Trouble Times Two

Chapter Fifty-Eight

"I guess so." I start laughing a little through my tears and manage to wipe them away.

He stands up and grabs me some tissues.

"I promise I'll stop drinking. I swear." He says and I nod.

"That means a lot to me because your family means a lot to me. I'd do anything for them because they've shown me so much love and your parents have given me so nice guidance and support." I sit up and he shows me something.

"Where are you in this?" He shows me our fifth grade yearbook and I look at him in utter shock.

"You're not going to like my answer Donovan." I say and he shrugs. "I'm not in there."

"Bullshit. Dacre let it slip that you went until you were ten to the same school as me. You'll be in here." He says.

I go through the book, looking at all my classmates past and present. I guess they were all past now that I didn't go to school anymore.

"You really won't like my answer." I say. 

"Okay, I'll be able to take it, whatever it is." He responds and I sigh.

"I'm on here." I say and give him the page I'm on.

"There's no Blackwell on this." The surnames are listed first so he's not going to find me unless he looks at first names and finds Vincent's and somehow deduced that Vincent in the yearbook is the same as my twin brother Vincent and then somehow decided that the other Breckenridge on there is me.

"No I can't see you, there's no Blackwell's on here either." He's given up fairly easy but even that is too easy.

It was time to tell the truth. Telling lies to him was not easy. Telling lies to everyone was not easy. It made me upset that I had to do it because I was getting rid of a name my family gave to me with love, even if I didn't take it that way. That was a decision I made as a traumatised teenager that stuck with me and now it was doing more harm than good.

I point my finger to Vincent. "That's Vincent, my brother." I move to the girl before him, the one I hardly recognise anymore. "That's me."

"What? That's not you. Your name is Giana Blackwell." He looks at me and back at the picture. "I knew that girl, you're not her."

"I'm sorry." I say. "Donny the dog." I whisper that last part.

"You're playing a prank on me. This is like PUNK'D, isn't it? Isn't it?" He looks at me again and knows it isn't true.

He wraps his arm around me again, this time hard but with love. He cries into my hair. Sniffling and I dry his eyes.

"Verity. You're Verity." He says as he cries even more.  "I thought you died."

"I wish I had. I went through hell." I say and he hugs me.

"Don't say that. It's making it impossible for me to stay away from you. Do you know how much restraint I had to have? You're the most infuriatingly beautiful person I've ever known. How do I trust your word?" He says and I get my phone out.

I show a picture of my birth certificate.

"Verity Giana Blackwell Breckenridge. What a name. I can't believe you're Verity. I genuinely thought you died but that might've just been because I had actually seen some happen that I just started assume people die." He starts tearing up.

I hold his hand.

"It's okay. I went through the same thing. When I was ten, I witnessed the same thing you did. The death of that couple." I say and I take a deep breath.

"Really? Are you okay?" He asks and I shake my head.

"I'll never be okay. The last two candles... they were for them... they were for my parents. Oh God." I start croaking again. "What did I do to deserve any of this?"

He holds me tight and I just cry for twenty minutes.

"I don't know why I didn't ever question the fact that you don't have parents. I'm sorry for what I've said. I can't believe I didn't recognise you even though you came back to the house you lived in." He's red in the face.

"No it's okay. I'm different now." I point at my hair. "I dye it."

"What about your freckles? I remember them." He says. 

"They're still there." I say and he looks at my face very closely.

"Have you been wearing makeup while sleeping?" He asks and I avoid eye contact. "Have I ever even seen you without makeup?"

I shake my head.

"You've been sleeping with makeup on? I can't even imagine how uncomfortable that is. Take it off." He says and I shake my head again. "Come on. I'm not here to judge, I just can't imagine that's good for your or your skin."

"Okay. Fine." I get up and go to my room and wash my face and take a minute before I come back.

I avoid him and get back into bed where I try to sleep but I eventually turn around when I think he's asleep to get more comfortable.

"You're just as beautiful as I remember." He says and I laugh even though I'm or tending to be asleep.

"Don't overstep Donovan." I say but eventually fall asleep, knowing he found me beautiful.