Small Town Girl, Big City Problems

Chapter 1

I walked out of the courtroom and it felt like I could breathe again for the first time. It's over, my manipulating and controlling ex-boyfriend was sentenced to 4 years in jail, one off wich provisionel. But I don't care he'd be locked away somewhere he couldn't reach me and I could live again, I was free! My parents had followed me out of the courtroom, they weren't talking and that was probably for the best. How about we go out to grab some dinner my dad suggested, just the three of us, to celebrate? Oh dad, I thought. But to my surprise my mom agreed. I rose an eyebrow at her any other day she would make a scene and demand that we'd go with her fiance and her kids, because and I quote "we'll soon be family anyway". I wasn't particularly hungry but I didn't want to disrupt their peace so I agreed either way. The three of us piled in my moms car and without any further arguments we survived the night. Dropping my dad of at his hotel and saying goodbye to him felt wrong. Do you have to go back? He gave me a soft smile, this is not my home Lacey. It's not mine either I sighed. You're still young, you will find your place here, I promise. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head before he pulled me into a final embrace, please be happy again, Ma Chérie.

The next few weeks are going to be crazy. Mom and Jodi's wedding is next week, I'm going with future stepbrother and his friends on Spring Break and when I get back we're moving across the country. Jodi's ex-husband is moving to Seattle after being offered a once in a lifetime opportunity at a Seattle hospital. I'm not sad to leave Chicago, not at all, this city has brought me nothing but pain, heartbreak and self hate. The new city we're moving to is supposed to have a population from around 50000 people, not as small as my hometown in Canada but anything is better than Chicago. Do you need help packing? I looked up to Logan, I'm almost done. Is your dad coming to the wedding? No, it's too soon for him. Logan nods, I wish my dad would've been more like yours. You want your parents to fight about every single little thing I scoffed. He loves her, of course he's not just going to let her go. She cheated on him and had an affair for months, his pride is hurt more than anything, their love died a long long time ago. I shrugged and nodded his head to my wall of pictures, is it okay if I take them down. I looked at the pictures, they were all from a few years back, when I still lived in Canada and had a big group of friends with whom I always hung out with after school. Memories of those happy times flooded my brain, there's a picture of my best friends Olivia, Rachel, Emma and me hugging each other dressed in princes dresses and we have the biggest smiles on our faces. It was a halloween party and all the other 13 year old girl where dressed in as slutty costumes as is appropriate for a thirteen year old. Emma's mother had refused to let her wear anything that was remotely cute or short so we all decided to dress up as princesses together and we had the best time. It was the first time I ever had alcohol and man if it hadn't been for my beloved boyfriend I wouldn't have made it true the night. In the corner of my eye I see a picture of Nolan and me just a week or two before I left, We're both laughing at something stupid and one of our friends took a picture, damn I still miss his stupid beutifull face. Thanks to him I know what a good relationship looks like, we might have only been kids but we were in love and he made me feel like a million dollars. Logan coughed and I dragged my eyes away from the pictures, sorry I got lost in thought... I'll start bringin these downstairs, he nodded at the already closed boxes and looked at me for confirmation. Thank you, Logan. I stood up and walked to the picture wall, I remember the day that Isaac told me to take the pictures down like it was yesterday, we just had sex for the first time in my room and he was looking at the pictures for a little while before he started asking me about the people in the pictures. I smiled and told him the stories behind the pictures, I tried to hide the lump in my throat that was forming when I started talking about the pictures of my final goodbye and pictures of my sister. He noticed and held me before he asked me to take them down, he told me it was because the pictures distracted him and I felt weird making love to me with the pictures there. We got into a huge argument about it, our first big fight and the first time he threatened to release my nudes if I didn't obey him. When he got caught the first thing I did when I got home and cried my eyes out was to rebuild that picture wall, I remember feeling like I was slowly getting a little piece of myself back a piece that he'd forced me to erase.