Chosen (Damiano David & Victoria DeAngelis)

Chapter 48

The next evening, they didn't have a concert, so they decided to finally sit down together and have a real talk. It was about 7 and they were getting ready in their room. Since his little suicide attempt, everything had gotten worse. He was still able to function and half the time, everything was like it had always been but the rest of the time, he was a complete mess, getting anxious as soon as Victoria was out of sight. She had a feeling that he was actually scared of doing something like that again. He was also constantly looking for physical contact, holding onto her hand or at the very least her arm whenever he could. She didn't blame him. It must have been very traumatizing for himself as well. Actually, she was surprised that he hadn't tried to kill himself earlier because of what he had been through...she just figured that he had stayed strong for too long and then, when Thomas had said what he had said, it had been the last push he had needed. "I can't tell them everything. They wouldn't understand...they would judge me...and I...I just can't.", he mumbled anxiously as he was nervously scratching one of his arms while holding onto her hand at the same time. She had noticed that habit of his before but she had never paid too much attention to it. She figured it was to make the scars bleed or hurt again instead of making new ones. She grabbed his other hand as well, so he couldn't scratch anymore, looking into his sad dark eyes: "It's okay, Angel. You don't need to tell them anything you're not comfortable with but...I also believe that they deserve to know the truth so we can prevent situations like yesterday. Of course, Thomas overstepped boundaries and he shouldn't need someone to explain to him that you don't say things like that but I think that if he had known, he wouldn't have said it. Let's just sit down and talk...whatever happens during that talk doesn't need to be planned now." He seemed to be okay with that and so, they made their way to Ethan's room, where they would meet.

The room was completely silent, the atmosphere tense and uncomfortable. They were sitting on a small sofa, Thomas and Ethan on the one on the other side of the table. Damiano was holding onto her hand, avoiding everyone's eyes. That was by far the most uncomfortable situation she had ever been in. How was she supposed to start a heavy conversation like this? It wasn't like she could just sit there and say something like: Oh yeah, I thought you should probably know that he was raped and abused by his girlfriend and is now hurting himself to somehow cope with this fucked up situation.

That was bullshit. Nobody could say it out loud with so little emotion. Subconsciously, she was caressing the back of his hand, drawing tiny circles on it with her thumb. She didn't know if she did that to comfort him or herself. She was so terribly used to all of that by now, sometimes she really couldn't distinguish between the things she did for him and the ones she needed herself. Another ten minutes passed...it was almost 8 now. "Fuck it", she thought. Somebody had to start. She took a deep breath to calm down, as she was extremely stressed herself. "Okay...uhm...I have no idea how to start this. I think it's very clear that we have been keeping things from you. Both of you saw his wounds yesterday, so there is no use in denying the obvious." Thomas looked like he definitely hadn't handled the incident well...his eyes were red and puffy and he looked tired as hell. He looked at Damiano, blinking a few times as if he was trying to hold upcoming tears back: "Why didn't you tell us? I thought we could trust each other." His voice sounded unusually scratchy, she noticed but didn't pay attention to it. She felt Damiano tense up. He looked into Victoria's eyes, a begging tone to his voice, as if he was a child that wanted his mother to speak instead of speaking on his own: "You're...you're right, Vic. They...they need to hear the full truth but...you...you need to tell them...because I...I can't.", he sounded so shaky, close to tears even, though he wasn't crying at the moment. She was taken aback by that, nodding slowly. Now she was getting shaky herself, holding onto his hand a bit tighter. Of course, she would tell them if he wanted her to but that didn't make it easier for her...it wasn't like this was something you could just casually tell someone. Ethan and Thomas were looking at her curiously but more than that anxiously, scared of what was about to come out of her mouth. "Okay...uhm...first of all, I would ask you to treat this information carefully. This is something, only Damiano, Carla and I know about, so I expect you to keep it to yourselves. Try not to freak out and try treating both this topic and Damiano with respect because this isn't really something that is openly talked about a lot." Ethan nodded a bit, flashing her a comforting but obviously forced smile: "It's okay...whatever it is, we will be able to understand. Just get it over with and tell us." She knew she needed to do it fast, like removing a band aid because the longer it took her, to worse it got for everyone involved. She looked at Damiano one more time, looking for his consent to actually reveal his biggest secret. He looked directly into her eyes...something he only seemed comfortable to do with her as he was still avoiding other people's eyes in general. She could read him so well by now, knowing that right now there was nothing but anxiety coming from him. And then, he nodded, giving her the final consent, she had kinda hoped she wouldn't get. She gently squeezed his hand as some source of comfort while she spoke the words she had been keeping a secret for almost 2 months now: "Damiano, he...well...fuck...he...he was abused and...and raped by Carla."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

Again, I'm sorry, this is a rushed chapter. But as I said, I have some plans for this weekend, so I don't have that much time. It's literally only 6 in the morning and I got up an hour ago just to write this, so it's not as good as many of the others but I promise, tomorrow I will be back on track :)

Anyway, did you expect them to tell them the whole truth? How do you think Ethan and Thomas are going to react to those news? Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia