Beneath the whispers

Chapter 40

Anthony

“so, you like Bella huh?” Harper asks slowly enough to confirm he wasn’t provoking a punch.

“I do hate you” I respond almost as fast and he flinches at my response. The fact that he is extra jumpy is enough reason to suspect him if we hadn’t seen him that day

“why would you hate someone you just met?”

“lets see…” I breath in with my hand below my jaw like I was thinking “you are disgusting and you smell like death, how about that?” I face him briefly and continue walking forward

“ouch!” he exclaims and jogs to cover the distance I had created between us while he was trying to process what I just said “look, I am going to try to win your hearts”

“just focus on making us not hate you further. Tip number one” I point out a finger at his face “shut the fuck up or I will shut it myself” I fume at him briefly until he steps back and nods “good”

That was enough to keep him quiet as we stroll through the house checking each, I did make him shout out for Olivia and Willow intermittently and for some reason he did it with so much patience

Anyway, I am no way going easy on him, because the less friendly he is with us the less likely he will feel like we are hiding something when we decide to not include him in some plans. Instead he will be distracted with the feeling of being left out

The day is far spent now and the empty village is quiet as ever making our voices travel far as we yell out the names repeatedly

I watch Harper closely throughout this walk for anything that would point to a clue like him looking at a path in some manner or subconsciously concealing something

“Here, you guys –” Willow cuts himself off when he sees Harper and he looks hard at me “where are the others?” he asks trying to remain cool

“We split up while we were looking for you” I answer hoping he catches on the hint

“so you are now cuddling up affection for the new mate” he gestures to Harper and I smile at him. He looks back at Harper “thanks for helping find us” he turns back to me “but Olivia is not herself now and she doesn’t want to leave yet”

“let me see her” I say, he nods and heads fast and we both follow him. I am definitely hoping Olivia still has her act on

We get to the beaded hut and I smile “I knew you would come here, that is why I came here first”

“you do know me well” He smiles back at me and we all enter. Olivia is on the bed and she is sitting with her hands rapped around her folded legs. Her head is buried in her knee but I don’t hear a sob

“she okay?” Harper asks

“as if it is not obvious enough” I say. I walk up to her and touch her knee but she cringes withdrawing her body from my hand

“I will be fine here, just leave”

“No you won’t” Willow says with a ragged breath

“Olivia lets go back to the hotel, we will sort thing out when we get back and if you want to give Bella space we will make sure she keeps to it”

“I hate her, I don’t want to be in the same breathing space as she”

“Liv” I hold her shoulder but she doesn’t pull away now “I cannot understand what you feel, Bella was being a bitch and she is sorry I promise. I am not apologizing for her, I just want you to give her the opportunity to apologize to you”

I literally wish I was with the group gathering more ‘whatever that is’ because I am most definitely fucking this act up. I breath in and continue “you both have been best friends for the longest of times and I am sure that no matter the difference you might have had, you can still work it out”

“We were never friends, she made it quite clear how her mother blackmailed into the friendship” Olivia raise her head for the first time to look at me

I breath relief from my lungs – her face is not swollen like I’d expected and her eyes are weak looking but not dimmed out.

“we still need to join hands together if we want to survive this” I am not going to go down the train where I try to convince her that Bella is a good friend.

‘Bella had her fair share of mistakes – grave unforgiveable mistakes but she is changing and I am sure we both can see that and even if some of what she said about Bella was true… the Bella I grew to know is so much more different’

I want to say all this but it might not come our like it is playing in my head and I am not risk creating an awkward environment

“I will tell you a story” Harper says, he walks up to her and squat to her eye level. She looks at him through the tears that laced her eyes

He draws a warm comforting smile over his face, he opens his mouth to say something but hesitates, then he lets out a breath from his mouth “ok, it is not like a story story but I hope it makes you feel better”

He clears his throat “there was once a lost girl, she was the too cool for school kind of girl that struggled to belong among the popular girls”

He pauses with a smile and continues “she lashed onto insincere friendship, created this fake version of herself so she can fill a void in her heart, but even with all this she still felt empty, until when she stumbled upon something real and true, something she knew would fill the void she had looked ages for” he run a finger under her eyes like she was some child of his

“But then” he continues “she had to accept this thing, to accept it is to reject the whole life she had built, it is like breaking yourself down to build it back, that process is long and hard. So she holds on to that thing that is real and true carrying along the baggage of the life she had built. This alone clouds her judgment and the failure to balance this out starts to drift her away from that one thing that felt real”

He takes in a breath and take her hand “Tony will punch me for this but I will say it anyway. Bella is a bitch, she truly is but you know one thing I saw in her eyes when you walked out on her, it was longing and regret. She is trying to get you back but she still feels that she doesn’t deserve you because of all the things that had happened in the past between you guys. If you leave her now, it will tear through an even bigger void. You need to make her believe that she deserves your forgiveness and that way you too can let go of the bitterness you have acquired from being hurt in the friendship. You are a great friend and she knows it”

“ok, ok… how would you know all this?” Willow asks. Me on the other hand is too stoned to say anything

“lets say… from experience” he says without taking his eyes from Olivia and cups her cheek with one hand but she hugs him instead

“Thank you Harper, Bella has her good part though and she can be real and true… at least to me” she chuckles and tears ride down her cheeks

I and Willow look at each other and then at them – I am beginning to doubt if he was the one from earlier or he is just one damn good actor