Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Background

My mother and father began to argue in whispers, and my brother and I shared a goofy look before he went back to talking to Giovanni.

My mother quickly stood up, almost tripping over her own feet, but caught her balance before she could fall, and I could tell she was well past drunk.

She took a seat in the chair beside Giovanni’s part of the couch and sent my father a glare. We all sat in silence as I rested my head on Giovanni’s shoulder and watched the game.

“You know, before you, Luna had this boyfriend she was with for three years,” my mother said, making me tense.

“Mom,” I said, cutting her off.

“Why? I’m surprised he doesn’t know. After all, don’t you think he deserves to know about the boy you were going to marry?” my mother asked.

“Ma, stop it,” Alex gritted.

“His name was Johnathan and he loved her,” my mother said, ignoring Alex.

“Rose,” my father growled in warning.

“One day we get a phone call that our kids are in the hospital, and naturally we freak out and drive there,” she said, ignoring my father too.

“Mom, please stop it,” I pleaded as I picked my head up from Giovanni’s shoulder.

“I entered the hospital to find out that my ~son—~my ~baby—~was in a coma and my daughter was in the ICU because she got beat up by some boy, as she told the police.

“They said her ribs and nose were broken, her wrist was fractured, she had a sprained ankle, and her shoulder had been dislocated.

“They told me she was beat up so bad they were surprised just a regular person did it and not a trained professional.

“They told me she was lucky to even be alive,” my mother gritted out in anger as she looked over at me with rage in her eyes.

“ROSE, ENOUGH!” my father yelled, making me jump, but she continued to ignore him.

“She told the police her boyfriend who ~loved~ her and she had been with for ~three years~ did that to her, that he was the reason her brother—her ~best friend~—was in a coma.

“So the doctors ran more tests. They saw that the bruises they treated weren’t even the worst of it—there were old scars that she had hid so well they missed.

“There was a chance she’d die from the infections.

“She was mentally screwed up because not only was he physically abusing her for three years, he was mentally and verbally screwing with her too,” my mother said, looking at Giovanni.

“Why are you telling me this?” Giovanni asked after a moment of silence.

My mother shrugged in response as if she had no care in the world.

“Oh, and we were cutting off your life support,” my mother said, looking at my brother.

My brother’s mouth dropped open and I could see the hurt in his eyes.

“You knew?” my brother asked, turning to look at me.

I nodded shakily and weakly brought my hands up to my face to wipe my tears.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but you finally woke up and I already pissed on your happiness with the whole recap story, and I couldn’t bring myself to say it,” I whispered.

“It’s okay, you were just trying to protect me like usual,” Alex said softly, wiping the tears off my cheeks.

But it didn’t stop the tears from the old wounds my mother had just opened and salted.

“I should go,” Giovanni said, standing up and heading toward the door. He stopped in the doorway of the living room but didn’t turn back, and Alex took my hand and led me after him.

Giovanni stopped at the door and kept his back to us, and I could see how tense he was. He took a deep breath and turned around to face us.

“Are you okay?” he mumbled, looking at the ground.

“Peachy,” I mumbled.

“I’m sorry your mother did that—she’s drunk, but it’s no excuse,” he said, keeping his gaze down.

“Thank you,” I said, taking into account the fact he couldn’t look at me. He tensed and picked his head up as a look of realization dawned on his face.

“Is-is he the reason why you acted that way when we were on our date? When you kept apologizing and when you were acting shy and cautious around my mother?” he asked.

“He told me I shouldn’t embarrass him in public. I did it once and the punishment was so bad I couldn’t go home for two weeks.

“I never did it again, and he used to say whatever he did, I had coming. He said he would make me the perfect girlfriend,” I admitted.

Alex walked away as soon as I finished talking, and I knew he was beyond angry.

“I know it’s hard to talk about, but were you ever going to tell me?” Giovanni asked, staring deep into my eyes.

I took his hand and sat him on the staircase before sitting beside him. “Yes. I just couldn’t get the words out without feeling stupid,” I said softly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling me into him.

“The day after our date I was acting like that because I was alone and afraid that I’d turn a corner and he would be there,” I admitted, wrapping my arm around his waist.

“Now I feel stupid I thought it was because of me,” he admitted sheepishly. I shook my head and gently rested it on his shoulder.

“Can we stay with you?” I heard Alex ask, but the weight of everything that had happened sank in, and I fell asleep before I could hear anything else.