Distraction: The Distraction Trilogy #1 (39 page)

Eloise

I pack my final bag and carry it down the stairs. My mum grabs it and takes it to the car.

“Elle, baby, please don’t do this.” My dad pleads. I know he’s sorry for what he’s done. I know, because we spent four hours last night talking about it all. I told him the truth about everything. I told him about me and Isaac. I told him about the sneaking out and the love we shared. “Don’t go.”

I ignore him and grab my keys and jacket. Hayley waits by her car, her eyes concerned as she and my mum talk in hushed tones.

“Elle.” My dad grabs my arm, but I pull away angrily. “I’m sorry.”

“I won’t forgive you. I won’t ever forgive you.”

“See it from my side…”

“I tried, but I can’t.” I shake my head. “You can’t stop me from leaving, you can’t stop me from loving who I choose and you can’t stop me from hating you.”

“You don’t hate me…”

“You should be in prison.” My voice is monotone. I hear it and I feel nothing. I’m scared that if I let myself feel I won’t be able to stop myself from breaking down. “You should be locked away.”

“And I’m grateful that I’m not.” He pulls me into his chest. “I love you. I was only trying to protect you.”

“As always.” I roll my eyes and pull free. “Just… stay away from me. I can’t even…”

His pained eyes look away as my mum gently guides me to the car, whispering her pleas for me to think about what I’m doing and stay. I ignore her too.

Hayley climbs into the driver’s seat and waits for me to climb in beside her. I do so and rest my forehead against the window.

We back out of my driveway and it’s not until she pulls over near the lavender field and turns to me that I break down. I tell her everything too. She cries with me, laughs with me and hugs me. She only shouts at me once for not trusting her, but forgives me immediately after her outburst.

“It’ll get easier,” she says, hugging me tight over the console. “And I’m just the person to help you through it.”

Isaac

Susanna has gone, replaced by a seemingly nice woman named Philippa, who has a coffee habit that reminds me so much of Eloise. She drank way too much of the stuff, just like this woman does.

My dad has spent the past few weeks looking after me and my mother with the help of Philippa.

I’d like to pretend that I’m feeling better, but I’m not. My wound is healing okay; it only twinges now and then if I bend too far or move my body in the wrong way. It’s my heart that’s failing.

Eloise hasn’t called; she hasn’t texted; she hasn’t emailed or made a single attempt to get in touch. I understand it, it’s just too painful. This is why I haven’t tried to contact her either.

My dad told me she left home, but he doesn’t know where she is. I’m assuming and hoping that she’s staying with Hayley. He also told me that her father offered him thirty thousand in compensation, which he took and put towards my mother’s fund.

I despise her father for what he did, but part of me can’t blame him. He loves his daughter and I’m not sure I’d do differently if I were in his shoes and my daughter was sneaking around with a teacher eleven years her senior.

It doesn’t mean I’m ever going to like him. It just means that I don’t hate him for what he did.

Unfortunately, because I’m feeling better, I start work again tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to it.

There’s only six weeks left before we break up, but there’s no excitement. There’s just an empty feeling inside of me that I can’t fill with distractions, games or even drinking.

I can’t stand it.

I’d take being stabbed in the stomach over this feeling any day.

I just want to see her one last time. I want to hold her, smell her, sink into her. I need it, but I can’t have it. I need her and I can’t have her.

My dad’s right. If we truly love each other, we’ll wait two years. Two years is nothing really, but it may as well be eternity. She’ll have moved on by then and I’ll still be what I am now - an empty vessel with a broken fucking soul, like some cliché love song.

Christ I miss her.

The days go by and they’re filled with gifts and cards from faculty and student alike. I smile and receive them graciously, but my heart isn’t in it.

When school breaks up, my days just roll together. I stand with the crowds on the day they hand out the A Level results and pray for just a glimpse of the red headed girl who I think I might love with every fibre of my being.

Her mother is the one to pick up her results and it’s then I remember that Eloise left for France two days ago.

I bet she is sat in a French café somewhere, eating pastries and tasting the many delicacies that France has to offer.

I envy her freedom. I want to be there with her and yet I’m stuck here in a town I hate and in a job I loathe.

I love being a teacher, but that was when there was a point to it. Making people happy and helping them get to where they wanted to be in life seemed like an amazing thing to be a part of, but now it’s just an empty distraction.

I don’t have friends here. I don’t have freedom. I love my mum and I want to be there for her, but not while I’m this lonely. Extremely fucking lonely.

I just don’t see the point in any of this anymore.

I’m losing my mind.

When I go home, I’m shocked to find Eloise’s mum standing outside my parent’s house. She holds an envelope in her hand and gives it to me without saying a word before leaving.

I read through it and go inside, my mind set and my heart swelling.

It’s then I leave a note for my dad and rest it against the mantelpiece.

Eloise

“I really wish you’d come with me,” Hayley sighs, holding me tight.

I shake my head, looking forward to my weekend alone. “You go. Have fun and leave me to mope and explore in peace.” More like in pieces.

“You’re in a foreign country, you don’t speak a word of French…”

She’s not wrong. “Then maybe I’ll be fluent by Monday. Just go. I’ll see you soon.”

“My mum is going to be pissed at you.”

I know and I hate that, but… “She’ll get over it.”

We hug again and she stares at me, pouting as she climbs into the waiting black vehicle.

I sit on a bench nearby and watch as the car vanishes around the corner, leaving a thin trail of white smoke behind it.

I let my head loll back and inhale deeply as the rays of sun heat my skin and hopefully give me a half decent tan.

Paris is such a beautiful city and of course I’ve enjoyed myself, but not nearly as much as I should have. I thought this trip would be the thing to get me out of my slump, but it hasn’t. I’ve been surrounded by honeymooning couples and lovers young and old everywhere we’ve been. It’s been hell at times, seeing people feed each other across the table, hearing them laugh and hold hands before kissing.

