Chapter 6: Telling them TW: Abuse

You are gonna be fine Londyn. They won't hate you for waiting. It's gonna be okay.

Trying to convince myself that Prem and Landon won't hate me isn't working very well. My knee hasn't stopped shaking since I decided to tell them, and my mind has been racing since I keep conjuring up random unlikely theories that have a very low likelihood.

They both should be arriving soon, and I already told my mom that they're staying the night. She's only okay with it because she's known the both of them since they were children. Otherwise she would go all protective on me, like some mothers do.

My knee continues bouncing until my door is thrown open by none other than my two crazy best friends. Prem is holding a large bag with who knows what in it, and Landon has blankets hoisted onto his shoulders.

"It's party time!" Prem announces excitedly with a large grin as Landon finally drops the blankets onto the floor with a 'hmph'. "But first, I believe you have something to tell us?" Prem asks, and I certainly wish she didn't bring it up.

I'm sure my nerves show on my face as Prem and Landon settle onto the end of my bed. I sigh and start speaking before I can back out. "Well, yeah. So basically, yesterday, my mom was on a business trip and she had her boyfriend pick me up for dinner and it was really awkward, because I kept apologizing for being so nervous about it since he was my mom's first boyfriend after- after my father died. The only thing is that he passed away when I was five." I couldn't tell if they were shocked or not 'cause my vision was blurry from the tears trickling down my cheeks at a fast pace, trying their hardest to hit my lap.

Small waterfalls contained inside of someone so broken, so filled with pain, regret, and guilt, that it's so hard to move on.

"So, my mom's boyfriend I guess got annoyed at my constant apologizing. He got so angry that he threw a glass plate at the wall right beside me. He ended up... punching me, he kissed and fondled me, and- he started getting undressed. But before he could get his boxers off, I made my escape. I ran as fast as I could back here but Drake, yes Drake, saw me and helped me clean up.

"My mom's boyfriend at the time ended up breaking into my house and getting arrested. Drake was here all night and my mom met him the next morning after she got on the first flight back. And here I am now." I finish, trying to calm what I could feel was the start of a panic attack.

I look up slowly through whatever tears are left to see both of my friends with concerned looks on their faces. "Oh, my poor Londyn." Prem starts, and moves in to hug me. Once we pull away, Landon hugs me as well and I decide we might as well change the subject and just forget that I ever told them something so serious.

"Alright, now. I'm fine. Now it's party time!" I say, forcing a smile on my face and wiping away my tears. The tension in the room starts fading away as we all get set up for a movie with the items that my wonderful friends brought.

I turn my TV on and pick a movie on Netflix before we all squeeze onto my bed. Myself on the far left, Prem in the middle, and Landon on the far right, as I start to forget. It feels amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~

As the movie credits start rolling down the screen, I turn the TV off and look over to see Prem and Landon basically cuddling as both of them had fallen asleep. I stifle an 'aw' before getting up to head downstairs for something to drink.

When I get to the kitchen, my mom is standing at the counter cracking an egg. "Hey, mom. What are you up to?" I ask her curiously. It looks like she's baking but I figured I should ask.

"Oh, you're still awake. I'm just making brownies for tomorrow." She replies, continuing to add ingredients into a mixing bowl.

I look at her in confusion before grabbing a cup from the cabinet. "What's tomorrow?" I ask her, still confused. Tomorrow is just a normal school day.

"I'm pulling you out of school because your brother is coming home. Oh! And we get to finally meet his girlfriend!" She finishes, looking at me with a grin.

Meanwhile, I've managed to drop my luckily empty cup onto the floor in shock. I haven't seen my brother since he went away after Christmas break for another semester of college. It's only been a few months, but we've never been apart for what's felt like years.

"Brendon's coming home?" I exclaim happily. I can't wait to see him.

"Yes he is. After I called to tell him what happened, he planned to take a few days off from college to come back. He's also bringing his girlfriend, Kara. So I'm just preparing something nice for the both of them." My mom finishes but I'm too busy mentally bouncing off of walls. I feel like a child that just drank 10 cups of coffee and ate way too many chocolate bars.

Once I finished talking to my mom, I went back upstairs to get ready for bed. But before going to bed, I write Prem a note explaining that I won't be going to school so that she and Landon can leave without me.

