When Somebody Loves Somebody – Part 12

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Chloe and Hank stayed inside their house without having contact with anybody from their families, friends and woes. They needed to be alone to figure out what they were going to break it to their families that Hank might have a son. Even though, the test would take at least another week to find out if Nicole was right or not. As much as Chloe wasn’t too sure to even believe an old friend like Nicole and think of her as somebody who wants to start trouble again, by using her own son as bait, but anything could happen. This was Nicole we were talking about here. Before everything happened to destroy their friendship, they had some signs even before Chloe’s parents departed that Nicole wasn’t such a good friend to have anymore. Once going into to school, it was a Monday, start of a new week, but it came to being one of the worst days in Chloe’s life. Chloe was coming down from being sick with the flu. She had missed the week before and since Nicole was in the same grade as her, she brought home all of her homework. Nicole had her caring parts to her, but during the weekend Nicole and a group of troubled kids decided to trash one of the two cafeterias, just because they were drunk and bored. They saw it as something to do. They used 100 rolls of toilet paper, duct tape, shaving cream, and bought eight cartons of eggs. The entire place looked like a disaster. Which apparently, that’s what they were hoping for, but something that they didn’t think they would get caught. When Nicole and her friends were in the principal’s office getting read their punishments, Nicole decided to save her own ass and threw her own best friend under the bus.

She said that Chloe had come up with the idea, but when instead of giving her friend a warning that she’d have not only the principal searching for her, but her parents and a couple of police officers came looking for her too. Chloe was still a little bit under the weather and she didn’t quite understand why everybody she was around in her classes was giving her the death glare. Even the teachers were giving her a similar look too. Chloe was very concerned but was too afraid to ask in hopes that she had something on her face. When her teacher, Mr. Robertson got that phone call from the vice principal saying they needed Chloe Middleton. She really got worried, but not because she knew she was being set up, it was the fact she was still pretty weak from her illness to walk such a long distance. So her boyfriend Hank offered to help her walk her down. Along the way, Hank decided to take her pass the cafeteria that got trashed. She hadn’t noticed it the first time as their were tons of people around her when she was walking to her class. She was so overwhelmed with the people and germs around her, that she ignored what they were talking about and looking at and went to her class. When Hank and Chloe got in the middle of the hallway, she was stunned with what she saw, but it didn’t give her enough to suspect her friend would set her up like this.

When they finally reached the main office. She saw her parents and Nicole’s mom. Both of their mothers were talking amongst themselves. Hank helped her sit down on a chair and kissed her on the cheek before leaving her there to fend for herself. She felt very uncomfortable just sitting in the chair in the corner while everybody else in the lobby looked at her. She was hoping that somebody could explain why her parents were sitting across from her. Chuck looked very unpleased with his daughter, only at fourteen year old she wasn’t the type to cause anything like this before. Brenda was more the wild child, but since she had met this nice guy named John, she had grown up a lot. Nobody would have guessed how roles have switched now. Within twenty of slowing walking up there, a large crowd of people slowly made their way out of the room. When she saw Nicole and her friends, being escorted by a couple of police officers. She knew something was up. When both the principal and vice principal walked behind them. They greeted Chloe’s parents and Nicole’s mom, and then looked towards Chloe and asked if they could come into the room. Chloe struggled to regain what little strength she had in her legs, but it was no use. So Chuck decided to put his arm around her and help lift her up and they walked slowly into the room. Her mom brought her fresh new tissues as she sounded stuffy when she spoke. When everybody sat in their chairs they got down to business and told everybody what had happened and who said that Chloe had orchestrated the mess in the cafeteria. Chloe might’ve had a fever, but she was pretty sure her inner rage was half of the cause of it.

