Page 54 of Fall Hard

I couldn’t help it, I started to laugh. Considering Bryn made me orgasm in the middle of a restaurant less than two days ago, I felt pretty confident that she wasn’t my mom’s idea of a ‘good influence’.

“Olivia…” My dad said warningly and I fell silent.

“I don’t think one career path is more valid than the other,” Bryn said, looking at my mother head on as I froze.

“Then you’re as foolish as my daughter, she always did make poor choices when it came to the women in her life.”

I snapped. I’d hadenough.I’d come here to give them one more chance, but everything was the same. My mom was like poison and my dad would agree with her to his dying breath. I couldn’t go back to the way things were before. Ilikedwho I was now, or who I was becoming at least. “No.”

My mom’s fork stopped half-way up to her mouth as she looked at me. “No?”

“No,” I repeated more slowly and, in that moment, I decided to pretend I was Jamie. She’d constantly shocked me with her strength, her propensity to cut with words, and I couldn’t be soft right now. Otherwise I’d never get out of here. “Do you need me to spell it for you?”

“Olivia,” my dad gasped as Bryn coughed to hide a laugh.

“Now listen here, young lady—”

“No,” I repeated with a shrug as I set my cutlery down and stood. “I don’t have to listen to you. I’ve been doing more than fine without you in my life and the last thing I need is you spouting some faux-sincere bullshit as you preach to me about how much you’ve changed.”

I didn’t even realize I was breathing hard until I stopped talking. Bryn stood too and gestured to me that she was going upstairs. I was confused for a second until I remembered that my dad had taken our bags up there. I nodded and she left quickly.

“You haven’t changed,” I continued as I looked between my parents. “You’re just as awful as you ever were and I don’t want to see you again.”

“Is it her?” My mother demanded as she rose from her seat to glare at me. “The blonde you brought with you. Is it her that’s corrupted you like this?”

I snorted. “If you mean did Bryn make me come in a restaurant full of people, take me skinny dipping, smoke some weed with me for the first time, and give me my first driving lesson—then yes, she corrupted me andI liked it.”

They gaped at me as I neatly tucked in my chair and made my way to the door of the dining room before I stopped. “You’re both as toxic as you ever were. Fire your therapist, because they’re clearly terrible at their job.”

I walked out and found Bryn waiting for me at the front door.

“You okay?” she said as I slammed it behind us.

I thought about it for a second before I nodded. “Surprisingly, yes. I said everything I needed to and more.”

Bryn tugged me to a stop as we reached her car, taking my bags from me and then looking deeply into my eyes. “You were amazing back there. You should be proud of yourself, Liv.”

“I am.” I smiled as I took a deep breath of the cool evening air. “I really, really am.”

We climbed back into the car and Bryn grimaced as she settled behind the wheel. “Do you mind if we stop somewhere for the night? I’ve just already done a lot of driving today and—”

“Of course,” I interrupted. “Let me look up what’s around.” It wasn’t late, but I felt like the day had been emotionally draining—dealing with asshole parents tended to have that effect. “Okay…” I said as I flicked through my phone. “There’s a pretty nice hotel about ten minutes away? We might as well sleep in style, right?”

Bryn chuckled. “I think you’ve earned it.”

* * *

I flopped back onto the bed and groaned. I’d had maybe two bites of the lasagna at my mom’s before we’d left, so once we’d checked into this—admittedly outrageously expensive—hotel, we’d splashed out on room service and now I wasn’t sure I could move.

Bryn laid back next to me and we stared at the high ceiling together, the television the only sound in the room as my thoughts swirled around my head like the past few hours were only now setting in. I couldn’t have anticipated how things would have gone with my parents today, but maybe I should have. Maybe I’d been foolish to hope.

As if she could sense my thoughts from the change in my mood, Bryn rolled over to look at me. “It’s not your fault that they were like that today. You gave them a chance, it’s their loss that they wasted it.”

“I know.”

We fell silent and while I didn’t feel as low as I had a few weeks back, I still felt like everything was piling up into one giant ball of shit with no way to unravel it. First my confusing, possibly unrequited, feelings for Bryn, then this mess with my parents. It made me feel like an idiot. Even when I tried to do the right thing, make the right choices, I still wound up in a mess bigger than when I started.

A warm hand cupped my cheek and I hadn’t realized I was crying until Bryn brushed the tear away. “It’s okay. You can let it out.”

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