The Mute Girl

Brianna

Ten Months Ago

Saturday, 01 April 2017

Morning

Life is great for me. I have a perfect boyfriend who loves me to the stars and back. My mother is with me in every phase of my life. My friends are super protective of me and would do anything just to see me happy. I am surrounded by people who support me in every step of my life. At just the age of 21, I am pretty well known in my small town because of my writing. Not to mention that my family is loaded and I don't have to move a limb for the rest of my life and I still will have every luxury in my life.

This is how everyone will describe my life if you ask them about me. The golden girl with a picture-perfect life. But the truth is far from it. My boyfriend doesn't come even close to perfect. We have been in a relationship for six long years now and yet I will never call our relationship 'perfect'. We fight. A lot. Almost every day. Despite that, I love him with all of my heart. My mother is too busy in increasing her business firms to even give me a call, let alone be by my side. I have pretty decent friends but I believe they are with me just for my money.

Money. That's what everyone sees. If you have money, that automatically means that you're happy. But money is not everything. Not for me at least.

I need some genuine people in my life. I crave for the kind of people who like me for me and not for my money or my popularity. But I guess the lack of such people in my life is somewhat my fault. I am a bully. Well, used to be. Not because I wanted to or because I liked seeing the misery of others. I'm not sadistic. The only reason was that because everyone expected me to be that girl. You know, the kind of girl who doesn't give a s**t about other people. The girl who everyone is scared to even talk to. The girl you would call the 'queen bee' of the school. And I was so desperate to make new friends, that I did all that was expected of me. There's nothing more that I regret.

I was standing on the back porch of my house, looking over at the pool when Devin hugged me from behind and kissed my cheek. "Hey there, love."

I turned around and wrapping my hands around his neck, I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. "Hey," I mumbled in our kiss.

Devin was the one to break our kiss. He is a good 6 feet tall while I stand at a 5'6" so I have to kinda crane my neck to look at him. Every time I look at his shocking blue eyes gazing down at me lovingly, I feel myself falling in love with him again. This is the only reason why we are still together. No matter how much we fight, we will always find our way back to each other. I like to think that we are going strong.

He took a strand of my hair and wrapped it around his finger. "How's my queen doing?"

"Good now that you're here," I replied honestly.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"You might have done some really good deeds in your past life."

Amusement filled his eyes, like every other time that I gave him this answer. His gaze roamed my face as if drinking my features. Like always, I felt myself blushing under his scrutiny and bit my lips. It's weird how even after so many years of us being together, I never got used to his intense looks. I don't think I ever will.

"God, you're beautiful, Bri. I love you."

"I love you, Devin."

Putting a chaste kiss on my lips, he threw an arm over my shoulder and lead me inside and towards the kitchen. "Did you take your breakfast?"

I grabbed the seat that was kept underneath the kitchen aisle and sat on it. I looked up to see Devin looking at me expectantly. Playing with the ends of my hair, I looked away from him and thought of any excuse that I could give him. "I... woke up late?"

Silence fell between us. Gulping, I willed my eyes to look at Devin but I instantly regretted it. I could see the disappointment and exasperation clearly on his face. I used to have anorexia- a case of eating disorder, back in high school but with the help of Devin, I was able to get better. Now, for the past one month, I'm again showing the signs of anorexia. I have already lost a lot of weight this past month and I'm back on diet pills.

"Bri, you've got to eat something. You will kill yourself like this."

"I'm not doing this deliberately Devin," I spat. "I can't help it. I try b-but--"

"I know baby." He crouched down on his knees in front of me and cupped my face. "I know. But you have to try harder. For me? Please?"

I nodded as fresh tears fell from my eyes and sniffed. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he cooed wiping my tears. "I'm here for you. We will do this together. We've done it before, we can do it again. Just have faith in me, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered.

"That's like my girl," he said, kissing my forehead. "Now I'll prepare breakfast for my queen. You go and freshen up till then, yeah?"

I focused on his features closely. I wanted to see the expression. The expression that would scream that he is tired of putting up with me. That he wants out. But saw nothing but sincerity. Love. Care. Concern. All for me. I feel awful sometimes. Do I doubt him too much? Am I making things difficult? Is it just me?

"Bri," came his soft voice. "You okay?"

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll be okay." Hopefully.

Afternoon

"Mac and Kyle called up," Devin said, plopping on the couch beside me. "They're on their way to here."

"And here I was thinking I would get to spend some quality time with you," I pouted.

He kissed my pout and said, "We'll get more than just enough time to spend at night."

I giggled as he winked at me and snuggled into him. "I wasn't talking about that."

