What happens in Vegas

38| Parents

Chapter 38: Parents (Bella's POV)

"What do you mean the cost is you?" he asked. 

"You can't expect me to forgive you after you break my heart and leave," I sniffled, "And if you leave, then I'm gone," I cried. I couldn't hold back the tears or the sobs or anything anymore. I was fully sobbing in his arms. 

He sighed, hugging me back tightly, running his fingers through my hair. "Bella, please don't cry, it's breaking my heart," he whispered. 

"I can't let you go," I said, only clinging onto him tighter. 

"Mr. Hudson, your son is lucky enough to find love this early," my dad said. 

"Don't take that luck away from him," Mrs. Hudson said. 

"College is a very crucial part of everyone's life, Mr. Miller, I'm sure you understand," Mr. Hudson said. 

"Okay, Dave, listen up," my dad said, stepping up and walking over to him. "I went to college, you went to college, Theresa, have you gone to college?" Noah and I watched as she nodded. "Right, did it get you anything?" She slowly shook her head. "Did it get you anything, Dave?" He didn't answer. 

"Let me tell you, it didn't. I went and it didn't bring me nothing. But my wife? She didn't, all right? Because she didn't want to. And you know what she did? She ran a business for most of her life that earned her more money than my jobs ever could and now, she's stopped working. Now. 

And let me tell you, while I was college and she wasn't, she was the one living life, Dave, not me. She was the one learning from experience. I was just sitting in a room with four walls, listening to professors talk their mouths off. But it all went in through one ear and out through the other. What do you remember from college, huh?" 

Noah and I looked at each other. "Don't go," I said, shaking my head at him. 

He wiped my cheeks dry with his sleeve. "I'm not," he whispered, "This is why I called your dad," he smiled. 

I stared at him in disbelief. I hugged him tightly, like my life depended on it while my dad just went off. And then I cried some more. 

"Dave, college isn't what life is about. Life is about living. We're their parents, our job is to make sure they're happy." 

"Our job is to make sure they're stable, they have a good life," he argued. 

"And what is that life if you're not happy living it? You may have studied, gone to Berkeley, done it all, but that doesn't mean your son has to do the same. Did you find Theresa in Berkeley?" 

"Yes," Mrs. Hudson said. 

"And you didn't let her go after that, did you? And you didn't let him go, I'm sure?" my dad asked. 

They stayed silent. 

"Well, your son has found what you found with Theresa before getting where you were. Do you understand how lucky that makes him? What a lucky fella he is?" Everyone was silent. "I understand what it means to you, I understand you want your son to have a good, steady future. But have you ever considered asking him what he wants? I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I've never even seen you at a single game this boy has played and you have no idea how phenomenal he is. Theresa?" 

"Dave, come on, let him go," she said. 

"I will not let him ruin his future," he reasoned. 

"He is not ruining his future. Love is not a distraction, Dave. Love is what gets us through life. Can you imagine your life without Theresa? Can I imagine my life without Kelly? No! Then how are you expecting him to imagine his life without her? If he feels for Bella what you felt back then for Theresa, what I felt for Kelly, then just how we couldn't let them go, they can't let each other go either."