Before the Storm

by CozItRunsInMyBlood

*INSPIRED BY TRUE STORY* Drabble: It was her fault. Everything was her fault. Even the global warming – it was her fault. This was how I convinced myself how it was okay to do the wrong that I was doing. It was how I justified my acts. It was what made me able to look at myself in the mirror. It was how I told myself that it was alright to be a cheater.

5. Chapter 5

~BtS~

I'm flooded with all this pain
Knowing that I'll never hold her
Like I did before the storm
Yeah-ah-ah
Before the storm

~BtS~

Bella was in the kitchen warming a glass of milk for Seth to drink before bed. She didn't say anything to me, didn't even glance my way, not even when I took the glass of milk from her hand and told her that I would be the one putting Seth in bed for the night.

.

.

.

In the living room, I saw Bella sitting on the couch, staring at the turned off TV. I frowned as I saw the strange sight in front of me; she looked like her mind was someplace else. I wondered what she was thinking of, or who.

"We need to talk," I said as I sat beside her on the couch, keeping my distance because touching in any way wasn't something we did anymore.

Bella looked at me, her eyes sad and her features troubled, looking like I'd never seen her before… as if the weight of the world was placed over her shoulders. "Okay …" was her reply.

It had been weeks, weeks since I decided to have this talk with her, and now that time had come, I had no idea how to start. I couldn't form words. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find the right way to open this conversation without sounding like a total jerk.

Who was I kidding, I would be a jerk, anyway.

"I – uh … Bella, I think that- …" I started, but then Bella interrupted me when a tear fell from her eye, stinging my heart. I thought my heart forgot about loving her long ago, I knew it did. I knew I did. But the pain I felt seeing her tears was very real.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, not able to hide the concern from my voice.

Bella shook her head, "No. I'm not." She replied, and I swallowed thickly, worry filling me at the sound of her words.

"What's wrong?"

"I .. uh, .." she said, more tears rolling down her cheeks. She moved closer to me, much closer, we were almost touching. Her action caused my eyes to widen slightly; surprised by what she was doing, "Can I … c-can I just …" was all she said before she threw herself in my arms and started crying even harder than before.

It took me a second or two to react, but when I did, I surrounded her with my arms and hugged her to me, soothing her and smoothing her hair, telling her that it was going to be okay, even if I didn't know what was going on.

One thing I knew, though – the talk had to be delayed.

~BtS~