“I did not do this!” Chloe said as her mom sat next to her. Nobody really said a word, and she wasn’t really feeling that well to be yelling at everybody. “She has been sick for probably two weeks straight, she hasn’t seen anybody since last week when Nicole brought her homework to her.” Sandra said in a concerned voice, “she shouldn’t even be here today but she begged me to let her go. So who are going to believe Mr. Jones?” She had a point. As the years went on, Nicole’s behavior was gradually getting worse. She wasn’t that good of a friend as she played to be. Nicole was into things that Chloe had always said “no” too. That didn’t mean that Chloe was such a good girl though. She had her moments too, but since her family was still intact–back then–she had a good heart and wasn’t into breaking the law. Rules were made to be broken, but the trashing the school’s cafeteria was a total different story altogether. “Did anybody else agree with her that Chloe was involved?” said Chuck, who rubbed her middle daughter’s back in a soothing way. “Well, actually no. It was only Nicole who actually said it.” Mr. Jones said back to him. “Mr. Jones, the security tapes have something they’d like for you to see.” said the secretary. “Excuse me for just a moment.” Mr. Jones said as he and the vice principal sat up from their chairs and left the room. Within an hour, they came back with some pretty surprising news.

“Well, Chloe and Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, you are free to go. We won’t be charging you with anything. Looks like your friend forgot about the fact that our security cameras come with voice software. We heard them talk about how they were going to set you up. Sorry Miss. Middleton. Looks like you can go back to your normal classes or if you want to, go home and rest up for tomorrow?” said Mr. Jones. “So that’s it?” Chloe said in a daze. She couldn’t believe within two hours or so, everything was fine again, but the fact remains that Nicole had actually tried to get her into trouble. What kind of friend is that? “Yes, I apologize on behalf of the school.” he said as her parents just glared at him for overlooking the good will of their sickly daughter. They walked out of the room, but not without watching Nicole and her friends get arrested for vandalizing school property. “Why did you blame me, Nicole? You’re supposed to be my best friend, not my enemy?” Chloe said in a nasal voice. Nicole smirked but never said anything back to her. She and Nicole’s mom watched them take her and her friends off campus. Five seconds later, Hank found his way back up to the main office but only to check up on Chloe. “What happened?” He said to her in a concerned voice. “Nothing, son. Sometimes you have to be careful on how you pick your friends.” Chuck said as he hugged Chloe tightly.  Chloe had a very clear picture of that day and so did Hank too. Yet, Nicole still made her way into their lives as a possibly baby mama to his child.

Chloe and Hank had always been in love with each other, even on their breaks. It wasn’t just a coincidence that these two belonged together. They were soul mates. Chloe dreamt of the life she wanted to share with Hank. She wanted a love like her sister and brother-in-law but without all of the cheating that John brought along. Chloe still wanted that life with Hank. She still wore her wedding ring on her finger, but looked like it as something that may not meant much to them both at the moment. Hank was distraught with the fact that after two weeks they get married he might’ve let one night get in the way of being together with the love of his life. Although life wasn’t going their ways, they both agreed that if Hank was the father of James, then they’d make things work and Hank was to be a part of James’ life. No matter what. When Chloe and Hank came into contact with each other inside the small house, it wasn’t what they’d expected after just being married. It was awkward and sad. Tears would form in Chloe’s eyes, but they’d never fall because then all that would do is make things worse. So she pushed back her tears and tried her best to keep herself contained. Hank was on the urge of tears too, but he was a guy. Crying in front of his wife or even his mother absolutely terrified so he hid them well inside, but he knew that if he didn’t leave that house soon, all hell would break for him.  So he made an excuse to get out of the house a bit, so he went out and said he was going to the gym. For Chloe, she knew he’d never go to a gym in his life but she understood the fact they needed some space between them. He came to her and kissed her on the cheek. He was being as loving to her as he did the day she realized Nicole was nothing more to her.

