F A L L O N

"I never needed anybody's help in any way. But now these days are gone and I'm not so self-assured."

. . .

The next day, I'm a bit bolder and decide to go downstairs in the afternoon. At the top of the stairs though, I halt. I hear my mom's and dad's voices coming from the kitchen.

They're both home.

Dad is telling something to mom, and then I hear their voices move towards the living room. It's the weekend, and I know mom and dad are staying home. They've always said they wanted to spend some quality time together.

But today, dad doesn't sound as warm as usual and mom's tone isn't as carefree.

"You can do this," I whisper to myself, and take the first few steps down the stairs. This is my home, and if I want to, I can take a goddamn cookie out of the pantry.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rings. Exhaling, I walk over towards it and open the door, being utterly surprised when I see Nicholas.

His gaze lands on me, and I see something flash in his eyes.

"Fallon," he breathes, and I see a look of longing briefly pass on his face.

"Nicholas," I whisper. "What are you doing here?"

He parts his lips, but then his eyes move to someone behind me. Turning around, I see Stella heading towards us.

"I see you've arrived already," she says, her eyes going back and forth between the both of us.

He's here to see her? But why?

To my dismay, mom pops her head out of the living room, and I get a flashback to when Stella found out and both my parents were present.

My heart starts going faster and I feel the sweat gathering itself on my skin.

My eyes go back to Nicholas, and his eyes meet mine. The longing I've been having for him is mirrored in his eyes.

Though Stella sees the expression on both our faces and she turns her head away as a look of hurt crosses her face.

I glance down at the ground, biting my lip and clenching my hands into fists by my side.

"You guys disgust me," she sighs and turns around, walking down the hallway. My mom takes a step in the direction Stella went in.

"Stella, wait!" she calls out, but the blonde ignores her and continues her path.

Then, for the first time in what feels like forever, I'm faced with my mother's dark brown eyes.

"Aren't you ashamed?" she asks, her tone driving a knife deep into my chest. "Of course, I am," I whisper, feeling my throat thickening up.

"No, you don't," she frowns and shakes her head, "you have no idea the hurt you caused her. It hurts me to see her like this."

Nicholas takes a step in front of me, glaring down at my mother. He parts his lips, ready to rain hell down on her.

But I put a hand on his chest and shake my head, focusing my gaze back on my mother.

For the first time, I feel a flicker of anger directed at her, light up inside of me.

"Have you never wondered how I felt?" I ask her and hate the way my voice trembles. I know I'm a few moments away from bursting into tears, but I don't care.

"I know that what I did was wrong, I know that," I begin and clench my jaw. "But you never, not even for one second, came to my room to ask me why I did it. Never once, did you try to communicate with me. You never bothered to hear my side of the story. You could've tried listening to me."

I hear the door of the pantry close, and I figure that dad is about to enter the hallway. And witness this.

"How could I? I can't believe my own daughter would do something like this?"

"You could never because you never tried!" I fire back, raising my voice. Her eyes narrow in on me.

"Cuidado con tu boca," she says in a low voice.

Normally I'd bite my tongue, and listen to her. But fuck that.

"Why should I?" I ask her, "you never listen, anyway. Just like you've never supported me. Why don't you disown me and take Stella as your daughter, instead?"

Mom raises her hand.

I get a flashback to Tyler. To all the moments where I'd stand up for myself and he'd slap me.

My head whips to the side as my mother's hand connects with my cheek, and a stinging pain goes through my body.

I lift my hand, going up to my cheek but never quite touching the skin. I'm in too much shock to process that it happened.

"Isabella!" I hear my dad boom from the opening of the kitchen.

I don't even see him. All I see are my mother's features. And the regret edging itself on them.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he shouts through clenched teeth.

"I..." my mom begins, but my dad isn't having any of it. "Get the fuck into my study, now," he grits out, his eyes spitting fire.

When my mom doesn't move, I see a vein popping out of dad's neck.

"Now!" he shouts, and mom turns away with parted lips in shock, getting out of the hallway.

Dad turns to me and places both of his hands on my shoulders. He leans in and plants a delicate kiss on my forehead.

"Go to your room, little one," he whispers, "I'll come by in a few minutes."

With a disdainful look thrown into Nicholas' direction, dad turns around and follows mom, clenching and unclenching his hands by his sides in anger.

Turning around, I want to walk towards the stairs, but Nichols follows and gently takes my hand.

I pull away from him.

"Fallon," he begins, but I shake my head.

"No, don't even try to. You should've been there when I needed it these past few days."

"I just needed time and space to fix everything and register all that was going on."

"Well, I wanted to be there when you did that. I was always there when you needed me, but when I needed you, you weren't."

Everything is blurry from behind my eyes, and I want to blink away the tears, but can't.

"Guess I wasn't more than a fuck to you," I whisper and turn around, heading for the stairs.

