beetle | unedited ✔️

twenty eight

Parker Elise Leon

It's been about two months since that one encounter with Aaron at the restaurant. I've been going to physical therapy and today is my court hearing. I wasn't nervous for it when I was getting ready but now that I'm sitting in the parking lot of the court office I'm not so sure of myself anymore.

My hands were shaking and I was sweating. We had all of the evidence on Aaron, including the recording Gabe apparently took that day he threatened my life and Mari's.

Mari is okay, she broke up with him successfully and is going to attend the hearing with me today. I understood where she was coming from when she started to ignore me so we're back to being best friends now. She was ecstatic when she heard I was forgiving her. No, like actually she wouldn't stop screaming and running around the hallway saying 'I have a best friend again.'

"Breathe, beetle." Gabe's hand was tightly secured in mine as he pushed my wheelchair into the doors. I could walk, not amazingly but I could do it. Prom is in a week and I wanted to surprise him then. He doesn't know I can walk just yet. He's been the most supportive, loving, and caring boyfriend and I honestly can't say I deserved everything he's done for me. I fell even harder for him after her wouldn't leave my side for a couple of weeks.

My parents still haven't came to see me but they paid everything off; the hospital and physical therapy bills and whatnot. They called at least once or twice a week now after hearing more about what happened the night of the break-in.

My eyes zeroed in on Aaron as I walked through the court doors and I breathed in deeply as to not have an anxiety attack. After Gabe and I went to the police with the evidence, he had been arrested until they were able to put my case into court. Why I needed to go to court when I had evidence? I'm not sure, but at least this way I can get some good closure. I haven't seen Aaron since that day in the restaurant, actually, so seeing him here today was a little foreign to me.

He wasn't in school, considering he was probably in a jail cell or something and Mari and I were left alone to finally talk about everything. Let's just say, we both will never take each other for granted after these bad lesson learned events. He looked remorseful as he gazed down at the table under his handcuffed wrists. Probably because he got caught for trying to murder me...

I sighed as I rolled to my seat. Gabriel sat behind me just as people filed into the room. It's starting in a few minutes. I counted the amount of people in the room to calm myself, which helped but I was still shaking. This isn't something usual that I can just let go of and be happy during.

After hearing that my case was closed and Aaron was going to jail for good this time, I sighed with relief and happiness. Gabe came up behind my chair and rolled me out of the room after placing a short kiss to my temple.

"You did so good. I'm so proud of you." age buckled me into my seat as I smiled at him. "Thank you. I love you." He closed my door and ran to his side of my car. He still drives me everywhere in my Beetle, yes. "I love you too. Always and forever." He grinned at me as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Should we get a cake to celebrate? I'm thinking an Dairy Queen ice cream cake." I nodded excitedly as he drove off down the road. We had passed the ice cream place on our way here, I'm sure that's how he thought of it.

"I want the Dora one. We can take funny aesthetic pictures with it." I giggled as he rolled his eyes. Yeah, pictures are my thing now. The amount of photos I have of us on my phone is astronomical. "You and your aesthetic pictures." He took the cake out of the freezer and slid it to the cashier.

We got home to Mrs. Anderson and put the cake into the freezer. "Hey, I heard you did awesome today. I cooked us a celebratory dinner." I clapped my hands before hugging the woman back after she bent down to my level. "Thank you, Mrs. Anderson. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me." She waved me off and pushed Gabe away from me so she could wheel me to the kitchen.

"Go get her gift." I turned around with wide eyes as I shook my head. "What? A gift?" He scurried away down the hall and into his room as I watched Mrs. Anderson smile innocently. "You got me a gift? What for?" My voice was soft and confused. "It's a family heirloom. I thought that it would be best if you took it, considering it's for the ladies of the family." My eyes widened even further as she pushed me to my usual chair at their table. She helped me to sit as Gabe walked around the corner with a little box in his hand.

"This is so good." I held my homemade pizza that Mrs. Anderson made up before biting into it. The pepperonis were nice and crispy. "Thank you, I decided to put a bunch of different cheeses like you said your grandma used to make." I nodded as I remembered the wonderful taste of the meals she made. I miss her.

"I need to let my stomach settle before eating cake." I patted my stomach as I huffed my fullness away. "Yeah, me too. How about you give that to her now, then?" Mrs. Anderson looked over at Gabe who smiled and walked over to me. He passed me the velvet box and waited patiently for me to open it. It was a necklace with a large diamond pendent. It was really pretty. "I love it." Gabe reached in front of me for the necklace and wrapped it around my neck. He pecked me on the cheek before sitting back down in his seat at the table. "Thank you." I inspected the diamond in my neck with a smile. Best present ever.