The Broken One ✔

Chapter 20

I arrived in Washington around six pm, when I headed straight home. I wanted to smile at the city that I had missed, but I guess that I was too overwhelmed by sadness to appreciate the streets of Washington that night.

I couldn't even appreciate my apartment when I arrived. Instead, I threw my suitcase onto my unmade bed and had a hot shower. Steam surrounded my entire bathroom as my skin seemed to be radiating heat, as I jump out of the shower.

Instead of watching re-runs on TV, I decided to go to my local bar. Oh, how my life would be if I hadn't gone out to the bar that night. I wouldn't be standing here in this hospital talking to you if I had just stayed home - that's for sure.

So I entered the bar and I remember just dropping to the stall. That's when the female bartender began talking like crazy. Her name was Lucille, she was about twenty-three and a college drop out.

Lucile and I always got on great, she was like a free therapist, if a therapist was loud, opinionative and loved talking about herself.

"So she left him standing there with nothing but a loincloth if you can imagine that-" she smiled.

"Hey, do you wanna have sex with me?" I interrupted.

She ran her fingers through her thick, curly black hair, before pressing her hand against her caramel coloured cheek.

"Nah, I don't sleep with drunk fuck boys that have a great smile" she smirked "Just the ones who talk all smooth, you know"

I nodded slowly with a small smile. That's what I loved about Lucile, I could never tempt her. She always told me where to go if I ever went out of line.

"Any plans this may?" I asked her.

"Ned" someone called from behind me. I turned my body around slowly to face the woman "I didn't know that you were back in town"

"You and a lot of girls" Lucile laughed "I'll pour you another Ned"

Yes, Lucile knew me well. And no, we never slept together.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You left without saying anything" Sarah started "I just thought that I would see how you are"

"How much is Jenny paying you?" I folded my arms.

It's safe to say that I was still pissed off about what Jenny did. And yes, it took a very long time for me to forgive her.

Her eyes widened "I don't know what you're-" she denied.

"You can drop the act," I said calmly, "Jenny told me everything"

Sarah looked terrified at that moment, "can we talk outside?" She begged.

I'm not sure why I agreed, but I did. I simply nodded and followed her outside. Maybe things would be different now if I hadn't gone outside.

We walked outside the bar in silence, Sarah dropped her arms and glance at me blankly.

"Well?" I folded my arms impatiently.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I never meant to hurt you, yeah I accepted money from Jenny-"

"You could have been honest from the start," I told her "but you chose to pretend to care"

Looking back, I think that that had always been a fear of mine - being surrounded by people who pretended to care. All my life, I wished that people would care about me. Again - I didn't realize it at the time, but that was one of the repercussions of my mum loving.

"Of course I care Ned" Sarah assured "you have learned so much from me"

"From Jenny not you" I shook my head "all you did was read her text messages aloud, congratulations all you have proved is that you're one hell of an actress"

"Don't be like that" she begged.

Suddenly my cell began buzzing from my pocket, I pull it out to find Eva's name across the screen. She always did have fantastic timing.

If Eva hadn't called me that night, my life would be very very very different. If she hadn't called then I would have gone back inside and drunk my pain away then eventually caught a cab home. Nothing would have changed.

"It's Eva" I sighed.

"Of course you'll answer it" she rolled her eyes.

"I need to" I gritted my teeth at Sarah.

"Why do you always drop everything for Angel?" Her eyes widened.

I clenched my jaw in annoyance "Because she's my family Sarah! I'll do anything to protect her and she'd do anything to protect me!"

"What bull" she shook her head. "Your love for her is completely one-sided"

One-sided love, yeah I had heard that one before. In fact, it was the story of my life, loving someone who didn't love me back.

"No, it's not" I shook my head "She wants me, she wants all of me, all my flaws and mistakes, all my pain and tears, that's what she wants! She wants the good and the bad, all of it! Every little gruesome detail that is my life! That's what she wants!" I quoted from that damn book that I still don't know the name of.

She's my Celina. I thought that my 'Celina' was Elise, I genuinely believed that the only one that could love me was my sister, but the truth was, I was surrounded by Celinas. Gina, Blake, Sam, and Eva were all the Celinas in my life.

"Yeah well, that's because she's as screwed up as you are" Sarah shook her head.

Eva understood me. Not because she was as screwed up as I was but because she was treated the exact same way by the people that claimed to care.

"Fuck you" I clenched my jaw as pressing my cell against my ear. "Eva what's up?"

"Ned where are you?" Her distressed voice cried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "is everything okay?"

My mind went into overdrive at that moment. My biggest fear was the possibility of Eva having another miscarriage.

"Not really," she said "I'm in Baltimore"

I froze in confusion "Say what?" my eyes widened. "How did you get there?"

"Sage's motorcycle, I ran out of gas and had to catch a cab" Eva admitted "this is the furthest they would take me"

I didn't know why Eva was trying to meet me, and at that moment I didn't care. All I knew for sure was that my best friend was in trouble and needed me.

"I can be there in an hour" I assured "just give me your address"

"Thanks, Ned" she sniffed. "I'll text it to you"

I nodded "Okay see you then" that's when the call ended.

I looked ahead of me to find Sarah with firmed eyes. "If only you treated all women like that" Sarah snapped.

"Fuck you Sarah" I sighed as walking to the kerb.

"What is it that makes you so drawn to her?" She asked from behind me "is it her recklessness or the fact that she looks identical to your sister?"

At that moment I froze. I was so beyond done with these people. I took a deep breath before waving my hand at the cab ahead.