All Chapters of Behind the scenes: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Later when Abed and I are in the living room, tucked into his side, his arms slung around me, an afghan covering our legs, and the bowl of salted popcorn still warm from when he made it earlier, on our legs our eyes on the screen in front of us. We had gone back and forth a bit, about choosing what we wanted to watch, he wanted something with me in it, and I wanted something he directed, finally we compromised and started a series that had nothing to do with either of us. “I think, but he has neither confirmed or denied this. Find out for me will ya?” Clay’s words from earlier circles back to mind, like it did when he came out of the Den announcing the meeting was over. Joanne gave me conspicuous nod just as she slipped out of the house, I still have no idea what that nod meant. He had made dinner, put me in the apron again and the only thing I did was pass him the ingredients, yet he made it sound like I made the food. How could someone be this perfect? “You know, before this... b

The next morning, Abed informs me that today is the day we leave for his father’s house, very short notice, but I don’t tell him that, he already looked like he was dealing with a lot, just by the thought of living with his father again.“How long?” I had asked, still under the sheets, he was standing by the bed, already in fresh clothes, his spine straighter than arrow today. Clearly, he was tensed. “He said a few days, no given deadline, but I promise the moment you feel unsafe, threatened by anything, we will leave.” I gave him a muted smile, I was not going to give his father any ammunition, I was not going to leave until he had gotten what he wanted. Yesterday, I felt his pain, today I wanted to heal it. He made us breakfast, a large one, I know what it meant, he wasn’t going to be making breakfast in his father’s house, I was fine with ordering in, in fact, I had the numbers of all the good places, it was going to be my treat. The small talk I tried to make about taking a bi

I had never seen anything quite like it, Abed’s silent fury, after the woman in the uniform, who I later learned her name was Greta, explained to him that his brother was going to stay for the exact number of days as he was, and from the explanation. I gathered his brother whom I had no idea about, had called ahead and asked that Abed’s old room be given to him. Abed had turned around, Greta and I hold our breaths as he walked back to the room assigned to us, his spine was as straight as an arrow. The anger rolled off him in waves, from his extremely straight posture, to his jaw locked in place, and the eyes, his eyes drew you in, and tossed you around inside of the storm that raged inside. I was at complete loss, I knew nothing of this brother, and while this room was significantly smaller than his old room, it wasn’t so bad, we won’t be staying for so long. But the fact that he called ahead and asked specifically for Abed’s room meant they were on opposing sides, and he was an ass

My eyes follow her even as she excused herself from the table, clearly flustered, I want to go after her, but the look on Richard’s face stops me. “You know her?”His shocked expression gives way to the smug one he has always worn when he thought he had the upper hand on something.“We go way back, college days, and these days everyone knows Rachel Greene, until recently.”His words pulls something from my memory, he is the fairy godmother she talked about with such fondness?? He was kind to her, got her a lawyer, and did all of those good things that made my insides tingle with unknown emotion? I couldn’t reconcile the person I knew with the person she knew. “We also had a pact that if she wasn’t married by age thirty, we would get married.” he eyes my fingers, searching for a ring, I flexed my fingers showing off the matching ring I had put off wearing until this particular dinner, and had been hiding from her. My father chuckled, finding it amusing that we were once again in com

“Your father thinks we are married.” I say lightly once we are both in the room, the door firmly locked behind us. The rest of dinner was a blur, I didn’t speak again, even when Richard congratulated me for my marriage and asked too many questions about a ceremony that didn’t happen.“Who proposed? How was the wedding like? When did it happen?”I had no response to any of the questions, instead I had my own questions, thankfully his father had gotten bored with no fighting, he got up and bid us a good night, although I think he means the opposite, I got up as soon as his back was turned to us, despite Richard’s plea to catch up. Abed had followed me silently, like he had been throughout dinner, I didn’t mind that, but here, now, he could not remain silent. “Your brother too. Greta too in fact.” I say recalling how her eyes fell on the ring, and what she said, then I thought she was simply mistaken, but everyone could not be simply mistaken at once. “How can I not know that I am mar