Hank had been out in his car most of the morning, since they came back early, he wasn’t expected to come back to work until next week. He knew that if the results weren’t what he and Chloe expected than going back to work would be such a good idea. So he decided to go in and ask the secretary to put him back on the schedule early. When he hopped out of his car, some of his co-workers were surprised to see their boss coming back so early, which only meant one thing. Things weren’t up to date as they usually are when he’s there on a daily basis. Looks like his plan to come back was a smart idea after all. When he went inside the building, his little brother, who was also one of his employees was flirting with his secretary Layla, she was a polite blonde girl, who was secretly a hater of men, but loved seeing them beg for her. Only Hank knew about this and seeing his brother Levi get down so low just for a girl made him laugh inside. “Levi!” Hank shouted, which made Levi jump out of his skin. Obviously Sophie didn’t tell her youngest son that his older brother and sister-in-law had made it back early. “Hey, what are you doing here?” Levi said as he tried to regain himself after making a fool out of himself. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.” Hank said in a smirk. “I’m talking to Layla, she was asking a question and I was explaining it to her.” Layla just rolled her eyes at Hank. Thankfully Hank knew better to believe his little brother. “Come on Levi, get your ass in here, before I fire your ass for harassing my people.” Hank said as shook his head at Layla and opened his door to his office.

The small room was very cool and decorated with company colors, brown and red. Trophies lined up on the walls along with certificates that were hanging up on the opposite wall. Hank was a very successful man after he took his father’s role in the company after he retired two years ago. Hank and Levi stepped inside and Hank pulled his black leather chair out of behind the desk that had a full stack of papers and folders that needed to be completed. He a row of pictures of him and Chloe before everything had to come back to break him in half. The pictures of his family, his brothers, buddies from school, work parties, and Chloe’s sisters and nieces stared back at him. Chloe had been the one to get him all these frames when he become the boss at work. She thought it looked professional and nice as he’s always been a family man. Levi definitely saw him looking at the pictures, “you should tell Chloe that you need another a picture frame of your wedding pictures.” He said in a voice that seemed to be fun, but after looking at his older brother seemed pretty concerned too. “What? Hank. What is going on in your mind?” Levi said as he took a seat in one of two extra seats. “It’s nothing that you should know about, but I’m pretty sure you’ll find out about it soon. So I guess I’ll tell you, but this stays away from our mother. Got it?” Hank said as he pointed at his baby brother. “Promise, tell me.” Levi said in agreement and Hank let the ball roll down into hell.

“You what?!” Levi said in a very loud voice. Some people in their family and people around town always saw Levi as that type of person that it would happen to, not Hank. Crazy thing is, Levi thought about it too from time to time. “You sure dude? I mean, it is Nicole Boyd. She’s like the slut after what happened between her and Chloe’s moms. You’re really going with what she says.” Levi knew Nicole and her family pretty well too. Nicole had a younger brother named Todd that Levi used to get along really well until he died in a car accident three years before Chloe’s parents separated. Todd went from a good girl to a guy who definitely liked to party, and then everything came down on him in instant. It was a shame it had to happen, but after it happened Nicole seemed to follow in his footsteps. After she and Chloe stopped being friends and her parents got criticized about how they raised their kids, they moved away. “I know, but she brought her son to the suite that Chloe and I were staying at in Hawaii.” Hank said with his hands together. Levi sat back in his seat, stunned by what his own brother was telling him. “Mom’s going to kill you.” Levi said in a small chuckle, and Hank returned one back. It wasn’t something to joke about, but with almost everything these two brothers talked about, was a joke. “Well, how is Chloe taking it?” Levi said as he fiddled with the nails of his fingers. “She’s a pro, you know how Chloe is. Even though I know she’s not exactly thrilled especially what’s going on with Brenda and John.” Hank said. “And Claire and Matt.” Levi said in a whisper. “What do you mean by that? What’s going on with Claire and Matt?” Hank said to his baby brother hoping to get some news.

Back at the house, Chloe took the advantage of the fact that Hank was not around so she cry as freely as she wanted. She had kept those tears inside for too long and they weren’t all from she and Hank, some were even for Brenda and John too. Growing up, even though her mother had found their stepdad, getting her to go out on an actual date was rough and both Brenda and Chloe did everything to get their mother back out into the world again. They didn’t want to see her get lonely, so they set her up on a few blind dates with men they had worked with and were single. During this time, Brenda had Ava and Tatum, Gracie was about five months old. So she had a whole roll of baby pictures of her grandchildren. Which ruined a lot of her previous dates, but when she met John, things took off and the fact that she had hidden a small stack of pictures in the bottom of  her purse didn’t even scare him off. He was definitely a keeper and all three girls had grown to love him, even if Claire was the most difficult one of all. Chloe had admired her mother and older sister for finding love and being able to be a family. She had hoped to have that with Hank someday down the line. To have their own kids and be together for always, seemed like the best thing ever. Now everything was crumbling down around her. After an hour of crying, she made it her job to stop crying enough to do some chores around the house. They still hadn’t unpacked from their honeymoon, so she knew laundry came first.

