Page 56 of The Fool
“Callie, why did you do that? It’s their honeymoon, they shouldn’t be worrying about me!”
“Nonsense, Cameron is beyond loaded; they can fly private jets here and there whenever they want to. Plus, it’s not their real honeymoon, is it? They’ve been married for years.”
“But –"
“But nothing, he’ll be at yours by ten tomorrow morning. I’ll come with because I’m more fun. Your brother will be there, right?”
“I can’t believe this,” I mutter, completely ignoring her question about Ben.
“Look, I gotta go, but I’ll see you in a few hours anyway,” she says with her usual smile in her voice. “Don’t worry, all will be good.”
“If you say so. See you tomorrow.”
_____
Bea
An hour or so passes by, and after texting Finn a few times, I manage to occupy my mind with easy TV and a tub of chocolate ice cream. This is how I used to survive in the early days of being bullied, but instead of Finn, I would be messaging Dean. Friends at first, lovers later. Love on my side at least. I thought he was everything I never knew I wanted when he declared his deeper feelings. The high school popular boy who could have any girl he wanted, chose me.
I thought he was playing games with me at first, joshing with me for laughs. After all, I had always enjoyed winding the others up and could take a joke as much as the next person. Though this seemed a step too far, even for me. I pushed him and began to stomp away, letting him know that I didn’t find this particular game funny.
“Beatrice Summers, get back here so I can kiss you again!”
“Stop it, Dean, this isn’t funny.”
“No, it’s not,” he said before placing his hand to my cheek and kissing me again.
“I’m not pretty, Dean,” I murmured, still in a daze from his kiss.
“No, you’re not,” he said with a smile, “you’re beautiful, and you’re mine.”
God, I could have swooned, it was the stuff of fairy tales. I fell far too quickly and far too deeply. I did everything to try and keep him happy. Date nights where I’d have to play the part of the girlfriend with all the other boys’ insipid girls who I knew were responsible for some of the viler messages online. They acted sweet for Dean’s sake, but they would have been dissecting me piece by piece the minute we left. I gave him my body before I was ready, and did everything he asked of me in that department, even when I didn’t want to. I didn’t even dare to say I wasn’t comfortable with sex for I was so afraid of losing him. This, at least, wasn’t his doing, it was mine; mine and the dozens of messages from people who all liked to remind me of how far beneath him I was.
Before I can sink any lower, there’s a knock on the door, and I smile to myself, hoping it’s Finn coming to bring me out of my funk. He should be working but I think my earlier messages were enough to convince him to come and save me. I jump to my feet with a reminder to tell Mrs Green to stop letting people in, no matter how handsome or charming they are. Pretty doesn’t always equal safe. Another knock has me laughing to myself over his impatience.
“Beatrice?” a voice that doesn’t belong to Finn says through the door. It stops me dead in my tracks, for although it’s not my friend, I more than know that voice. My breathing speeds up and I can feel my hands turning clammy. “Bea, it’s Nate, can we talk?”
“H-how did you get in the building?” I call from where I’m still rooted to the spot.
“Some old lady took pity on me,” he says with a soft laugh that holds little mirth in it. “Kept saying I’d be under her spell if she was twenty years younger.”
Damn Mrs Green, the randy old cougar.
“She just happened to have been passing by the moment you came here? Luck obviously follows you wherever you Carter folk go. Us mortals can only live in your shadow.”
“No, she wasn’t,” he says sadly, “been waiting outside for over two hours, just hoping.”
“Why?!” I snap.
“Bea, please, I know I messed up,” he says, “but you have no idea what that guy did to our family, and the thought of his hands on you…I’m sorry, Beatrice, I shouldn’t have got angry with you. I just care about you so much.”
“You don’t even know me,” I sigh, slumping down onto the floor with my back against the couch. “There are things I’ve done, things you would never understand or forgive.”
“Your brother, he explained what happened to you, how you tried to –"
“He shouldn’t have!” I snap, feeling angry with the entire situation. “I don’t need your sympathy and I don’t need your apologies, Nathaniel. You can go away with a good conscience, I’m fine.”
“You sure about that?”