The next couple weeks were great. Things were good between me and Leah, we would spend a couple days together a week getting to know each other more, like our families, bad habits, favourite foods, and favourite movies.
One of those days she spent raving about her parents and her brother.
"They're my biggest supporters, even though I don't play for dad or Jacob's favourite team, do you have any siblings?"
"No just me, my parents got divorced a few years ago, but dad and mum are still good friends"
"Why did they get divorced?"
"I guess my dad just wanted to come back to England, he didn't really have anyone in Canada except us and mum didn't want to, even though she's not really close with her family anyway"
I lied to her about that. It wasn't something I was proud of, but my life is complicated, my brother died and my parents got divorced almost right after. There were some things she didn't need to know and this was one of them.
Leah then had international break with the England national team. They had qualifiers for the Olympics this summer and even though it's a Great Britain team it's usually mostly English players.
Due to the international break I had the week off of my placement. Most of the team plays at the international level and the few that stayed my professor said it wasn't worth it for me to come in and that I should work on my thesis instead.
I also wanted to use this week to tell my parents that Owen and I split. I told Leah she wasn't allowed to ask me on a date until I did. I wasn't ready to tell them that I was gay, as I was still becoming comfortable with it myself, but telling them about Owen was a step in the right direction.
----
It was a Thursday night and I sat on my couch working away on my thesis. At this point I had made great progress and I was polishing my introduction. I had been working on this part for a month. It's a completely different version from when I started it a month ago. I wanted it to be perfect.
On this Thursday night I worked up the courage to call my dad and tell him. I knew he would probably take the news better than my mum. I could've called them together as they still get along but I wanted this to be separate conversations.
He picked up the phone rather quickly.
"Hello daughter"
He would always refer to me as daughter, he thought it was funny.
"Hey dad, what's going on"
"Just spending some time reading the news with Molly"
He tilted his phone to show the cat curled up beside him.
"Dad I need to tell you something and you can't get mad"
"What's up?"
"Owen and I split"
I blurted it out and I braced myself for whatever reaction was about to come my way.
"Oh no, what happened"
He seemed sympathetic.
"He just turned out not to be a good guy, I'm sorry I know you and mum loved him, but I just wasn't happy"
"Why are you apologizing?"
I knew exactly why, but I could never admit the real reason.
"I don't know"
He sighed.
"You know, me and your mother only want you to be happy, you're a very successful girl and we will always be proud of that, but regardless of that, if you're happy in life, we'll be the proudest parents"
I felt comfort in his response. Alex was right, as long as I was happy they would be, and my dad confirmed it, but for some reason there was part of me that still didn't believe it.
It was then time to call my mom. I didn't know how she would react. When I told her the news she seemed upset, but she understood.
"So I guess I can't call him anymore when something in the house needs fixing"
"No you can't mum, I'm sorry"
"Don't be sorry Ab, I don't want a terrible guy marrying my daughter"
"I know"
"You know, I think of your brother a lot when I see him"
"How?"
"They don't look alike, but when I look at him, I think of what you're brother could've been"
"Yeah I get that"
I've always heard stories of parents losing children and how they don't really move on from it, mourning the life their child could have. I saw that in my mom, and maybe that's why I couldn't admit to liking girls, marrying Owen or a man meant giving them back the son they lost even if I wasn't happy.
I texted Leah that night saying I told my parents that Owen and I split. She was proud of me and told me she had the best first date planned. I was looking forward to it, yet I still felt so guilty. This guilt wasn't something that would go away.
----
Leah came back from international break on Sunday and she planned our date for Monday. She didn't tell me what it was as she wanted it to be a surprise, I didn't want to tell her I hated surprises because she seemed so excited about it.
It was Monday and I had Lecture. I worked on my thesis some more before starting to get ready for my date with Leah. I gave myself 4 hours, I knew I would be overthinking everything.
I put on some makeup and curled my hair. Since Leah didn't tell me what we were doing I had no idea how to dress, but after many outfit combinations I settled on a plaid skirt with a white knit sweater.
Leah soon arrived at my place. She knocked on the door and I quickly answered. She stood there in a nice pair of dress pants and a white top in shock. I could tell she was scrambling to find the words.
"Wow, you look beautiful"
"Thanks, you too"
I smiled and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"So where are you taking me?"
"Not telling"
She grabbed my head and we headed towards her car. We drove for about 20 minutes before arriving at a look out spot. At this look out spot we could see the city of London. It was dark outside so everything was lit up.
Leah told me to wait in the car while she went to grab something from the trunk. She came back with a picnic basket and a blanket.
"Leah its almost December"
"I know we're staying in the car don't worry"
From the picnic baskets she pulled out some ham and cheese sandwiches she made, she handed one to me while I ate my own.
"I come out here to clear my head a lot, life can be insane, but when you're up here looking at the city everything is so peaceful, making life not seem that crazy"
"I love it"
I smiled at her, we finished our sandwiches, and talked for hours, enjoying each other's company.
"You know the night of our party when you told me that I made you question everything you knew about yourself?"
I nodded.
"What did you mean by that"
I hesitated on what to say, but there were some things I could never keep from her.
"I think I just always knew how my life was supposed to turn out, and I knew what would make me happy, and I truly thought I was, when I met you, I didn't know anymore, spending time with you makes me happy, I feel true happiness"
She smiled and we kissed. She drove me back to my place, and offered for her to come in. She ended up staying the night, which was a perfect ending to such a magical night.
---
A/N:
-Kind of a filler/happy chapter but I thought this was purposeful for what's about to happen.
-The next couple of chapters a lot will be happening, I will be posting a trigger warning as a chapter, as much as it's such an important thing to why Abi is the way she is, I don't want anyone who may be struggling to read it and be harmed by it. I will be posting a summary as a chapter which will leave out all of the details that may hurt someone.
-As well as hitting 1K views the other day I woke up to 100 votes this morning!! Thank you for all of your love:)
-Side note I'm posting this right before the arsenal game so fingers crossed they win!!