The Friend I Needed

Eighteen.

Eighteen.

Henry stared in silence feeling his heart break at the sight of her agony and anger filled his mind after every word she spoke.

“We married by court and the next weekend we were celebrating the church wedding.” She glared at the almost empty glass on her hands, what a bittersweet memory she had about that day. “I told you I had forgotten my bouquet of roses on the room my grandmother and aunt dressed me.”

“And that on your way back you heard something you shouldn’t have.”

“Now that I think about it, maybe I really needed to listen to it.”

Henry leaned back drinking his glass in one sip before filling it back up, if his nurse knew about him drinking so much in one night she’d flip.

“When I finally found the damn roses and I headed to the main hall to find my father, but I took a detour thinking I could get there faster.” She chuckled softly shaking her head amused. “Kinda hard to run with a heavy puffy dress and high heels. I don’t recommend it.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“There was a room on with the door slightly ajar, not that it should matter to me wetter it was open or not, but the voices I heard couldn’t be mistaken.”

Sniffling a little another tear ran down her cheek, taking a deep breath she tried to compose herself. She took a long sip of rum, maybe the booze would give her more courage to speak.

“Eddy always had a sweet voice, the kind of voice you want to hear when you need to relax. It was the voice I longed to her first thing in the morning and last thing at night for the rest of my life.”

“And the other voice?” Henry asked carefully, trying to keep calm himself.

“Jessica. My cousin.” She finally looked up at him again and he could see the all the emotions raging wild inside her mind.

Anger. Rage. Sadness. Despair. Pain. Betrayal.

“To be honest it didn’t surprise me as much as I could expect. Somehow I already knew it was her all along.” Oddie sighed taking more rum from the bottle and offering some to her companion. “It made sense, the ‘J’ with a heart contact on his cellphone, the long time he was separated from me, how he hated to go to family meet ups with me.”

“I mean; a good cheater wouldn’t mind a family meet up. He or she would be good at hiding the secret.”

“The problem wasn’t ignoring the fact that he had s*x with my cousin, that’d be easy to hide. But how do you explain a child that his father is the fiancé of his aunt?”

 The cold tone she used could bring goosebumps to the bravest soldier, Henry could tell that much and he could now understand her anger better.

“So he separated from you back then because he was already sleeping around with your cousin and got her pregnant? What an asshole, excuse my French.” She chuckled dryly at his comment, but he was right.

“You can call him as you wish, I couldn’t care less.”

Both turned in their seat to stare at the now barely lit fire, the warm red hue illuminating their faces brought a small smile to rest on Oddie’s lips, even henry felt at peace.

“I heard her complain to him about the wedding, saying it was stupid for him to marry another woman he didn’t even loved and abandon her and the child who recognized him as a father. She had a point I gotta say, it was a difficult situation to have family meet ups.”

“Can’t deny that fact.”

“Even though I knew about the affair, I couldn’t help but feel hurt. The thing is, it didn’t hurt me as bad as the thought of Jessica’s child living a complete lie and suffer for his stupid father’s affairs.”

“Oddie…” He gently grabbed her hand, squeezing softly trying to comfort her.

“I wanted to be a bad person and marry him, I wanted not to care about how it could hurt her because she was the one who got in between us. She was the one who lured him away and he was stupid enough to fall for it.”

The pain in her voice was overwhelming and the tears had been freed at last. She couldn’t hold them anymore, she needed to let it go or else she would explode.

“But little Johnny. Oh my, how could let myself see the pain in his eyes? I couldn’t let him be another victim in the web of lies Eddy had created. So after listening to them bickering back and forth, I let myself walk back to my father to get ready to walk down the aisle.”

“He didn’t notice your pain?”

 “I think I did good in masking what I was really feeling, he thought I was just terrified to walk down into a new and different future.”

Drinking some more rum, she felt how the liquid burnt her throat, flinching at the dizziness. She was sure going to regret drinking that much the next morning.

“When the time came I walked down the aisle with a nervous smile, I turned to look at our family and friends and I locked eyes with Jessica. She was holding her child’s little hand as he smiled wide at the sight of my marshmallow-like dress.”