She sat up from the couch and turned on the radio to give her some motivation to get her body motion. After switching it on, going through stations because on weird days Hank likes to listen to some funky music. Considering the first song she heard play when she started flipping through the channels ” let’s get physical, let’s get physical…” and Chloe instantly started dancing but as soon as she heard it, she flipped it to another station, then came on was a song she remembered hearing in a move, The Black Eyed Peas’ song “Feel It” was actually on the radio which never happens and she took advantage of it and danced and grooved to the beat to get through her chores around the house. After finishing two loads of laundry, cleaning dishes, and putting clothes back on the racks in their closet. She seemed accomplished with herself and kept the radio on until she forgot about looking inside the mailbox. She just sat down, but lucky for her she was still feeling the good vibes going through her body as the next song played on the radio, it was a little bit slowly but she didn’t mind it much. Passenger’s song, “Let Her Go” played and it mellowed her out and she opened the front door. It had been a while she smelled the fresh air since she’s been trapped inside all day long. She put her inside the dark green box and pulled out a stack of papers, bills, and one surprising letter that she was expecting to come in next week. She quickly put down the rest of the mail on the table, turned down the radio, and called Hank on her cell phone. It was what they were waiting to find out since the first day of their honeymoon, the patientry test.

Dear Insomnia

I have been struggling with my sleep since a day after Thanksgiving. I think after my cousin spent the night and somehow she wanted to go to sleep before midnight just surprised me so much that I ended up getting my sleep back. After she left, I went back to my old routine and here it is the 11th and my body feels like it’s failing me. I have tried getting up before noon and staying awake for that entire time, but I always end up back asleep. Everytime I tell my mom to not let me sleep til noon, she never wakes me up. I would like for her to wake me up when she gets up. Last night was another story. She had to go to work today and I think I slept for a half hour and when I actually went back to sleep, she came in and took me to the bathroom. After she left I went back to sleep and slept for five hours. I woke up at noon again. Around 1pm, I kept feeling lazier and very tired. I’m really surprised I’m even awake right now. It’s a little difficult to keep my balance, because I have no strength to sit up for a long period of time. Which is the reason why I haven’t done much this afternoon. Even the kittens haven’t gotten my full attention and everytime I want to text someone, I don’t have the energy to move my feet around. My body is definitely feeling the effects of not having any sleep. I would love to get out of this house tomorrow while my mom does my nana’s errands, but I think I’m still stuck in this house for another week. Maybe what I’m feeling is some sort of cabin fever? Never thought about that until now.

Sorry this isn’t much, but on a good note I have been thinking about the next section of my story. I think it will be about Chloe and Hank’s relationship and maybe I’ll skip ahead and get this party started. Who wants to know if Hank is the father of Nicole’s son, James? I know I do, because I want to see how Chloe and her family reacts to it. Tomorrow is Thursday, so everybody knows FSF is on the agenda first, but I do have that planned too.

Devil’s Backbone — Part Eight

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“Have you talked to Chloe at all?” said Claire, who was just getting up at noon after having a mini sleepover in her older nieces’ room. She somehow slept on the hard floor and was now feeling the pain in her back and neck. She rubbed the back of her neck while she passed Brenda, who was starting her Monday off right, coffee and a bran muffin. “No, I’m pretty sure she wants to forget all about the mess that happened between John and I.” Claire walked over to pour herself a nice cup of black coffee. Surprisingly the coffee was still warm, which meant Brenda also got up late too. “Speaking of John, have you talked to him after you let him sleep on the couch that night after the wedding?” Brenda still reading her paper didn’t even look up at her young sister who was sitting across from her. “No, but I want to. I just don’t know what to say to him though. I mean, what is there to say to somebody that you’ve trusted all these years and find out they’ve gone out and betrayed you in such a way that you don’t think you could ever trust them again?” It was a conversation that Claire wasn’t very good at, since she’s always been the “cheater” in her relationships. She’s heard it all too well and Brenda was never going to get an answer she wants out of it.

