-twenty-four

The sounds of birds chirping filled my ears. It was morning. Again. After sighing, I shoved my fingers through my sweat-damp hair and reached for my phone.

The dreams were real. Each time I closed my eyes, I relived every moment. And as torturous and traumatic as it was, I deserved it.

My hand fell to the dresser.

I trusted Eric. With my body, my soul and sadly my heart. He broke it. The dull ache that attacked my chest every now and then served as proof.

I reached deeper into the dressertop and felt around further.

Maybe if I-

I blinked when my hand reached the end of the dressertop and felt.... nothing. My heart throbbed louder in my chest as I rose up.

"Shit! Where the hell is it?"

My eyes did a swift sweep over the room and a sigh escaped my lips when the pieces of broken glass registered in my brain.

Of course. I broke it last night.

With another sigh, I opened my closet and pulled out the first outfit my hand found. Thanks to Jenna, all of my packed clothes and junk were neatly arranged in the wardrobe. She must have done it when I was asleep.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, I moved to the wall and took my phone, or rather, what was left of it, and inspected it. Damn. I probably-.

"Hey!"

A gasp escaped my lips as I spun around.

"Shit Jenna!" I winced as I regained composure. "You should've knocked."

"You should have locked the door."

My eyes remained on her for a few more seconds. "Fair enough." After throwing some pieces of glass in the bin, I turned to her. "Why you here so early?"

"To have breakfast, with you."

Smiling, I turned back to my phone.

"Hey, I-."

I turned to find an inquisitive look on her face.

"I tried calling you but you didn-."

Jenna's eyes followed my hand which went to the shattered glass of my phone.

"Oh."

"How was it?" I smiled.

She blinked. "Was what?"

"Hot chocolate sex with Ed last night."

It took a few seconds for what I said to register and when it did, her smile almost tore her face in half. "Not everything ends in sex, Roxy."

I gasped. The unbelievable had finally happened. "I thought I'd never hear you say that."

She scoffed.

"I want details."

"And I want breakfast, so let's move."

"Good morning."

Jenna and I simultaneously turned to the brunette behind the counter. The coffee shop was empty except for the old man in the corner with a newspaper gently sipping on steaming hot coffee.

"Go sit," Jenna smiled, "I'll order."

"Black coffee and a sandwich will do."

"Alright."

Jenna came back a few minutes before our breakfast arrived.

"So how are you?"

I shrugged. "I feel better. Last night's rest did me good."

Jenna nodded as she took a sip of her milky coffee.

"Speaking of last night," my smirk seemed to shock her when she looked up from her mug, "how was it?"

"How was what?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Oh!" her face lit up with recognition. "You mean things with Ed."

"Yeah."

"It was- it was alright, I guess."

"I can see the hickey on your neck." I deadpanned.

"Last night was amazing. He was loving and caring and... I mean that's who I fell in love with. I love him, so much," she smiled. "I've got good news," Jenna announced just as the waitress brought our orders. I smiled at her and took a sip of my coffee.

"Spill."

She took a bite out of her cake. "Ed is moving back to the UK."

"What?" The coffee burned my tongue.

"He's moving back to Wales," she smiled.

"What?" I repeated.

She laughed. "Let me explain. When he was a high schooler, his parents felt he wasn't responsible enough to take over the family business. So, they shipped him off from Manchester to Wales to go study at the University. When he graduated, they made an arrangement with one of their friends in Carlifornia for Ed to work at their company for about five years, something about testing him. Now, the five years are over so he's moving back to Wales to go take over the business. He passed the test."

"Wow. That's a lot. How did he take it, I mean his parents not trusting him?"

"He wasn't mad. At all. He completely agreed with them."

"Wow. Congratulations. I'm really happy for you guys," I smiled at her.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Jenna, what's wrong?"

She took in a breath before looking at me. "I'm scared."

"Why?"

"That his parents won't accept me."

"Wait what? What do you mean?"

She exhaled. "Now that we're moving to Wales, we're gonna see his family a lot. What about if they don't like me? I mean we're engaged and everything but if his parents don't accept me, then I don't think the marriage can hold."

"Hey," my voice softened. "Where's all this coming from?"

"A few days ago, Ed and I had a fight. He thinks I'm only with him 'cause of his money and sex."

My eyes widened.

"Of course he apologized and said he only told me that because he was mad and confused but what if it's true? I mean, I lost my innocence at a very young age. This whole money and sex thing is all I know. It was how I was raised." She looked exhausted.

"Jenna, look at me. You're not that person anymore. You've changed. You're a better version of you. You're one of the good guys now."

She huffed before responding. "I can't change my past. That's the problem. I can't erase it. I've tried to embrace it. That's why I carried those photos around. It worked but what if Ed's parents find out? All prostitutes and call girls are stereotyped to being gold-diggers. What if that's why I'm so attracted to him? What if I'm unconsciously doing that, using him for his money?"

"Jenna stop! Stop with the degrading and self hating. You're not like that. You love him. Stop bringing yourself down. Ed loves you and you love him too. You're a lovable person. I'm pretty sure they'll adore you."

"Roxy, my past is real shitty. And that's not even the main problem." She looked at her food like she had lost all her appetite.

"Then what is?"

"A few years ago, when I was 17, my mom died. She was the one who introduced me to all of the prostitution stuff as you know."

I nodded.

"When she died, I wanted to change environment and move away from Seattle. I had this particular client. His wife couldn't have babies. He told me he'd pay me 30 grand if I got pregnant and gave him the baby. His wife wanted in on it too so I accepted, also because the money was unbelievably huge for such a little favour. At least that's what I thought. I knew it was a bad decision but at that time, all I could think of was just getting my nose done."

"Plastic surgery?"

"Yeah, plastic surgery. My mom paid for the first ones but well, she died and I needed someone to foot my bills."

"So you've had plastic surgery?"

"Yeah. Silicone implants. Boobs and butt."

"Wow. I never knew. You never told me that," I assessed her.

"Stop checking my boobs out and focus, Roxy."

"But why though? Why did you get those? I mean y-."

"I wanted them and I got them, period. Now focus," she breathed out. "I badly needed the cash so I accepted. When I got pregnant, they treated me very well. But then I had a terrible accident. I was in his car with the driver and we ran into a truck. I lost the baby," she lowered her eyes, "and I damaged my uterus. According to the doctor, it'll be very hard for me to have children. He said that it could be surgically corrected though, but most of the operations came out unsuccessful. At that moment, I didn't care. I was like, "fuck children. They weren't for me". But now, now I understand how wrong I was."

I bit my lip at the tears gathering in her eyes.

"He did pay me though. He paid me half. That was the money I used to move here."

"Wow, Jenna. How come you never told me any of this?" I placed my hand over hers for comfort.

"I don't know. I guess I was just kind of scared. You don't know how good it feels to finally let it out."

"Does Ed know about all this?"

"Yeah. He said I'll get the surgery done when I'm ready. No pressure. But that's not the problem. The problem is what his parents will say and do when they find out the girl their son wants to marry is an ex-prostitute with a cringe-worthy past who can't have children."

"Jenna, I don't know what they'll think but what I do know is Ed loves you and will fight for you. That has got to be enough. And besides, we've all made mistakes. They can't hold you for what you did as a teenager." I smiled at her, trying to ease out her tension.

She looked at me with a scared expression. "I hope so."

"What?"

"I hope that you guys still love me when you eventually get to see me for what I really am."

For a moment, Jenna looked different. Like she wasn't the person I thought I knew.

What if she wasn't?

****************

-C.