Shattered Dreams [EDITING] - Chapter 70: Chapter 70

COREY'S POV:
"Are you coming in?" Nadia asks me when we reach her driveway.
I have had such an amazing day with this girl that it would be a shame to cut it so short but I understand her and I know that she will be exhausted. I need to leave her alone to deal with how she feels by herself because even though she is open with me, I don't think that she will show me fully the extent of her pain and she needs to be able to deal with it.
"I don't think I should." I finally say after thinking it over in my head.
"Oh, okay." She murmurs softly, sounding disappointed but I won't let it steer my decision.
I want to be with her but there is also the risk of getting caught by her parents and Willem on top of everything else so it would be stupid to risk it. We had an incredible day. There's no point in ruining it now by risking being caught.
Ever since Willem found out about us he hasn't spoken to me, not unless it was regarding training or when we had to find Nadia. I want to try and build this friendship back up and that won't get anywhere if he finds out I'm still running around with his sister. I don't think that Willem and Nadia have had much of a conversation since either, although I could be wrong.
I think back to what Willem said to me a few days ago about how I should just leave Nadia alone if I can't love her the way she deserves to be loved and I agree. I mustn't love Nadia the right way if I'm being selfish with her because surely I should be able to love her enough to let her go. I shake the thought away and think about how much I don't care that I put our relationship first. It is not bad to be selfish sometimes. I mean, we are all the main characters in our own lives so we should all be able to do what is best for us without caring about the reciprocation from other people.
I am selfish in every aspect of my life. I take advantage of the fact I am the hockey captain as I know I won't get in too much trouble like the rest of them, I am selfish with my friendship with Willem and I am also selfish with Nadia as I can't bring myself to let her go.
She may be a happier and healthier person without me but she is also happy with me, so why would I destroy both of our happiness just to please other people?
I won't do it. Surely it should be a good thing if I love her too much to lose her over menial shit?
Nadia leaves the car and gets her crutches and I'm proud of her for being able to admit she needs them for the short walk up the drive. I get out of the car, following behind her, catching her just before she goes inside. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What could I possibly be forgetting? I've already invited you inside." She remarks, knowing full well what I am needing from her before I can go back home.
I tap my lips with my finger as an invitation and she doesn't say anything, she goes up onto her tip toes and touches her lips with mine, giving me a peck. Before she can go back inside, I pull her back into me needing more of her than just a peck.
"Go, before anyone sees." She giggles, pushing me away from her and I make my way back towards the car.
Before opening my door, I turn around to wave goodbye but she has gone inside before I got any chance to. My gaze drifts from her front door to the window and I see Nadia's dad peering out of the curtain.
My heart drops and panic floods through me as I have been caught for the second time. I put my hand up to greet him with a wave but I am soon dismissed when he gestures with his finger for me to come towards him.
I have two options here, I could either turn around and make a run for it like a coward, or I could do the noble thing and do as he says. If I wasn't so sure that me driving away wouldn't be good for Nadia then I would be doing it, but instead I start walking towards the window, where her dad no longer is. I stand there for a few moments, deciding on my next move. My head is telling me to go home and get some sleep but my heart is telling me to go back inside that house as the girl I love is in there.
For some stupid reason I decide to follow my heart so I am opening their front door before I know it. Ellie barks when I enter and comes up to me, licking my hands as I bend down to her but she soon becomes uninterested, running off upstairs to find Nadia.
I wish I could do the same, Ellie.
I make an effort to take my time walking towards the living room as I am honestly quite terrified of what is waiting for me in there. The first thought in my head was that Richard would be waiting in there for me with a knife. I am having actual visions of him plunging it into my chest as soon as I put my guard down.
I know that Nadia is upstairs so whatever is about to happen with Nadia's fathers right now can't be good. If Nadia was downstairs then I wouldn't be invited in because they don't have anything nice to say to me so they won't say it in front of her. I cannot blame them in the slightest for feeling the way they do about me. In their eyes I betrayed my closest and dearest friend by getting with his sister, which is true but my feelings for Nadia are so much deeper than something as simple as betrayal.
I walk into the living room with my hands held up showing that I come in peace. I know I am being dramatic but I want me and Nadia to work more than anything so I will go to great lengths to make that happen. When I enter the room her parents are sitting waiting for me with tea on the coffee table waiting for me. I notice that her dad has opted for a whisky, which is unusual for him.
"Put those down, Corey, don't be silly." Samantha tells me and I do, not wanting to aggravate anyone anymore.
I want to ask what I am doing here, I want to ask why they invited me in but I am honestly too scared to. I don't want them to believe I am going behind everyone's backs. I just want them to understand how I feel without getting mad.
