Chapter 891: Upset
"Gabe." Arabelle opened the door and immediately felt a wave of disappointment wash over her. She could have kicked herself for it. What had she been expecting? That Rafe would come to see if she was okay? That he would show up? To help her, console her perhaps? The thought was laughable now. Why would he come to her when he was so clearly ashamed of her? Ha! She almost snorted at her own foolishness.
Arabelle. If I weren’t genuinely worried about you, I’d probably feel a little insulted by how disappointed you are to see me standing here instead of someone else."
It was a statement that Gabe would make. To tease her and get a smile out of her. But suddenly she felt overwhelmed.
Suddenly, everything she had been holding back—every secret and lie, threatened to spill over. She’d hidden so much from him. Too much. How was he not angry? How could he stand here, looking at her with that kind of patience and concern, when she had lied to him and hidden things for so long? Hadn’t she opened him up to ridicule too?
How could she have been so foolish to think Rafe would ever be someone like that? Someone like Gabe? Her sister had lucked out like she deserved to. Didn’t mean that Arabelle was lucky too.
The tears came before she could stop them, her chest tightening as all the emotions she had bottled up over the years spilled out. Arabelle let out a choked sob and stepped forward, throwing her arms around Gabe who immediately hugged her back and patted her head.
"It’s okay," he murmured softly, "Everything’s going to be okay, Arabelle."
She clung to him, her tears soaking into his shirt as she tried to find the words through the sobs. "I’m sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "I’m so sorry, Gabe. I shouldn’t have hidden those things. I shouldn’t have lied."
He pulled back just enough to look at her, his hands resting on her shoulders. "Then why did you hide them? Did you really feel that we would not understand? Or that we would be disappointed in you? Because if you felt that, then I think me and Autumn should be the ones apologizing for not making you feel safe."
Arabelle shook her head and pushed away from him," Don’t say that. You guys were the best parents a girl could have asked for. I hid those things because... I was a foolish teenager."
Gabe said nothing. Letting her take her time to sort her thoughts as she continued," I... I thought that Spencer loved me and I loved him. The kind of love you and Autumn had. So, when he said all those things and then went to humiliate me in front of his friends, I was shattered. I know you and Autumn always told me not to let the past control me. You never hid anythign so that I would not be vulnerable to anyone. But hearing Spence reject me back then... it shook me. I wasn’t prepared for how much it would hurt, and it made me feel like maybe I wasn’t... good enough."