A fractured fairytale

53

༻ Rose's POV ༺

School was shut for almost two weeks.

Usually, I'd be horrified about missing that much time at school, especially as the end of my senior year was rapidly approaching. However, it was the best two weeks of my life. Matt and I spend every morning in the library together, him working on his American history paper, me working on all of my own work. I sent off my college applications and completed my chemistry project with my lab partner. Fortunately, she was a lot nicer to me when Matt was sitting at the next table.

We worked for a few days each morning and finished pretty quickly, which I was relieved about. Matt managed to write his paper in that time, with minimal help from me. I struggled to keep my ideas to myself as I so desperately wanted to help him, but as his tutor, it was a step too far. Although, as his girlfriend, I could offer a little support.

Each day, we packed up at lunch time and went to a café or restaurant in town or grabbed takeout and ate in his car. I thought I'd be slacking with the shorter days but I actually got everything done in those half days, including the work our teachers sent to us.

Every afternoon, we were together. Some days, Matt met his teammates in the park and played football with them while I settled beneath a huge tree for shade and read my book. It was perfect, alternating between my latest steamy romance novel and the gut I was dating who was ten times hotter than any fictional man, especially with his shirt off.

Every time he scored a touchdown, he'd glance over his shoulder to where I was sitting and winked. It did things to me.

On other days, we went for long walks or on sweet little dates. He'd taken me bowling, to the aquarium and shopping. We'd also gone back to his house a couple of times and done some baking with his sister and mom. Matt and Violet seemed to have resolved all their issues and it was nice to see them getting along.

Part of me was a gutted when school reopened, but I knew I needed to keep my focus so college didn't slip away from me. As much as I loved spending time with Matt, I couldn't let it distract me from my future. The first few days back were somber, with a number of students still out with injuries and a memorial service for Brynn Winters, who had been killed in the shooting. Everyone wore black during those first days back and the atmosphere was heavy with loss and fear.

The following week, things started to blur back to normal and Matt dropped me home after a couple of extra hours studying together in the library. I managed to get a large chunk of homework done, although I did allow him to distract me a few more times than I would have liked, but he was hard to say no to. When he dropped me home, he was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "I like seeing you in my clothes."

I tried to smother my smile. He'd given me his jumper the other day, and, when I'd woken up this morning, a cold wind had whipped through the apartment, despite the bright sunshine outside, so I'd thrown it on. He'd smirked every time he looked at me today. "See you tomorrow," I said, ignoring his possessive smile and sliding out of the car.

"Bye gorgeous."

I strolled across the street with a grin on my face. Every conversation left me with butterflies. My mind was drowning in thoughts of him as I climbed the stairs up to the third floor and then unlocked the front door. I was still smiling as I closed it behind me and then spun around, coming to a stop when I spotted my father sprawled across the couch.

My heart dropped to my feet. He wasn't supposed to be home yet. He never came home before midnight on a weekday. He didn't even finish work until six o'clock and then he always went drinking after.

I stared at him for a moment and his red rimmed eyes locked on me. He had a beer in hand but he was already drunk. I could see it all over his face, in his wide, bloodshot eyes, in his dry, chapped lips that he kept smacking together, in the way he slumped in his seat.