Happiness Doesn't Come Easily

I’m starting to wonder if I should even keep updating this story. Is anyone reading it at all? Any reviews at all would be greatly appreciated it. Please review and feed my muse.

The lyrics in this chapter are from the song Scars- by Papa Roach.

Beta’d by Drift Queen Tierra. Read her story.

Chapter Seven:

The next morning, Abi woke up with a splitting headache. She sat up slowly and looked around. Where in the hell was she? “Tie?” Abi called out. Just then a knock sounded on her door. “Come in.” she called. The door opened and revealed D.K. standing there with a bottle of water and some aspirin.

“Here. I thought you might need this.” He said as he walked over to her and handed her the pills and water.

“Oh god I need something else first.” Abi said as she got up and ran down the hall to the bathroom, where she puked her guts up in the toilet. D.K. followed her, sat down behind her, and held her hair back, as she leaned over the toilet again.

Finally Abi sat back against D.K. and sighed. He handed her the aspirin and the water, which she took gratefully. “What did you drink last night?”

“A bottle of Jack Daniels, a beer, and a swallow of Sake.” Abi said as she took the aspirin and drank some of the water.

“A bottle of Jack Daniels. Wow. That’s a lot.”

“Yeah, well I don’t normally drink like that.” Abi said as she stood up slowly and started back to the bed. “Did I do anything stupid last night?”

“Stupid?”

“Did I try to get you into bed or strip or anything?”

“You kissed me, but that was it.”

“Oh, thank god. I was afraid that I tried something worse.” Abi said as she crawled back into bed and closed her eyes. D.K. left her alone and went out to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. As he was sitting down to eat his phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Where is she?”

“Sleeping.”

“Why is she there?”

“She needed a place to stay. She called and asked if she could stay here. I said yes.”


”Why would she stay with you? She doesn’t even know you.”

“So?”

“I’m coming to get her and bring her home.”

“She is home. I don’t want you near my house. Anyway I don’t think she wants to see you.” D.K. said as he hung up the phone and went back to eating. Han sighed and hung up his phone. He looked back at Tierra and shook his head.

“She’s sleeping according to D.K.” Han said.

“You know, this is your fault that she left!” Tie told him.

“My fault? How is her leaving my fault?”

“She saw you and your skanky bitch last night outside and it brought up some painful memories that she didn’t want to be thinking about. You let her down. She actually thought you might have been different. If you want her to come back here, you need to prove to her that you’re not like her last boyfriend. Think about that for awhile.” Tierra said as she left the house and went over to the garage.

A few hours later Abi woke up again and slowly sat up. She looked around and nothing looked familiar. Shaking her head she stood up. Her headache had subsided some and she was looking forward to a shower. Abi walked out of the bedroom and down the hall. She looked into the living room and saw D.K. sitting on the couch, reading over some papers.

Abi leaned on the doorjamb and watched him. She couldn’t believe how wrong her first impression of him was. She just thought that he was just a stuck-up ass who thought he was god’s gift to the world. It turns out that underneath that bad ass exterior is a very sweet, caring person. D.K. looked up and saw Abi standing there, “Hey. How you feeling?”

“Better. Do you have any extra towels? I’d like to take a shower.”

“Yeah. They are in the closet. It’s the door right next to the bathroom. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” Abi said as she went to get the towels and take a shower. After her shower, Abi felt human again. She quickly dressed and went back out to the living room and sat down next to D.K.

“What are you reading?”

“Just papers for my uncle. How are you feeling now?”

“Human once again. I swear I’m never drinking like that again.” Abi said as she looked over at D.K. He just laughed.

“You hungry?”

“A little bit.”

“I could fix you something or we could go out. If we go out I need to call Neela and let her know.”

“Neela?”

“My girlfriend.”

“Oh God. I never even thought about a girlfriend. Will she care that I’m here? I don’t want to start a fight between you two.”

“It’ll be ok. She knows that you’re here. I called her last night after you fell asleep.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now shall we go out or stay in?”

“Do you mind if we stay in and maybe watch T.V. or something? Unless you need to go?”

“No, I have nothing to do the rest of the day. I’ll call Neela over and we’ll just hang out, ok.”

“Sounds good. So do you want any help cooking?”

“No. I’m a pretty good cook. My grandmother taught me. Let me call Neela, then I’ll start on supper.”

“Ok.” Abi said as she flipped on the T.V.. D.K. pulled out his cell phone and dialed Neela’s number.

“Hey. You coming over tonight? Abi didn’t want to go out and I’m cooking. Great, see you soon.” D.K. said as he hung up the phone. “She’ll be here in about ten minutes. She’s finishing up her homework and changing clothes.”

“Finishing her homework?”

“She’s still in school.”

“Oh. Is she the chick my brother was talking to when you got pissed?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s cute.”

“Thanks. Do you want something to drink?”

“Water would be great.”

“Coming right up.” D.K. said as he walked into the kitchen and poured her a glass of water. Abi followed him and sat down at the table. He turned and gave her the water. She took the glass gratefully and slowly sipped on it.

“So why did you drink so much last night?”

“Bad memories.”

“Wanna talk about them?”

“Not really.”

“I think you should talk about them. It’ll help.”

“Maybe you're right. I’ll tell you after dinner ok.”

“Deal.” D.K. said as he went back to fixing dinner. They were just chatting when Neela walked in.

“Hey.” Neela said as she walked over and gave D.K. a kiss.

“Hi.” He replied back.