Henry smiled at the thought of a child’s fascination towards a wedding dress, he couldn’t help it, it was indeed a sweet picture on his mind.

“Right when I was in front of Eddy I smiled at him one last time before I took the best decision of my life. Taking my veil away from my face I held his hand in mine and I told the pastor to stop the ceremony.”

She laughed amused at the memory, holding a hand over her tummy feeling more tears run down her rosy cheeks. Henry couldn’t tell anymore if she was reacting that way for all the pain, or she was indeed drunk.

“And I spoke up for the first time in a while, I didn’t stay quiet and I told him I couldn’t marry him. Of course, Eddy’s face was priceless. He was freaking out and my brother and friends had murderous looks, they knew that if I was doing such a thing, it was probably his fault.”

“They weren’t wrong though.”

She puffed her cheeks and pushed away some more rebel hairs from her face before continuing with the story.

“I told him that I couldn’t and I wouldn’t marry a man who didn’t love me the same I loved him. And I asked Jessica to come over, everyone stared at my cousin’s frightened expression.”

Oddie couldn’t care less about the salty rivers leaving her eyes, neither did she tried to stop them at all as her puffy eyes never left the burning fire.

“After giving her my bouquet to her, I gave my ring back to Eddy and I promised him that I’d sign the divorce papers the next day and I walked away. Head high and a smile on my face, I left the church dropping my veil and taking off my shoes.”

She bit her lower lip at the memory of her walking down the streets in a wide wedding dress shoeless and devastated. With a broken heart and a pitiful smile.

“I failed to notice that Zach and Tommy followed me all the way to the park’s fountain where I sat. It wasn’t until I saw them standing before me that I couldn’t help it anymore and I cried.”

Henry motioned her to scoot closer to his side, holding her close by her shoulders letting her cry on his chest, rubbing her back letting her know that she was safe.

She told him how she got a divorce a few days later and how Zach and Tommy never left her side during those times. Oddie was living on an apartment she shared with Eddy, but after all the wedding fiasco, Oliver and Nick kicked him out.

It wasn’t until she could sell the apartment that Oliver and her decided to live together in a new home that would be theirs and theirs only, Liam thought it was a great idea so he helped them out.

After getting the new house, the whole gang visited a lot and even more when Oliver was deployed. Tommy and Sally were there most of the time, just like Liam, to help Oddie out with the child and the house duties.

Also to relieve her from the loneliness. Henry listened to every word she could say and he let her cry as much as she wanted, he was well aware of how it felt to hold up such emotions and feeling for so long.

When she was done with her story and there were no more tears to cry, she silently stared at the general holding her in a warm hug and with pain in both her eyes and voice she asked a terrible question.

“Am I not worth a happy marriage, Henry? Am I really that bad of a person, that the one who swore love to me so many times, decided that I wasn’t enough to have a life with? That he had to have a child with someone else to get rid of me?”

“Odette, stop.” He cleaned a last tear from her face and caressed her cheeks lovingly. How could she think it was her fault? “What he did to you, what they did to you is not your fault at all. They were the ones who did you wrong, you were just too pure to see the bad they were doing.”

Pulling her back to his chest he closed his eyes, he felt as if it was his own daughter telling him she was worthless, that she meant nothing to anyone, that she didn’t deserve to walk down the aisle to a good man who would love her until the day they die.

He couldn’t believe how important she was becoming to him, how everyone around her was becoming important to him. Everything he longed for so long, everything he dreamed for, everything his own family denied him many years ago, Oddie and her friends were giving it to him.

After a few more tears gone, Oddie laid down on the sofa resting her head on his lap, feeling his fingers take the hair tie from her brown locks, brushing her soft hair untangling it while humming softly.

He stared down at her in silence, she had fallen asleep on his lap holding her blanket tightly to her body and face, curling in a ball looking like a small child.

Henry couldn’t help himself, tears ran down his wrinkled face and with his free hand he covered his eyes, crying in silence trying to keep down his cries to not wake anyone in the house.

He cried because she was hurting, he cried because his own children couldn’t come to cry in his lap, he cried for Oddie.

