We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands

It had been two weeks since I had moved into William’s house and I had settled in nicely. I’d met his friends whom were in a band with him on various occasions and they all seemed pretty nice and I felt like I could be myself around them. I was curled up on one end of the sofa watching TV with William sat at the other end when my phone rang. I pulled it out quickly and saw it was Bert… again.

“Hey Bert,” I said half-heartedly.

“Hey, you’re okay aren’t you?”

“I’m fine Bert but you seriously need to stop ringing me so often just to make sure I’m fine,” I mumbled and William glanced over at me.

“I know, but I don’t trust that William guy,” He said with a slight whine to his voice.

“Well I do so leave it,” I said getting annoyed.

“Okay, well I’m sorry. I’ll get going then, I’ve got to go out anyway,” He sounded like a child who had just been yelled at by his parents.

“Bye,” I said and hung up with a sigh.

“Is he your boyfriend or something?” William asked me.

“He wishes,” I muttered annoyed still.

“Oh right,” William said with amusement in his voice just as my phone rang again.

“Now you’re just miss popular, aren’t you?” William teased with a grin and I saw it was my mum ringing.

“Hiya mum,” I said ignoring William’s comment.

“Hey honey. I hope you’re having a good time,” She said in an unusually happy voice, even for her.

“Don’t worry I am and Mr Beckett’s treating me well,” I said and William smirked at me. I stood up and paced a little.

“That’s good. Well I actually rang because I’ve got some great news to tell you,” She said with even more excitement in her voice.

“Okay then, go on and tell me,” I urged a little unsure of what she could be so excited about.

“Alex proposed! We’re going to get married, isn’t that great honey?” I froze completely and horror pulsed through my body as my eyes widened in shock.

“Honey?” Mum asked suddenly sounding worried.

“Um, sorry, there was interference,” I lied and William watched me with confused eyes.

“But yeah, that is great news,” I lied again and then I heard talking in the background on the other line.

“I knew you’d be happy, well Alex wants to talk to you so I’ll hand you over. Have fun sweetie and I’ll ring again soon,” Mum said and before I could refuse, she had handed the phone to Alex and I heard the door shut.

“Well, well, well Beth. Are you excited?” Alex said with an obvious smirk on his face so I quickly left the room and went into the kitchen.

“I’ll tell William what you’re doing,” I threatened but my voice came out weak and shaky.

“Come on Beth, who would believe a fifteen year old girl over a twenty seven year old? And anyway, if you did tell him, I’ll hurt your mum worse than I have you,” He hissed harshly.

“Plus, think of all the fun we’ll have together once you get back home. We’ll have that bonding day to make up for the two months of lost time,” He hissed and I couldn’t help but let tears run from my eyes as I thought of the stuff he could do.

“I won’t come home. I’ll refuse. I’ll stay in Chicago,” I rushed out.

“We both know that they’d never let you stay. I should tell that William guy how you’re such a good fuck so that he can have his fun with you whilst you’re there,”

“No, you wouldn’t,” I gasped as a few tears escaped my eyes.

“Oh honey, you should know me better than that by now, you know I always stick to my word,” I turned around quickly when I heard a sound and saw William standing in the doorway looking incredibly worried.

“You alright?” He asked me but I just looked away from his worry filled eyes. I was clutching my mobile so tightly that my knuckles had turned white, like the day at the park.

“Speak of the devil himself by the sound of it. Why don’t you give the phone to him sweetie so I can tell him all about you and your wonderful talents,”

“No,” I whispered shakily and then heard the door open again on the other end of the line.

“Yep, love you too, I’ll see you when you get home and remember what I told you,” Alex faked a happy, sweet goodbye before hanging up abruptly. I brought my phone down from my ear and held it limply in my hand. William placed his hand on my shoulder and I just broke down completely.

“What’s wrong?” He asked and pulled me into a small hug.

“They’re getting married,” I sobbed into his t-shirt.

“It’ll be okay,” William tried to comfort but he had completely the wrong idea.

“You don’t understand,” I mumbled and pulled away from him and ran upstairs to my temporary bedroom. I threw my mobile at the wall and it cracked and hit the floor with a thud and then I punched the wall itself. My life was going to be worse than it already was and there was nothing I could do about it without hurting others around me. I seriously wished I had jumped off of the bridge the day I had gotten that letter, my life would have ended there and then and I wouldn’t have had to deal with any of this shit. I had the right to be angry with myself didn’t I? I punched the wall again and again in anger at myself for letting Alex get so deep into my life. The door opened quickly and William grabbed my arms and stopped me from hitting the wall as I struggled against his restrain.