Chapter 206 Book 5: Moving On

Chapter 206 Book 5: Moving On
Isabella smiled at her roommate, Tiffany Martinez. “I don’t want to attend any parties, please Tiffy,” she protested. Tiffany, a bubbly girl with jet-black silky hair and ocean-blue eyes, was uncontrollable, like a persistent leech who never gave up.
“Girl, it’s not just any party, it’s my birthday bash,” she answered, looking hurt. Isabella gave up. There was only one way to stop her and that was to just give in to her wishes.
“Fine, I’ll be there,” she said as Tiffany stood up from her messy bed and started her happy dance.
“Thanks, girl,” she said, kissing her cheek. “Well, Gary’s here. I gotta go. Catch up later,” she sang, disappearing out of the door. Isabella nodded and sighed, going back to arranging the room. Gary Rodriguez was pursuing his Master’s in Business Administration and had been dating Tiffany for the whole of last year. He was a kind and gentle guy completely opposite to Weston and every time Isabella saw them together, she felt a constriction in her heart. Why couldn’t she have a love like that?
It had been a year since she had left her family in New York on that fateful day. Weston might have been married by now and happily settled with Fiona. She checked his social media account daily for updates, but there had been none for the last five years. The last update was of her fifteenth birthday when he had come home. Strangely, Hudson and Anna Sophia also didn’t update their accounts either. Their last update was of their wedding day, but strangely, she saw no picture of Weston anywhere amongst their wedding day pictures. There were no pictures of Weston’s wedding day pictures too with Fiona. She had checked Fiona’s account too, but all it contained were pictures of herself at various medical workshops. It confused her a lot, but she didn’t wish to jump to conclusions.
Isabella missed Weston immensely and still wore the pendant that he had given her. She knew it was foolish, but her heart only knew how to love him. It couldn’t love another.
Since the day she had quietly left her uncle’s house in London and moved to her hometown, Los Angeles, life had differed completely from the sheltered one that she had led so far. She was all on her own now. She had enrolled herself at UCLA, pursuing their undergraduate course in English, Professional Writing. Since she was a little girl, it had been her dream to study at UCLA. She was staying on campus in a two bedroomed dorm room for the whole of last year with her roommate, Tiffany. Her uncle had transferred millions into her account and she was in no hurry to find work, concentrating on her studies more. Her habit of diary writing, however, had taken a backseat since she had forgotten her precious diary at home in Las Vegas.
But that didn’t deter her from writing. Every day she wrote a little in a new diary. It wasn’t about her everyday affairs like she used to write before. It was the tragic love story of her and Weston. Every day she took out time and penned down the words which came straight from her heart. It was her solace, her comfort.
Tiffany tried her best to inspire Isabella to go out with her but had found no success yet. So this birthday bash was the first time that Isabella would step out of the campus.
It was Saturday evening and Tiffany made her get ready and pulled her along with her towards her car. Her birthday bash was to be held at her house overlooking Hermosa Beach in LA. That was a section Isabella had never been to before while living here in LA with her parents.
Soon, Tiffany pulled up in front of a sprawling beach house with too many cars parked all along the street. The loud thumping of the beats and the cheers coming from inside the house made her cringe with apprehension.
“God, they started the party without me!” Tiffany exclaimed with a scowl.
“Oh, that’s bad,” said Isabella with a small smile.
“Travis, how could you start without me?” she yelled at her twin brother.
“What can I do if you’re a slow coach? You should have been here earlier,” he complained. Then his eyes fell upon Isabella and he was left speechless.
“What? Cat got your tongue? Guys, meet my roomie, Isabella Harrington,” yelled Tiffany, ignoring her twin and looking at his friends instead. Everyone gawked at the gorgeous girl with their mouths hanging open.
“Hi, Isabella. I’m Travis, as you’ve already figured out by now. Say, Tiffy, where had you been hiding her for so long?” asked Travis with a sly grin.
“Hi,” said Isabella disinterestedly.
“Why should I hide her?” said Tiffany. “She just isn’t your type Travis, stay away,” she whispered into her brother’s ears. Tiffany’s mom came over to greet her and after the introductions were over, they started the party. However, Isabella felt claustrophobic and couldn’t wait for the party to get over. After that dreadful night of her sixteenth birthday, she hated birthday parties. With everyone drinking themselves crazy and trying to force her as well, all Isabella wanted to do was leave. The food was the only good thing there. Since Tiffany had no plans of going back to their dorm room, Isabella had no choice but to take a cab. She couldn’t stay the night here amongst the drunk guys.
“I’ll drop you to your dorm room, Isabella,” offered Travis.
“No, thanks. You must be drunk too,” she pointed out.
“I don’t drink,” he told her, taking offense. Isabella agreed, and he walked her towards his car with a pleased look on his face. Throughout the way he talked about his passion, football and Isabella wasn’t at all interested. He was also studying at UCLA, although Isabella had never seen him meet Tiffany on campus. While he was in Chemical Engineering, Tiffany was majoring in Economics.
“If you don’t go out, how do you keep yourself entertained?” asked Travis, with a clueless look on his face.
“I read and write. Everyone’s different, Travis. I don’t need to go out to entertain myself,” she said with a small smile.
Travis gave her a look of appreciation. “You’re very different from the girls I’ve met so far,” he told her. “So where’s your family?”
“My parents are no more,” she told him, not wanting to give more details, but her heart ached for David and Henrietta Gray. They had given her so much love that it was actually a lie to say that her parents were no more. They were her actual parents.
“Oh, I’m sorry. What about your siblings?” he asked curiously.
“I’m the only child,” she told him, although images of Hudson’s smiling face calling her ‘Pumpkin’ kept disrupting her thoughts. Travis noticed her dejectedly looking out of the car window into the darkness and he stopped his queries, not wanting to upset her.
For the next few months, much to Isabella’s dismay, Travis came regularly to their dorm room to see her, along with his best friend, Sebastián. They seemed like a permanent fixture in their lives. Tiffany was always pissed off to see them, but they never seemed to get the idea that they were unwanted. Sebastián’s presence caused a lot of problems in Tiffany’s relationship with Gary, which made her always scowl.
“Guess what? Gary’s fckin’ broken off with me,” she yelled, storming into the room and falling onto her bed with frustration. Isabella had been completing her assignments for the next day and looked up at the pissed-off Tiffany.
“Why don’t you talk to Travis?” she suggested.
“He doesn’t listen to me. He’s interested in you. Why don’t you date him already? He wouldn’t come here if you agree to meet him elsewhere,” said Tiffany, in a pleading tone.
“I don’t date, Tiffy,” said Isabella in a grave tone, and Tiffany groaned.
“Why? You will one day. You can’t live on your own forever. Then why not my brother?” she tried to coax her.
Isabella was silent for a while. She never talked about herself to anyone. It was something very personal to her, which she didn’t want to share, but Tiffany seemed to have other plans. Isabella had no interest in Travis, or any other guy for that matter. She knew that Weston might have moved on, but her nature was different. She couldn’t love anyone else again. If that meant living alone all her life, then so be it.
“Well? Earth to Bella. I asked you something, girl?” reminded Tiffany.
“I can live alone all my life, Tiffy. Don’t force me into any relationship, please. I might have to leave LA forever if you do,” she told a gaping Tiffany.
“Do you love someone, Isabella?” she asked softly. Isabella nodded.
“Yes, I love him, although I’ve lost him. There isn’t anyone who can replace him, Tiffy. Please understand,” she whispered. Tiffany didn’t argue. She understood. From that day onwards, Travis never bothered her and she was glad. She resumed writing her tragic story with no intervention.