She had a loving family and good friends, her father had done a great job after his wife died, Oddie had everything and yet, she was broken.

And there was nothing he could do about it, if Liam couldn’t keep his daughter in a crystal box away from any danger, what could he possibly do if he was barely her friend?

Henry didn’t even notice the sad eyes staring at him until a wet snout nudged his leg, he looked down to see Luca giving him a knowing look.

 “I thought you were asleep, boy.” He could swear that dog had a sixth sense to know when someone cried.

Luca rested his head on his other leg staring at Oddie sleeping peacefully with a cute small pout on her lips, then he looked up at Henry with his incredibly adorable puppy eye expression.

“You’re as cute as your owner, that’s for sure.” Henry petted his head with a soft smile. “Go to sleep boy, let’s not wake your mother.”

He watched the cute bloodhound walked upstairs most likely to sleep in Gabriel’s room. Then he looked down at the sleeping woman in his lap, dried tears on her rosy cheeks and a pout on her lips.

Reaching over to the table he grabbed the bottle of rum, thinking about getting himself another full glass, after the story he just heard he could really use one more, but decided not to and closed the bottle setting it back on the table.

Covering her body better with the blankets that surrounded them both, he allowed himself to rest with his hand still on her head, a heavy sigh left his old thin lips as another tear escaped down his cheeks.

“There are battles in this war we call life, that not even the strongest soldier can survive without a scratch.” He mumbled cleaning his eyes trying to contain his own pain. “I wish I didn’t understand your pain, sweetheart. But sadly, just like you did, I believed.”

…

It had been days since Tommy went back to his apartment and Henry had been constantly visiting them and staying over. Not that anyone dared to ask, but they had noticed the great change in Oddie and Henry’s relationship.

He was less and less grumpy than before, laughing with the kids and having the longest conversations with both Liam and Roy. He baked a few times a week for Oddie and it was obvious how much he enjoyed it when she complimented his skills.

Nathan was getting more into their life as well, almost every day he would visit and spend the day with them, he’d help Gabriel and Elliot with their homework with the promise of playing some videogames right after.

Oddie and him would have small dates at home or in a restaurant, he hadn’t asked her to officially become his girlfriend, but everyone could tell that’d happen more sooner than later.

“Gabriel…”

A female voice called as the classroom turned silent, the boy sat near the window still thinking of all the good things that had been happening to him lately, tapping his pen on the wooden table while he stared outside.

“Gabriel.”

He had been wondering what could he do for Oddie as her birthday was just a few days away and he truly wanted to surprise her, puffing his cheeks he finally thought of something.

Counting on his head all the man who’d be willing to help him out to surprise his loving mother figure, he stood straight with a wide smile and a light tint of rosy red dusting his cheeks, he was way too excited.

“Gabriel!” Snapping his eyes open he finally turned to see a quite annoyed Sally standing before him, frowning and resting her hands on her hips. Not a good sign. “Care to give an answer to my question?”

He blinked once, then twice. Looking up at the board then at Elliot who sat beside him with a worried expression, he lowered his gaze to his opened book. What subject were they even working on?

“Uh… could you… repeat the question, miss?” He tried to smile his way out of trouble, but the twitch on her eyes and the sickly sweet smile she wore, were enough to let him know he had problems.

“Gabriel, this is the fourth time today that you space out. Are my classes really that boring?”

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”

“I’d usually believe that, but you’ve been saying the same thing the past three days. And not only once, but every class you space out and don’t answer a thing.” With a deep sigh and a sorrowful glance, she left a note on top of his book. “You know what this means.”

Sally turned to Elliot asking him if he knew the answer to which he answered rather quickly and correctly.

She looked back one more time at Gabriel and by his expression, she knew he was truly worried and she hoped that he pays attention the rest of the day. Walking back to her desk she kept on going with her class.

“Psst.” Elliot called for his best friend in worry, his eyes were wide in both panic and disbelief at what the note had written. “Psst. Gabe.”

“Uh?”

“Are you alright?”

“Not really…” At that moment the school bell rang for gym class, Gabriel dropped his head on top of his table surprising Elliot a lot. “Mom’s gonna kill me for real this time.”