Suddenly three little creatures appear from their bedrooms. Brenda’s daughters hadn’t heard about how their daddy’s been cheating on their mommy. Brenda was perfectly fine with keeping it that way too. She remembers what she and her sisters went through when they found out about their own father cheating on their mother. It was heartbreaking, you always wished they would get back together. Before you knew it though, once the divorce papers were filed, everything that you knew was gone. She didn’t want them to know about it right now. Brenda and Claire sat in their chairs while the little girls climbed onto the remaining chairs and insisted they have their breakfast. Motherhood never rests, and Brenda was thankful for it too. “Do you girls want milk with your cereal or do you want it in your cups?” Ava and Tatum both said, “with my cereal, please.” and Gracie sat in her chair, quiet as a button. She was usually quiet in the mornings, but it wasn’t morning. Brenda looked at her, she looked distanced from her sisters. Brenda put her hand over her forehead to check for a fever, but she was cool to the touch. It was just going to be one of those days with her. “Here you go girls.” Claire said as she placed two small bowls of Lucky Charms. “And here you go, Miss Gracie. Eat up.” as she placed the third bowl in front of the small girl.

Brenda had always wondered if Gracie was autistic or not, but John refused to get her tested. Anytime the girls had a problem there was a good chance John always had an excuse for it, but for Gracie, she had all of the signs. She hardly smiles at people or makes eye contact with anybody within the family. Claire sat back down on her seat and began feeding Gracie her breakfast. Within five more minutes, little cries could be heard from the next room. Brenda sat up and poured her left over coffee into the sink and walked into the next room to grab Ivy. She brought out into the kitchen and Ivy had some wacky hair going on! “Man, Ivy did you sleep well last night? You look like your curls are going to fly off your head!” said Claire, Ivy cheesed really big and Brenda sat up her high chair and placed her inside. She went back to the cabinet and grabbed applesauce and Cheerios box. She poured out some of the Cheerios onto her tray and she started taking one by one in her mouth like she was chipmunk or something. She’s was a little comedian. Brenda sat back down in her chair and used a napkin to wipe off the spoon to mix the cream in her coffee. After she wiped it clean again, she unhooked the lid and began feeding her, hopefully to drive her away from stuffing her mouth with cereal.

The six of them were having a pretty good brunch, until they heard a couple of knocks, and then here came Chloe walking into the kitchen. The girls were completely shocked and practically spilled cereal on themselves as they jumped out of their chairs to go hug their aunt. “Hey girls!” Chloe said excitedly and hugged them back. “Man, I’ve been gone for two weeks and you guys go and have a party without me. I see how you are.” Chloe said as she smiled, while getting a hug at the waist by both Claire and Gracie. “What are you doing here so early?” Brenda said as she fed Ivy her last bite of applesauce and wiped her face off with a napkin. “Well, after the kids go back into their rooms or whatever I’ll tell you.” Brenda and Claire looked up at each other and wondered. Brenda got the table cleaned up as the girls left for their rooms. Ivy still sat in her high chair until Chloe couldn’t take it anymore and lifted her up and hugged her tightly. “So what’s been going on since I left? Anything new? Filed for divorce yet?” Chloe said as she was still holding Ivy in her arms. “Shhh.. I don’t want the girls to know yet.” Brenda said as she whipped her towel at Chloe, “Well, they’re going to find out soon enough.” “What happened to your honeymoon?” Claire said without missing a beat. “Well, you girls remember when Hank and I were on a break by in high school, and he was with Jessica and a few other girls?” Chloe said as she put Ivy back in her high chair. “Yeah.” said Brenda and Claire, “Well, looks like he might’ve gotten one of them pregnant and you’ll never believe who the girl is,” Brenda sat down real quick before this got any worse, “Nicole Boyd showed up on our first day there and brought her five-year old son and told me, that Hank is the father.” Chloe said as she leaned up against the counter,

