Loving Your Imperfections

Tell The Truth

Mia

"Thanks for everything, Nate." I say politely and reach over, cupping his cheek. I ;ran forward to kiss his cheek, seeing his big smile, but he moves, making our lips meet again.

I can't help but feel butterflies in my stomach. I pull away just ha;f an inch, looking at his eyes. He bites his bottom lip and I can't help but give in again, leaning in and kissing him. It's so hard to resist him, but believe me, I would not be doing this if I knew he was still with Andrea.

His kiss is soft, molding perfectly with my lips and tongue. His hand cups my face, interlacing his fingers with my hair as he pulls me closer. I want to keep kissing him, but... No. I can't.

I pull away, gasping for air. We are panting, our breath erratic. He places his forehead against mine, closing his eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry. I got carried away." he apologizes and I can't help it as my lips tug into a smile.

"Nate, it's ok. We uhm... We both did. I think. I need to go." I whispered, feeling his hand in the back of my head still. I rested my hand over his, as our foreheads still lingered together. "I'll see you later, ok? Call me if you need to." he says, pulling away and smiling. He kisses my forehead and then I get out of his car, closing the door and waving goodbye.

"Hey, by the way," Nathan calls out from behind me as I walked toward my sister's house. I turn, seeing a big smile on his face as the door where I sat is now down. "My parents are throwing a party for my little brother. Your sister and everyone are planning on coming. I hope to see you there." he says, giving me a smile.

I mean, I know it was a kid's party, but his family always had a way to make you feel welcomed and made you have a good time. Besides, if I was being totally honest... I was looking forward to seeing him again.

"I'll be there," I say, making his smile grow as he dropped his face down and looked at me with a gleam in his eyes.

He winks at me and nods, "It's good to have you back in town, Mia." he says, and drives away.

I sigh, standing in the driveway as I feel the butterflies in my stomach. Am I wrong to feel this attraction toward him? I mean, he was dating a friend of mine, and I know for a fact that Andrea adores him still. It was the main reason why I stayed away from them for so long.

I knew if I stayed away, I could suppress these strong feelings I felt for him. But every time I see him... I can't help to feel the, resurface stronger and stronger every time.

"Mia, you're home." my sister, Nikki calls from the door making me come out of my trance. I turn, giving her a slight smile.

"Hi, Niks," I say as she engulfs me with a big bear hug.

"Oh, I missed you so much, kiddo," she says, squeezing me tighter. I chuckle, hugging her back. For the longest, it was just Nikki, dad, and me since Audrey had married Steven. It wasn't until three years ago when Bailey came into the picture and a year after, dad married her mom, Phoebe.

Phoebe has been the best stepmom I could ever have. But I missed Nikki so much. Especially since she's been going to college.

"Why are you here? I thought you were off with your boyfriend?" I asked concerned as I pull away.

"I was, but he had to leave with his family for a private affair. I didn't want to feel like I was intruding, so I decided to come home. He's coming back in a week, so we'll be off to Cancun after that." she says wiggling her eyebrows and earning a slap on her shoulder.

She burst out chuckling, making me get blushed. Nikki was always comfortable with her body and wasn't shy about her s****l life. She was the wild child of us three.

"Mia. Baby, you're home." my stepmom and dad say from behind us. They both quickly hug me, squeezing the daylights out of me. I can't help but feel warm, seeing how they both worry about me.

"What about Bailey? Is she home yet? Mom, dad, I'm so sorry. I left without telling her. Is she ok?" I asked, concern filling me as I realized the big mistake I had done. I had promised them we would look after each other, and just hours after they had left us I had broken my promise.

"Baby, she's fine. She's with Kate and Kenzie. She called us, she's having a good time. Shell be home with the girls later. Ok?" mom says, holding my hand as she leads me inside the house.

We walk past the kitchen where Audrey is already yelling at Steven over the phone. I feel so bad. This is all my fault, I overreacted without thought... But what he said to me still lingered, making my eyes water.

“Why don't we take this in the room the girls will be staying at, honey?” my stepmom, Phoebe suggests. Dad looks at Audrey, who looks fuming with anger, p9nching the curve of her nose.

“Uhm, good idea,” he says, as we all make it into the room, closing the door behind us.

“So, sweetie, listen. About what Steven said.” dad begins, sitting down, placing his hand over Phoebe’s knee. They both look at me with concern. Nikki stands behind them with her thumbnail in her teeth.

“Dad, before you begin. I'm not a kid anymore. If you're hiding something from me, I need to know. I love mom, and I will never stop loving her. But you need to stop keeping things from me.” I say, making his eyes go from surprised, to sad.

“I know, baby. I know. And... You're right. I was... I was just trying to protect you, I guess.” he says. His eyes begin to water, and he hangs his head. My stepmom, Phoebe rubs his back, looking at him with concern.

“Was it true, dad? Was mom really drunk that day? Was she,” I said, as my throat felt pained. “Was she having trouble with alcohol?” I asked, getting him to look at me with pain in his glistened brown eyes.

He knew the truth, and I needed to know, “She deserves to know honey. It's time.” she says as he reaches for her hand, kissing her palm and sighing.

“She... She was, baby. But, I swear, I tried everything to help her. I signed her up for therapy, alcohol anonymous sessions, a psychologist, everything. I tried everything, but she was just,” he says as he closes his eyes, averting his head away from me.

I hugged myself, feeling my eyes water even more. I became remorseful. When I was four and mom and I had that big car accident that killed her, they all lied to me. All of them. They said the other girl was driving recklessly and she had caused mom to swerve out of control, causing a collision between both cars.

I had placed guilt on someone who was innocent this whole time and even felt that it was the girl's punishment to become paraplegic. How wrong was I?

“So it wasn't... It wasn't Sandra’s fault. It was mom?” I asked through tears as my voice became pained.

He began to cry and stood up to hug me. I couldn't help but cry as well. It was hard to digest, something so severe. I felt anger, sadness, and confusion.

“I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry.”

“You lied to me. All of you. All this time. You let me believe it was Sandra, and I went numerous times to see her, telling her how I hated her for taking my mom and going off on her. Not once did I give her a chance to explain to me.” I said feeling guilty for spilling my anger on the wrong person.

The big scar on my leg was a memory I thought was plausible, but, n0w... It was nothing but a false statement.

“Mia, I'm sorry baby. I know we all lied to you, but... You spoke so highly of your mom all the time that we... We didn't want to deter the thought. We wanted you to have good memories of her. The good once before she fell into depression and gave in to alcoholism. You have to believe us, sweetie, everyone did it too,”

“It's fine. I'm fine. No... I... I understand.”

The truth is, I didn't. I didn't understand, but if one thing was clear was that they all loved me, and I loved my family too. It would take me a while to understand, but...

I needed to see Sandra. I needed to apologize to her for all the bad-mouthing and anger I spat at her.

“Are you... Are you sure baby? I know it's hard. But,”

“I said, I'm fine, daddy. I just... I'm sorry I went off on all of you. And I'm sorry I made you come back from your trip for this.” they look at each other as I wipe my tears away and smile.

“Actually... About that, Mia,” he says, as they both look at each other with concern.

“I'm afraid we lied to you about that too,” he says making me look at Nikki, who looks down at her feet. Guilt was written all over her.

What more can possibly be happening? Whatever it was, I hope it wasn't that bad. I love visiting my sister, but there was nothing like being home. I wanted to go home and feel safe in my room.

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