Addicted to You

Chapter 16: Our History

"wait, what?" Shock shot down my spine as I looked at the girl beside me, curiosity and anger and so many other emotions running through my body.

"I guess now's a better time to finally tell you about my past. It wasn't always just my two mom's and I. I was born when my parents were married. A couple years later, my mom found out why she didn't see my father the way she could look at other women. So, she told him. They got a divorce soon after and it sent my father into a depression stage. He never really got out of it. He started drinking all the time and had to jump from job to job. It wasn't stable so I started living with my mother full time. Then she got remarried, and things got better. For us, anyways. One night, he got drunk and drove. He got a DUI that night, but it never seemed to stop him. Then, a couple nights ago, we got a call. He was drunk and hit two people. The kid in the back got serious injuries and my father died. I wasn't that surprised when I found out. I've been kind of numb to it. I mean, I never really knew the guy. I've just known him to be a drunk. Now I'm seeing how that's effecting other people. My father was so in love with my mom. He never stopped loving her. I couldn't imagine that. Being so incredibly in love with someone, and then have that ripped from you."

I could tell in her voice that she did know how it felt. Whether her feelings are love or not, we both know how it feels. Not to the extent of her father, but we had an idea. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. A life without your father even when he had every chance to be apart of your life, it must've been hard to get used to."

"It was. For a while, I blamed myself for what happened. That maybe if I wasn't born she would still be with him. But then my life wouldn't be how it is now," her face remained still, her eyes looking at the same sidewalk mine were.

I allowed the words to sink into my skin, empathy spreading throughout my body. "My mom died when I was 15. My father would hit us when he got drunk, and one night she fought back, winning the battle for us. She took me and my brother and we left. For a bit, things started to look up. We thought he was gone. But one night, someone broke into the hotel we were staying in, and he killed her. I think he would've done the same to us if the cops hadn't showed up in time. After he was put on trial and sent to prison, we started living with my aunt. I stopped doing drugs, stopped going to parties. I started being someone I could actually like. I was so afraid of affection. And this one girl I met gave that to me and I threw it in her face. I stopped fighting for her. And now I don't even know where we stand with one another."

Her hand moved to rest on top of mine, her finger tracing over my knuckles as she remained silent for several minutes. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, you deserved way more than what was offered to you. As for the girl? I think you two should be friends. You both have made mistakes, maybe you can start over. Maybe we can start over."

Her eyes lifted to connect with my gaze, her finger never failing to stop it's movement. It felt calming. I relaxed against the concrete as I offered a smile, "that sounds nice. I'd love to start over. I'm Avery."

"Ella," she spoke, her hand now holding mine as she laced our fingers together. "Could I come with you to the hospital? I want to be there for you. We are friends, after all," she asked in a genuine voice, no hidden meaning behind her words. I agreed and climbed back in the car, the blonde sitting in the passenger seat beside me. After retrieving a bag full of clothes, some blankets, and some of my brothers favorite toys, we made our way to the hospital once more.

The ride was quiet on the way there. It wasn't uncomfortable, just...quiet.

"Avery! You came back! Give give give," my brother spoke hastily as I handed over his bag of toys. I sat next to my aunt, gestering towards Ella.

"Ella, it's good to finally put a pretty face to your name," Aunt Katie spoke as she reached her hand out to connect it with Ella.

"You must be Katie, I'm glad to meet you," she smiled the way only Ella could smile, winning anyone over with those damn dimples.

My aunt turned to me as she spoke, "they said they need to monitor him for the next two days to make sure his surgery went well and his concussion doesn't get worse. So far, though, all is well."

I was happy with the news, even if it meant I was going to be sleeping on a stiff hospital couch for the next night or two. "You are going to school Monday, though. He won't be getting released till after dinner if he is so don't worry about missing anything," Katie spoke as she kept her eyes on me.

I nodded in response, sitting down and finally beginning to eat the sandwich I had gotten a couple of hours ago. The hospital food wasn't too bad as I shared some of it with Ella. It was nice having her here. It made things more relaxing and seem less serious.

She got along well with Carter, my brother, as she played with him and his toys, making sound effects as she did so. It was cute to say the least, watching the two play. I could see Katie eyeing me from the side, a smug smirk playing on her lips as she looked between the two of us. I mouthed the words 'just friends' which brought a chuckle from her.

It was Monday, which meant I now had to deal with Aurora. God I wasn't even sure where to start with her. I guess I could always track down that Natasha girl. She seemed to know a lot about her.

I got ready in a hurry, looking decent as I left the hospital and headed to school. Ella stayed with me the whole time, her parents not minding as I still drove her to school. Ella took a nap in the car as I drove, her body relaxed against the leather as she remained a peaceful bliss. She was beautiful like that. So vulnerable.

She grumbled words of hating me as I tried to wake her up, laughing in the process once I managed to get her out of the car. "Come on, school isn't THAT important. I'll just work at a fast food place for the rest of my life. Oo! Or retail!"

I laughed at the girl as we entered the school, "yeah your mom's would absolutely kill me."

"Shit you're right. Then I'd never win you back," she smirked at me.

"Yeah yeah, I'll see you in first period, loser," I nudged her as she walked off, turning her head to wink at me before turning back forward.

Alright. Time to find that Natasha girl. It wasn't too hard, she ran into me. "Could you not just stand in the middle of the hallway? That'd be great," she spoke before noticing who it was. "Shit man, sorry about what happened at that party."

"Spill. Tell me what you know and how you know it. Everything," I got straight to the point and she clearly didn't want to be standing there any longer than she had to so she did as I said.

"Ugh fine. It's pretty simple actually. Aurora came out at the end of 8th grade. When she did, she started dating this one girl. I think her name was Emily or something. Well, they dated up until the beginning of sophmore year. On the way back from a football game, Aurora was driving Emily home and they got in a car accident. Emily died in her arms. After she lost Emily, she became a different person. She started having sex as an output for her depression and hasn't really stopped since. She still thinks it's her fault she's dead," Natasha spoke before shrugged her shoulders, "and now you know." She walked away with that being said.

It made sense to me. Why Aurora did what she did. It didn't justify it, her cheating on me. But I cheated on her too. We both were in the wrong. I kissed Ella while we were dating. And she texted other girls while we were dating. I questioned if there's a possibility of us being able to just be friends without her and Ella trying to kill each other. I suppose we'll find out. All I know is that I need to talk to Aurora.