Chapter Thirty-eight - Breaking Apart

Chapter Thirty-eight - Breaking Apart
MALIA

I was sitting in my room, staring at the door like he would walk in any second and be his typical annoying self. Marcello didn’t show. 

After what had happened, I hadn’t expected him to pick me up and drive me to my riding lessons. Not that I could ride comfortably with the cuts on my feet. It hadn’t been a week since I had last seen the Tinker Pony, but I already missed Snowflake.

Sighing, I turn my chair to face my crafting table, still not believing I had one. It was large, filling one corner of the room and giving me plenty of workspace, or space to clutter. The latter part was what happened way more often than actually working on crafts. 

My hands were covered in small bandages, while my foot was completely wrapped up. After stitching it up, Isabella had applied padded bandages before wrapping it, so the pressure on the wound was reduced. It made walking manageable. 

Claire had carefully collected all the shards, like I had asked her. They were piled onto my crafts table now and I was thinking about how I could possibly fix it. For inspiration, I watched some DIY tutorials, and slowly but steadily, an idea formed in my head. I knew that it wouldn’t fix the situation with Marcello; nothing would. 

Trying to mend the broken pieces was still a better option than throwing away the remnants of his memories with his mother. I hadn’t known that both of us had lost our mothers at a young age. My fingers wrapped around the pendant around my neck, my thumb caressing it absentmindedly. 

I was left to wonder what had happened to Marcelo’s mother, and right now, I doubted he would open up to me any time soon. After all, I had just destroyed a precious memory.  

To block out the intrusive thoughts, I started a Ludovico Einaudi playlist and got started on my project.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when a knock on the door made me turn around. For a second, I hoped that it would be Marcello, but the knock was too soft, identifying itself as Isabellas knock. 

“Come in,” I sighed and turned back to my project that started to take shape.

“Jesus, don’t sound all too excited to see me,” Val said sarcastically, making my head snap around in surprise. 

“Val! What are you doing here?”

A sorrowful expression was plastered on her face. Obviously, somebody had told her what had happened. With another sigh, I turned back to my project.

“Isbella called and told me what happened,” she explained and dropped herself onto the couch behind me, turning so she was facing my back. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Not really. I broke it, so I need to fix it.”

“From what I understand, it wasn’t all your fault, and you are the one who got hurt physically.”

“Doesn’t matter. Cuts heal without leaving a scar if left alone. But this cup? It doesn’t matter what I would try, the cracks will forever be visible,” I muttered, fixing another broken piece into the new shape.

Val was silent for a moment. I heard her stand up and felt her standing behind me a moment later, watching what I was doing.

“This looks nice,” she said, her voice comforting. 

“Maybe… But it’s not the same. It can never be the same again.”

She hummed in understanding. After dropping into the second chair, she watched me work in silence for some time.

“But why do you care so much?” Val asked quietly. I snapped my head to her with a glare. Her hands flew up in an instant surrender. 

“You know how devastated I would be if it were my pendant to break! You can’t understand Valentina. You still have both your parents,” I shouted at her, fixating back onto my project. My hands were shaking in anger and frustration, so I put the piece I had in my hand back down. 

I did not want to remake this in anger and frustration. The intention was apologetic and understanding, but now I needed to take a breath to remember that. Why did Val even show up here if she wasn’t gonna be of any help?

No. It wasn’t her fault; she was trying to help. I just needed to breathe and calm myself down. But before I could help it, tears started to well up in my eyes again and rolled down my cheeks.

In an instant, arms were wrapped around my shoulders, and I started wailing uncontrollably. 

“What if… What if he will never forgive me?” I hiccuped hysterically, “What if I just made an enemy out of him? I mean… I mean, he is an annoying asshole, but he was somewhat friendly to me. At least sometimes.”

Val stroked my arm soothingly, not saying anything. She understood that there was nothing she could say to make me feel better. It helped just having her there, and I was grateful to Isabella that she had done what I couldn’t think of in that moment. 

I just … didn’t know how to confide in my friends anymore. Never before had I been completely cut off from them for days at a time. And even if it still felt normal to talk to them, I didn’t know how to without explaining to them the whole damn truth of what was going on. 

Before she had come here, Val had surely tried to call or text, but I didn’t even know where my fucking phone was. I had no idea about fucking anything anymore. All I knew was that I did not want Marcello as an enemy, and I was afraid that I had become precisely that today. 

I held onto Vals’ arm while I was crying out my frustration, my pain, my confusion. Till there were no tears left to cry. 

When Val released me from the embrace, she took her phone and texted someone. Five minutes later, another knock sounded on the door, and Isabella opened the door with her elbow before I could respond. Her arms were loaded with all sorts of snacks and drinks, which she dumped on the coffee table. 

With a broad smile, she announced, “Time for a break!”