You're Not In This Alone

When pa comes into the room he closes the door behind him and slowly comes over to me, sitting down beside me and putting his arm around me. "Don't cry baby girl, no boy is ever worth your tears." "I love him daddy and he swore to me that it was ok and there was nothing happening" I sob out and I hear
him sigh before he says "Baby I'm so sorry." I bury my face in his neck as I keep crying and a few minutes later I hear a knock at the door but whoever it is doesn't wait for an invitation to come in because before pa says anything the door swings open to reveal Ryan and Liz. "Fuck" I hear Ryan mutter softly and I turn my head back to bury in pa's neck again. "Oh baby girl" pa whispers to me and a few seconds later I hear him say "Don't touch her" and I snap my head around to see Ryan kneeling on the floor infront of me, his hand dropping back to his side. I shift my gaze to Liz who is standing just inside the doorway looking smug but awkward at the same time and I spit out "Get out." She opens her mouth in shock before saying "No, who the fuck are you to tell me
to get out?" "I'm Ryan's girlfriend and this is my dads office and we don't want you here so get out." She scoffs at me and I snap, jumping off the couch and rushing across the room, shoving Liz hard and she stumbles back a few steps before recovering and swinging a punch at me, barely making any contact and just as I raise my hand to punch her arms wrap around me from behind, trapping my arms to my sides as I'm dragged backwards and I thrash around, trying to free myself. Liz steps forward and tries to hit me again and I kick out, kicking her in the shin and my sudden fast movement loosens Ryan's grip on me and I break free, lunging forward and punching Liz in the face before he grabs me again. "Stop" Ryan says and I freeze, slumping in his arms and feeling completely defeated. Liz stands before us clutching her nose and I feel a little smug when I see the smear of blood on her cheek and when Ryan spots it too he says "Ruby look what you've done." I yank my arm out of his hold, spinning around and slapping him across the face before I run from the room, rushing into the bathroom and locking myself in a cubicle, screaming as my tears start again. I stand there slumped against the wall for a minute before my phone starts buzzing in my pocket and I pull it out, seeing Ryan's name on the screen. "What could you possibly want?" I snap as I answer and he says "Baby please come back." "No, and my name
isn't baby it's Ruby." "Ruby come on..." "Why is it that every time you leave me I find you with her?" "Ruby nothing happened." "Maybe, maybe not but I'm sick of being scared it will, I want you to leave Ryan and take her with you, I don't want to see either of you." "Are you breaking up with me?" "I don't know." "Ruby come on, come out and we'll talk it out." "I don't want to talk it out, I'm sick of talking it out. How much pain and suffering am I meant to endure for a relationship? If this is what it is I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life." "Baby don't say that, please come back." "No, go home Ryan." "Ruby" he says and I hear his voice start to crack and he sobs out "Please don't do this." "I'm not doing anything, I just don't want to see you right now." "Will you call me later?" "Maybe" I tell him before hanging up and letting out a massive sigh. I wait a few minutes before I call pa and he tells me Ryan and Liz just left so I leave the bathroom and head back to his office, curling up on the couch again, my head resting on his shoulder. "I'm sorry baby girl, one day you'll meet someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated and I'm so sorry you have to go through so many jerks first."

I spend the rest of the afternoon and night with pa and dad, eating dinner and then watching crappy horror movies. Halfway through our second movie dad gets up and comes back with his tin of weed and supplies and I turn my head to see pa looking eager. I raise my eyebrows, unaware pa did that and when dad has rolled two joints he reaches across me and puts one in pa's mouth, lighting it before lighting his own and I sit between them feeling a little awkward. After he's taken the first few hits pa pulls the joint from his lips and brings it to mine, sliding it between them and letting me take a drag before pulling it away and bringing it back to his mouth. I slowly exhale and shift so I'm laying against his side with my feet in dad's lap and I start to feel relaxed the second hand smoke helping along with the few more drags pa lets me take and dad giggles and says "We are such bad parents right now." "She needs an escape for a little while" pa tells him and dad hums in agreement as I let my eyes slip closed and I fall asleep against his side. The next day I wake up in my bed, dad awake on one side of me and pa still sleeping on the other and I roll over and cuddle into dad's side, his arm wrapping around me. "I love you baby girl and I promise, boys aren't always so stupid." I giggle a little before saying "Thanks
daddy." After we all get up we spend the day laying around and watching crappy tv until mid afternoon I drag myself off the couch and go into the bathroom, showering and styling my hair, adding a small amount of makeup before I walk back into my room and pull on the nice dress I bought for tonight, pairing it with black stockings and ankle boots and when I'm finally happy with my appearance I go back into the living room and dad whistles and wiggles his eyebrows at me and I giggle and say "I look ok?" "You look beautiful baby" he tells me and I smile and blush a little. Twenty minutes later dad and pa are dressed too and we head out to the gallery, getting stuck in traffic so by the time we get there we're a little late. We make our way down to the display room and it's packed, everyone focused on socialising and I spot Ryan across the crowded space, looking so hot in his suit, talking to an older man and I make my way across to him but just as I'm almost to him Liz comes over in a slutty dress and takes his hand, obviously his date for the night and I turn and disappear back into the crowd before they can see me, humiliation and heart break washing through me.

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