Falling Fast and Breathing Hard

The day finally came when my mother was coming to visit. I couldn't be any happier than I was now. The only thing lingering in the back of my mind was if my step-father was going to come with her. I am so scared, but Kris keeps telling me that even if he comes, everything will be alright. He didn't know Ronnie though; he's a freaking nightmare to be around. In the middle of cleaning my apartment at the last minute, I began to have a panic attack; Kris, who happened to be walking into the living room at the right moment, took me down to the bathroom and made me sit down on the cold floor. I was breathing heavily and shaking.

"Athena? It's gonna be okay." he said, holding my right hand.

I shook my head while sweat dripped down my neck. He grabbed a wet washcloth and wiped my forehead and my neck. I slowly cooled and calmed down.

"Oh, Kris." I pulled him close to me and laid my head on his shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"This is gonna sound redundant, but I have a really, really bad feeling that he's gonna come here with my mom. I'm usually right about these kind of things."

"I won't let him hurt you if it's the last thing I do." he said, kissing the top of my head.

I sighed a small sigh of relief and stood up with Kris.

"I'm going to fix myself up. I'll be alright. Just go and wait for my mom."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go please."

He did and I fixed myself in a matter of ten minutes, coming back to find Kris sitting on the couch in the living room.

"How much longer?"

I checked my phone.

"20 minutes."

He held me in his arms until I heard a knock on my door.

"Come with me." I said, grabbing his hand as I got up off the couch.

I answered the door with a smile.

"Hi Mom!"

We hugged.

"Hi honey. I missed you!"

"I missed you too."

I could sense someone else's presence as we separated; it was the most evil person that I had ever met. I took a big gulp and let them in the house, all the while holding Kris' hand as tight as humanly possible. I could feel Ronnie's glare without even looking at him.

"Anyways, Mom, Ronnie, this is Kris Letang, my boyfriend."

He shook both of their hands but maintained a stern look on his face when he shook his hand. He didn't want to shake his hand but knew he had to.

"Nice to meet you." my mom said with a smile.

He smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Allender."

"So, Athena, where are we eating today?" she asked excitedly.

"Artist Cafe. It's a great restaurant in East End."

"Sounds wonderful, doesn't it Ronnie?"

"Yep. Sounds really good." he said with a fake smile.

Once my mom wasn't looking at him, he frowned and continued to glare at Kris and I. Kris kept giving him a dirty look, every time he looked his way. When we reached his car, I thought about the seating arrangements. I wanted to sit up front with Kris. I didn't want to sit in the back with my step-father, nor did I want Kris to sit with him.

"I get the passenger seat!" I said, opening the door and sitting down.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit in the back with your step-dad?" she asked, getting in the backseat.

"Yes Mom. I wanna sit next to my boyfriend."

I turned around irritated and angry. Kris squeezed my hand as he started the car. I connected my i-Pod to the outlet and decided to play Simple Plan's self-titled album. I turned it to No Love and pressed play.

Staring out into the world across the street
You hate the way your life turned out to be
He's pulling up in the driveway and you don't make a sound
'Cause you always learn to hold the things you want to say
You're always going to be afraid

There's only hate
There's only tears
There's only pain
There is no love here
Oh so what will you do?
There's only lies
There's only fears
There's only pain
There is no love here

Broken down like a mirror smashed to pieces
You learned the hard way to shut your mouth and smile
If these walls could talk they would have so much to say
'Cause every time you fight the scars are gonna heal, but they're never gonna go away

There's only hate
There's only tears
There's only pain
There is no love here
Oh so what will you do?
There's only lies
There's only fears
There's only pain
There is no love here
Oh no, so what will you do?

