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I nodded. “Yep. In the flesh. She left, but not before having a talk with Bernadette.”
“Oh, honey.” Vanessa scooped Bernadette in her arms. “If you want me to go find her right now and fight her, then I’ll do that. She’s a little bitch and I will not hesitate to give it to her.”
Bernadette let out a weak laugh and Vanessa released her. “It’s fine,” she said. “She was just mean. I don’t want to talk to her again.”
“Of course, you don’t.”
I noticed as she was talking that Bernadette’s hand strayed to her stomach. Had Camellia found out about the baby? Had she said something? Oh, I was going to kill her if she had. That was the absolute last thing that Bernadette needed right now.
“What do you need right now?” I asked her, still unsure if she wanted to be around people right now or if she needed some time alone, or even with just the two of us.
“I think I need to be alone,” she said after a few moments. “It was really lovely meeting all of you, I hope we can hang out soon,” she said, turning to my friends.
“Of course,” Vanessa said with a smile, and everyone nodded in agreement.
“I look forward to getting to know more about you,” Ana said, taking both of Bernadette’s hands in her own. “You seem like a really lovely person. I can see why Lucas likes you.”
Then they helped me with ending the party and ushering everyone out of my house until just Bernadette and I were left.
“Do you want to tell me what she told you?” I asked. “You don’t have to, but it might help me to figure out how best to help you, to assure you that all she says are lies.”
She sunk down onto the sofa, then looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “She called me a slut. She asked about the pregnancy and then called me a slut and told me that you were just playing with me and that you would leave me eventually and—” The words tumbled out of her faster and faster until she broke down into sobs.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” I said, sitting down next to her and rubbing her arm in a comforting manner. “I’m not playing, I never was, and you’re not a slut. I can promise you that. You were just put in a bad situation at a bad time, but we’re getting through this. I promise you; we’re going to get through this.”
“I know, I just… the things she said hit me deep.”
“What can I do to prove to you that they’re all lies, that I’m not planning on leaving you?” I asked. There had to be something. I wanted to ease her suffering so bad, but I had no idea how to even go about doing that.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t know, I’m sorry. I know that I’m being so selfish. I just feel awful. She just makes me feel so sick. I hate doubting you and I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t have to be sorry, and you’re not being selfish. She has a way of manipulating people to get what she wants. I’m sorry that she managed to get in, and that she did that to you. I should have protected you better.”
“It wasn’t a matter of you protecting me. I should have known better. Something felt off about her.”
“She also cornered you. I can understand not being able to get away from that.” I sighed. “Just please let me know if there’s anything I can do to make this better. I feel terrible that this happened. In the meantime, I’ll do all I can to get this as far from your mind as possible. Shall we watch another movie?”
Bernadette shook her head. “No, I think I just need to go to sleep.”
“Okay, we can do that,” I said. “Shall we go up to bed then?”
She nodded and followed me upstairs to the bedroom. The two of us got ready for bed in relative silence and then we crawled into bed.
As I was used to now, I put my arm around her and pulled her body close to mine. She let me, snuggling deeper into my grasp.
“I love you,” I whispered in her ear. “More than anything, I love you.”
“I love you too,” she mumbled, and then it was silent again.
After a few moments, I was sure that she was asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then my mind began to wander.
Camellia had been friends with some of my other friends before the two of us started dating, so I guessed it made some sense that she would have found out about the party. What really bothered me was the fact that she had come, and that she had the audacity to corner Bernadette.
She hadn’t been like that when we first met. Either that or she had just been better at hiding it then.
She had been quite shy and very sweet and had befriended Rachel and some of my friends from the larger group.
I had been attracted to her from the moment I saw her. Probably because at that point some part of her had reminded me of Bernadette.
