《 shy ~ greece, nhc 》{COMPLETED}

Ch. 12

We once again make ourselves comfortable on my bed, Reece at the foot of it and me resting against the headboard. I hold the picture frame tightly in my hands, taking a deep breath in before looking up at Reece, who is observing me quietly.

“Remember when you saw this photo?” I ask, showing him the picture in the frame. He leans forwards, taking another look at it. It’s a simple photo; you see a younger version of me, leaning against a tall, dark haired male with a dimpled smile and bright green eyes, his muscly arm wrapped loosely around my shoulders. We’re both smiling widely at the camera, both of us in awkward positions since neither of us were prepared for the photo.

“Yeah, I remember.” Reece says, handing it back to me. I place it to the side, giving my full attention to the boy in front of me.

“Remember how I told you he was a family friend?” I continue, feeling my heart thumping wildly.

“Yes...” Reece trails off, edging me to continue.

“Well, he wasn’t. He’s my ex-boyfriend.” I finally say. Reece raises his eyebrows and nods.

“Okay, that does kind of make more sense. The one you had six months ago?” He asks. I internally smile, finding it sweet that he remembered such a minute detail from our conversation.

“Yeah, exactly. Well, uh, things didn’t end too well with him. Uh, where should I start?” I huff, not sure how to continue and feeling myself shaking slightly.

“Take your time George. I’m all ears.” Reece says softly, giving my leg a slight squeeze.

“Well, from the start he never treated me right. He was a year older than me and one of the more popular guys. He was definitely one of the most good looking, but that wasn’t really what attracted me. He was set to tutor me in Physics, cause as you know I suck. We did these tutoring sessions during lunch breaks and stuff, but then we eventually began dating. At the start, he was amazing. He treated me like a prince, he’d always make sure I was happy, he’d parade me around proudly to all his friends, he’d buy me stuff and take me on dates. He was my first actual boyfriend, he was the one that helped me come out to my parents. But, through time, he began hurting me; both physically and emotionally. He’d get angry a lot, and since I was always around he’d take his anger out on me, hitting and punching me. The worst part was that he tried to make me believe it was my fault. He’d go out of his way to tell me how awful I looked or how I was gaining weight and stuff like that. It was then that I began starving myself and, uh, c-cutting.” I stop speaking there, looking up at Reece’s reaction. His eyes widen and he inhales sharply, clearly not expecting that.

“Y-you cut yourself?” He whispers. I nod, pulling my sleeve up and moving my bracelets away, revealing faint white scars scattered near my wrist. They were small, and thankfully fading, but they were still there and a constant reminder of what I did. Reece reaches forwards, taking my arm into his hands. He delicately runs his fingers over the scars, before looking up at me sadly.

“That’s awful. I can’t believe him.” Reece shakes his head angrily. I give him a sad smile before continuing speaking.

“Anyways, it got pretty bad, but I just couldn’t bare not being with him. I was blinded by the thought of him, and therefore I wasn’t realising what a monster he was becoming. Eventually, Blake slapped some sense into me. Throughout our relationship, I had told my ex that I didn’t want to kiss him, let alone do anything else with him. I was a naïve 16-year-old, but I wasn’t dumb. Maybe subconsciously a part of me knew he wasn’t the right one... anyways, I’d always push him away when he tried kissing me, and he’d say he understood and didn’t mean to make me feel pressured, but towards the end he’d get mad when I pushed him away and that lead to a fight, where I’d always end up somehow hurt. I told Blake that I was thinking of just kissing him to get him off my back and make him leave me alone, but Blake told me I’d be an idiot if I let someone take my first kiss just to stop them from hurting me. So, I finally thought, I’m just going to break up with him. And I did. But it did not go well. He was pissed, he began yelling and punching me until I couldn’t even stand, and then he just left. I didn’t see him for a week, and I was finally getting happier, but only a bit; because of him, I lost all my self-esteem and confidence. I’d spend hours trying to chose the best possible outfit and styling my hair to perfection, I still wouldn’t eat and I was spending ages trying to work out to make myself look better.” Reece looked livid; he was clenching and unclenching his fists rapidly, and harshly biting his lip. He was looking off into the distance, although he was obviously still concentrating on what I was saying.