Two days later, I sit on the couch with Jonah and Ivy next to me. We scheduled the abortion to be tomorrow since they had a free space in their schedule and were able to get us in. I found out that Ivy had gone to the doctor's a few days ago with her friend at college before she even told Jonah that she suspected that she was pregnant. She was almost 7 weeks pregnant, which means she was getting an aspiration performed, also known as a surgical abortion that you can get when you're six to 16 weeks pregnant.

The three of us were watching some movie that I think none of us were even paying attention to. They were both in the same moods that they were in two days ago, quiet and scared. I've just been cooking for them and trying to keep them distracted by watching movies and whatnot, but I don't know if it's been working. Julian was apparently on his way home from his trip, which meant I would have to tell him about who I met. My nose still hurt like a bitch and it even bled a bit more yesterday, but I've been icing it and using the medicine that I was given to make it better.

The bruises were more prominent under my eyes and I look like I got into an actual fight, but in reality, I just got hit by my boyfriend's dad. So... that's normal. Ivy hadn't mentioned it anymore, probably because she knew how much it was tearing me up inside, even though I hadn't talked about it or anything. I was just so worried about how Julian was going to react because I just got him okay with talking about his parents and now, everything was going to fall back down.

"Are you and Julian going to fight when he gets back?" Ivy asks in a small voice, looking worried. I notice that Jonah does as well, perhaps because they knew nothing about what was going on with us so they were probably thinking the worst.

"I don't know, maybe," I say, sinking down further onto the couch. I knew it was just a few minutes until the door would open and he would come in. I don't think I was mentally prepared for all that was about to go down. I wanted to sink so far into this couch that I wasn't visible so Julian would forget about everything, but there was no way that was going to happen because, apparently, he was pretty angry when I hung up on him.

"Miles," Ivy whispers to me, setting her hand on my forearm. I look over to see both of them giving me distressed looks that put me on the edge. "what's going on?"

"Ivy, seriously, don't worry about it. This doesn't affect you," I tell her because I don't want to get her stress levels too high. She was already dealing with so much and I didn't want to add more to that. Trust me, I needed to tell someone about what happened because it was literally eating me up inside, but I had no one that I could tell. Ivy and Jonah were too focused on literally getting an abortion tomorrow. Mom would freak out if I told her, so that was completely out. Mia was dealing with her mom having surgery on her heart, so that was also completely out of the question. Nina and Andrea were super busy with work stuff and Bradlee knew nothing about Julian's parents so he wouldn't even know what I was talking about.

"Miles, if it affects you, it affects me too. You're my best friend, which means we share these problems, right? I tell you whenever something's bothering you, so you should do the same. That's what we do," she whispers to me.

I shake my head and before I could get any words out, the beep runs through the house to tell us that the front door was opened. I sink further into the couch as Jonah and Ivy stand up to greet Julian, who I could hear walking in by his heavy footsteps. I hear the three of them talking, but I was unable to hear them because of the pounding of my heart that was reaching my ears. I was starting to stress even more than I had been in the past few days, which definitely wasn't good.

I'm brought back to real life to hear my fiance's soft voice. "It'll be okay, guys. Miles and I will be there for both of you, whenever you need. You can stay here as long as you want, okay? I can talk to George for you, Ivy, if you need to start going to therapy more. And, Jonah, if you need to speak to someone, just let me know."

"Thank you," Jonah's whisper penetrates my ears before I'm brought back by my heartbeat getting more erratic. I knew they were still talking by the slight hum that I was tuning out, but I had no idea what they were saying. I sat up a bit, rubbing my hands up-and-down my pants to rid of the sweat that was coming onto my skin.

"...need to talk to him. He's freaking out, Julian. I'm scared," I hear Ivy telling him with a very concerned voice. I could just imagine her eyes scrunching up in fear as she looks up at Julian, but I was less focused on her and more on the man she was talking to. He didn't sound angry or upset, just supportive and kind, but I knew that would change when we talked.

"I got him, Ivy. How about you two go upstairs and then once we're done talking, we can order food or something? Maybe watch a movie," he suggests before two pairs of footsteps start retreating up the stairs.

I let out a soft whimper as I knew that the screaming and the anger would soon be brought back up when he finally had the courage to look at me. Julian and I stay in the positions that we were in for a few moments before his heavy footsteps come closer to me. When I look up, I see his resentful glare that makes my heart clench inside my chest.

But when he sees my face, his eyes soften and he rushes over to kneel next to me. He lets out a soft gasp as he sits in front of me, reaching his hands up to lightly brush against my bruising skin. "Baby, what happened?"

I instantly feel the urge to cry and this time, I don't hold it back. I start full-on sobbing as everything from the past two days catches up with me. The anger. The pain. The depression. The anxiety. All of it just rushes into my body as quick as it could. Julian's arms immediately wrap around my body in a tight hug, being careful to not hurt my injury, but also making sure that I felt safe and protected in his arms. I grip the back of t-shirt in my fists, desperately needing to hold onto something for balance.

"It's okay, whatever's going on, it'll be okay. We'll make sure it's alright," he whispers into my ear before running his fingers through my hair that was definitely dirty since I literally didn't have the strength to clean myself for the past few days. He didn't seem fazed by it, he even tightened his grip, even more, to hold me closer. "Miles, you're okay. But you need to talk to me. I can't help unless you tell me what happened."

After a few more minutes of sobbing, I was able to get myself under control. I sniffle a bit, causing pain to rocket through my face, but I ignore it since I didn't want my snot to get all over his shirt. I pull back from the hug after a while to look at his worried face that made my panic rise anymore. He set his hands on my thighs as he waited for me to speak. "You're going to freak out."

He nods his head. "Okay."

"Nora showed up to the house and she was scared. She started to tell me that her adoptive parents aren't... good to her. Her dad is really mean and he scares her, but her mom's fine. Like I saw that her mom really loves her, but that kinda doesn't really have any affect when she won't stand up to her husband and everything. But, anyways, I persuaded her to tell me where she lived so I took her there," I tell him before taking a deep breath.

"Okay, what happened when you got there?" He whispers.

"When we get there, there's a police car because they must've noticed that she snuck out or something. So I get out and the cops recognize me because they already knew my name and everything. Um, but, then..." I try to get out the words, but my mouth becomes so dry that I wasn't able to. Julian tightens his grip on me for some silent support.

"What happened, Miles?" He whispers, seeming to know that something really bad was going on. I reach out to grab his shoulder before letting out a shaky breath.

"So the cops were talking to me and asking about Nora and how she showed up and what she said. I was telling them and then, all of a sudden, the guy just comes up and hits me and starts..." I trail off before looking into Julian's eyes. I knew he already knew that this was a bad situation, but he had no idea what I was about to say. "Nora's dad starts yelling at me and telling me that I was probably trying to rub my gay off on her and called me a pervert and a fag."

I don't know how he knew, but his face cleared of all confusion as he sits back on his heels with a terrified look on his face. "It was..."

"It was your dad," I finish for him before he shoots off the ground to start pacing around the living room and run his fingers through his hair. He lets out a long breath as he continues to walk around, looking like he was thinking a mile a minute. I almost stand up to comfort him, but his head whips around to look at me.

"My dad did that to you?" He snaps, but I knew he wasn't doing it to me, but at the whole situation. I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded my head to tell him yes. He starts pacing again, looking more stressed than I did. I was terrified of what he was thinking, whether it be guilt or anger or sadness, I don't know. I didn't even know if I wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Julian, what're you thinking?" I quietly ask. He glances at me for a second before letting out a sigh and coming over to sit next to me. His knee starts to shake up-and-down as soon as he sits down, which makes me worry even more.

"You should've fucking told me," he snaps, which completely shocks me because he showed no signs of anger, especially towards me. He seemed guilty, but he was always extremely unpredictable. He looks at me with the hint of a glare and I realize that he wasn't really mad at me, he was just picking a fight because this news had put him in a bad mood.

"I wanted to tell you in person," I tell him, keeping my voice as passive as possible to not set him off in any way.

"I don't care, Miles. He hurt you. I would've come straight home if you would've told me. I would've killed him for you," he says in a deathly calm voice that sent a chill throughout my body.

"That's why I didn't tell you, Julian. I don't want you doing irrational things like that just because you're mad and-" I start, but he cuts me off with a bitter laugh before he shoots off the couch to look at me with a delirious look in his eyes. I knew I had struck a nerve, but I didn't know how.

"I'm not mad, Miles! I'm absolutely furious, I'm infuriated. I could kill him and if I ever see him again, I fucking will. He put his hands on you and that's not something he's just going to get away with," he snaps at me, confirming my suspicions that he wasn't mad at me, but at the situation that was just thrown into his lap.

I shoot off the couch to come over to him, pressing my palms against his chest to bring life back into his body that was just a ball of fire at this point. "I can press charges, Julian. If you want me to, I will."

"Of course you will, why wouldn't you?" He snaps again, but I wasn't affected by it anymore.

"Because it's your dad, Julian. I don't know what you want," I say in a soft voice, still trying to not set him off, but that wasn't helping anything at this point. Julian takes a step back, running his fingers through his hair again with a sigh. He seemed to be in a bit of a trance, like he wasn't exactly aware of his surroundings. It was like the anger had taken over and he was no longer Julian.

"You're so fucking stupid, Miles!" He roars at me, making me flinch back in fear. He never called me things, no matter how bad our fighting was. I tried to remind myself that this wasn't Julian, but it didn't make his words hurt any less. My eyes started to line with tears again, but I wouldn't let them fall. Not now. I had a feeling that would just make matters worse. "How idiotic can you be? He's not my fucking father! He abandoned me when I needed him and to this day, he's still finding ways to hurt me!"

"I'm sorry," I whisper before biting on my lip to hold the tears back even more. I was terrified that Ivy was going to hear him and come rushing down the stairs to support me, but I think she knew that this was a bad time, so she didn't. I took a step back from my fiance, worried that he might lash out so much that he would do something he would regret.

"I knew you were a baby, but the one time I fucking need you, you break," he says in an enraged whisper as he motions to my tears that were now free-falling down my cheeks. I feel my heart physically breaking as he keeps calling me names and I have to grip the back of the couch to stop myself from falling to the ground. He lets out another bitter laugh when he sees how his words affect me. "you're just so much work."

This isn't Julian. It's not him. He's beyond angry and needs to take it out on something. This isn't Julian. It's not him. He's beyond angry and needs to take it out on something. I keep repeating the phrases in my head as he keeps pacing throughout the room, probably trying to come up with more insults he can pelt at me to make me crack even more. "I'm sorry, Julian."

"You just don't get it," he whispers, turning his back on me. It makes my knees feel even weak because it feels like he was turning on me. That might be the paranoid part of me, but was this going to ruin our relationship? Was this one fight going to tear us apart?

"I do get it, I get it," I whisper, trying to get him to understand what was going on. I don't know if he knew that he wasn't being himself, but I don't really think he cared at this moment.

"Shut up," he snaps, pressing his palms to his temples, telling me that he was starting to get even more angry. I feel my knees become weaker before I just collapse to the floor before starting to sob again. I didn't even try to cover my face as I watched his face clear of all anger before he lets out a small sigh. I could tell he was back to being himself when he gets on the floor in front of me before cupping my face carefully. "I'm so sorry. I just got so mad and I... that's not an excuse, I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

"I'm s-sorry I'm so... so... s-stupid!" I say between sobs as I reach out to grip his shirt in my hands.

"No, no, no," he says, running his hands up-and-down my arms as he looks so guilty. "you're not stupid. I'm stupid and an idiot. You're not a baby, you're not so much work, okay? I was angry, but not at you. I'm so sorry, baby."

I could tell that he was about to cry so I wrap my arms around his waist, continuing to cry. I know that this was a high-stress situation and it was no doubt that he got angry. He said things in a moment that I know that he regrets, so I already forgive him. I probably shouldn't, but we needed each other right now and we wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't forgive him. I needed him and he needed me and I would do anything to keep him in my arms right now. His parents weren't going to pull us away, I wasn't going to let them do that to us.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I fucked up, I'm sorry," he repeats over-and-over again, now shaking with tears. We held each other for what felt like hours as he continued to whisper sweet things to me, which was exactly what we both needed. I loved this man and I forgave him the moment he knew what he said was wrong. We needed each other and I wasn't going to punish both of us because of a few wrong things he said. Everything would be alright. Everything had to be alright.

***

again... don't hate me. Love you all! <3