Masterpiece {h.s}

11. Announcement & Dinner

Here is chapter 11, hope you like it! Again, sorry it took so long.

“Anna? Anna wake up.”

I grunted and pulled the covers over my head. I don’t know how long I’ve been sleeping and I was confused on what time it was. Had hours gone by since I fell asleep? Did I imagine it all? Was Meg really here?

“Anna, sweetheart, please wake up.”

There was something alarming in my mothers voice, and I quickly opened my eyes. She was kneeling next to my bed and her face was stained with tears. I looked at her with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Her hand reached for my cheek and she delicately ran her thumb over it. She stayed silent while I tried to figure out what was happening. I remember Meghan and her fighting, but I don’t know what happened since I left and fell asleep. My mom eyes were filled with so many emotions, sadness, regret, pain, and so much more. But I saw no anger. As much as I tried to find it, it wasn’t there. I got up a little, my elbow supporting my weight.

“Mom? What is it?”

She looked down and cried a little more. I looked up to see Meghan leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed. Her eyes are red, so she had been crying too. What was happening? I tried making eye contact with Meghan but she kept staring at the ground.

I looked at my mom and waited until she looked back at me. I felt like crying, even if I didn’t know what was happening, it seemed to be affecting my mother to a point where she couldn’t speak. What could’ve happened so that she would look this way.

“Sweetheart” my mom said as she grabbed my hands in hers.

Sweetheart? She hasn’t called me that since Daisy passed away. And her tone… she was being cautious. And for an instant, I felt like a little child.

“I’m so sorry, Anna.” she whispered. “I’m sorry for the way I acted towards you in the past months.”
“It’s ok mom.” I said, trying to sound convincing.

It wasn’t ok, but seeing my mom this way made me want to blame everything on me.

“It’s not ok sweetie. I-I didn’t deal well with Daisy’s death and I took it out on you… I’m sorry.” her eyes were glossy as she looked at me.

Tears started to fall as I stared at her. I was speechless. My mother was apologizing to me… what the hell had happened while I was asleep? What made her have such a change of attitude and what did it mean? I wanted to believe that it only meant good things, but she was saying it on such an apologetic tone, I knew that something else was coming.

“Mom…” my voice was shaking and sounded like a plea. Whatever she was about to say could wait.

She understood. She got up from her position as I sat up. She put her arms around me and hugged me tightly. My head rested on her shoulder and I nuzzled her neck to cry. It still felt like I was a five year old seeking reassurance because I just scrapped her knee. I didn’t feel like a 19 year old girl that had been fighting a storm for months.

“Mom.”

This time it didn’t sound like a plea but more like a sigh of relief. Whatever happened while I slept changed her and I was thankful. But something was off. The way she approached me, the way she talked… it reminded me of when I was little and she had some bad news to tell me.
I released her and looked into her eyes. She looked down.

I was right, something was wrong.

“What is it?” I asked again. “Tell me.”
“Anna, sweetheart, I… I’m going to enter rehab.” she said, her voice full of sadness.
My eyes shot wide open. “Rehab?”
“Yes. To help me with deal with my alcohol problem and with Daisy’s death” she took a strand of hair that had come off of my ponytail and put it behind my ear. “I need it.”
“When?”
“Meghan is calling tonight and I’ll go as soon as I can.”

I looked at Meghan she gave me a small smile. How she reasoned with my mother was unknown, but I was so thankful. I returned her smile and focused on my mom again.

“I’d like for us to go somewhere tonight, just the two of us. Is that ok with you?”

I shook my head up and down. I was speechless. I don’t remember the last time my mom and I went somewhere just the two of us.

“Good.” she said with a small smile. “How about we both clean up first, and then we’ll go.”
“Yeah.” I softly laughed.

She got on her feet and left my room, along with Meghan. I quickly grabbed everything I needed and hopped into the shower. As weird as it is, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. In the last five minutes, so much had happened. My mom wanted to spend time with me, she smiled at me, a genuine smile, and she wanted to help herself. All of this because of Meghan. I made a mental note to thank her as I came out of the shower. I quickly dried my hair before pulling it in a messy bun. Ten minutes later, my mom and I were leaving the house.

“Do you want me to drive?” I asked as I closed the house door.
“No, it’s okay.”

She sounded tired but I could tell she was making an effort to be a little enthusiastic. I gave her the keys and we went in the car.

“Don’t forget to put on your security belt.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smile. This was my old mom and I was so thankful to see her again. Whatever happened between her and Meg while I was asleep seemed like a miracle to me. It felt as if things were finally looking up.

( . . . )

We sat in a booth at a restaurant we used to go to a lot. It felt like years since we last ate here, when in reality it was only a couple of months. It’s crazy how things change in such a short period of time.

“Do you think their apple pie is as good as I remember?” I asked my mom to lightened the mood. Ever since we arrived, we had only said a couple of words.
She laughed. “I sure hope so! I brought you here for a reason.”

I was surprised that she remembered. After all this time, having her saying I wasn’t enough or that she didn’t want to see me, I had started to believe that she didn’t care. But she did. We were just both blinded by our own sadness to see it.

I guess we were both too scared to cross a line, that we silently agreed to make small talk though diner and talk about everything else once we were not in a public place. So we spent the night acting as if nothing had happened. Some might say that it isn’t the right way to do things, but to me it felt right. In a way, I needed to be reminded that things could go back to normal. That we could talk to each other without ending up fighting. Even though the fact that my mother was going to rehab bothered me a little, I decided to let it slide for now.

There wasn’t anything judgmental about my discomfort towards her decision. It was just the whole concept of her being in there for probably the rest of the summer and the fact that once she’ll be out, I would be in New York, away from her. But, in the end I knew it was the best decision for her.

Once we got out of the restaurant, rain had started to fall. We rushed to the car, trying to avoid getting wet. She started the car and as soon as we left the restaurant, there was tension between us.

We stopped at a red light and I gathered my courage.

“What made you do it?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

The night went by without problem but I needed answers. If I was going to be away from my mother for a long time, I had to know.

“Meghan.” She half laughed, half sighed.
“Yeah, she can be very convincing.” I smiled at her.
“And you.”

She looked my way for a second before focusing back on the road.

“She reminded me that you were there.” Her lips went into a straight line. “I’m sorry I forgot.”

I didn’t say anything, but her words struck like a knife to my heart. Although Daisy had always been the better child, I was never forgotten. Until her death I guess.

I nodded and looked out of the window.

“I’m really sorry, Anna. I wanted to be honest…” she looked at me with sad eyes “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

I stayed silent. I wish it didn’t affect me so much. Being honest was the right thing to do but I couldn’t help the fact that her words hurt. I had lost Daisy too, but I had made my mom a priority. Why didn’t she?

We arrived home and my mom stopped the car. I didn’t move and she didn’t either. We both knew there were things to be discussed, but none of us really wanted to talk about them.

My previous courage had been shot down by her last words and it seemed like hers to. I could see her struggling to find something to say without hurting me. But the fact that it took so long for her to say anything only showed that there was nothing nice to say.

I sighed and opened the door. She made a move to stop me, her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but nothing happened.
Maybe it was better this way, maybe we needed to end our night out this way and focus on the fact that we had a good time at the restaurant.

I was tired of fighting to be happy, I was tired of pretending. Now, more than ever, I wanted to go to New York and start all over.

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Hiiyaa! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I think it's the last one before Annabelle goes to New York, so things will finally get interesting ! :D *cough*Harry*cough* (see how happy he is on the side ;))
Please tell me what you think! What would you like to see happen in the future ? 

Vote and comment ! I would love you forever <3

Karry.
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