💫She's Different💫

Bella Afterwards

Yogurtland
"This is yummy, why didn't you get cookie dough?"
"Too much sweetness isn't good."
"I don't think that's true." I finished my frozen yogurt and my Uncle stared at me.
"What is it?"
"I just want you to know that I'm sorry about what happened."
"Okay."
"If you want to talk about anything, you can. Uncle will always be here for you. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to talk about anything?"
"No, it's okay. I talked to Mrs. Caron today. For two whole hours."
"That sounds long."
"Yeah, I don't usually talk about my problems for that long. But it helped a bit."
"I'm glad it did. Wanna start heading home?"
"Yeah, I wanna just go home and watch some movies."
"Alright, whatever you want to do."
"Uncle, this world is a scary place."
"It is."
"People should stop touching people in bad ways, it isn't kind and it makes people uncomfortable and sad."
"That's right honey. That's totally right."
"When I grow up I wanna help people who've been through that stuff, so they can feel better."
************
Dining Room (Olivia's Perspective)
Bella picked at her food and stayed mostly quiet during dinner. Noah was busy eating as much as he could.
"You're not even a teenager yet and you're eating so much."
"I'm a growing boy."
"Mommy, I'm not that hungry. Noah you can have it." He shook his head and told her to eat it.
"Bella, I know you." Fin said.
"Don't starve yourself over something that wasn't your fault. You know you're hungry. Eat." She started to eat her food silently and didn't say a word. It's moments like these that make me realize that Bella definitely needs more male energy sometimes.
"Is it good princess?"
"Yes, I like it." She looked at me and I raised my eyebrow positively. I put my arm around her and gave her a kiss.
"That's my girl."
"I like Japanese!"
"That's good. It's good to try new things," I thanked Fin quietly and we went into the basement to watch a movie. Bella fell asleep in Fin's arms and my heart exploded. I had my arms wrapped around Noah who was slowly falling asleep as well.
"Noah...." I said soothingly.
"I'm awake, I'm awake." He said tiredly, his eyes closing and his voice getting quieter.
"Time for bed baby."
"Yes Mom. Night Mom, Night Uncle."
"Night." We both said. Bella was still silently sleeping, turning every couple seconds or so. We talked for awhile about some things concerning Bella.
"I know she can get past it, it'll just take a while."
"She's a very strong girl. You know what she told me?"
"What?"
"When she grows up she wants to help people who've experienced SA." I pouted and smiled.
"Such a sweet girl."
"Isn't she. I gotta go soon, I have plans tomorrow."
"Alright, let's put this one to bed." He carried her upstairs and I helped tuck her in. I walked Fin out and gave him a hug.
"Night Fin."
"Night."
*******
November 10th (Bella's Perspective)
I stretched and smiled. I had guitar lessons today and I was feeling okay. I was learning a song to play for Mommy and I was getting it down. I made my bed and practiced my guitar for a bit. I'm supposed to practice 1 or 2 hours a day but my hands hurt after a while.
"My musical baby!" Mommy said. She sat next to me and watched as I played.
"You have guitar in an hour, I think you should go and shower babe."
"Sure!" I hopped in the shower and thought about some things.
"Babe, let's go." When I got out the shower Mom kind of came in and helped me get dressed. Something she rarely even does anymore.
"You look adorable honey." She said while spraying mist on my braids. I had just put in some triangle braids and I was loving them. Mommy let me put color in my hair for the first time.
"Ahh, That feels so good."
"I know it does. Now, let's get moving!" I fed Chase and put some water in his bowl before he left.
"We'll be back boy." As Mommy drove we talked about several things.
"I see baby. Is Axel a good friend or just a friend?"
"I don't know. Maybe in-between. I like him though, he's nice. Can he and Kylie come over one day?"
"Why not?"
"We can have a sleepover?"
"I'll think about that one." She said as she parked.
"Why? I've had sleepovers with boys before."
"I know." She didn't talk about it anymore and we went inside the building. My old teacher moved away so I had a new one. I wasn't sure if I liked her yet though...
