Page 43 of Coming Unraveled
She robotically takes a seat in the booth and Brooks takes the seat across from her, never releasing the clasp of her hand. Her family circles around the cubicle, forming a screen around them.
“I guess someone had taken pictures of us during the wedding. There are some of me entering with Charleston, but leaving with you. And to make it worse there are pictures of you and me kissing outside of my office and then of me boarding the plane with Charleston. Pretty much we’re a saucy love triangle that people seem to be interested in. But today, an article came out. Your ex sold you out for fifteen minutes of fame.”
She takes a shaking breath, her vision blurring before her eyes. Her hand slowly pulls out of Brook’s grasp.
“I want to read it,” her hollow voice asks.
“I don’t think…”
“I said I want to read the fucking article,” she seethes.
Her sister Sydney hands her a phone with the article pulled up and she begins to skim the piece, but not before she notices the look in everyone’s eyes, a look she had never hoped to see in Brooks’ - pity.
The editorial paints Rich as the flawless quarterback boyfriend, completely in love with his girlfriend Everleigh. But then she became obsessed with him and tricked him into a pregnancy - a pregnancy that she threatened to abort every chance she could. He had thought he loved her until she tried to take her baby from him. He fell in love with a sweet girl at the school and tried to break things off with Everleigh. To retaliate she threw herself down the steps of his house, purposely catching her stomach on the stairs, killing their baby in an instant.
He decorated himself as a town hero and her as a manipulative tramp. The man that had forced her virginity from her, had restrained her against her will numerous times and left so many bruises on her body that she had to quit cheering. Her family had thought she wanted to focus on her schooling, knowing she planned to go into medicine, but the truth was kept hidden under long sleeves and jeans.
Tears spill down her cheeks at the realization that her secrets were just made for the world to see, and all for the wrong reasons. The exposé was so far from the truth that her heart throbs with a mix of fury, resentment, and pain. So much pain.
How could the man that not only a week ago professed in front of her family that he wanted her back weave this falseness about her? Is this his way of saying he still loves her or is this his way of showing her he still has control over her?
Her throat begins to tighten as if being held in a vice-like grip, the sobs ascending through her body ready to explode.
“I don’t understand,” she murmurs as she bites at her lower lip, hoping to keep her tears at bay long enough to make her way home where she can freely succumb to her grief.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Austin asks just as Sydney says, “Cassidy is going to be so upset when she gets back from her honeymoon.”
Pounding his fists on the table, Austin leans into her space, rage and agony evident on his face. “How could you keep this from us, E? We’re your family!”
In a flicker, her fury takes over and she pushes from the table, the crowd moving back as she yanks her bag onto her shoulder. “You think that this is the truth?” she questions as she jabs a finger into his chest.
Everleigh takes a moment to look at everyone and instantly realizes that each person claiming to love her and care for her believes every word written by the man set out to destroy every piece of her. Finally, she takes a look at Brooks and something outside of sympathy pours from him, something similar to compassion, but her anger boils too hot to tamp down.
“And you. Do you believe it?” her voice low as she questions the man she loves.
“No, but I…” he starts, but Everleigh doesn’t give him the chance to continue.
She shuts down and crawls back to the deep dark space her emotions use to reside. The only place she ever felt safe.
A place where love doesn’t exist.
***
IT DIDN’T TAKE BROOKS long to figure out what had caused Everleigh to storm out of the diner. He had told her he believed her, knew with every fiber of his being that she isn’t the person described in the article, and he had tried to explain to her that not everyone knew her well enough to see the printed lies. But before he could finish his explanation her body had completely walled itself up when the stupid word slithered through his lips. She asked if he believed the article and he had said, “No.” Of course, he had to slide in the word “but” and she immediately believed he was going to retract his statement.
Didn’t she know he would always believe her? That his love for her is too strong to not believe her? She could tell him that every night she rode around on a flying pink unicorn that shit glitter rainbows across the sky and he would believe her. He loves her that much. Unfortunately, it seems as if she doesn’t trust him enough to believe in him as well, and knowing this sends a piercing ache through his heart.
But what almost hurts him as much as her storming off with the belief that he doesn’t have faith in her is the fact that her family accepts the article as the truth. He can’t imagine the pain she must be feeling, knowing that the family she has stood by and risked her life for, is so willing to believe an article produced by an ex that transformed her into a shy and withdrawn shell of herself.
Fury builds in his stomach, fury at her family, fury at her asshole of an ex, and fury at the world for putting her in this position. No one should have their private life smeared by entertainment magazines.
As if breaking them free from their spell, Brooks stands from the table and practically tosses the phones from their hands as he smacks his hand harshly against the table, a loud bang instantly silencing the room.
“I can’t believe you all - her family, her friends. The people that should be standing by her side in a united front, instead you looked and condemned her as if she wore a scarlet letter. Does the woman in that article sound anything like the woman you know? Has she ever come across to you as a manipulative female? I can tell you from knowing a slew of them that the woman who just stormed out of here is not a damn thing like the one described. And furthermore, how well do you know the guy that is quoted in the article. If you ask me he was making her very uncomfortable at Cassidy’s wedding and was not pleased when she didn’t want anything to do with him. Don’t you think there is a reason?”
Austin looks at his siblings first, the lot of them still trying to wrap their heads around the scenario, all except Ryker, the man who just arrived typing away wildly on his phone.
“You don’t know what Everleigh was like as a teenager, she was wild. Always trying to get into some sort of trouble. Then she started dating Rich and calmed down. She became more subdued and it seemed like he was a good influence on her.”
