I Didn't Know I Loved Him (Until He Showed Me)
CHAPTER 1 : Beer and Glow-in-the-Dark Stars
"Hayley! Get me another beer!" mom screamed from downstairs. I groaned and ran out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen.
Okay, let me explain first. Mom's an alcoholic and guess what...she abuses me. She's still my mom so I love her nevertheless. She wasn't always like this. It only started when dad left to join the army a few months after my sister committed suicide. My dad was stationed in Iraq at that time and they move a lot. I'm not sure where he is now since his last postcard came about year ago but I think he might be somewhere in Pakistan. I've been writing a lot to him though, telling him how mom and I are but I don't know if he's been getting them. I haven't seen him in 9 years.
I live with my mom in our average home; 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and the essentials. Mom works at night as a waitress at a bar so she spends the day at home, getting drunk like there's no tomorrow. Although she doesn't seem like a good mother, she provides money to send me to school and to pay the bills. When it comes to food and clothes for myself, I have to work for the money to buy them. I work after school at this bookstore and I make around $100 dollars a week. You didn't really need to know that so back to my story but that was it.
I grabbed a can of beer out of the fridge and ran to the living room. Mom was sprawled out on the couch with her legs up on the coffee table. There were a few empty cans of beer on it and other rubbish too.
"Here, mom," I said kindly and offered it to her.
To be honest, I was kinda scared of her. She hurt me so many times before and I can't even imagine her being nice to me anymore. Mom looked up at me, her brown eyes, which were the same as mine, were filled with anger and her blonde hair was all over her face. She snatched the beer away from me and stood up. She was taller than me by maybe one or two feet. I was 5'6 while she was around 5'8.
"Dearest Daughter," I flinched at those words, "that took almost 5 minutes! What the hell is wrong with you?" she screamed in my face and slapped me. I wasn't surprised but it did hurt. There was a stinging pain on my left cheek and I had to hold back the tears.
"Sorry, mom," I said quietly and looked down.
"You look at me when I talk to you!" she screamed and tilted my head up so harshly that I thought my neck would break.
"You useless bitch! I wish you were dead instead of Hannah" she screamed and slapped me again on the same cheek. I whimpered in pain as she let go of me and let me stumble back but I didn't know if the slap hurt more or her words.
"Go to your room!" I wasn't really shocked with everything that was going on. This was actually on my list of things that happen everyday. I ran up the stairs and one tear managed to slip from my eyes. When I was in my room, I slammed the door closed and leaned back on it, slowly slipping down so I was sitting on the floor with my back up against the door.
"Be strong, Hayley. Be strong!" I whispered and pushed myself of the ground.
I opened the door again and slipped out, going to the bathroom across the hall. I locked the door and it made a silent click then I walked over to the sink. I looked into my plain brown eyes first then to my cheek. There was a big, red mark on it and it was clearly noticeable. I sighed and touched it. It stung a bit and I hissed.
"Nothing new," I reminded myself.
I turned the tap on and splashed my face with some cold water. It did make me feel slightly better. I wiped my face dry with a towel and was careful not to put too much pressure on my cheek. I slipped out of the bathroom and went back to my room. When I looked around, I almost jumped.
"Ethan, you scared the crap out of me!" I whisper-yelled.
Ethan is my best friend. I told you the story about us already before so I won't repeat it. He looked at me with an amused expression but that changed into a frown when he saw my cheek.
"What the hell did she do to you now?" he asked angrily as he crossed the room over to me. He put a finger under my chin and tilted my head to the side to get a better view of my cheek.
"Nothing," I said quietly. He scoffed and dropped his fingers.
"Oh, really?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, it doesn't even hurt," I lied. It did still sting. He touched my cheek with the back of his hand and I hissed again.
"Okay, maybe it does but it doesn't matter," I told him and tried to get around him to go and sit on my bed but he blocked my way. "
Look, you need to let my parents report your mom. I know you love her but what she's doing to you isn't right," he said for about the million and third time.
"Ethan, no," I said sternly and shoved him out of the way.
I got to my bed and plopped down on it. I didn't want to have this conversation with him again. I closed my eyes and started to think but soon felt someone lie down next to me.
"Sorry, Hayles. I just don't like to see you in pain," he said and touched my cheek so lightly that it didn't hurt.
I shook my head and opened my eyes. Ethan was my best friend, my only friend and like a brother to me as I was like a sister to him. It was the same with Elliot, his older brother, but I was closer to Ethan. I looked into his green eyes and sighed.
"I love you, Eth (Eeth), but I can't always do what you want me to do," I said quietly.
I sighed and turned on my side to face him properly. His green eyes held so much sadness and he ran a hand through his messy, brown hair that was almost the same as mine except it was lighter by a bit.
"I love you too and I know," he said, looking up at the ceiling. "But I just wish I could do something," he whispered the last part.
I sighed and rolled back to lie on my back and stared at the ceiling. There were a number of glow-in-the-dark stars that we stuck there when we were both 10 with the help of a 16 year-old Elliot.
[Flashback]
"Hayles!" Ethan screamed for behind me. I was walking home from school and since Ethan lived right next door, we would always walk together.
"Yeah?" I asked when he caught up to me.
"I was waiting for you at the playground but you never came so I started walking home," I explained to him. He was panting and he had his hands on his knees. I was standing beside him, waiting patiently for his explanation.
"That's 'cause I went back to my locker to get you this!" he screamed cheerfully and shoved the pack of glow-in-the-dark stars in my face.
"What's that for?" I asked, getting excited.
"I was thinking. Maybe we could stick this up on the ceiling in your room!" he screamed and I squealed.
"Okay!" I exclaimed and we ran to my house.
When we got there, we ran straight to my room, ignoring my mom's shouts. We were trying to stick the stars when we realized that we couldn't reach the ceiling. We even tried jumping on the bed but we still couldn't reach it. We both pouted and sat on my bed.
"Hey, do you think Elliot will help us if we ask him?" I asked Ethan. He grinned and nodded. We both ran out of the house and we ran to his house. We went up to Elliot's room. He was 16 years old at that time.
"Elliot! HelpusstickthestarsonHayley'sceiling!" Ethan screamed as we reached Elli's room.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" he asked us with a small chuckle.
"Help us stick the stars on Hayley's ceiling!" Ethan repeated.
Elliot laughed then said, "Okay."
Ethan and I grabbed his hands and we pulled him to my house. We went straight to my room and we told him what we wanted it to look like and he started sticking the stars above my bed. When he put a star somewhere Eth and I didn't want it to be, we'd scream at him. All in all, it was really fun. Elliot even carried me and I got to stick the biggest star wherever I wanted. When we were done, we both laid down on my bed, with me in the middle of course, and the lights were off and the curtains were shut tight. We just laid there and stared at the glowing stars. "
Hayley, when you're upset, you can just look up at these stars and you'll be happy again," Elliot said and kissed my cheek. I smiled and looked back up at them.
__________
Here's the next chapter! I can't upload the next chapter to FLCBF since my laptop is still broken so Imma be working on this story for the meantime.
SHOUT OUT TO blahhhhhhhhh!!!! She's a really great fan and thanks to her, I'm continuing this story! :D *happy dance*
So yeah, what do you think of this story? Please vote, comment or become a freaking fan! Only if you want :)
5 VOTES AND I'LL UPLOAD THE NEXT PART!
This chapter is edited, YAY, but I was in a rush so I'm sure there are a few errors in there.
Hope you liked it!
Thanks for reading! Less than three! <3