"I'll be the first one to speak then," Richard comments as I sit down. I eye up the cup of tea, not wanting to drink it in case it has been poisoned so I cross my arms and sit back instead. "Where have you been?"
"Out." I respond, although I shouldn't have to as these two aren't my parents, although my parents wouldn't give a shit unless it is distracting me from hockey.
"Just answer the question, Corey." Samantha tells me and it suddenly seems like she isn't on my side anymore.
"Shouldn't you be asking Nadia this, she is your daughter after all?' I ask them, not meaning for it to sound as harsh as it did.
"I want to know where the fuck you have taken my daughter behind our backs." Richard points an accusing finger at me, causing anger to rile up inside me.
"Richard!" Samantha gapes at him. "Calm down."
I watch as they both stare at each other, having a silent conversation between themselves and I use this as an opportunity to go over my options. I could just act like I have no idea what they are talking about and ignore all their questioning but then that would mean they might start to take it out on Nadia, or I could just tell them where we have been because the truth is honestly not that bad.
In their heads they probably think I took her somewhere just so I could sleep with her because that's what my reputation says about me, although this hurts as they have watched me grow up and they know that I really am not this person that everyone makes me out to be. I have slept with girls and no romantic feelings have been involved but with Nadia, that isn't the case. I have been secretly pining after this girl ever since I walked in on her and Willem playing Just Dance together all those years ago.
I know that her parents don't actually care if Nadia and I were together, I think that they just have this overprotective side to her now that she has a chronic illness, which I completely understand. I want to protect my mum from everything bad in the world too, including my dad, but sometimes that just can't be done.
Even though they sound like they are accusing me, I know deep down that they aren't. I betrayed Willem and to them that means something. It just doesn't help that Richard and Jasper got on so well because he has always wanted them to get married, when it's me that Nadia wants that with insead.
In my opinion, Samantha is being a bit of a hypocrite at the minute as she fully knew what was going on behind the scenes with me and Nadia and yet she decided to keep it a secret. If anyone should feel bad about the situation, it's her.
"You want to know where we went? We went to the pop up Vincent Van Gogh experience," I answer their previous question with anger laced in my tone and watch as both of their eyes widen in shock before continuing my story. "As soon as I saw that it was in town I wanted to take her to it because I know she loves his work. I also know her and Archie have always wanted to go."
"Oh." They both say in unison.
"Yeah, oh." I repeat, feeling annoyed that they were throwing silent accusations at me even though my intentions behind that date were nothing but innocent and because of my love towards that girl.
"Regardless, we still feel like you should've told us where she was going, you know how hard she has been having it recently." Samantha tells me and I stare at her blankly. If I was petty I would go and tell Willem right now that his mother knew all along but I refrain.
"I mean this in the most respectful way possible but it is not my responsibility to tell you what your own daughter is doing. If she wants you to know where she is, she would tell you, this isn't on me." I explain.
I understand that I am the one they are putting the blame on here but Nadia is also not all innocent. She and I are equals, she is as much invested in this relationship as I am. She has gone behind everyone's back just like I have and it is worse in her case as she has been lying to her whole family for months.
"If Nadia wanted to tell you where she was, then she would've done." I add on, wanting my point to register in their heads.
I know that she is more vulnerable right now but they know me and it kind of hurts that they are thinking I am the sort of person who would hurt her. I grew up with that girl, just like I have with Willem so obviously I wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
Richard stands up now and his face tells me everything about what he is feeling. He is furious. "Don't you tell me how to parent my own daughter."
"In what world did I do that?" I respond angrily back. "You were accusing me of shit I would never even dream of doing and you suppose I should just sit there and let it happen?"
"Corey, love, I think you ought to leave before Willem catches a whiff of you being here." Samantha tells me calmly but it's too late because as I stand to leave, Willem comes crashing through the door and aims his fist right to the side of my jaw.
I am knocked back with the impact and I lose my balance. "What the fuck, Willem?" I shout, pushing him back as he gets his arm in a position to punch me again.
"Willem!" Both his parents shout and even though Richard was shouting at me moments ago, he is now the one to pull Willem off me.
"Why won't you get the fucking hint?" He shouts, spitting as he spurts venomous words towards me. "None of us fucking like you anymore. You aren't welcome here and if you think that my sister loves you then you are thoroughly mistaken. She doesn't know what she is talking about as you are the only boy to show her attention anymore."
"Willem, I suggest you stop talking now." Samantha points an angry finger towards her son.
"No, it's fucking true and we all know it. She would settle for anyone because no one is going to want to deal with her when she is like this." He spits again, getting free of his fathers grip on him.
