Gabriella thinks she's good at hiding things from me; she should know better. I'm a lot more observant than she gives me credit for.
"Hey!" Gabriella said, planting a kiss on my cheek and flashing her beautiful smile. God, I love this girl. She's the one for me. I know it. I know many people say we're too young for love. But if I'm being honest, before I met her, my entire world was clouded. My mom loved drugs more than she loved me, my dad had run off and had a family with his secretary leaving both my mom and I to suffer and get by. I did eventually accept things for the way they were, but that didn't mean that I was happy. I didn't know what it meant to be loved or try with no point in a worthy cause. However, when I met Gabriella Montez, I wanted to become better not just for her, but for my mom and myself. I deserved a shot at happiness and a future that I could be proud of. I just knew that even if we didn't last in the long run, I will always want to have her be an important part of my life.
However, as much as she has been there for me, I know she hasn't let me do the same for her.
"Hey babe," I smiled, cooking up a plan to confront her. I was tired of being left in the dark. "So my mom is coming home tomorrow, I was wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner; It's just a small thing at my place."
Her eyes lit up. It also helped that my mom loved Gabriella and vice versa. "Yes, I'd love that." I noticed the hint of relief in her voice. I stared at her for a while as she sat down. "Are you okay?"
She looked over with narrowed eyes and a questioning smile. "Yeah! Why, what's up?"
I don't understand why she was pretending she was fine. But then again, I don't think this is the conversation to have during lunch. "Nah, nothing." I'd let it go for now. "See you tomorrow?"
"I'll be there." She smiled with a smile that warmed my heart.
"See you." I kissed the top of her head, grabbed my backpack and headed to my car. I had an early schedule, so I was able to go visit my mom before I headed home.
"What's wrong?" My mom asked me deadpanned, which took me out of my cloudy head.
"Nothing's wrong." I cleared my throat as we sat outside in the garden at the center.
"Yeah, honey. Well, I don't buy that for a second." She looked at me with an accusing look.
I laughed. I think another part of my life that got better was working on rebuilding my relationship with my mom. Her and I...we've been through a lot. I used to have a lot of resentment towards her on why she picked drugs over her only son. I'm still trying to understand, accept her reasonings, but for the most part, I had my mama back. And as mother intuition stuck, she looked over at me and gave me her famous, "Stop shitting me, and tell me what's going on" look.
I let out a little sigh. "It's about Gabriella."
My mom gave me a worried look. "What about her?"
"I mean, I know I'm a pretty difficult person when letting other people in, but Gabriella...I don't know; she's on a whole other level."
"What do you mean?"
"Like, I don't know I feel like she's been hiding things from me about her life. Especially about her family. I always bring them up, but she either moves on from the subjects or drops it completely. I don't question her about, but I think I should start."
"Is there something to be concerned about?"
"She's been looking really tired lately. She can never hangout after school, we only see each other some nights and at school, but that's it. And I noticed she's been limping a little. I'm afraid she's not safe at home," I admitted. It took me everything I had not to ask her at lunch about it and demand how she got it.
My mom gathered a little gasp. "You should talk to her about it, baby. I mean at least to gain some form of understanding."
"Yeah, I will," I confirmed.
"Good, because I'd hate to see my future daughter in law not okay." I smiled like an idiot after that.
"Hey, Mama?"
"Yeah?" I looked over and stared at her for a while, taking in her appearance. She had more color to her, she was smiling and overall looked better. She was working hard, and I was so relieved she was.
"I'm proud of you. So, so proud."
"Baby boy," She sighed and put her hand to my cheek affectionately. "That means the world to me, coming from you."
After I dropped off my mom back to the center, I came home to Gabriella putting away the last of the dishes that were washed. She saw me and smiled. What was she hiding behind that smile? I was going to find out tonight. "It was great seeing your mom today. She looks really good." She said, looking over at me and leaning against the counter.
I leaned against the counter as well and started fumbling with my fingers. Something I always did when I felt nervous. She seemed to catch onto that.
"Hey, you okay?" She tilted her head with a look of concern on her face.
"Not really." I looked up at her. "Can we sit down?" She followed me to the living room and sat next to me.
"What's going on, Troy? Did I do something wrong?" I noticed she always questioned and accused herself of doing things wrong.
"If I ask you something, I need you to be honest with me," I asked with a solemn, serious face.
"Of course." She squeaked.
I got straight to the point. "Are you safe at home?"
"I'm sorry, what?" She seemed taken back.