Since they're sleeping in my bed, I head over to the small couch near my window with a few blankets and pillows. I don't mind sleeping here tonight. It's better than waking them up or moving them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, I wake up to broad sunlight shining through my window and decide to get up and get ready.

I pick out a purple strapless dress that goes down to my knees, and put on black leggings underneath with a white cardigan over the dress so I won't be cold. It's getting colder as winter quickly approaches.

As I head downstairs, I hear voices in the kitchen so I speed up my pace considering I haven't seen Brendon in months.

As I arrive in the kitchen, I spot my older brother standing at the counter so I rush over to him and smack him on the arm. "You left me! How dare you?" I fake an angry face and he looks at me with amusement before I give him a hug.

Once I pull back, I notice a girl with dark brown hair, green eyes, and large black glasses, like the ones that the stereotypical nerd wears. She's beautiful, and I immediately hope we become friends, despite the age difference.

"Hi! You must be Kara, it's so nice to finally meet you." I say kindly and smile at her, sending a look at my brother who waited this long for us to meet his girlfriend.

"Oh, and you must be Londyn! I've heard so much about you!" She answers and smiles back.

"Hopefully good things." I reply like any other person would when told that.

"Of course." she says and gives another smile before we all sit down to have breakfast.

My mom made pancakes for all of us, so I dig in because pancakes for breakfast is a rare occurrence.

Eh, I'll go on a run later to burn some of that extra pancake off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast, we decided to go out for the day and start with the mall.

Two hours manage to go by while we're in the mall, and now we're heading to the food court for lunch when I realize I need to go to the bathroom.

"Hey, I need to run to the bathroom. Brendon, just text me which place you've decided on and I'll meet you there." I say and Brendon nods and tells me 'okay' before I head for the bathroom. I've only been to this mall a few times so I just wander the hallway and look for the sign.

Once I find it, I do my business, wash my hands, and start to head out, but I realize a familiar figure is waiting outside. It isn't my brother or Kara though.

I quickly realize it's the same kid that hit on me in my homeroom. He immediately tries to spark up a conversation. "Hey, Londyn. What are you doing here?"

"Look, I think you have the wrong idea," I start, hoping to get away as quick as possible. He already gives me creepy vibes. "I'm not interested in whatever you're trying to do. I don't mean to be rude, but you aren't my type and I have to be somewhere. So I'll just be on my way." I finish, and he looks startled for a second before his expression hardens.

"I'm not letting you go." He says quickly.

Being the naive idiot I am, I just say "what?" before I'm being pushed against the wall. My breath hitches and I feel my heart start to race. I hiss at the pain ripping itself through my body as he presses one hand on my wrist and another on my shoulder where Jason cut me.

He immediately smashes his dry lips against mine and I struggle against his grip. I finally think of how to get him off of me and decide to knee him- you know where. I don't miss, and feel guilty- only for a second- before I run to a store a little ways down to hide and figure out where Brendon is.

Once in back of the store, I pull out my phone to see where Brendon is. He texted me that they're in a pizza place that isn't far from here. I also see a text from Drake, but I don't open it since my main goal is to get to my brother.

Being stupid but not wanting my brother to worry, I rush to the pizza place to meet them there.

My heart rate starts slowing down when I see them at a booth in the pizza place, just talking. Brendon sees me so I wave and make my way over to them.

With Kara across from him, my brother pats the seat next to him so that I know where to sit. I slide in next to him and he hands me the menu.

I decide not to tell Brendon about what just happened because he'll go all protective on me and I don't feel like dealing with that. I'll deal with it later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh shoot," I say I we get home. "So many texts. Oh gosh." I mumble to myself. Drake has basically been spamming my phone all day with texts like 'where are you' and 'you good?' So he cares about me all of a sudden? Where did this come from?

"What?" Brendon asks and I realize that I'm not alone.

"Oh. Nothing, I have to go upstairs and call someone real quick." I say and bound up the stairs before he can say anything.

Drake picks up on the first ring. "Londyn, are you okay?" He asks quickly, and I'm surprised at the urgency in his voice.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm really sorry, I was out with my brother and his girlfriend and forgot to text you." I apologize.

"Dude. You cannot do that to me again. Promise not to do that again." He demands, urgency never leaving his voice. "Promise?"

"I promise."