Hiding Behind The Mask

14. Story of the past

Laila

After the whole thing with Blaire I went home. I wasn't sure whether I should tell my mom or keep quiet. I know she still loved him which is what makes this so hard. If I tell her she'll pretend that she's fine and pretend to brush it off, but deep down she would be crumbling to pieces. This year hasn't been good to our family, with more stress on her shoulders I don't know if she can take it. Although if I don't tell her she'll eventually find out from someone else and that might not turn out so well.

As I stare at my ceiling thinking about this whole mess and how I should even do this. "Dammit!" I throw a punch to my wall. My hand starts aching right away and I know it's going to bruised. Luckily my mom doesn't come home until a couple more hours and I need to talk to someone. The first person that pops into my mind was Liam, but why? I can't call that grumpy asshole, I mean sure he has his moments and can surprise me out of nowhere with his attitude but he won't be any help. I could call Jenny? That's probably a better idea I mean she's my friend so It makes sense. Can she help though she's not really one to be super compassionate but neither am I so oh well.

I go to grab my phone and call her. "Hello."
"Hey Jen."
"What's up L?" Her voice sounds a bit tired like mine.
"Can we talk for a little please?" My voice sounded weak and fragile and I hated that so much.

"Of course tell me everything." So I did, I told her about Blaire and what happened and how I was feeling at this moment.
"Well shit." She said and I chuckled at her choice of words. "Yep." I said back to her. "What should I do Jenny?" I heard her sigh through the phone. "I think that you should tell her, also I think that after you do that you need to get her to talk with you." I nodded even though there was no point since she couldn't see me. "Also I think that once you do, you make her tell you how she feels, she can't bottle up her feelings this whole time or else she'll shatter." She finally tells me, and honestly I wasn't expecting that out of her.

"Wow J never pegged you as the philosopher." She chuckled and so did I."Yeah me either, it kinda just came out." I smiled this is why she was my best friend, she could always lift my mood up a little. I heard the door open and close. "Okay Jenny moms home I better go bye love ya." I don't say it much to others if feels strange in my tongue, I barely even say it to my mom. I love you, it was such a foreign sentence to me. "I love ya too, good luck Laila." I said okay to her and hung up. Then I walked to where my mother was which was the kitchen making some tea.

"Hi mom." She turned around and gave me a weak smile. "Hey sweetie, how was your day?" I smiled back, "It was fine." She nodded and sat down at the table. I followed her and do the same. "Mom I need to tell you something." I was fidgeting with my hands. "Please don't tell me you're pregnant, I know I want to be a grandma but you're too young." I laughed and she did too. This was nice I haven't heard her laugh since Before Chris's death. "No but I do have something to say."

As if looking at my serious face she started to sense this was important. "Alright I'm listening." I nodded. "Dads getting married." She gasped and I could see the sadness in her eyes. "When?" Her voice was low and broke my heart. "Sunday I think." Her eyes were glossy no doubt she was about to cry. "So soon." I nodded and grabbed her hand. "Also we're invited, I understand why you wouldn't want to go. I don't blame you not even a little you still love him and it would hurt you so much more to see them." I told her hoping she would say something back.

"I know, I do but I can't seem to comprehend why? It's been years since we've talked." By now she was crying and she wasn't hiding. "Hey did I ever tell you how me and your dad met?" I shook my head nad she chuckled. "Well it sure was an interesting one." I was interested in what she was going to tell me. "So well we first met in the girls bathroom." I laughed "what?" She laughed too and smiled at the memory. "I found him making out with some cheerleader, he was the school player, but man was he dreamy. Honestly I hated his guts at first told him he was a pig and that he was going to get aids." I laughed a little more. Who knew mom was so feisty guess that's who I got it from. "He was interested in me since I was a girl he couldn't get to fall for him. Since every girl that walked by him could fall head over heels in love with him yet I couldn't he was intrigued. Though he was stupid and had no heart, but then he was just persistent. He kept asking me out and I kept saying no until I finally said yes. Jace took me to the rooftop of this beautiful place and we had a picnic and danced. It was beautiful and I don't think I could ever be any happier." She smiled then looked at me.

"Then more dates came and everything was so perfect, I was stubborn at times and loved to tease him but we were happy. He was faithful and never did me wrong, and then we had Chris and you. He was so overjoyed at the time and that made me so happy." It was a surprise to hear that my father Jace Retch was actually happy his children were born.

"Anyways time passed and I noticed your father was less and less happy by the day, he never stayed home. He left his phone on the table once charging and he got a text from a woman. Telling him that she had fun the night before and she was excited to see him again." She said through gritted teeth. "I looked through his text messages with her and saw they had been texting since a little after you were born. I confronted him about it and he told me he fell in love with someone else. He just said it to my face, and then he told me that he also had another daughter with her only 5 months younger than you. Then I told him to get out of my house and never come back, and we'll you know the rest." She fished her story and she was still in tears yet she wasn't in the state she was in as the beginning. "I still love him, I don't know if I'll ever stop and it hurts to know he found someone else, and it isn't me." I went to go hug her, "I'm so sorry mom he's a piece of shit." She smiled and pulled away. "I wanna go." To say I was shocked was an understatement. Why would she want to see my father get married. "Why?" She let out a sigh.

"To finally get some closure that it's over, there's no chance left for us. Any possibility of him coming back is gone, I need to see it and finally move on."

•••

Hello lovelies hoped you liked this chapter. I think I did alright on it I know this also doesn't have any Liam but keep in mind the title is not the tale of Laila and Liam.
It's about Laila I mean obviously Liam is going to be in this a lot because he has a big role to play but for now he's not with her. There needed to be some information on what the past was. Also there aren't many parts where Laila's mom talks to her and stuff so this was needed. I'm not sure anyone is going to read this but if you did thanks 💕 and have a magical beautiful day.

~S