The “Something Old” - 2031 - Part 6 (1/2)
March 29th, 1999
Flashback
Is this what heartbreak felt like? Every fcking day just hurt more than the next - honestly, for Adelaide Parker, her heart hurt more than it ever had before. Adelaide barely had the motivation to get out of bed over the past few days… hell, she couldn’t even sleep because every dream would be about him. Dream… maybe nightmare would be better verbiage. Though, could anyone blame her? She had spent months practically living at Leo’s apartment… sleeping in his arms… making love to… you know what, that was all irrelevant now because she would never do any of that again. He didn’t matter anymore. In a strange way, the aftermath of this breakup was worse than the breakup itself. As hard as it was leaving Leo, it was harder staying away from him… especially since that bloody arse kept showing up - hurting her all over again.
“Addie… I should… look Leonardo is outside and I can get rid of him but I’m not sure if you wanted to tal-”
“Get rid of him,”
“Addie… I just hate seeing you like this maybe you should give him a chance to talk an…”
“JUST BLOODY GET RID OF HIM JUSTIN. I never want to bloody see that bastard again.,”
“Right… Okay… I’ll… let me know if you want to talk I’m… here too.”
End of Flashback
And that’s practically how the next few weeks went… her crying every night… ignoring letters from Leo… ignoring visits from Leo… honestly, just shutting herself off from most people, including her own brother despite living in the same house. Everything just hurt… too much to do anything. And by shutting herself off - she truly meant it since it included avoiding school which her brother covered her for. And yes, by covered she did mean pay off the teachers so that she passed her classes with good grades - despite none of the work being completed. Guess there were a few benefits that came with being rich… but honestly, in her mind, none of it mattered. She just… hurt.
It took weeks for Addie to even get out of the house - and that was after endless prodding from her brother that she’d even come out in the first place. Snuggled up in an oversized jacket, Addie sat across from Justin at a little diner near their place. It was probably the first time she had truly come out to do anything besides take a shower or eat in the kitchen. “You can’t keep doing this, Addie. It’s been 2 weeks… you need to go back to school. Prom’s… coming up in a week”
“I don’t… care, Justin. I honestly don’t. I’m just bloody tired of this stupid town.”
“Then honestly why are you still here? We both know mum and dad want you home anyways. If nothing’s keeping you here then maybe…”
“Then maybe I should go home…”
“Maybe it would be better and…”
“Adelaide?”
Addie moved her head towards where she heard her name, and she found Derek standing at her table - a smile on his lips as he moved closer. The last time she had seen him was exactly two weeks ago when he… well… got her away from Leo… “I really hope I’m not bothering you… I just haven’t seen you in a while and I wanted to make sure you were alright? I… tried calling after dropping you off at home that day but…”
“I’m sorry… I’ve just been… a little distracted. I really appreciated you picking me up, Derek.” It was all robotic - the way Addie could turn off her emotions and be the cordial daughter her mother and father taught her to be. She could easily navigate any situation… at least… she could pretend to.
“Yeah… no worries. I just wanted to make sure everything was… good… well as good as it could be I know… you and your ex… well…”
“I’m… sorry you had to see me like that.”
“It’s okay… look… I didn’t want to bring up old feelings or anything… I actually came over here to… ask you if you’d like to go prom with me… I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while but…”
“I don’t…”
“She’d love to,”
Addie turned towards her brother, shooting daggers in his direction for a mere second before dropping it to look back at Derek with a smile. “Yeah… that’ll be great… how about we meet up later… tomorrow and talk details?”
“Oh okay yeah… I’ll see you tomorrow at your place? After school then?”
“Yeah that’s perfect.”
Addie waited until he walked away to step on her brother’s foot. “What the bloody hell, Justin”
“OWW, ease off. What? Look go out with him. Get back out there and if you still don’t feel at home here, then go home. But what’s the point in btching around without at least trying to get back into things?”