"I-I've seen you limping and looking tired a lot lately."
"And why does that make you think I'm not safe at home?"
"Because I've looked the way you've been looking, all too well, Gabriella." And that ended up with my mom's boyfriends beating the shit out of me.
She looked at me, except she wasn't there. She seemed to mentally take herself out of the conversation — something I've also done.
"You don't know what you're talking about Troy, and quite frankly, you accusing me of this so upfront, is not cool."
I sighed. "I'm worried about you."
"You have nothing to worry about." She said enunciating the sentence as if I were a little boy.
I looked up abruptly. I'm done. "No, I do Gabriella. And I'm tired of being left in the dark when I know something is wrong. And you know how I found that out?" I was getting fed up with this.
"How?" She challenged.
"The first day you went with me to visit my mom; don't think I didn't see that handprint on your cheek."
"I-"
"Don't even bother denying that. I want you to stop lying to me, when I ask what's wrong and you say nothing. I'm done with that shit." I said sternly with no room for argument.
She looked stunned. I've never used this tone of voice or language with her, but this is serious, it's about her safety, and she's not cooperating. She just stayed silent, avoiding my gaze.
"Now, I'm going to ask you again, and I want a real answer. Who did this to you?" I demanded.
"No-"
"Gabriella!" I roared.
"Fine! Okay, fine! It was my mom! Happy now?" Not going to lie, I assumed it might've been. She's mentioned once or twice that she's a bitch and didn't want me even to bother to get to know her, because she wasn't worth it. However, I was lost for words.
Her barrier broke, and tears gathered into her eyes.
"We obviously don't have the best relationshipShe hates me, Troy. I don't know what I did. But I have a bigger reason to hate her. She's never home. She leaves me to take care and clean up after the messes she makes. And when I don't she gets angry and does things-"
"Like what?" I interrupted. I was scared of her reply, but this was all getting laid out on the open.
She sighed and shook her head. "I-I mean she's slapped me a couple of times, and pushed me a little. But that's it I swear. She just gets stressed and yells, but that's okay. It's not a big deal." She looked at me, pleadingly.
"Why are you defending her?" My jaw ticked. Why was she protecting that monster?
"Troy, try to understand. She's all that Aaron has. She's wonderful to him. Yeah, Ben and I may not have it so great, but Aaron needs her."
"What if one day she snaps and does something to him too?" I questioned.
"Troy, stop." Her voice broke, and her face crumpled in frustration and hopelessness. I've never seen this side of Gabriella, and it's killing me. She loves and loves, but she hasn't been loved in return, and that kills a person. I need to fix this.
"We have to do something, Gabriella."
"No! You don't need to do anything! It's fine. I'm fine. Aaron's staying with Ben, it's okay! Ben knows, and he-he'll take care of Aaron. I promise Troy; we're okay, we're okay!" She started to hyperventilate; she's terrified. And that scares the shit out of me.
"Stop, Gabriella, stop. Hey, hey, shhh." I wasn't going to let her break, I was going to put her back together and save her, just like how she's saved me so many times. I put my hands on both sides of her face. Her eyes were closed. "Baby, look at me, please Gabriella, open your eyes and look at me.."
Her eyes swung open, and the fear in her eyes was evident. "Good, take some deep breaths with me okay?" She nodded and followed my deep breaths. She put her hands on top of mine on her face and looked up at me, broken. "We're going to figure this out, but I'm sorry Gabriella, under no circumstances, am I letting you go home tonight after what I've just found out. You're not going to get hurt by her ever again. I won't let that happen. You're not safe with her, especially when you're alone."
"You can't say anything to anyone Troy, please. I can't have Aaron lose her."
"I'm sorry, Gabriella, but I can't promise you that. What I can promise you is that Aaron is going to be safe, and so will you and Ben. And most of all, you're not going to lose me. I'll be right here; my mom will be here. We're going to figure this out. You hear me?" I swore I would protect this girl. "Keep breathing with me." We took a couple of more deep breaths until she seemed calmer.
"Are you going to let me help you?" I looked into her eyes, searching for an answer
My baby looked so tired. I couldn't blame her. She moved her face to my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist. I did the same and held onto her tighter.
"Will you?" I muttered against her hair
She nodded softly against my chest. "Okay," she whispered.
My body flooded with relief. I carried her into my room and held her and stroked her hair until she fell asleep.
I was going to help her if it were the last thing I would do. My girl will be okay; I would make sure of it.