True Beauty

Chapter 19: Break

Ryeanne answered the door after Lindsey rang the doorbell once the Red Hood was down the street.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ryeanne asked as she saw Lindsey standing in front of her. She had tear-stained cheeks, red eyes, and she kept sniffling.

"I got into a fight with my grandparents," Lindsey said between sniffs. "I decided to go to Damian's and stay there for a couple days. Then we had an argument and we broke up. I can't stay there. Is it okay if I stay with you for a couple days?"

Ryeanne stared at Lindsey in shock before moved out of the way so Lindsey could come in. "You go sit on the couch I'll make you some hot chocolate."

Lindsey moved to the couch in the living room and waited for Ryeanne to come back. She looked around the living room, seeing pictures of Ryeanne's family and cute decorations that probably held lots of memories for the family. It reminded her of her home in New York. The Holling Manor had nothing like this. It was so bare of any hominess. Lindsey decided to just look at her hands so more tears wouldn't fall. Ryeanne came back a few minutes later with a piping hot mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

"So, you had two fights, one of them ending in a break up tonight?" Ryeanne as she sat next to Lindsey with her legs crossed.

"My grandparents want me to take over the business after I graduate from college with a degree in business," Lindsey decided to explain before Ryeanne could ask. "I told them that's not what I wanted. And when they insisted, I left the house. Damian lives the closer to me than you do, so I went over there first. When I got there, he wasn't home, but when he did come home, with his brothers and Bruce, everything went bad. He's been lying to me this whole time. I can't be with someone who lies to me."

"Come here, girl," Ryeanne said opening her arms. Lindsey fell into her arms. She began to cry in her friend's arms.

Ryeanne kept her mouth shut as she comforted her friend. Lindsey let out all her emotions on her best friend's couch.

"Why did my parents have to die?" Lindsey cried. "If they weren't dead, I wouldn't have to deal with my grandparents. If they weren't dead, I wouldn't have ever met Damian. You all were right, Ryeanne, I was hurt by him in the end. I should have listened to you guys. I should have tried harder to stay away from him."

"He was the first guy to show interest in you, Lindsey," Ryeanne said with sympathy dripping from her voice. "It makes sense that you would be drawn to him. And you two were so cute together."

Lindsey continued to cry in her friend's arms until there were no more tears left in her eyes.

"I'm going to go talk to my parents and explain what is going on," Ryeanne said as Lindsey pried herself from her arms. "You drink your hot chocolate and I'll be right back."

Lindsey nodded, grabbing the mug and taking a sip. It was luke warm but still made her feel better. That was when she realized she left her bag at Wayne Manor. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and went to her contacts to find Alfred's name.

"What are you doing?" Ryeanne shouted as she came down the stairs seeing her best friend on her phone.

"I'm texting-"

"You are not going to text Damian!" Ryeanne shouted as she launched herself to grab Lindsey's phone. Lindsey quickly held it out of her reach.

"Stop yelling, Ryeanne, your brother needs to sleep for school tomorrow," Lindsey heard Mrs. Lewis shout from upstairs.

"Sorry, Mom," Ryeanne called upstairs. She turned to Lindsey and spoke quieter. "You are not texting Damian. I refuse, as your best friend, to let you do that."