You're falling, you're screaming
You're stuck in the same old nightmare
He's lying, you're crying
There's nothing left to salvage
Kick the door cause this is over
Get me out of here

(Kick the door)

There's only hate
There's only tears
There's only pain
There is no love here
Oh so, what will you do?
There's only lies
There's only fears
There's only pain
There is no love here
Tell me what will you do?
There's only hate
There's only tears
There's only pain
There is no love here

I hope my mom listened to these lyrics and realized that she needs to get out of that relationship. I cried inside and was unhappy the whole way to the restaurant. As we got out of the car, Kris whispered if I was okay; I said, yeah, but I'm unhappy. He kissed my forehead and squeezed my hand again. He held my hand as we walked into the cafe. When we sat down, I realized that I didn't want to let go of his hand; I still let go regardless. I didn't even have to look at the menu; I knew what I wanted. My mom looked up from her menu and asked me something.

"What do you recommend?"

"The Club is delicious. I always get it when I come here."

"Do you come here every day then?" Ronnie asked.

"Once every two weeks." I said in a semi-nasty tone.

He had no right to ask that. I guess he was assuming because Kris is in the NHL and I'm dating him that means I'm a gold-digger? Fuck him. He's an asshole who doesn't deserve to be with my mother. After we got our food, I headed to the restroom because I felt like crying. No one needed to see me cry, especially my mom; she was here to visit me and didn't need to see me break down. For Ronnie, he would just make fun of me and call me a wuss and Kris didn't like to see me cry; it hurts him to see me cry. I sat in the stall and just broke down.

Why does he affect me this way? Why am I crying because of him? I should be happy and ignore him, but he's making it difficult. Even Kris and my mom weren't helping the situation at all.

I cried for a few minutes, dried my eyes and fixed my make-up again. I put on a happy face and walked back out to the table.

"Everything alright, Athena?" Kris asked.

"Yes. I had to wait a couple of minutes for a stall is all."

Kris didn't believe me, but everyone else did. We proceeded to eat with tension in the air. I loved my mom, but I couldn't wait for the day to end. That sounds terrible, but it's true.

"Where to now honey?"

I looked to Kris and mouthed 'please tell her'.

"We're gonna head down to the Strip District."

She nodded.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"You're welcome."

He kissed me on the lips and I kissed him back. He was too sweet and too good to me, but that's better than living with a creature like Ronnie. After getting back in the car, we headed to the Strip. Getting out, I thought about how the rest of the was going to go and all I could do, was pray that it would go well. As we walked down the sidewalk, Kris made sure he had a tight grip on my hand. He rubbed his thumb over my hand almost the whole way through. About five minutes later as my mother was in the restroom, Ronnie had to make a comment, of course.

Lucky me. What else is new?

"Athena, are you alright?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Yes. I am." I said through my teeth.

I thought steam would come out of my ears, I was that angry.

"Then, why do you need your boyfriend to hold your hand the whole time?"

I lost it.

"Shut the fuck up! If you really loved my mom, you would hold her hand once in a fucking while." I screamed at him and decided to slap him.

Luckily, where we were, it was a pretty vacant area. Kris pulled me back.

"You little bitch! How dare you speak to me in that tone?!"

He tried to pull me away from Kris, so he could hit me, but it didn't work; my wrist hurt a lot though. I thanked God for Kris. If he wasn't here now, Ronnie would kick the shit out of me like I was a punching bag.

"Let her go! She needs to learn a lesson!" he screamed in Kris' face.

He didn't take too well to that.

"Athena. Stand behind me."

I did and watched what was about to unfold.

"You treat her like a piece of shit for no fucking reason. What the hell is wrong with you? You're a horrible person and don't deserve her mother. One more thing. Stop being so fucking fake!" he yelled, poking his chest.

Kris was fuming and ready to kick ass. Ronnie pushed him against the wall and punched him, but Kris punched him right back. I knew how he fought and it was impressive to say the least. Ronnie kicked him to the ground with Kris hitting his head on the way down and I backed farther away, scared for his life. He pulled me towards him, dislocating my shoulder. I fell to the ground, crying. Kris saw this and came back up and punched him multiple times in the face; it was something I saw before from him. He even had on the same exact face.

"Fuck you! You're never gonna hurt her again!" he screamed as Ronnie gave up and sat down.

"Kris, come help me up. This hurts so bad." I said, crying out in pain.

He did and I sobbed into his chest. I heard my mom's voice and looked to see her coming to where we were.

"Athena, are you okay?"

I shook my head.

"What happened?"

I told her and she gasped. She was speechless, but thank goodness, she believed me. After seeing that, who wouldn't believe his/her own child?

"What did you see?"

"I just saw the end of the fight and Kris yelling at that piece of shit I married." she said, scoffing.

I couldn't talk anymore, so I just leaned into Kris.

"Did you call the police?" he asked.

"Yes. They should be here in a few minutes and they're going to bring an ambulance after I told them what happened to you and Athena."

My mom went to check on Ronnie.

"Can we sit down?"

"Of course."

We sat down and I kept rubbing my left shoulder.

"Fucking asshole."

"It'll feel better once it's popped back in, but unfortunately, it's gonna hurt like a motherfucker."

"I can deal with that. I've been through worse." I said with a frown.

Kris pulled me closer and held onto me until the police came. Once I saw them, we walked towards them.

"Miss Halloway?" an officer asked me.

"Yes. That's me."

"Could you tell me what happened from beginning to end?"

I nodded.

"He asked me if I was alright, since I was holding my boyfriend's hand nearly all day and I said I wasn't. He asked why I needed to hold my hand all the time... then, I yelled at him, which caused him to scream in my face because I shouldn't talk to him in that tone..."

I finished the rest of the story faster than I did the beginning. After Kris told his side of the story, I headed over to the ambulance, where they popped my shoulder back in place while I squeezed Kris' hand. I sighed once it was better.

A trip to the hospital happened to make sure Kris didn’t have a concussion, and thank goodness, he didn’t and we were able to leave. On the other hand, Ronnie seemed to be perfectly fine, but he was arrested, which made me laugh.

"Is it bad that this makes me happy? This is the happiest I've been all day."

"Kinda, but he deserves it."

"I wonder what my mom's gonna do when she goes home? I know she's gonna divorce him, but I don't know."

"I know this. She'll be a lot better off."

"How is the rest of the day going to go? This was so unexpected."

My mom walked over to us before he could answer.

"Is your shoulder better?"

"Yes. How are you mom?"

"Good, but I don't know whether or not to go home or stay. Today was so out of the blue."

"Stay for a few more hours, please? I missed you so much. " I said, giving her a hug.

"Of course. Mind if I stay the night since it's a long trip home?"

"I don't mind. I get to give you a tour of my apartment."

She smiled and we then finished our tour of Pittsburgh, from where we were to the Boulevard of the Allies. My mom was happier than she had been since my dad died, which had been seven years. I'm not counting the years that she was with my soon-to-be ex-stepfather. By the time we had reached my apartment, it was around seven and I was exhausted.

"I love your apartment." my mom said, taking her shoes off.

"Thanks, Mom. Can I have a hug?"

"You know you can just hug me without asking. Right?" she asked while laughing.

"Yeah. I thought I'd be polite."

We hugged and then I showed her around the apartment; I was mostly excited to show her my bedroom for some odd reason.

"Even though it's simply an apartment, you have made it look like a mansion."

"Mom. Don't exaggerate." I said, laughing.

"I'm not! It's really that nice."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, honey."

About four hours later, my mom called it a night and fell asleep on the couch. I offered her my room, but she argued that Kris and I wouldn't have enough room on the couch. I agreed; we wouldn't have had enough room on the couch. Kris and I laid on my bed talking for about a half hour before we went to bed for the night.

"I can't stop thinking about my mom and what will happen after she gets home. This divorce is gonna be nasty."

"You know that she can get though anything, just like you can get through anything."

I smiled.

"You're the best boyfriend I could ever ask for."

He smiled and blushed.

"Thanks. You're the best girlfriend I could ever ask for."

"Thanks."

We kissed and within minutes, we laid down and fell asleep.

Notes

Chapter title and lyrics courtesy of No Love by Simple Plan. Obviously.