"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Anna said with her eyes as big as saucers and hand clenching in a tight fist.
"Mind your language woman. And you are coming with us, come what may, so quit whining and go get an early night. We leave at 8 in the morning." Anna's mom, Kyla, said in her 'no nonsense' tone to her eighteen year old daughter who had been acting a little more teenagery lately.
"You can't make me." Anna sneered in disbelief.
However, Kyla looked straight in her eyes and said "Don't try me Anna. Whatever it is that has been going on with you, keep that out of the family matters. Samuel is your first cousin, and you are coming to his engagement party. That's final."
Anna froze at her mother's words. Does she really know what has been happening? No. That's not possible. Nobody knows that. Nobody knows about the betrayal she has suffered from. Except for her, and probably the whole college by now.
Her eyes start misting up at the thought of it but she composed herself by chanting the same mantra that she had so perfectly rehearsed in the past one week. 'It's not worth it, they are not worth it.'
Just then there was a sound of the main door opening and Anna took that as her cue to leave. There was no way she was facing her dad. He would instantly know something was up and one question from him would make her weak and she would babble all about it to him. He didn't need that in his already busy schedule!
"You can stay downstairs for a little while you know. You've been avoiding your dad since the past one week. He misses you. He works so hard for us--"
"Okay fine. Just quit the lecture alright? I'll stay." Anna shouted and as if the universe was really against her that day, her dad chose that exact moment to make an entrance in the dining room.
"Anna. What's happening here? What has gotten into you lately?" He asked raising his voice a little but the worry was still evident on his face.
Anna looked at her dad. It felt like he had aged 10 years in that one week when she had avoided facing him in every way she could. Actually, she had avoided every person by not coming out of her room at all, except when absolutely necessary, which was only for meal times and her midnight snack time.
So when she stood in front of her dad, who was her best friend ever since she was little, she couldn't help but feel guilty for shutting him out of her life like that. He didn't deserve this. And how much ever a pain her mother might be, even she didn't deserve a daughter with such high depression tendencies.
"Can we just let it go? Please?" Anna finally let out a whimper when she could no longer handle the tight knot feeling in her chest, as well as her stomach.
"No. You apologize to your mother right now and then get your shit together. Enough of this behavior now. You're an adult and still look at you, you've barely come out of your room in a week. Missed college like it's not even important, have barely said a few words to your own parents, your cousins, your friends. What is happening Anna?" Her dad let out, his fingers shaking a bit.
That is when she finally noticed that her parents had gone through so much for her and here she was, shutting them out over a college drama.
But it wasn't, it wasn't just a college drama. It was her life. Yes, that's it. It was.
"I'm sorry mom." Anna mumbled and ran out of the room, no longer being able to hold in her tears.
Damn, she thought she was getting good at not crying. Apparently not. One week. One whole week of moping, but it still hurt her the same way it did at that moment when it happened. When her life, which she had so nicely planned out, and which she thought was going so perfect, shattered right in front of her. Because it had all been a lie.
She went straight in her room and flopped on her bed. Her bed smelled of sweat, so did her body. She hadn't had a shower for a whole week and her hair had collected that amount of grease which could probably make a rusted bike shine.
But she didn't care, all she wanted to do was cry and curl in a ball and analyze how it all crashed down right in front of her eyes. However, the only conclusion she could come up to was, things had happened always right in front of her, it was just her who was so friggin blind to it all.
The knot tightened a bit more in her stomach as her phone pinged. That made her heart started beating at a rate that was definitely not considered to be normal. A doctor would have a field day with her.
With shaking hands she punched her password and saw that she had a text. More like, a reply. A reply, she had been waiting for this whole week. A reply which was what probably held her back from moving on. A reply that definitely helped her loosen the knot a little in her stomach, but which made her heart clench in thirst.
From: Anna
To: Daniel
Sent one week ago.
Do you still love me? You promised me that things would still remain the same between us, whatever happens. What is stopping you now then? All I have done is cry, all I can do is cry. Please, just tell me.
From: Daniel
To: Anna
Just now
Grow up Anna. Crying is not gonna help you. Do something for yourself and for your stupid life okay? And oh, sorry for replying late, I've been busy. I need my space. I really do. So bye.
Wow. Ofcourse he was busy. For one whole week. It just happened again. But atleast he gave one good advice, she was going to do something for her stupid life. It was high time.
---------------------
"What do you think they want to talk about, eh?" Anna asked Daniel as they lay on her bed, naked and cuddling.
"I don't know. Aaron just asked me to meet all of them and sort out all the issues." He says nonchalantly.
For some reason, Anna has this weird feeling in her stomach, almost like she knows Daniel is hiding something but she knows better than to ask him twice. Irritated Daniel was scary.
"I have a really bad feeling about this Daniel. I mean, it's been a month since they stopped speaking to us and it isn't like it is bothering our lives in any way right now. I mean, we still have each other and Aaron and Tim are by our sides too. Why do we have to meet the others and sort out if we don't even want to?" Anna speaks her heart out. Just like she always had when with Daniel.
It was almost like Daniel had this pull over her, just one look from him and she would say everything that was on her mind without filtering anything at all. But it wasn't like she cared, she could trust Daniel. After all, she loved him.
Daniel looked at her, his black eyes showing a second of vulnerability as he said "Don't forget that we are all still in the same class, in the same group for projects and obviously not to forget, the same theatre group. Clashes won't be nice for our group's future. For my future as an actor, you understand, don't you?"
And there was nothing else she could do but nod. Ofcourse she understood that theatre and acting meant the world to Daniel. And even though she was a part of theatre as well, she wasn't into acting at all. In fact, it was just an extra curricular for her. But for Daniel, it was his life. His career. And it wouldn't be until later, that she actually figures out just how far Daniel would go for his theatre.
"I know babe. I'm just a little worried. Last time, when you had a talk with them, you shut me out for two days and after so long things are getting back to how they were before, I just don't want anything to happen between us because of this "discussion". I love you."
Anna said running her fingers down her wavy brown hair with loads of blonde highlights in it. Daniel smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"I promise babe, nothing would change between us regardless of what happens at that discussion. We've been through so much, this is just something trivial. Don't worry okay? I'm not going anywhere."
Such a liar.
-----------------------
The sound of her alarm made Anna wake up with a jolt. She had one of those flashbacks again. She had been having them alot in the past week and it always made her weak. She hated that the memories came back to her and affected her so much, while Daniel was probably out there not even giving a shit about all those moments that they spent together.
And to think that it was him who had persuaded Anna to give them a chance, was almost laughable. Note:almost.
And at that moment, Anna knew exactly what she had to do. But she decided that getting cleaned up and having a shower first would be a better idea. Probably.