𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒

Chapter 2 ~ Hate

Abby

tw: slight abuse

I'm sitting in my art class right now. I love to sketch so that's what I'm doing. It is a free period so we are all kind of doing whatever. I'm sketching a picture of me as a little girl. I have a picture next to me for reference.

It's me as a toddler holding a paintbrush getting all dirty. My sister took this photo, she was around thirteen when I was four. We had a great relationship, she then moved to California with her husband Nathaniel and I haven't seen her since.

She hasn't seen me grow up, it's sad she didn't even try to get back in contact with us. Maybe my parents did the same thing to her that they did with me. Does she know what happened to me. That they kicked me out and I had to use all my money to fly to Seattle to get a fresh start?

Probably not.

I finish up with my sketching when I look up. The bell has rung and I start to pack up. I see someone standing at the doorway. It's one of Dylan's teammates, number twenty-one. He sees me looking at him and walks away. Weird.

I gather my stuff and head out to the cafeteria. I have no friends since Dylan has closed me off, so I take out a muffin that I stole from the dorm café and eat that. My back hunched over as the sleeves to my hoodie cover my hand. It's getting colder so I have an excuse to wear all the hoodies I own.

I used to live in New Jersey, but you guys know the rest of the story.

After I'm done with my muffin, I take out my sketchbook and finish with my sketches. I'm almost finished when I feel someone sitting next to me. Dylan sits down aggressively and runs his hands in his hair.

"Stupid." He mutters and I'm about to ask what is stupid when he starts to rant to me. "That stupid stupid boy, why does he feel the need to get into my business when it has nothing to do with him." He says but I honestly don't think he is talking to me.

"Who?" I ask quietly, he looks up to me and gives me a disgusted look. "Did you eat lunch?" I nod my head and he scoffs. "I knew your face looked bigger." I take my hands and grab my face. I can feel tears coming so I stand up.

I grab my things and try to walk away. Dylan grabs my arms roughly and brings me back to him. He slaps me right in the jaw.

This is the first time he has hit me.

I stand here in shock, nothing coming to mind except replaying the hit over and over again. He hit me. He hit me. He hit me. And everybody was watching us. In the middle of the cafeteria

I rub my face as tears finally fall down. I can feel everybody's eyes on us. "Don't walk away from me when I speak to you, got it?" He yells in my face, spit hitting my face. I slowly nod and he tells me to wipe my tears.

I'm about to sit back down when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Eli is standing there and giving Dylan a death glare. "Don't touch her like that. How dare you hit a woman?" I can tell he wants to fight so I just give him a pleading look, telling him not to start a fight.

He looks down at me and sees my red face. "Go back home." He says and I nod, letting him take care of Dylan, I honestly don't care what happened to him.

This is the first time he has hit me. And I barely did anything. All I did was try to walk away from him. What would happen if I did more, yelled back, pushed him, cursed him out? What would he do?

I'm so sick of his games. He acts all nice to me in front of people but then in private he abuses me. Maybe not physically but still. I walk to my car and get in. I hit my steering wheel as I cried hysterically. I will never get to the end will I?

I will never have a happy ending. I will never have a loving family, loving friends, or a loving boyfriend. Eli is the closest thing to a friend right now.

I need something to happen for Dylan to break things off. Because now I know what will happen if I try to. I can't live in this abusive relationship. I just can't. It's not fair that I have a tough life. It's my parents fault for kicking me out and making me move here.

I never wanted this. I just wanted to come here and start over. I thought Dylan loved me when he said it in front of everyone at his game. They had just won and at the time, our relationship was pure perfection.

He came up to me, he led me on, just so that he could use me for sex, for the title of 'best boyfriend' well he is far from that for sure.

I'm going to get out of this one way or another. I will get my happy ending. I don't give up easily. If I have to fight and get my hands hurt, or even my heart, I will.

I drive home and don't even change, I get ready for work at the diner. I don't want to go because chances of running into him are high. He knows I work there. But I also have this co-worker, Dave, who won't let anything happen to me.

I drive to work and serve people. I look outside and see it's raining. Dang it. My dorm is pretty far from here and I hate driving in the rain.

This is going to be interesting.