Circles — Part Seven

Pregnancy photography :)A few years before Chloe and Hank had gotten engaged, they had been dating off and on for about six years. They started dating at their junior year of high school. They were so in love and there wasn’t a time where they were apart. If that happened, it was because the other one was grounded. Back then, Chloe was in the mist of celebrating her older sister’s new marriage and welcoming her first niece. Chloe never thought they would make it together after school was over. Honestly, nobody in her family thought it would, after the hell her mother went through. At the prime of their life, Chloe was trying to focus on her future, if in case, they did break up after they graduated. Hank didn’t like the fact that she didn’t believe in their relationship for it to last. So he decided to break up with her. It wasn’t the first time they went their separate ways, but this one was a lot longer. They were apart for more than eight months. She knew what he was doing and even though they were not together, she felt herself become jealous. Hank was around another girl, actually a few girls., one being Nicole Boyd.

Nicole was actually a childhood friend of Chloe, but a really old friend. They were neighbors when they were growing up and they were each other’s best friend. They had matching dresses, Barbie dolls, and every girl’s favorite necklaces. They were this way for many years, until after Chloe’s little sister Claire was born and her father left the home for good. Nicole’s mother Andrea was also friend’s with Sandra, Chloe’s mother. They were happy that their daughters were best friends, but when the town heard of Sandra and Chuck were separating, the entire town was mixed. Chuck was the man of the town and loved to help out anybody who asked him. However, that’s what got him in trouble most of the time too. Chuck was a fairly attractive man, his daughters got his beautiful looks, but they got their mother’s fears. When Sandra and Chuck went through separate ways, Andrea sided on Chuck and said that Sandra was the one who was in the wrong. The girls were in middle school, and they were in band together playing the flute. The fight for first chair was brutal in the beginning of the feud. Cat fights and name calling. They were normal girls. At the end of sixth grade, friendship was in the past. Nicole became the slut of the class and Chloe was nerd in school. Chloe always believed when she would get a boyfriend, Nicole would get very jealous and spread rumors about her. The hatred grew more and more with each passing year that they were around each other.

Hank knew how Chloe felt about Nicole, but they were done. She wanted to keep things the way they were, but she missed being in that relationship. She missed Hank. She wanted to think about her life first, because she had been so about her life as an individual for years and felt worried about her parent’s marriage that nothing about love looked appealing to her. Other than that, she definitely missed being around Hank and had heard he missed her just as much. While she was work, she had got told by one of her co-workers that she got something. When she walked back to her desk, she found a vase full of red roses. There was a card saying, “Sorry, I was wrong, I can’t live without you.” She couldn’t believe Hank could be that sweet. Chloe always figured he paid one of the ladies at the flower shop to write something sweet on the card for him because the writing wasn’t even in his writing. It was a good gesture though! After she got home, she called him and they got caught up on their time apart and Chloe felt a piece of joy talking to him again and when they decided to give it a go again. She never asked him about the girls he hung out with, and he never brought them up either. She felt like it was the best relationship in the world and after a while, her family started to love him as well!

Now after all these years together, here she was, with her husband’s child–well, possibly. As much as Chloe wanted to keep Nicole out of their honeymoon suite. It’s some nerve that she showed up while they were on their honeymoon, almost like she was planning this all along. Chloe wanted to chill out, and be cooled and collected, but her rage was peeking up behind her. The only reason why she hadn’t exploded on her former best friend is because there was a five-year old sitting on the chair, eating the leftover oranges from this morning’s room service, Nicole sat in the chair next to the small table with her young son, who looked more like her than Hank. The little boy sat quietly but smiled brightly at his mother and at Chloe. Hank was out walking by the ocean. “How did you know that Hank and I would be here, of all places?” Chloe said, as shr stood up against the doorway from the bedroom to the living area. “My mother called me yesterday afternoon when her neighbor came home from your gorgeous wedding.” Nicole said, “I still can’t believe he actually married you after telling me that he would be there for James. After I had him, I moved on and moved here. It’s always sunny and warm. Even though I moved away from Hank, I still wanted him to be a daddy to his son.” Nicole said as she rubbed her son’s curly hair down. Hank had curls when he was a baby, but every baby has curls. James wasn’t a baby anymore. He was five years old. Nicole was looking for her child support. That’s all she was there for; not for her son’s needs, but for her needs. That’s all she’s ever been.