"Go to Stella, since she's the reason why you came here in the first place."

I'm glad that he doesn't follow me, and once I'm in my room, I slide down to the ground against the door and close my eyes, letting out an ugly sob.

My mom has punished me in the past whenever I did something wrong. I was used to it growing up.

She'd grab her slipper or anything else that was close to her, or use her hand. But she never hit my face. Not once.

And it's been so long since she's done that. I'm not used to her punishing me anymore because I'm twenty-one years old.

And I never gave her a reason to.

Except for now.

I rock back and forth against the door, wrapping my arms around my knees. I close my eyes and try to even out my breathing.

After some time, I stand up and walk towards my bed, where I get underneath the covers.

Exhaustion takes the best of me, and I doze off.

I wake up to the door of my room closing softly, and I make out my dad's tall form. Sitting up, I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look up at him.

"Dad?" I ask, and he turns around. A soft smile comes on his face, and he walks over towards me.

"Come here," he whispers, and that's exactly what I do.

He takes a seat on my bed, and I wrap my arms around him, leaning into his side and burying my face into his chest.

Tears start soaking his shirt, but he doesn't seem to mind. He rubs his hands soothingly over my back.

"I-I'm so sorry," I choke out and clutch the material of his shirt between my fingers.

"It's okay," he tells me, "it's okay."

He plants a soft kiss on top of my head and holds me close to him. "I'm sorry I didn't come to check up on you sooner," he whispers, and I can hear the shame in his voice. "I'm so sorry, Fallon."

I shake my head. "It's okay, dad," I assure him and lean back, meeting his eyes. "I'm just happy you're not ashamed of me," I smile and feel a tear rolling down my cheek.

All I've been doing is crying these past few days, but I can't seem to stop it.

"Of course not," he says and cradles my face between his hands, pressing another kiss on my forehead.

"I will always love you, no matter what. Even if I don't agree with your choices, I wouldn't judge you without hearing your side of the story."

"There's not much to explain," I murmur and glance down in embarrassment. "I've been a horrible friend."

Dad cradles the side of my face when I press my cheek against his chest.

"I have been working nonstop these days," he sighs, "coming home wasn't an option for me. But I regret doing that because you deserved someone being there for you."

"I feel so much better knowing you're not ignoring me like mom. Or as mad as her."

"I'm not mad, Fallon," he whispers, "just confused. And disappointed, because I know you would never hurt anyone on purpose like this and I wonder what led to all of this."

"I'll tell you everything."

He nods and sends me a smile, the love in his eyes prominent as he looks down at me.

"Good, because Stella's version wasn't going to cut it for me. I need to hear it from you. I couldn't care any less about Nicholas' side of the story. I still plan on beating the fuck out of him."

That manages to get a little chuckle out of me, and I lift my hand to wipe some of my tears away.

Only to wince when I brush over my bruised cheek.

Dad clenches his jaw when he sees that, and shakes his head. "I'm beyond angry at your mother," he grits out and squeezes his eyes shut. "Beyond angry," he emphasizes again.

I am, too. Because I know I didn't deserve that slap coming from her.

"I'm okay," I assure him. I don't want to know what he'd do if he ever found out I had an abusive ex-boyfriend.

Then, dad slowly starts asking me questions about Nicholas. Not too many, but I give him enough answers to sketch the situation. I even told him about how Nicholas and I first met, and that it wasn't when Stella introduced us to each other.

He listens, never judging or interrupting me.

By the time I'm done, dad is brushing some tears away from my face. "Well, you know I don't support people who cheat," dad tells me, and I nod.

"But at least you know what you did was wrong. Even though Stella has been a bad friend to you, there won't ever be an excuse for cheating. But I'm glad to see remorse and that you're grown enough to recognize your mistakes."

I nod and sniffle a bit.

"Dad?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I think it's best if I leave. Because I want to," I whisper and feel my voice breaking.

Sadness takes over his features, but he nods and hugs me to himself. "Okay, little one," he whispers, "then I'll support you in that and help you."

. . .

I forgot to tell you guys I'm on holiday, lol.

In Florida.

Enjoying the sun n stuff. It's not that hot here but it's way better than Belgium.

I'm enjoying all the fast-food restaurants that we don't have in Belgium, so everything is aight.

BUT, remember the guy I was simping over?? Yeah, he asked me if I could take a flight back to him SKSKSKSKS why am I catching feelings?????

I also called him 'babe' on accident through text.

Like I was typing a sentence and was clicking on the top buttons above my keyboard, and suddenly babe appeared there and I put it at the end AND BRUH THE FUCKER DIDN'T BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAID I DIDN'T MEAN TO SEND IT.

And I've never been a fan of cute nicknames n such but I didn't mind calling him that endearment??

Idk what's happening to me.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I love you.