Everybody is in love.

Everybody is with someone.

Everybody but me.

My thoughts drift to Isaac and I wonder if he’ll ever forgive me for leaving him and not even calling. He’d be here with me now if my dad hadn’t found out and attacked him. I hope he’s okay. I don’t even know if there have been any lasting symptoms. I don’t even know if the stab wound will leave any kind of long term issues.

I feel somebody sit beside me but I don’t look up. I don’t feel uncomfortable. The people of France are wonderful. Some of them hate tourists, but most are friendly and welcoming. I’ve met so many people who I adore.

My eyes remain closed and my brain falls blank. I shut it off with the hope that it’ll cut off the hurt. It succeeds, but only for a second until I feel a hand grab mine and slide something onto my ring finger.

I pull away, angry at the unwanted touch, and glare at the culprit. “What the hell, dude? You don’t just…” My heart stops and my world falls away when I find myself staring at a mess of bright blonde hair and beautiful deep blue eyes, eyes that have haunted me for too long. I’m dreaming.

I’ve fallen asleep on the bench and I’m dreaming.

My fingers grab the flesh of my thigh and pinch hard. Ouch.

With parted lips I inhale a sharp breath, still not believing my eyes. “You’re his French twin we didn’t know about, right?”

His beautiful lips tilt up at the edges as my eyes blur with tears. “I hope not, because I’m about to kiss you and that would be awkward.”

I let out a laugh and watch as he slides closer to me. He cuts a dashing figure in his white shirt and khaki shorts. “Thank God.”

He stills, his head tilting as his hand gently caresses my cheek. “What?”

“You’re not wearing flip flops. When I saw the shorts I got worried…”

A bark of laughter escapes him and in less than a second his lips are on mine.

We’re kissing, on a busy street in the middle of France.

The kiss is gentle, passionate and desperate. I try to push my emotions onto him. I need him to know how badly I need him, how much I’ve missed him and how happy I am that he’s here. I feel the same come from him.

He pulls back and brings my left hand up to his lips. It’s then I notice the foreign object wrapped around my finger. It’s stunning, a blue stone surrounded by a cluster of smaller diamonds, all shimmering and sparkling in the midday sun. They sit on a thin gold band that fits me perfectly.

My mind doesn’t register what this means, not until he says the words. “I’m marrying you this weekend.”

I suck in another breath and my hands start to shake. “Are you sure?”

His body shakes with silent laughter. “I’m sure.”

The tears in my eyes spill over. “But, your job, your life.”

“I’ve quit.”

Oh my god. “I can’t let you do that. I’m not worth it.”

His laughter isn’t silent this time. “You are. You’re everything. Give your heart to me.”

“It’ll be hard, we’ll have to… commute so much and I can’t leave University and you can’t leave your mum.”

He places his finger to my lips, “My dad said that if we were smart and in love we’d wait a couple of years and it would all work out.” Our fingers lace together on my lap as the finger on my lips pushes my hair from my face. “The way I see it is, if we’re smart and in love, we’ll be together until you graduate and we’ll make it work. We’ll commute; we’ll visit; it’ll be hard, but it’ll be harder letting you go and never having the guarantee you’ll come back.”

“There’s no guarantee you’ll want to stay with me.”

“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.”

I giggle. “You’ve never loved anyone, period.”

“That too.” He brushes his lips over mine once more and looks deeply into my eyes. “So, will you marry me? Will you elope with me? Will you follow me right now and say a bunch of vows and then let me take you to bed as the woman I’ll one day die with?”

Will I?

“I guess so.” I giggle when he pinches my arm, but it’s silenced quickly by his tongue pushing into my mouth.

“I love you.”

“I’m pretty sure I love you more.” I state resting my forehead against his.

He kisses my nose and pulls me tighter to him. “We have a lifetime to debate that.”

Yeah, I guess we do.

“What the hell are we going to tell my parents?” I ask after a brief moment of silence.

With raised eyebrows he asks, “What the hell are we going to tell mine?”

To Be Continued…

Destruction
(Book Two of the Distraction Trilogy) Coming
September 18th 2015
.             

I’m going to ask for your forgiveness over the large gap between releases. At the time I’m writing this I’m thirty weeks pregnant with my third and final (debatable) child, due May 28
th
2015. This is the main reason I’m pushing the date so far forward as even though, ‘Destruction’ is half way to the finish line, I don’t want to promise a date that I just can’t finish by and let everyone down. Please bear with me, I love you guys, you’re the reason I write each day but sometimes real life gets in the way (and nappies and bottles and three hours of sleep a week).

I really hope you have enjoyed reading Distraction as much as I loved writing it.
I promise that if I finish Destruction before September (fingers crossed) I’ll release it early. So keep checking my Facebook, just in case as I’ll be keeping it updated as much as I can.

I'm now 24 and I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen in my hand! I love to write, it’s my passion, and I never stop.  In fact I love to write so much I have started over one hundred and fifty different books before finally completing my first ever novel 'A Little Bit of Crazy' which I published in May 2013 on Amazon for Kindle. I was grateful when I received feedback as it helps me be a better writer.

When I'm not writing, I love spending time with my family and when I get some spare time (not easy with young children!) it’s either reading or listening to music. You won’t find me without a book or my Kindle in my hand. I read whilst I’m cooking, cleaning, talking, walking… you could say reading is my other passion!

Thank you for taking the time to read my book. I appreciate any kind of feedback be it good or bad. This has been a huge learning curve for me and I'm happy to receive any advice/criticism...praise? That you wish to provide. Don’t be shy.

Thank you,

Love Alex