Little James sat on his chair and asked politely if he could have a drink water. Nicole looked around inside her bag for a juice box, but didn’t find one. Chloe felt for the child. She left her place by the wall, to grab a cup from the cabinet and fill it with water. She brought it back and instead of giving it to Nicole. She put the glass on the table and watched the five-year old smile big and say “thank you” and grab it and attempted to get a sip without dropping it on the carpet.  Ten minutes later, they heard a key cling against the door. Hank was back from his walk and as he opened the door and saw his beautiful wife kneeling by James, he also saw an old girlfriend/one night stand of his. He was going to need a whole day to explain himself to Chloe. “What is going on?” Hank, said out of breath. “I don’t know, Nicole and her five-year old son James showed up a half hour ago saying you might be the father.” Hank turned his head as quickly as possible towards Chloe, who was now on the edge of tears. “He’s not mine, I swear! She even knows that. She even told me that he wasn’t mine.” Hank said, almost yelling at both of them. “Well, those others I was with, turned out not to be the father and you’re the only one left I was with at that time period.” Nicole said with her arms crossed. He turned and looked at little James, who looked distanced. “He doesn’t look like me. I mean, you were with other guys, how am I the only one left?” Hank said as he stood up again. “I wasn’t that big of a slut as many people thought I was in high school.” Nicole said, “Even though you have a kid.” said Chloe, as she tried to keep in her laughter. “Fine, don’t think you are the father. Take the test and let’s find out.” Nicole said, as Chloe looked back at Hank, “Fine.” Hank said in agreement.

The Mirror Never Lies — Part Six

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So if you haven’t noticed. I didn’t necessarily finish up my part five, did I? As I writing it and creating different parts, other ideas started flowing around in my head. I finished the last section with Claire and Brenda sitting in Brenda’s kitchen, drinking wine, talking, and waiting for the cookies to finish baking in the oven. Brenda’s husband hasn’t come home yet and Chloe and Hank are on their honeymoon. I decided to make last section all about Brenda and Claire because I thought they needed some time together. There’s a back story to everything and we’re about to unlock some more stories from not only John’s past, but someone else’s as well!

*Ding!* “Thank god! They’re done!” Claire said, but as she tried to stand up from her chair next to her sister, she realized that she already had too much alcohol for her small body. It had worked a lot faster than she would have wanted it to, but she tried to clear her mind and stumbled over to the oven. Opened the door and went to try to grab the pan from inside, but forgot she didn’t have her mittens on, and felt a big sting on her fingers. “Ouch! Son of a bitch!” Claire said in a loud voice, angered with rage at her own ignorance. Brenda couldn’t help but laugh, seven glasses of wine has done a good job of making the girls feel better, but now Claire wasn’t just dealing with emotional pain, she was now dealing with physical pain as well. Claire grabbed the blue mittens, she slipped them on and glad that when she went to grab the pan, the heat wasn’t as bad as her first attempt. Brenda giggled inside her hand at her drunken baby sister. “Oh shut up, Bree!” Claire said, still in pain. She sat it on the counter and took off the mittens to run her burnt fingers over cold water. After feeling some relieve, the girls heard the door unlock. The girls’ eyes widen and they stumbled on their feet to find their mystery person.

