Bella refused to eat the lunch that was sent up to her for two reasons. First, she was not sure about it after the threats that Adam had made earlier. For the second reason, her stomach was still cramping from the breakfast she had eaten. Where she had not eaten for what could possibly have been days, her stomach had not handled the heavy breakfast that she had gobbled down.
Adam had left just in time because mere seconds after the door had slammed in his wake, her stomach had knotted up and she had rushed to the bathroom, where she had spent most of the morning with the agonizing pains.
She had a coughing spell that had left h
Bella wakes up the next morning to the sun streaming in through the partially parted curtains to fall on her face and warm her skin. She lies there for a moment just enjoying the feel of it and loving the feeling on her face. It is like the sun is caressing her face. This is her favorite time of the morning usually, when the warmth hits her. Since she has been in this room, she stays so cold. The room is nice, but the window is old and allows in just the smallest draft that freezes her. The thin old wool blanket spread across the full bed just is not enough to keep her warm. But this morning she fin
Throughout the rest of the day, Adam and Lumi bring things into the room, such as a mini-fridge full of juices and sodas, a small love seat that is a pretty shade of pink that matches her bedspread, and some other things that she has not gotten to look at yet. Bella unpacks her bags of clothes as Lumi hangs mint green curtains from the windows. Adam sits on the floor, hooking up her Xbox one to her tv. Chad had been in the room talking a mile a minute for a while but his mother kept calling for him and finally, Adam made him go. Not without grumbles though. “Okay, the curtains are up,” Lumi announces.
Adam hears her words and feels them as they pierce his heart. This girl, she can get to him like no other. He feels this draw to her like he has never felt with anyone else. Inside of him, he feels this need to please her. But he also feels this need to keep her. He is at war deep within himself. A part of him wants to let her go. Let her go home to her father and to her life. Let her travel the world and absolve the guilt that she feels over losing her mother. He wants to give her for her dreams and her freedom.
A few hours later Bella sits on the floor looking through her stack of DVDs. She knows that DVDs have pretty much become a thing of the past, what with media streaming platforms bringing movies right to the TV with just a click of a button. Still, Bella prefers buying the DVDs and stacking them on her shelf. She likes such an odd assortment of films that are sometimes hard to find on certain platforms. At her home, her father told her that she could get a subscription to whatever she wanted, but still, she prefers to buy the movies. She only uses the Roku and channels to watch a few of her favorite television shows. Her friends use to accuse her of living in the stone ages, reading paperback books, and buying movi
Adam calls her name and she reluctantly turns to face him, dreading what he might say if he noticed her odd behavior. “Hmm?” Bella looks at him over her shoulder and he is watching her closely. “Um, this is nice. I enjoyed spending time with you, watching movies and everything.” “Oh, yeah. Me too.” Bella smiles. “It was good.” “Maybe we could do it again sometime,” Adam says, but it sounds like more of a question.
Bella tugs her tiny sleep shorts up her thighs until the waistband rides low on her hips. Pulling down the tank top to cover the elastic band of the shorts, she is ready for bed. The pink fuzzy clock on her bedside table tells her that it is only twenty-two minutes after seven, but she is bored and restless. She can not focus on a movie or a book, so that pretty much limits her forms of entertainment down to nothing. She can't go for a walk or anything to burn off the restless energy that she is brimming with and another bath is out of the question. Seeing nothing else to do, Bella climbs into bed. It has been almost an hour since Adam left and as she suspected
Adam turns to look at Bella, who is sound asleep on the bed beside of him. After the movie Tag, they decided to watch the 2018 Halloween movie, because she swore that she loved Michael Myers. When she heard him say that he had never seen them she had lost her mind. “What? You have never seen a Halloween movie?” She gave him this look as if to ask him which rock had he just crawled out from under. “Uh, I don't watch movies or tv.” Adam had told her and she shook her head, clearly finding that concept unfathomable.
“Who is Jake?” “What?” Bella asks, pulling away from embracing his body. Her relief at him being okay gives way to confusion over his abrupt change of topic. “Jake.” Adam repeats the name like it should mean something to her. Is he talking about Jake Johnson, who she mentioned having a crush on? “The actor from-” “No. With Lumi. You both spoke of a man named Jake that you claimed to be in love with. Was it the actor from last night or a different Jake? Because you claimed to be in love with him as well.”