I am about to lunge for him but my actions are stopped when my gaze shifts behind Willem, where I see Nadia sat at the top of the stairs in her dressing gown listening in on everything. I wonder how much she heard. I really hope she didn't hear all that but with how fast her breathing is, it looks like she heard everything. Willem's eyes follow my gaze and his angry exterior crumbles as he breathes out, "Nadia."
She looks up, meeting our stares and she screams before turning to go back to her room. Willem and I chase after her, wanting to catch up to her to make sure she is okay.
"I'm sorry, Nads, I didn't mean it, you know I didn't mean it." Willem rushes out all of the apologies he can come up with as she reaches her door. She turns to look at us both with tear-stained cheeks and closes the door, locking it behind her.
"For fucks sake." Willem releases an exasperated breath, pulling at the hairs on his head. He looks at me, then looks at my jaw, where a pretty hefty bruise must be forming by now, and walks off into his own room, also slamming the door behind him.
I am at a loss of what to do right now and I have Richard and Samantha looking up at me as if I am the one that should be doing something. They invited me in and they are acting like it's my fault this situation has been created.
"Go speak to him mate." Richard suggests, all his previous anger evaporated now.
I want to go in and comfort Nadia, to tell her how sorry I am and to defend Willem by telling her that he didn't mean what he said and was just trying to get under my skin but I know she wouldn't want to hear it right now. She will want to be alone, so I will go and speak to Willem so that gives her time to think over her feelings and I will speak to her afterwards.
She will be okay, she always is.
I open Willem's door, not bothering to knock to inform him of my presence and he doesn't seem surprised by my entrance. He is sitting on his bed, with his head in his hands, looking like his world has just fallen apart. I close the door behind me and sit next to him on the end of the bed and he doesn't flinch at my presence.
All of his previous negative feelings towards me have vanished and he just seems at a loss of what to do now. On one hand he wants his sister to be happy and achieve everything she has ever wanted, pain free and on the other the only way for her to be happy is by his sister and best friend to betray him.
It seems like he has only now realised how much his reaction towards this whole ordeal has actually affected Nadia and he wants it all to change that's why he is even letting me stay in his room right now.
"I love her, you know?" I announce to him proudly, wanting him to know how much I mean my words. "The only reason I didn't answer you before is because you caught me off guard and I have only just admitted it to myself, let alone telling other people how I feel."
He just turns to look at me, sadness in his eyes, "I know."
"You know?"
"Yeah," He responds, releasing a heavy breath. "I know you do, I just wanted to hear you say it out loud because then going behind my back would've seemed worth it."
"You know we didn't mean to, we were just scared about what you would think." I tell him, wanting to be nothing but honest with him from now on.
"That's why it hurts, Corey," He replies gruffly. "I admit that I overreacted and I admit punching you wasn't the right thing to do and I am so fucking sorry about that."
"It only made me hotter." I smirk, wanting to ease up the tension a bit with humour but he doesn't look too impressed just yet.
He is a tough nut to crack I see.
"Look, I really don't care if you and my sister want to be together. If you make eachother happy then that's what matters to me." He admits, sounding sad.
"Like I said man, we didn't mean to keep it from you." I tell him again trying to get my point across even more.
"That's the part that hurt me. You are my best friend, who I've known since I was a little kid and she is my sister, who I have loved since mum told me about her and you both lied to me," He looks at me as he speaks, sniffling through his words. "You both betrayed me and I feel like shit that you two didn't think high enough of me to want to tell me something like this."
"We didn't want you to be mad."
"Oh, I would've been furious," He agrees. "But that would've died down once I saw how much you two meant to each other."
"She means so fucking much to me, Willem, I can't even describe it." I admit, wanting to tell him in detail about how much I feel for his sister but I don't want to overstep and make it weird between us.
"I don't think I am ready to hear the details just yet man, too soon." He tells me and I nod my head in agreement.
"Are we friends again then?" I ask, sounding like an insecure teenage girl but I have been lost without this boy by my side. We have the semi-finals soon and we both need to be in our best headspace for it with no distractions.
We don't want one of us to get hurt because we are too busy thinking about something else.
"Yeah, just don't shove your relationship down my throat," He warns me with a glare. "And for the love of God, do not talk to me about your sex life anymore."
"So you don't want to hear about this morning?" I ask him with a smirk and he glares at me again.
"You can get out now."
"I think I'll stay."
"No really, get out, I need to think of how to apologise to her." He says sadly.
I know how awful he must feel having said those things and I know who Willem is and how he would not do anything in his right mind to hurt that girl. They will always be big brother and little sister no matter how old they grow and they both know that.
I get up and head to the door to leave and Willem speaks up just before I close the door, "Don't lie to me again."
"Don't lie to Nadia again either," I comment, causing Willem to wear a confused look on his face. "By saying you are going on a weekend away but instead went to see therapists."
"Touché." He smirks before I close the door.