“Ohhhh…” John said as he began to walk toward the kitchen. He was still weak from getting his ass kicked by his new brother-in-law Hank. Even though his cuts and bruises were slowly healing after going to the hospital like Chloe and Hank’s groomsmen made him go. “Oh shit.” John said at the sight of not only his drunken wife,. but his other sister-in-law Claire standing the kitchen. This was not on his agenda for the evening to deal with the both of them right now, but it wasn’t like he was going to be able to ignore them forever. “What are you doing?” Claire said, in a slight slur. She hated him to the core now and hoped this would play out better than she expected it too, but she knew Brenda well. She would fall back in love with John, if given the chance. He didn’t deserve it whatsoever. “I do actually live here, and Brenda, why are you allowing your minor sister drinking wine with you? What if the girls woke up?” John said, as cocky as ever. “I don’t think that’s much of your concern since you can’t even handle the slightest bit of wine anyways. It makes you “sick.” Or was that a lie too?”  said Brenda who was no longer in the mood to hear his voice at the moment. “It does actually make me sick if I have too much. You know that!” John said in an angry tone. “Claire would you like to sleep in my room tonight? So this asshole can sleep on the couch?” Brenda said, who didn’t want to talk anymore. “Sure, let me just get these cookies packed up.” Claire said back to her sister without moving her gaze from the John. “Great, I’ll grab another bottle of wine and bring our glasses. Good night John.” Brenda said as she walked away and left her younger sister with the love of her life. Alone.

It took everything to not punch John in the face. She packed some of the cookies into a plastic, but kept a close eye on John just in case. “Do we anymore beer left, or did you two drink that too?” John, said as he walked past his younger sister-in-law. She tried to ignore him, but that comment made her want to kill him. “No, asshole! We haven’t touch your precious beer.” Claire said in a sarcastic voice. John ignored her and opened the fridge door and grabbed a cold beer. She walked back over to the couch one last time to grab her stuff that was piled everywhere. She grabbed the clothes and cookies and tried walking towards Brenda’s bedroom when John stopped her. “You have to realize that I never meant to hurt your sister or any body in your family. I had a moment of weakness. That’s all!” John said, in a whisper. She looked at him, not seeing his soul in his eyes and told him, “Why are you telling me this and not your wife? Besides you had plenty of times to stop yourself as what I heard. Your damage has been done. Don’t let the door slam on you when leave.” She walked around him and opened the door to see her sister’s tears flowing down her cheek. As she slammed the door, John crashed onto the couch and turned on the TV to watch a rerun of a basketball game on ESPN. He had done wrong, he knew that inside, but how could he bring back all of the sorrow he had done? He wasn’t ready to lose his wife or daughters, but yet he felt like that’s what he had done so long ago.

When Chloe started looking at the text messages and started wrapping her mind back into the drama that surrounded her family once again. She wished she was there to comfort her sisters. Hank was her everything and couldn’t imagine him cheating on her, but she did hear about a time when he did kiss somebody else while they were on a break one year. She was devastated, but he promised that’s all it was and that he’d never do it again. She believed him with all her might, because she desperately wanted their relationship to work. She sat in their large gathering room in their honeymoon suite, eating the fruit that room service had delivered to them. She sat in her chair reading text messages and eating fresh strawberries and oranges. Hank was out running down the beach. Chloe had too much in her head to join him so she stayed behind. As she was finishing, she heard her door bell ring. She wondered who it could be. She didn’t order anymore food and knew Hank had his key with him. So she stood up from her chair and walked over to the peep-hole to find a woman and child standing before her. She thought they came begging for money, but still opened her door. “Hi, can I help you?” Chloe said gladly to the woman and smiled at the little boy. “Hi, are you Chloe Cohen?” It hadn’t been more than 20 hours since the wedding and it was still strange to hear her name like that. “Yes I am.” Chloe said, kind of wondering how this woman knew her name after a short period of time. “I’m Nicole Boyd.” Nicole…..Nicole……where have I heard that name? Chloe’s mind tried to figure it out, but no luck. “I’m sorry, Your name sounds familiar, how do I know it?” Nicole looked at Chloe point-blank and said some words that the newlywed didn’t expect to hear. “Your husband and I dated for about a year after you guys graduated.” Ahhh! It clicked it was the girl that he went out with when they were on there break. “And this is his son James.”