"Sure you weren't." I could hear the smirk in his voice but decided to ignore it. He wrapped his muscular arms around my waist and lifted me, making me squeal. Then he put me right in front of him so my back was flush against his chest. Putting his chin on my shoulder, he put his head in the crook of my neck and started tracing the curve of my neck with the tip of his nose. "I love you," he whispered, making me shudder.

I leaned back into him. "I love you too."

The sound of the front door opening made me groan. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my friends but I love my boyfriend more. Devin crept his hand under my shirt and placed it on my stomach. "We got food," Mac announced as she came into the living room, followed by her boyfriend, Kyle.

"Hey, Mac. 'Sup Kyle?"

"Good. How're you two holding up?" Kyle asked, sitting on the loveseat with Mac.

"We're as good as we can be." I felt Devin's lips against my cheek and smiled at his response.

"Awesome. Now, I'm super hungry, so let's eat," Mac said, opening the pizza boxes and taking a slice. "God, I can never get enough of these."

Kyle looked at her with adoration and shook his head. "You just ate a donut before coming here, Enzie."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, so. Your point?"

We chuckled and all but me took a slice from the box. Keeping an arm around me, Devin also took a slice and leaned back, taking me with him. I could already feel the bile rising inside of me at the mere thought of eating and so decided not to eat it.

"You're not gonna eat?" Kyle asked me, chewing on his pizza.

I scrunched my nose and shook my head. "Not hungry."

"C'mon babe," Devin said, rubbing circles on my stomach. "Just one slice."

"Devin, I--"

"I will share mine with you," he said. "That way you won't have to eat even one full slice."

I looked up at him and gave him a pleading look. I seriously didn't want to eat anything. "For me?" he pleaded. "I promise I won't force another bite on you."

"Fine," I groaned, knowing he won't back away.

"Awww," Mac cooed at us. "Aren't they just the cutest couple?"

I turned to her and saw both her and Kyle looking at us. Kyle's gaze, however, was more intense. I couldn't put my finger on it but I felt something weird about the way he was looking at me. I always do. I involuntarily shuddered and shifted uncomfortably. Maybe it's just me. But when I felt Devin's body tense against mine, I knew I wasn't imagining things. He pressed his palm against my stomach and I felt myself shrinking against him.

"Here," he said, putting the pizza slice in front of my mouth. I looked up at him and saw him giving me a somewhat reassuring smile. I kissed him on the lip and took a small bite of the pizza.

"Thanks," I whispered to him. "For everything."

"Anything for you." A sense of calmness fell over me and I sighed.

"By the way," Mac interrupted us, "are you guys coming to the party?"

I frowned in confusion. "What party?"

"It's Saturday today, Bri. Ring a bell?"

"No," I deadpanned. "Mind elaborating?"

"She's talking about Dean's party, babe," Devin said from behind me.

"Oh." Dean is one of the jocks of our college who likes to think that he is our friend. Bastard. I never liked him but well, some things are just not in our control. Anyway so, he had claimed Saturdays as his party nights since our very first day in college and now here we are in the senior year, still attending his parties every other Saturday night.

"So are you guys coming?"

Like hell, I would want to go there. If it were up to me, I would not have gone to even one of his countless parties but I was more or less forced by my friends. Now, it's a different story. After what happened at the last party, I don't want to step a foot in that house.

"Nah," Devin replied saving me from answering. "I have reserved tonight for my queen. There's no way in hell that I'm gonna bail out on her. Tonight is all about my woman."

I gasped softly as he pinched my waist teasingly and shook my head. "He's right. We're not gonna go tonight."

"Well, that's a bummer," Kyle mumbled.

"I'm so hyped to attend this party," Mac said, completely disregarding Kyle's statement and then went on and on about how this party was going to be the best party of the year.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in talking and eating. Well, they were eating and talking and I was just listening. True to his word, Devin didn't force me to eat anything else and for that, I'm grateful to him. As the clock hit 7, Mac stood up, brushing the crumbs off her jeans. "I should go now. Have to get ready for the party and stuff. You two enjoy your time," she said winking at us. "Let's go, Kyle."

"Sure."

"Bye guys," I said.

Waving us goodbye, Kyle and Mac made their way out of the living room. Nothing happened till we heard the sound of front door opening and closing shut. Devin's hand was making imaginary shapes on my stomach and I was relaxing in his touch. Then as soon as the front door closed, Devin flipped me on the couch and sat on top of me, his legs straddling me on either side. I looked up at him wide-eyed but he just smirked.

He leaned in till his face was at a breath's distance from mine. He teasingly bit my cheek and whispered in a very husky voice, "Ready to get the night started, love?"

Chuckling, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "As ready as I ever will be."