"Bella and Ms.Benson please come in!" I didn't like her energy for some reason. It kind of scared me. I looked at Mommy and she raised her eyebrows. She was telling me to be polite. I took my guitar out of the case and we started to warm up. We played several different songs because she was still trying to figure out my guitar level. I knew my level but I couldn't say anything. My Mom gave me a thumbs up and a smile.
"Remember to practice your chords as much as you can, and practice your songs and you'll get even better!"
"Ok."
"Bye." We said.
"Why do you act like that towards the poor lady Bella?"
"I don't like her Mommy."
"Sweetheart, I know you miss your old teacher but you have to be nice. Hear me?"
"Yes,"
"I raised you to be polite and respectful, demonstrate that please."
"Yes Mom," We were going shopping now. Because Noah was away with his friends upstate Mommy decided to treat me.
"Isn't this cute?"
"Yeah, but I don't like turtleneck."
"Okay." She looked around and I looked at her curiously. I sometimes wondered what it was like to be an adult. A mother, to be more specific.
"Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"What is it like being a mom?"
"That's a new one."
"I wanna know."
"Well, it's a bit tricky. But it's cool because you get to raise a human being."
"Tricky how?"
"Sometimes you have to learn new things, or sometimes your kid wants to have an attitude."
"Hey!"
"You have to be very responsible to be a mother. Speaking of which, why did you ask me such a question?"
"Because.. I wanna have a baby."
"You want me to have a baby?"
"No, I want me to have a baby."
"Woahh, let's slow down. You're not ready for that."
"I'll take care of it!" She smiled and gave me a kiss.
"I thought Chase was your baby."
"Yeah, but I want a real baby too."
"You're not gonna get jealous?"
"Nu-uh."
"But you're already jealous of Noah sometimes." I got embarrassed and shook my head.
"How about this sweater? It looks quite warm."
"It's perfect."
*************
My Bed (1:15 AM) (Olivia's Perspective)
I sat in my bed wondering about next month. Around this time I start to think about Bella's birthday. It gets really difficult when every year your child and their friends say that was epic, what are you doing next year? Bella's getting older and the parties will start to change. I was considering a Shopkins party, but I could hear my daughter saying that she's going to invite boys so it can't be too girly. I shifted to my left and grabbed my phone.
Tucker: So we're just going to act like we don't know each other?
I set my phone back down on the table and sighed. He was right. I've been avoiding Tucker for a while. We got into this big argument about our relationship and the kids. He thought it was time to move in, and I thought otherwise. I know my kids. Too many big changes in one period of time would set them off. It'd make them irritable, upset and confused. That's the last thing we need right now.
"Mommy...." I turned around to see Bella holding onto her stomach.
"What's wrong?"
"I just threw up."
"Let me go make some of that special tea." My little girl and I went all the way down to the first floor to the kitchen.
"How about you wait in the living room?" She nodded quietly and went to go lie down. Even though she was growing, she was still my baby. I baby her so much sometimes that she'll say,"I'm not a baby anymore!" and laugh. Something I stress with my kids is that no matter how old you are, you're still my babies. You will always be my babies! I gave my daughter the tea and she smiled.
"Feed me the honey like you do Mommy." I smiled and spoon fed her some honey.
"Feel a bit better?"
"Yeah!"
"Mommy do you love me or Noah more?"
"I love you both the same. You both know that."
"I love Noah."
"That's great."
"Noah is the best brother." I smiled because my daughter was getting sleepy and she tends to say her inner thoughts unconsciously when she is.
"He is." She closed her eyes and rested her head in my lap. Now I couldn't move. I might as well just sleep in the couch. I put a blanket over us after moving Bella slowly and turned off the light. She started talking in her sleep cutely about Axel and I closed my eyes as I had to be at work in a few hours.
"Axel... Axel....."
Flashback
"Elliot...Elliot."
I snapped out of it and started to breathe heavily. The sun was shining brightly and the kids were making noise.
"What time is it?"
"6:45. Get ready for work." Noah said.
"Oh my goodness.. Let me go shower." I gave my son a kiss and went to go shower.
"Guess you're not taking us to school today."