in a gold frame. Adam walked over and examined it. It was Isabella wearing a carefree smile and a summer dress. She had her arm wrapped around some guy. He seemed to be around the same age as her at the time. He had tan skin and was muscularly built, but even that was not his most prominent feature. The guy had hair the color of death itself. A dark, dark black.



"Adam..." Isabella walked into the den holding a piece of paper. Her body quivered, mimicking her voice, and she walked in the room slowly, seemingly afraid to get close to Adam. Instantly, Adam knew what it was. "What is this?" she asked, and her voice portrayed nothing but fear.

"You know what it is," he replied calmly.



"Of course I know what it is!!!" she shrilled, "I mean, why do you have it?!"

Adam shrugged and looked away. "I'm not going to college." He laughed without humor. "No college would want me. I have a track record!" Adam looked back at Isabella, but couldn't hold her gaze. "I've gotta find myself after years of living a waste of a life. I've got nothing keeping me here anyway."

Isabella huffed. "You don't have anything keeping you here?!" Tears filled her eyes for many reasons, but she refused to let them run.



Adam rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

Isabella threw her hands up in a frenzy, clenching the paper tightly. "NO I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN, ADAM! YOU CAN'T GO!" Adam looked away for the second time that day. He had already decided... It's what he needed... "Adam you can't!"

Ignoring her pleas, he pointed at the framed picture. "Who's that guy?" Isabella looked at Logan. He was frozen in time with his crazy grin, ebony-like black hair, and his beautiful eyes. For a second, it was enough to distract Isabella from the problem at hand. She was silent and her eyes saddened, different from her fearful ones. "Is it your brother?" Adam asked gently.

Isabella looked Adam in the eyes, knowing he was going to hate her answer and dreading his reaction. She shook her head. "No. That's my boyfriend." Adam's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows angled inward angrily. She was cheating on him with another guy?! Or was she cheating on the other guy with him?! It didn't matter. He didn't think she was someone who would do that but apparently she was.

"Wow," he muttered nastily. He grabbed for the paper that she was holding. His paper that was none of her business. Isabella's grip was strong, so when Adam tried to take the sheet from her hand, it ripped in half, leaving Isabella with the title.

United States Navy (USN)

"What the hell Isabella! Give that to me!" he shouted at her. A tear slid down her cheek, but she shook her head. There was no way she was giving him the half of the informational sheet she held. It was almost like saying 'yea. Go ahead. Go be in the navy.' It was like granting him a death sentence. "ISABELLA!" he raged. He stormed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" she asked helplessly, hating how her voice cracked.

"Anywhere but here," he said angrily, "since you've already got someone else. I hope he's satisfying you the way I never could!" Words were streaming out of his mouth. Words he couldn't even control. The one girl he actually liked, cheated. He yelled at her, his hands clenching into fists. "Well I hope he loves you cuz apparently I never even had the chance to!"



Logan had loved her.



"I hope he makes you laugh and sees your real smile cuz apparently this whole thing was fake! It was a lie!"



Logan had made her laugh and seen her smile.



"And I hope he never breaks your heart, because you know what?! I never planned on breaking your heart. And this may be the first time someone's breaking my heart, but I can tell you one thing; it hurts a hell of a lot more than what people say it does!"



Logan had broken her heart.



Tears drained from Isabella's eyes. "He's dead Adam," she said quietly, but he kept going on. Adam couldn't leave her; not for the navy and not because of Logan. None of this was supposed to happen. He couldn't leave.... "He's dead," she said a little bit louder, but her voice shook, making it seem unconvincing.



Adam went on. On about how she was breaking his heart, how he hoped this "guy" never broke her heart. Well too late. He already had. Not that it was really his fault.



Suddenly, everything overwhelmed her. Adam and the navy, Logan and that frozen-in-time smile, her whole messed up life...

"HE'S DEAD, ADAM! HE'S DEAD! DAMN IT, HE'S DEAD AND HE'S NEVER COMING BACK!" She wrapped her arms around herself and only subconsciously noticed Adam's shocked expression and his guilty eyes. "HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEAD!" She sank to the floor sobbing so much that there seemed to be no breath left inside her. Once on the floor, her forehead met the rug and Adam stood, watching as she sobbed uncontrollably. It was almost the way they had first met. Her crying, and him not knowing quite what to do.



Finally, he came over and put an arm around her. She turned to face him, and her face was already getting blotchy. "H-he's dead," she whimpered. Adam kept his arm around her, his eyes brimming with his own tears. Isabella gripped the collar of his shirt. "He's dead," she weeped, just waiting for some reaction from him.

"I know," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."



And for the first time, he truly felt the same pain she felt.

Isabella peeled herself away from Adam. He wouldn't understand. There was no use in crying there with him when he could never understand.



She went and stood by the picture of her and Logan. He looked beautiful, like he always did. And yes, beautiful. Everything about him was perfect and angelic-like. He had the looks of a god; his smile breaking through like a ray of sun. He had the heart of a lamb; taking her in when she had needed him most and continuing to love her even when she didn't deserve it. Yes, Isabella loved him. She was in love with him. He had a place in her heart that was confined with locks and guarded by chains.

"Isabella.... tell me what happened..." Adam said quietly. He still sat on the floor and he looked up at her as he spoke. She reached down her hands for him and he took them, standing up. He didn't feel like he belonged there. He felt like he should leave her alone, but he knew doing that would only eat her alive.

"Nothing happened," she told him with a shake of her head.

Yea she had just told him she had a boyfriend and that he was dead... nothing happened at all....

"You can go. I'm fine," she said, putting up a brave front, but Adam liked to credit himself with knowing Isabella pretty well. He was pretty sure he could see right through her and that she was not fine. The smile on her face, she wore bitterly and sadness screamed at him from every feature on her face.

"I'm not going anywhere," he informed her. "I just hate seeing you like this."

Isabella sighed. "You can go. I want you to go," she told him, but her back was facing him. She couldn't look him the eyes and risk crying again. She couldn't risk seeing the kindness that she knew would be there. The eyes that could make her do anything. She kept her back to him because she knew if she did that, she would be able to stop herself from telling him; but one look in his eyes and she was a goner. Her whole life would be laid out on the table for Adam to see.



"I can't make it go away," he said, reaching for her hand. He squeezed lightly, reassuringly, and Isabella squeezed back. "But keeping it inside won't fix anything," he said while pulling her towards him. She fell into his arms and wrapped herself tightly around him, wanting to make sure he was real. He wrapped his arms around her too, making sure she knew he was there. "I can't give you every answer that you need, but I want to hear everything you want to tell me." A tear dripped from Isabella's eyes. After everything that had happened, it was hard to believe that she had Adam now.



Adam pulled her head away from his shoulder and held it between his large hands. "You're not alone. I'll listen until your tears give out, leaving your beautiful smile in its wake. You're safe with me and I promise you, I won't let you down." Isabella cupped her hands around his, staring into his eyes, but after a few seconds, she pulled away.

She took a shaky breath. "What if I told you that I'm not as strong as I like to make believe I am?"

Adam gazed into her eyes where fresh tears were forming. "I'd tell you you're wrong. That you're probably the bravest person I'll ever meet."

Isabella shook her head. "You don't know... I'm a coward." After a moment of silence, she continued. "I'll tell you," she whispered, "but once I'm done, you'll run out that door faster than I can blink my eyes."



She started to talk about Logan, but Adam knew there was more, and Isabella knew that Adam knew. She just wasn't sure if she could handle telling him all of the terrible things.



"Don't just tell me a moment. Tell me the story. And start..." Adam hesitated, "start from the beginning...."