Not Exactly What it Seems

They didn’t like me? I thought that I had made a good impression on them and that they were happy that she was happy for once in her life. Why would I kid myself, though? I would never be enough for a family like them. She may have seemed happy with me, but I would never be able to be enough for their society and everything associated with it. What made me think I could actually stay? I guess my happiness couldn’t last forever. But her face made it seem like she hated them for it. Should I give her the benefit of the doubt?

He stood there, staring at me, waiting for me to say something, say anything. And all I could do was start to cry. Of all the times for me to cry, that did not really seem like the right time to do it. And why would I cry? I almost never did. Hayden held me close and led me away from the scene that was so painful for both of us.

I knew that he wanted me to deny everything that they had said, but I didn’t know what exactly to say. I loved him, but I knew that their approval would not last forever. What could I say that would make things better for the both of us? Why had my parents done that to me? And on New Years Eve of all times.

It did not seem fair that all of a sudden they would just start fighting like that. They usually never fought, even when all of my aunts and uncles were fighting around this time. My parents loved each other, they trusted each other, and they had always been faithful to each other. But apparently that faithfulness was being questioned on both sides. But the sad part? I could actually see my mother cheating, or my father going to strip clubs all the time. Though it was a very stereotypical thing to think, I could picture that happening. Is that really twisted?

After a while, I calmed down and stared up at Hayden, so grateful that he was there with me, even though I did not want him to witness that. There was still nothing for me to say that would make things better, but I knew one thing that I had wanted to say for a very long time.

“Hayden,” I whispered. He had been humming softly to me, but he stopped to give me his undivided attention. “Hayden, I love you. I know it doesn’t make up for what my parents-”

He wouldn’t let me get the rest of the sentence out. He silenced me with a kiss that made my whole body fill with happiness, despite the sadness and anger that I had been feeling throughout the night. Hayden understood me more than anyone ever had or would and I wanted him to be a part of me forever.

After a few minutes, he pulled away and stared into my eyes and I knew that he could see into my soul. That should have scared me, I should have felt naked and vulnerable, but all I felt was a oneness that was beautiful and so right. Would my parents really make me give that up?

“Ny, you are the only person in the world that could make me happy. I don’t want to let you go, but if your parents won’t let you go out with me, maybe…” He let the sentence fall, unable to even think the rest of it.

“No Hayden, my parents will not dictate my life like that. There is no way I will give you up just for their reputation. There is just no way. But whatever they say, just remember that I love you and that you are the only person I want.”

So I was being super cheesy, sue me. I had a feeling I would be seeing a lot less of Hayden after that night so I needed him to know how I felt before it all goes crashing down. My parents had gone too far, but I didn’t know how to stop them. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do to make them see how serious I was about the situation.

Briefly I considered running away, but that thought quickly left my mind. Though I was not like normal rich girls, I still would not be able to live on my own yet and certainly not when I was running away from everything. What else was there to do, though? I hated the other part of my life and if that was going to become where I would spend the majority of my time then I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay with my parents.

Does that sound melodramatic? I guess it kind of does, but whatever. At that point all I wanted to do was crawl under a rock. But maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe it was just a stupid fight and it didn’t mean anything; they could have just been fed up with everything that had been going on. That’s what I hoped anyway.

When my parents came up to me with unhappy faces though, I knew that I was not going to like what they had to say.