Btching around? Reallly? Yep her brother did, indeed, say she was btching around which was… rude… but maybe he was right. Which is exactly why she sucked it up and tried her best to get back into… everything. Yep… Adelaide Parker went to school… and she had that conversation with Derek who seemed to be… a pretty great guy, actually. He told her he wasn’t pushing anything… he just wanted to hang out and make sure she was having fun after seeing her a few weeks ago…
Addie was… slowly feeling… okay again. Well… as okay as she could feel… but sometimes when she was out with her friends and she saw a glimpse of a guy that looked like Leo it… hurt again. And honestly, it felt like that happened pretty often - her walking to the bathroom simply to cry because the memories of what happened returned to her mind. She never told anyone this, but sometimes, her memories felt… so real… almost as if they had just happened and. ittook her years to dim that feeling. Over the past few weeks, Leo hadn’t reached out… apparently having gotten the message that Addie wanted nothing to do with him and… as much as she would never say this to anyone… she missed Leonardo.
Those were the thoughts meeting her mind as she looked in the mirror, her blue dress that matched the colors of her eyes draped over her shoulders. “You look good, sis.” Addie heard and looked behind her to see her brother watching from the edge of her room. A soft smile met her lips as she turned towards him. “Thanks Justin…” the words left her lips in a slight hesitant whisper, though at the tone of her voice, she found her brother walking towards her and wrapping her in his arms. “Hey, I’m right here okay? I’ll be there for the after party and then we can reevaluate what to do. You’re going to have fun, it’s prom.”
She felt him brushing the back of her head, and a soft sigh left her lips as she hugged him tighter. She had been thinking about what he said - maybe it was time for her to leave. Though, she was trying to hold off for a few days, at least until she graduated. “You know, I’ve missed you, idiot. Why’d you have to leave me in London all alone?” She felt the man laugh and hold her tighter. “I’d say I was just a plane ride away, but I feel like that’ll get me a punch” “Oh trust me, it will.” . “I’ve missed you too, Addie. You’re my sister, and I’m always here for you. I just… felt like I had to leave 2 years ago. I don’t know… do you ever have that feeling like there’s nothing left for you somewhere?”
And honestly, she was having that feeling… but for Beryl.
“Do you want a drink?”
God Addie did not want to be here. Ever since she had gotten in Derek’s car, she had this overwhelming feeling of what the hell was she doing… hence avoiding most conversation by staring out the window and losing herself in day dreaming. Though, with his words, Addie found herself turning towards the man who had just parked the car. In his hands was a flask which was currently pointed in her direction. “Top shelf vodka”
A forced smile met her cheeks as she shook her head “I think… I’m good for now…” she revealed as the man simply nodded - not forcing the issue. She found him exiting the car only to reappear on her side to open the door - a hand out to help her up.
As Adelaide walked with the man inside, her mind was… honestly somewhere else. But this time, there was a reason for it. She found her eyes gravitating towards a man in a suit who was walking in front of her towards the entrance. Though she could only see the back of his head, he just… looked like Leo and she had this urge to wrap her arms around the man. God she hated that feeling… hated bloody missing him so much that anyone who even slightly looked like him reminded her of him.
“You seem a little distracted.” Those words got her out of her haze and she found herself breaking eye contact with the man’s head before turning back towards Derek.
“Hmm?” Addie turned towards the man, not sure what he had said because… well… he was kind of right. Though she was only met with a soft laughter. “I said you seem a little distracted.”
“Oh i"m sorry… I just… have a little headache” Addie lied. See… she was getting pretty good at that… the whole lying thing. Lying to her parents about… lying to herself and pretending to be okay… yep. “I’m sorry about that… do you want some punch… maybe it’ll help?.” “That sounds great.” Following the man towards the drinks, her eyes once again met the back of the man she was staring at earlier. He seemed to be talking to someone near the refreshments, and the girl he was with had her hand caressing his arm. His girlfriend? Probably - they were at prom after all. Well, at least seeing the man would reinforce the fact that it wasn’t Leo - just yet another person that reminded her of him.
“I’ll be right back with the drinks,” Addie nodded as her date disappeared in the crowd, though her eyes remained on the other man with his date. She just… needed to see his face. There was this nagging urge within Addie and she honestly just wanted to get rid of it. So could anyone blame her for walking closer. Turn around, come on now. Her mind kept asking him to turn around, but alas, he did not. Oh fck it. With a deep breath, Addie made her way towards where the man was standing - all she needed was one look of reinforcement that it wasn’t Leo and she’d be fine. “Excuse me, do you mind if I just…” It was an excuse, a reason to walk past the man and look at him and if he wasn’t Leo it would have been fine.
The issue?
It was Leo.
For a moment, everything stilled as her eyes met Leonardo’s - well, everything except her heart which begin racing immediately. It wasn’t… supposed to be him.
“Addie…”
“Hey Addie, I got you fruit punch. I hope that’s okay?”
Adelaide’s eyes moved from Leo’s back to her date’s. She didn’t know what pushed her to do what she did next…maybe she just wanted to hurt Leo as much as he had hurt her, but grabbing the punch, she wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed the man in front of her - clearly shocking him, though he wasn’t complaining as he pulled her closer to reciprocate the kiss. “It’s perfect, darling. Oh, do you happen to still have that flask? I think I need a… stronger drink.” . She could feel someone boring holes in the back of her skull, but she dare not look back as her date handed her the flask. Taking a drink of the punch so that it was half full, Addie filled the rest of the drink up with the Vodka before handing it back to her date.
Okay when Derek was saying this was top shelf Vodka, he meant it because Adelaide Parker was drunk. Drunk… and… well having fun for the first time in a long time. She found herself actually forgetting that Leo was in the very room she was in and just enjoyed herself - wrapping her arms around Derek and dancing like there was no tomorrow. Laughter met her lips for the first time in weeks, and god, she had no understanding of what she was even laughing at.
“Let’s get out of here”
Her eyes were closed as she twirled around - honestly not even hearing Derek’s words. Rather, she simply found him grabbing her hand and leading her outside. “But Derekkkk the parttyyyy’s in there.” Addie frowned as they made it to the exterior near the parking lot with… quite a bit of stumbling from Addie. First of all, it was cold out here. Second - why the hell weren’t they dancing?
“We can have a party out here too, baby,”
And then she realized what was happening. Her body pinned against his car, Adelaide felt his lips on her neck and another… appendage hitting her thigh. “Don’t worry, I have a condom,”
“No… Derek stop,” Addie got out, attempting to push the man off of her but her lack of mobility wasn’t exactly helping… and, to be honest, he was stronger than her. “Oh come on, you started it with that kiss in there and then all that grinding. You want me, you don’t have to play this little act. We can just get to the fun part.”
“Derek get off of me,” Addie tried pushing him off again, moving her lips away from him as she moved her hands to his throat to get any leverage. “Oh don’t be a prude now.”
“She said: Get. The. FCK. Off. Of. Her.”
Maybe her mind was still… out of it from the drinking but everything was happening too fast. It was within seconds of hearing that voice that Addie found Derek’s body ripped off of her, and within another second, his body was slumped on the floor with the man clearly out for the night. Addie only looked at Derek for a second as her mind comprehended what he was trying to do to her. “You piece of sht” Addie cried, kicking Derek two times before being pulled away by the man who punched him in the first place. “Don’t fcking touch me,” Addie screamed in hysteria, pushing the hands off of her before finally turning around to see Leonardo standing there. Oh. Her mind started connecting the dots of what just happened, and a frown met her cheeks as he placed his hand on her cheeks “It’s okay Addie, I’m here. You’re okay.” “No I’m not. I’m not okay because you fcking hurt me Leo. You hurt me and Derek tried… to hurt me and I just keep fcking getting hurt around you and…” She felt tears falling down her eyes as he pulled her against his chest, and for a moment, she just cried in his arms. She didn’t know how long she was crying, just that she soon found herself in the passenger seat of Leo’s car, her head still leaning against him as tears fell down her eyes.
“I’m sorry Addie. I wasn’t… trying to lie to you. I love you.”
But to those words, Adelaide said nothing… maybe it was because she didn’t know if she loved him anymore… All she knew was that she was hurt… and she wanted to go back home.
To be continued…