Elliot got up from his chair to walk up to him, taking the note from his hand he read it silently. With a deep sigh he knocked his fist softly on Gabriel’s head getting his attention.

“It’s just a warning note, don’t sweat it.”

“Don’t you understand, Elli? If I get called out one more time for not paying attention, they’ll call her! I can’t have her worrying about me more and I for sure don’t want to be grounded again.”

“Then don’t. I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but you really have been more distracted than usual and that will affect you in your grades.”

Elliot pulled him out of his chair to walk all the way towards the gym lockers, they both needed to get changed and start the warm ups before the coach went wild with practice.

“Now that’s something that definitely will worry Oddie a lot, she counts on you to be good in school.” He opened his locker and started to get changed as Gabriel did right across from him, looking as gloomy as ever. “Quit the dread looks, seems like you just failed the whole year.”

“Don’t even joke about that. I already have enough on my mind, to think that I could fail that bad would definitely kill my mood.” Gabriel sighed walking out with Elliot, both lining up in the gym.

The weather was too cold right now to have class outside so they kept on having them under the roof. Their coach paired the class up to work on their warmups before they started on games.

Both kids started to jog side by side, being two of the fastest in class they were alone most of the time while the rest stood far behind them.

“I’m not joking, I’m stating facts.” Elliot started to sweat after a few minutes cleaning his forehead with his shirt. “You can’t fail any subject, Gabe. If you do, not only will they call Oddie over, but you’ll be kicked out of the track team and I know you worked hard to be part of it.”

“I know.” Sweating just like his friend, he cleaned his face with his shirt. Only did they stopped when the coach called on them to grab a basketball and throw shots. “She’s looking forward for the competition on January, I can’t let her down.”

After half an hour of playing some more they head to the showers, they reek of sweat and really needed to clean up.

Walking down the hall towards their last class, Gabriel still looked like a ghost of gloom and sadness not really wanting to smile at the small jokes his friend kept on telling.

“Alright, this is our last class. Art! I know you like it and always pay attention, but just to play it safe.” Elliot turned to him with a bright smile. “Try not to space out or else they’ll call Oddie to the principal’s office.”

“You’re way too straightforward with your words.”

“You make it sound as if it was something bad.”

“It’s not good either.”

“At least I’m encouraging you to do the right thing!”

“That’s not the point!”

By the end of the day, Elliot stood in front of the school gate by himself staring down at the flip phone he held tightly, angry tears tried to ran down his face but he kept them in.

‘Not going to pick you up, find your way home by yourself, you trash.’

His mother was a total sweetheart for sure. At the sound of footsteps behind him, he quickly cleaned his tears and closed the phone putting it back in his jacket pocket.

Gabriel had his blue baseball cap so low that half his face couldn’t be seen. He lifted the cap a little bit with his finger to see his face, he was stunned by the look on him.

“You ok?”

Silently, Gabriel lifted a yellow colored note and handed it over to him. Taking the piece of paper, Elliot started to read it meticulously until he reached the end, he gasped wide eyed looking back at the almost crying boy.

“Gabriel, this is…”

“I did pay attention.”

“But this…” Elliot grabbed his own hair in frustration, he didn’t know if he should be worried or angry. “Then why do you have this detention note?”

No answer came from the boy who just lowered his head again, avoiding to look at him in the eye. With a deep sigh, Elliot handed him the paper back walking down the stairs towards the sidewalk.

“Your mom is not picking you up again?” Gabriel finally spoke again getting the shorter boy’s attention.

“Eh, what’s new.” He shrugged it off but by the red puffy eyes he wore, it was obvious he hated his family. “Is it ok if I go home with you? She must’ve had a fight with daddy again.”

“Sure, but we’re not going to be at home. Today’s gym day, guess you’ll meet Zach.”

“Who?”

“He’s another friend of Oddie’s. He couldn’t make it to my party.”

“Oh, ok.” Before he could say anything else, they saw Oddie’s car pull up and both boys gulped. “Are you telling her right away?”

“Guess so, can’t really keep it a secret.”

“I’ll cheer for you.”