The next morning I wake up with a headache. My head feels a thousand times heavier. All the crying must have made me feel weak. I check the time and see that its already ten. Great I'm late. I had to meet Matt at the diner for breakfast.

I call Matt, putting my phone in between my ear and my shoulder, while brushing my teeth.

"Ems let me guess, you just woke up." Matt says as soon as he picks up. I can imagine him rolling his eyes at me right now.

"Yeah. Sorry I'll be there in five minutes." I say, rinsing my mouth with water.

"Well I already waited two hours, what's another five minutes right?" He says sounding bored.

"Its on me! I promise!" I say and hang up.

I quickly get dressed and head down. I call out my father but I hear no response. I see his car keys on the table, so I grab them. I'll be faster if I take a car. I can't keep Matt waiting any longer.

When I reach the diner, I see Matt sitting at the same table we sat before, near the window. So I can see him clearly from outside. When I get out of the car and approach the diner, I see that Brie is with Matt. I bet she's flirting with Matt right now. I smirk when an idea strikes in me.

"Hey babe!" I give Matt a kiss on his cheek when I step inside the diner.

Matt gives me a weird look, probably confused as hell.

I fake the sweetest smile I can, putting my hands on top of Matt's hand. "I'm so sorry I'm late babe. I mean after last night, I couldn't get out of bed." I say in the most sultry voice I can muster.

I almost laugh out loud when I see Matt and Brie gasping when they heard me say that.

"Amelia what are you talking about?" Matt asks, his eyes wide in shock.

"Babe you don't have to feel ashamed. You were great last night!" I look at Brie. "If you know what I mean." I say shrugging one shoulder.

She sounds so mad that I want to laugh out loud. She turns her head at Matt. "Matt I thought she was just your friend!" She whines.

"Oh he was until last night. He's my fiancé now." I smile at her.

"What? Matt? How could you?" She says and leave our table.

I laugh out loud, holding my stomach. I kept laughing. Her face was so funny. That'll show her for giving me attitude yesterday.

"Amelia what the hell was that?" Matt says still having his shocked expression on his face.

"Just a little fun!" I say wiping my tears resulting from laughing too much. "Its been so long since I laughed that hard."

"Why would you do that?" He asks.

"You should thank me instead. I saved you from her wrath." I tell him. "She keeps flirting with you. She might think you're leading her on. I had to do something." I shrug.

"What? No! We were just talking. She's a nice kid." He says, looking around probably looking for Brie.

I roll my eyes at him. "Matt you think everyone is nice."

"Not Claire though." He says, his tone suddenly serious. "Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah." I say silently, barely audible. Matt's going to be so mad if he knows she slapped me.

"And? What did she say?" Matt asks sounding curious.

I pause for a minute before answering, contemplating whether I should tell him the truth. "She slapped me." I finally say.

"What?" His voice loud. A few people in the diner turn to looks at our table. He quiets down at that. "How could she?"

"I'm not surprised." I say, taking a bite from the omlettle. "She's Claire, after all."

"But you were just trying to help!" Matt sounds so mad. He clenches his jaw, his veins on his neck clearly visible.

"Matt its okay." I try to calm him down. I knew he would react this way if I told him.

"No its not okay Ems! Its not okay for you to keep getting abused. Enough is enough." He says, putting his hands on the table.

I sigh. Of course its not okay. But what else am I gonna do?

"Lucas called last night." I tell him to divert his attention.

He looks surprised when I said that. "Really? What did he say?"

"We're back to square one. I kind of got mad at him so." I pursed my lips.

"But he called right? You should've at least given him a chance Ems." He says shaking his head at me in disapproval. I stay quiet so he continues. "Does Lucas know? About this?" He asks.

"Nope. And I like to keep it that way." I say. I don't need his pity. If he did not want to hear to my explanation the first time, then he doesn't deserve my explanation.

"Okay." Matt says. With all the defending he has been doing for Lucas lately, I'm surprised he's not pushing me further to tell Lucas the truth.