“You must be Abi. I’m Neela.”

“Hello, Neela.” Abi said as Neela sat down next to her. “You go to school with my brother, Sean, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I thought you looked familiar to me. You tried to take his place in the race.”

“I still want to race D.K. someday.”

“Think you could beat me?”

“Yeah, I think I could.”

“Well someday we’ll race, but for now dinner is served.” D.K. said as he set out the food. He sat down next to Neela and they all dug in. After they finished eating, Abi and Neela did the dishes while D.K. went and sat down in the living room. Abi and Neela came in a short time later and sat down.

“So are you going to tell me why you drank an entire bottle of Jack Daniels?” D.K. asked.

“Well…”

“You said you'd tell me. Now spill.”

“Ok, fine. Here goes. Well the reason I drank a bottle of Jack was because I think I’m falling in love with Han and I thought he might like me too, but I saw him with a skank on her knees and it brought up a bunch of memories from my past.”

“What memories?” Neela asked softly.

“Memories of my ex-boyfriend.” Abi whispered.

“Such as?”

“He did the same damn thing to me. He’s also the reason for the tattoo’s I have,” Abi said as she stood up and pulled off her shirt. “See this tattoo on my stomach? He cut me from one side to the other. The horizon is the scar.” Abi turned around. “Here on my back it’s got cuts all over it. I had the Phoenix tattooed to cover them, but you can still see some of them, if you really look hard enough.”

Abi put her shirt back on and sat down again. She bit her lip, trying not to cry. She swore to herself that she’d never cry again. Neela got up and walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her. She gave her a hug and Abi clung to her as the tears finally started to fall. Neela slid into the couch and just let her cry. She looked over Abi’s shoulder at D.K. and shrugged. D.K. stood up and moved to the other side of Abi and gathered her from Neela. Abi just let him. She was too tired to fight anymore.

“Abi can I call anyone for you?” Neela asked. Abi shook her head.

“Does Han know about your feelings for him?” D.K. asked

“No. I didn’t realize it myself until last night. I was going to tell him last night, but then I saw him and that skank. It brought back the memories of when Derek did that to me. I thought Han might be different, but turns out he’s just like Derek.” Abi said as she sat up and wiped her eyes.

“I’ve known Han for awhile now. I can say that he’s not like this Derek character. Han would never cheat on anyone. I think you need to talk with him. Let him know how your feeling and see if he feels the same way. If he doesn’t you can always bitch about him later.” D.K. said.

“I can’t. Not after everything.”

“You have to. It’s the only way to get over your past. Not all men are like your ex. Most are decent human beings. D.K. is a great example of that.” Neela said.

“I guess you're right, but I’m scared of what he’ll say.”

“If it’s not something positive, you’ll come back here and stay for however long you want to.” Neela said as D.K. nodded.

“Thanks. I’ll go talk to him tomorrow, but tonight I just want to be alone. Why don’t you two go out and have some fun? I’ll be fine here by myself.” Abi said as she walked back to her room. D.K. and Neela left the house and went for a drive into the mountains. They were both worried about Abi, but unless she asked them for help, they could only stand by and watch.

“Do you think she’ll really talk to him?” Neela asked.

“I hope so, but I don’t know. She seemed pretty against the idea even as she agreed to it.” D.K. replied as he looked over at his girlfriend.

Back at D.K.’s house Abi was in the bathtub with her razor blade. She had taken off her clothes and only had on her panties and bra. She set the blade down against her skin and just held it there as she looked at all the other scars on her legs. She was surprised that Leon didn’t say anything about them, but then again, he really wasn’t looking at her legs.

This was the first time in months that she’d felt the need to release her pain this way. She pressed down and drew the blade across her skin. She sighed as the blood started to flow releasing her pain. She continued to draw the blade across her skin as she felt all the pain finally leave her body.

Abi lifted the blade for the last time and looked at her legs. They were covered in cuts and blood. She turned on her headphones and closed her eyes as the music washed over her.

I tear my heart open I sow myself shut
my weakness is that I care too much
my scars remind me that the past is real
I tear my heart open just to feel


D.K. and Neela came back to the house a few hours later and Neela went to check on Abi. Not finding her in her room, Neela went back out to the living room and said, “Abi’s not in her room.”

“Did you check the bathroom?”

“No.”

“Check there.”

“Ok.” Neela said as she walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Not hearing anything, she pushed the door open and screamed at the sight before her. D.K. came running and stopped short at the door. He pushed past Neela, grabbed a towel and started to wipe away the blood on her legs.

“Neela! Help me!” he said as she just stood there in shock. Shaking herself at his words she ran to the tub and shook Abi’s shoulders, “Abi! Wake up, damn it! Wake up!”

Abi moaned and struggled to open her eyes. “What’s all the screaming about? OWWWWWWW! Damn it, stop, that hurts!” she said as she pulled off her headphones and looked down at D.K. wiping off her legs.

“What in the hell were you doing?” demanded Neela as she sat down on the floor next to the tub.

“It’s the only way I could get rid of the pain inside.” Abi said simply as she looked back down at her legs.

“Thank god the cuts aren’t extremely deep. They’ll leave scars, but they don’t need stitches.” D.K. said once he got most the blood off her legs. He threw the towel into the tub next to Abi and sighed. Abi stood up and reached for the shower hose and turned on the water. She sprayed off her legs and got out of the tub.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Don’t tell anyone about this.” She said as she walked into her room and closed the door.