Safe in My Arms

Stephen’s hand was holding Adelle’s shoulder while she had her head on his shoulder. They were situated on Adelle’s bed, watching Mean Girls. His thumb made small circles against the skin of her shoulder and the fingers of his other hand were playing with Adelle’s.

The credits were rolling now and they were both still in the same position, no one said anything. It seemed like both of them had something in mind.

Stephen sighed, lightly leaning his head on Adelle’s. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“What for?”

“For not being a good boyfriend.”

Adelle shifted away from him and stared into his eyes. “Why? What makes you think so?” She knew the reason, she just wanted to hear it from his mouth. She wanted him to tell her the truth. She wanted him to be honest.

He licked his lips and looked away. Her green eyes looked too innocent, too pure to be turned down. Seeing sadness in her eyes was the least thing he would want to do, but he knew he had caused sadness appearing in those dark green pool even though he hadn’t seen it yet.

“I’ve been hurting you real bad. I’m really sorry,” he whispered, nervously playing with his fingers. “I’m such a bad excuse for a boyfriend.”

“Hey,” she whispered, placing both of her hands on the sides of his head to make him look at her. His guilty brown eyes met her soft green ones. She suddenly forgot what she wanted to say when she saw them. She leaned in and softly pressed her lips against his. He could feel her hot breath hitting his lips. “I love you, no matter what happens.”

That made him felt even guiltier.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again. “I’m sorry.” He pulled her into a hug and buried his face into her neck. “I will never do it again, I promise. You deserve the best and I’m being shit about it.”

“Stephen—“

“I’m really sorry, Adelle. I love you, really. I’m sorry if you ever doubted about it; I deserve it.”

“Shh, Stephen. I forgive you, really.”

He pulled away, surprised. “How? How – how can you forgive me when I’m being such a crappy boyfriend to you?”

“Because I know you’re so much more inside,” she answered softly, staring into his eyes.

“I don’t deserve to be treated so nice by you.”

She only smiled a little.

“You’re so nice I hate it,” he said in a joking tone, pouting.

She giggled, playfully slapping his chest. He grinned at that.

Adelle was perfect.

- - -

Stephen was out with his friend, Justin. Currently, they were both at a music store, looking through some CDs in the country section.

“Dude, I heard Taylor is dating Taylor,” Justin said as he went through some CDs of Brad Paisley.

“What?” Stephen asked, confused.

“Swift’s dating Lautner.”

“And why are you telling me?”

“’Cause you’ve got a celebrity crush on her.”

“And I’m not interested in gossip.”

Justin snorted in amusement. “Yeah, right.”

Stephen chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re such a girl, Justin.”

“Shut up.”

Stephen picked up a vinyl of Rachel Williams and stared at the front cover, and then turned it around to see the back cover. His phone rang from his back pocket and he reached to answer it. He should’ve seen the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Stephen?”

His eyes widened and placed the vinyl back to its place. “Victoria?” He kept his voice low and glanced at Justin who was hitting on a girl customer, making sure he wasn’t eavesdropping.

“Look, I know I shouldn’t call you, but I don’t know who else I should talk to.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, beginning to be concerned.

“My granddad got into the hospital… I’m scared.”

Stephen knew how close Victoria was with her grandparents and she had lost her grandmother.

“Where are you now?”

“The hospital.”

“I’ll be there. Just wait there, okay?”

He heard her sniffed. “Okay…”

He hung up and dashed out, not forgetting to leave a quick goodbye to Justin and left him confused. He got into his car and sped to the hospital.

“Thanks for accompanying me,” John said as he and Adelle entered the hospital. They were going to visit his friend. “I tried calling Stephen but he wouldn’t pick up.”

“It’s fine, really,” she answered as they got into the elevator. John pressed a number and the elevator started to move once the doors were closed.

They exited the elevator once it reached the floor they wanted. They walked down the hallway side by side and turned left but immediately stopped when they saw Stephen and Victoria. John leaned against the wall and Adelle followed. They couldn’t help but to eavesdrop.

“Thanks for coming, Stephen. Really, I appreciate it,” they heard Victoria faintly talking. They both peeked.

“It’s nothing, Vic. You can always call me when you need me.”

Victoria nodded. “Well, I’ll see you around,” she turned around and was about to enter a room when Stephen grabbed her wrist and turned her around, pulling her into a firm hug. He lifted her chin and kissed her.

Adelle quickly hid against the wall again, words that Stephen had said about promising not to hurt her were running in her mind.

Stephen and Victoria pulled apart.

“I’ll see you later,” he said. She nodded and went into the room. Stephen turned his heels and started walking. When he reached where John and Adelle were, John pulled him by the collar of his shirt and punched his cheek hard until Stephen fell down on the ground.

“JOHN!” Adelle yelled.

“If you can’t take of her, I will!” John yelled at his brother before grabbing Adelle’s hand and walked away.

“John!” Adelle shouted, running after him when they were outside the hospital. “JOHN!” she called again and this time John stopped. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“He deserved it.”

“You don’t punch your own family!”

“There are times I have to do it!” he shouted, turning around.

Adelle didn’t say anything. He started to approach her and stroked her cheek by the back of his hand.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Adelle. You deserve so much better than this. I have to punch him so he would realize it.”

She gulped, staring down at her shoes.

“Hey, look at me.”

She looked up, staring at his eyes.

“If he keeps on hurting you like this, let me be the one that is always be there for you.”

She shook her head. “No, John.”

“Adelle, I love you, okay? I love you ever since I saw you four years ago and I hate seeing you with Stephen when he’s hurting you like hell!”

“John—“

“I can do better than him. I can take care of you better than he does!”

“John.”

“Adelle. Please,” he whispered.

She shook her head again.

“Adelle, unlike him, I really can get a tight grip on my promises and—“

“JOHN!!” she screamed, tears were threatening to fall. “Stop, okay?”

“Why?”

“Don’t force me to say it.”

“No, tell me the reason.”

She looked away, this time a tear had rolled down her cheek.

“I’m in love with him, no matter how bad he hurts me.”