~Valentina~

What I had said to Ronnie wasn't entirely true. Arthur had pushed me through a sliding glass door once. After he sobered up, my best friend had persuaded him to take me to the hospital. He always listened to her, never yelled at her, and was always gentle with her. Thinking back, I want to kick myself. The signs were always there but I was too blind and stupid to see them. They told the staff that I'd been angry and tripped, crashing into the glass. As if that'd be enough force to fucking break it. Jaz had known about the abuse since the day it started. She'd always beg me to leave but never to go to the police. Then again she loved him, if it's even possible to love someone like that. Even with all the shit she saw, she still wanted to be with him. Michael's voice brings me back from the dark corners of my memory.

"You might want to change your shirt Ronnie.."

Michael shoots a worried glance at me and we both stare at Ronnie's shirt. There are dark red splotches of drying blood from where I held on to him. This is beginning to be a problem. It takes me a bit to realize when I am and what's going on when I come out of a night terror. Getting hurt coming out of them is just something that happens from time to time. Which is why I don't have anything breakable near my bed at my apartment. I've hurt myself both times here. Ronnie and Michael have both witnessed it first hand. I really don't want either of them to worry about me. It's bad enough that Max and Alva both, either text or call every day, to check up on me. I quickly smile at Michael in hopes it'll reassure him I'm fine as Ronnie takes off his shirt.

"I'll just throw it in the laundry real quick."

Ronnie looks at me as if making sure that he has my approval . He quickly tosses it in and walks back. I sit down at the table as a wave of nausea and exhaustion overtake my body. I fidget with the bandages on my hands.

"Can you two stop staring? It's kind of overwhelming me..."

Ronnie clears his throat and Michael turns his attention back to cooking. I sigh and try to relax. I'm in trouble. I told Ronnie that I'd tell him about my nightmare. I notice the rose at the table and look up at Michael, who points over to Ronnie. I can't help but smile and the two of us burst out laughing. Ronnie looks at us confused.

"Did I miss something? Why are you two laughing?"

We both shake our heads as Michael puts breakfast down on the table.

"No. No. It's nothing. By the way Val, Alvanis called for you earlier."

"Oh! I'll call after we eat. This all looks so good Michael."

Michael tilts his head over to Ronnie. Ah, so Ronnie cooked. Weird. He normally lets Michael cook unless it's just for himself.

~Michael~

"Actually, Ronnie pretty much cooked all of it. Was up pretty early making it."

Ronnie gives me a look as I sit down. Val looks around at the food. I gotta say, Ronnie is pretty dedicated to this 'new start' thing. He made the usual eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns. He also made a special treat. French toast, which just happens to be Valentina's favorite breakfast food. There's also orange juice and coffee. Iced for Val, another favorite. Damn I miss having her and Alva here all the time. Valentina seems a little distracted by Ronnie, sitting across from her shirtless.

"Ronnie, can you put a shirt on? You can't just sit shirtless during brunch."

"Ah right."

Ronnie looks at Val and hesitates before getting up to grab a shirt from his room. I take the brief alone time with Valentina to see if she's alright.

"Are you really okay?"

"Yeah. Arthur did a lot of shit before I got the courage to leave, so the pain doesn't really bother me too much. I'm actually pretty used to it and it's better than nothing. Uh... Sorry."

I'm guessing Valentina saw the look on my face as she had continued talking. After everything she's been through, the thought of her hurting herself, scares me. I'll beat her ass and then make sure she's alright. She better fucking not. The nightmares she has are bad enough. I keep my mouth shut as Ronnie comes back in. He sits down and we start eating. Val goes straight for the french toast first.

"Whoa there. Save room for the rest of the food."

Valentina makes a goofy face and points her fork at Ronnie.

"Oh trust me, I'll have room. It's only 3 slices of french toast."

Ronnie and I both laugh. This is probably the first full meal she's eaten in a while. Even her dinner last night with Zakk. She snapchatted it. She had a salad with a small side of pasta. Val pours an unnecessary amount of syrup on her plate and smiles like a kid in a candy store. I shake my head and Valentina covers her mouth as she talks.

"This is a conspiracy to make me fat, isn't it? You two are in on it together. What's for dinner, a whole cow?"

Val laughs as she finishes her french toast quickly. Ronnie watches her pile the other food on her plate, amused and happy she's eating a lot.

"Fat? Shit. What are you? A size 2?"

I roll my eyes at her dramatics. She frowns at me as she stuffs more food in her mouth.

"I'm in between a 4 and 6!"

"Mm. You came here a size 8! Do I need to become your personal chef to make sure you eat at that apartment?"

Val rolls her eyes at me and sticks out her tongue.

"Oh my gosh! Dad! I do eat! Mom!! Dad's being overprotective again!"

We both look over at Ronnie. He looks up from his food confused.

"Why am I the mom?"

Val sighs as if she's explained it too many times before.

"Are you kidding me? Michael is such an overprotective dad type! And that makes you the mom. Even though you're not really nurturing or mother-like."

Ronnie frowns and looks over at me. I just shrug.

"She's calling me heartless on the low. For your information little girl, I am very caring."

Val nods and looks around. Ronnie rolls his eyes.

"I'm an adult, not a little girl."

"Uh huh. Right, Bullshit."

Valentina covers her mouth with her hands and gasps, looking from me to Ronnie.

"Dad! Mom said a bad word!"

Playing along, I kick Ronnie under the table.

~Ronnie~

"Oww! Why'd you kick me?"

I push my chair back from the table a little to look at my leg.

"It didn't hurt. You cursed in front of the baby!"

I look from a smiling Valentina to Michael who shrugs again.

"She just said she's an adult."

Val sticks her tongue out at me. We all finish up eating and clean up the dishes. Valentina clears the table and puts things away since she can't really get her hands wet. Michael leaves the house to get some things. He's probably gonna spoil Val and out do my breakfast. I wash up the rest of the dishes and join Val in the living room. I guess I kinda am the mom. You won't catch me admitting that shit out loud though.

"Do you want to wait until Michael gets home to talk about it? I mean, he'll probably take a while.."

I sit down on the couch next to Val. She looks over at me and pulls her phone out of her pocket.

"Actually it's fine. I'm going to call Alva first to see what she wanted before we talk."

"As long as you're comfortable with talking to me about it."

I nod my head as she dials Alvin's number and gives me a look.

"You never exactly worried about my comfort at all.."

"Second chance, remember?"

She turns her attention back to the phone and places it up to her ear. I watch her face light up once Alvanis answers.

"Hey Alva! How are you and Max?"

"Oh that's good! Hmm? Oh, Michael told you?"

I see Val frown at the phone. I lean in to try and hear the other end of the conversation. Val shoves me away. I pout at her.

"No. I'm fine. Ronnie cleaned me up... Oh! Yeah I did!!!"

I snatch Valentina's phone from her hand, muting our end and putting Alva on speaker. Val tries to grab her phone back but I hold it over my head.

"Hey no fair!"

"What are you two talking about?"

"None of your business."

Val attempts to reach her phone one last time and gives up, glaring at me. Alvanis' laugh comes through the speaker as she talks.

"Oh my god. Christian and Michael both told me you punched him in the face! Max and I died laughing! That's what he gets for being a dick! How was your dinner with Zakk?"

Alvin makes kiss noises over the phone and I glare at the screen. I'm gonna kill her the next time she's up here. Val laughs as I hand her the phone back. She takes Alva off speaker and unmutes her end.

"It was so nice. He's such a sweetheart. We went to this really nice ice cream place after. It was so good!!"

"Ah yeah Michael's out running errands I guess. Nah I'm fine with Ronnie, I'm giving him a second chance.... BITCH NO!"

I look down at her a little shocked and she brings the phone to her lips more to whisper.

"We're just friends... No... I... He's right here..."

She hands me her phone and I look at her as I take it.

"Hello?"

"If you fuck up again I will fly up from Florida and kill you. I'll make it a slow and painful death. I'll make sure you suffer horribly, Radke."

I hear Max yelling in the background, threatening me as well. Something about castrating me and throwing my dying corpse to the sharks.

"Okay yeah... I'm hanging up now... Valentina says bye. Have fun sucking Max's dick, Chipmunk. That's animal cruelty by the way."

I hang up the phone and Val shakes her head in disapproval.