Growing older

Bella opened the door to her apartment and walked into the dimly lit living room shutting the door behind her.

She found the light switch and quickly switched on the lights watching as light appeared in every corner of the empty house. Her parents weren't home yet, just like always so she really didn't worry.

She just walked towards the dining table approaching the fridge with the cake box in her hand. It was already dark when she arrived home and so she couldn't invite Miles over.

He didn't live alone, he lived with his grandmother and the old woman needed him from time to time.

She opened the fridge, carefully placing the box inside, she would unbox it once she was done having a shower and washing her dishes. With that thought in mind, she closed the fridge making her way towards the kitchen where she found the dirty dishes in the sink.

It was just hers so it was pretty easy and in no time she was done with that. She made her way up the stairs afterwards, taking her English textbook and notebook along with her, she would take it to school tomorrow and leave it inside her locker In case of any emergency subject switch.

She stared at the dark empty room corridor and sighed, they still hadn't thought of fixing the bulb like seriously would she have to do everything all by herself in this house?

She switched on her phone torch and walked slowly till she found her room door, got in and turned on the room light leaving the room door open so it's light could shine in the hallway.

Afterwards, she kept the textbook and notebook on her study table where she knew she would easily remember it.

She walked towards her wardrobe, opened it and took out freshly dry-cleaned pajamas heading straight to her bathroom. She ended up staying in the bathroom for a long time and when she finally got out, her skin was still visibly red from the hot water bath she had. Her light brown hair was slicked back and her face was totally mesmerizing.

She was already dressed in her matching black pajamas, it was weird but she got it on her fifteenth birthday and though it's a bit smaller now it still fitted perfectly. She only wore it when she wanted to feel closer to her parents, they both got it for her.

She finished up in her bedroom, tying her already dried hair in a ponytail. She walked out of the bedroom with air pods on both ears listening to a song by Sasha Alex Sloan - Older. This song gave her warmth because it tells her that it wasn't entirely her parents fault why things were the way they were.

She started singing along with the song as she made her way down the stairs and soon singing turned to humming as she listened to the verse two of the song and then the chorus.

She approached the fridge bringing out the somewhat cold box. Shutting the fridge with her elbow, she strolled towards the dining table and dropped the box on it before finally making an attempt to unbox it.

A beautiful round chocolate cake came into view and she smiled beautifully, staring at it hungrily. She was about to go grab a fork and a gallon of milk from the kitchen when the song stopped playing and her phone started ringing.

She answered the call dropping her phone on the dining table and walking towards the kitchen. " You home yet?", she asked freely and waited for the person at the other end to answer but for a while there was no voice.

Bella stopped what she was doing and placed the air pods on her ears in a more proficient way and then she heard his voice. " No", Miles said softly, his phone resting on his left ear with the support of his hand.

He had been contemplating if to bother her or not but his girlfriend was now becoming a problem and he wanted advice on how to deal with her so he decided to call and talk.

" Where are you now Miles? I thought I said you should drive straight home, it's almost 8:30pm", Bella said glancing at the small round clock on the kitchen before returning her eyes to what she was doing.

She picked up the fork and walked towards the fridge, she opened it before grabbing the small gallon of milk and then closing it back, then she relaxed herself on her seat.

" Ok Laura's at my house and she's currently having dinner with my grandma, I don't really want to see her around and I don't want her getting closer to Nana", he said out loud before sipping a huge amount of coffee from his cup.

" Where are you, currently?", Bella asked him digging her fork in the cake and leaving it there to wait for his response. " Uhh, the coffee shop close to my house", he said hesitantly not knowing how she would react.

Bella sighed deeply and her brows furrowed.

" Miles go home and stop running away from Laura, I think I told you this before, it's better to explain the reason you are tired of a relationship than giving your partner a cold shoulder, it really gets them worked up over nothing and they end up thinking the worst things", she said softly bringing out the fork.

It left a small hole in the middle of the cake but she carried a piece of it along with the fork as she took a small bite out of it.

" I've heard you little miss know it all but I just wished it were that easy, I mean Laura is nice and pretty and any guy would fall for her, am not just the one you Know", he said to her hoping she would feel something about his response but as usual her answer came out fine and okay, no hint of longing in her voice.

" What you just said to me, try saying that to Laura, though she's not understanding as you think she is, you can at least end the relationship over that. It's better than being mean and cold, that just prolongs the suffering of both partners involved", Bella said pouring milk into a glass cup.

" I've heard you once again. Let me cash in", he said as he called a waiter over to his table to pay his bills and the female waiter immediately smiled at him and wrote down the bill.

" Goodnight Bella, I will give your idea a thought but just don't ask me if I have tried it alright", he said softly as he got up from the chair he had been sitting on with his phone next to his ear and started walking out of the almost empty shop.

" I won't ask, you can be really childish but I also understand you don't want to be under pressure. Good night Miles", she said and heard him hum as he ended the call and the music started all over again while she drowned in her cake listening to her favorite song which was on repeat.

After devouring a good amount of cake and almost finishing the small gallon of milk, Bella felt a bit tired and sleepy. She stared at the white walls of the dining room, her chair giving her a side view of the living room and she sighed.

She was literally the only one home and it sucked so much, she just wanted company, not just friends but one of families.

She got up from her seat and carried the half eaten cake storing it inside the fridge, she might as well devour it tomorrow night as well. She kept the gallon of milk as well and with lazy steps picked up her phone heading straight to the stairs.

' It just hadn't hit me yet, the older I get', the song played over and over again and as she arrived at her room, she shut the door behind her listening to the song start all over again.

She walked lazily towards her dressing table and grabbed a picture frame from the left drawer. It was a wedding photo of her parents, her mom dressed in a beautiful white gown and her Dad in his lucky suit and she was the flower girl, look how young she was back then.

She stared at it with longing eyes as tears filled the brim of her eyes until it start to trickle down. It was when the both of them decided to get married for her sake, she was just eight and used to live with her mom.

She was born out of wedlock and was raised as a child with a single parent and at that time, she treasured her mom so much. It looked like a fairytale when her parents reunited and married when she was eight, especially when she got to be in their wedding picture.

She was sure glad to finally have both parents and if she thought back to that day, she was still young and didn't seem to know what the future held. And when they had started fighting five years into marriage, she had tried all her best to fix them and restore the peace they all once had but she lost it and then she saw them as failures.

And then she found love but she couldn't hold that love, couldn't make anyone stay and she learned that loving wasn't really easy so she didn't blame her parents anymore. She grew older and realized that relationships don't always work out.

Slowly, she put the frame back in it's former position and closed the drawer. Staring at her reflection through her dressing mirror, she smiled bitterly. Cheerful on the outside, lonely on the inside, that was who she really was, Annabella Curtis.

She wiped her tears as more and more seemed to drop down on her pale white face and she could no longer hold them off so she walked back to her bed feeling dejected, covered herself with her brown duvet and cried on her pillow as she had always done, every night.

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Authors note:

Hey beautiful and trusted readers, I do really want to hope you are enjoying my book and please if you are, don't hesitate to support the book. I hope you had a nice time reading this chapter and more are coming so I expect you to hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen. Have a good day... byeee

Also comments your thoughts about Bella on the comment section, please do.