Royalty

Sixty One

a/n: new cover whoooo

I laid across the couch, my head rested in Summer's lap as I held an icepack to my face. She was slowly running her fingers through my hair in a soothing manner while listening to what Xander and Isabella were talking about. I zoned out of the conversation about fifteen minutes ago because Summer playing with my hair was making me want to fall asleep.

After my failed attempt at making dessert, Robert and Marilyn had ordered some other desserts to be delivered to the apartment. They had ordered much more than I thought was necessary, so I had a bunch of leftovers in my fridge, some of which Isabella already ate. There were cheesecakes and crepes and scones and cookies and a bunch of things I'd never heard of. They were all really good, to say the least. 

The night ended rather nicely. Summer made me keep an icepack to my face the whole time to lessen the swelling that was already present, and she called Niall without my knowledge to tell him I wasn't going to the kitchen in the morning. Both Robert and Marilyn were satisfied with the evening, actually giving me a nice goodbye as they left. I was pleasantly surprised, after everything that had happened, that the whole dinner thing wasn't a complete failure.

Summer and I had taken a shower before just going to sleep. I was exhausted and my face was in pain, and honestly I just wanted to lie in bed with my girlfriend. So that's exactly what we did, all the way until the morning when we heard Xander and Isabella walk through the front door.

Once the two of us had gotten up and done all the necessary morning routines, we filled them in on what happened the night before. Their reaction to seeing my cut and bruised face caused alarm, and Xander felt really bad that his dad hit me. Several times.

I don't think I've seen him more stressed out since the day he thought he didn't have enough money to pay my mom for groceries in high school. He kept apologizing and saying it was his fault that Rick came over. He went on and on about how he should've just sucked up his fear and talked to his dad.

"Maybe I should go see him," Xander spoke out as his brows knit together. He sat on the couch opposite Summer and me, his elbow propped up on the arm rest as he bit his nails. "You know, maybe it'll give me some closure or something. If I just see him one last time."

"Are you sure?" Summer asked, continuing to run her fingers through my curls. I closed my eyes, well my one eye that didn't have an icepack pressed against it, deciding to listen to the conversation. "Sometimes seeing the person that hurt you only makes things worse. It's too emotional, you know?"

I could hear Xander shift in his seat, "Yeah, I get it. But sometimes a part of me wants to talk to him, ask him why he thinks what he thinks and see what he really wants from me. He can't do anything to me now he's locked up again, so maybe it's worth a shot. If it goes to shit, I'll just cut him out of my life like I did before."

"And if it goes how you hope?"

"It's not really going to change anything. At least I'll have the answers I want, and I can leave that part of my life alone. After what he's done, to both me and Harry, there's no way I want to build any kind of relationship with him."

Summer sighed, slowing her hand movements, "Well if you think it's a good idea, then you should go visit him. Get the closure you need."

"I'll go with you for support," Isabella piped in. The last I saw of her, she was sitting on the floor and painting her toe nails. I had no idea if she was finished or not.

"I'd like that."

The topic of Xander's dad had ended there. Now that it was settled that he was going to pay Rick a visit sometime in the next couple of days, we moved on to happier subjects. I eventually opened my eyes as I started to smell coffee in the apartment. Isabella had basically waddled into the kitchen, trying not to mess up her nails, as she made coffee.