"You gonna go to class after this?" I ask him.

"Yeah I need to hand in my project from last night. I spent almost the whole night on it because today is the last day for handing it in." He says, sounding tired.

"Okay then. I'll drop you off at college. I took dad's car." I grin.

"Are you sure you can drive?" Matt eyes me suspiciously.

"Oh trust me. I don't drive like an old person, unlike someone." I look at him.

"Hey what's wrong in being cautious?" He puts his hands up in defence.

"Yeah but a tortoise is faster than you.' I laugh.

Matt pouts, but joins me in laughing after a second. We both stand up to leave. I catch see Brie glaring at us, mostly me, just before we get out of the diner. The little prank was so worth the look on her face.

After I drop off Matt at his college, I decide to drop by the cemetery before going home. I walk to my mother's grave, the cemetery covered with dry leaves, which make a crunching sound every time I step on them. That's the only sound against the eerily silent cemetery.

I see my mom's grave, standing firm on the ground.

Here lies a mother, a wife and a loving friend. The world looks a little dimmer in the absence of your light.

It reads.

I put my hands over the words, my fingers lingering over the word mother.

"Mom, I'm sorry I haven't been visiting you for a while." I say, sitting on the ground.

"I don't know if you can see me but I really need you right now." I say pulling my knees up to my chest.

"You see I met this guy Lucas in New York. He's really sweet, well not that sweet but he's kinda cool." I laugh a little when I realize I'm talking about Lucas out of all things that's been happening lately.

"You'll like him mom. I like him. In fact I really really like him." I say, pulling the grass in between my fingers.

"But I screwed up. Real bad. He gave up on me too. Just like dad."

I spent most of the day talking to mom, about Lucas among other things. It really feels good to talk to someone freely about everything and anything.

Its already dark when I reach home, I silently pray dad won't be mad that I took his car out for the whole day. I open the door and see Claire drinking alone on the dining table.

Once she hears me coming in through the door, her head snaps up to me.

"My daughter you're home!" She slurs.

"Where's dad?" I ask her, keeping the car keys on the table.

"He left again. Another business trip I suppose." She snickers, taking a drink from her glass again.

Dad left again. Why am I not surprised? He always leave. Leaving me behind with this woman. I thought after the talk he did last night about wanting to be there for me, he would at least stay home for me this time.

"You see Amelia your father doesn't care for either of us." She hiccups. "He doesn't care for me. He doesn't care for you either." She points the bottle at me. Then pouring herself another drink.

I never realized she used to be hurt by the fact that dad always leaves home. I sigh and approach her, "Claire I think you should stop drinking." I take the bottle from her hands.

She jerks the bottle away from my hands and drink from it again. "That's what I always told him too."

I furrow my brows in confusion before I realize she's talking about her father.

"You see he never listened. He kept drinking and drinking and drinking." She brings her glass up and stares at it. "He just won't stop." She says her voice slightly strained.

"But you can Claire." I tell her, mustering up my courage. "You don't have to drink too. You can change. You can be different from him."

She snaps her head at me, her eyes wide and red. "What did you just say?" She stands up from the chair. "I am nothing like my father!" She yells.

"No I didn't say that Claire. I'm just saying that you should change." I say stepping back away from her. "I mean you can be better than this."

"You think I'm the same as my father don't you?" She seethes. "I'll show you who my father is!" She shouts and throws her bottle at me.

I stumble back when the bottle hits my head and breaks into tiny pieces, shattering on the floor. My legs give out when I feel the blood streaming down my face, so I fall on the floor. I put my hand on my head and see that my hand is all red with blood. My blood. I feel numb yet dizzy at the same time.

"Amelia!" I hear someone call me. Why do the voice resembles Lucas's voice? I try to look up who it is but I feel myself slowly drifting off to sleep.

*****

I don't really have anything much to say right now. My heart is breaking for Amelia. There's a lot I'm feeling right now so yeah.

I love you all so much! For all the votes and comments.