Girl talk

"Nyla. I, erm. I fucked up."

"What happened?"

"Well, you know the situation between me and Tate... We're barely speaking, apart from to yell at each other. Things are so shit right now and I think Julius has picked up on it. Ever since I got that damn letter, it's been hell. The triplets of course know all the details too  because of their horrible classmate, so they're pretty disturbed too. After everything I found out, I fucking hate him and I want to leave, but I can't, and at the wedding I ended up offloading it all onto Maria and then I kissed her-"

"You kissed her?"

"Yep. I was a little drunk, I'll admit... but she listened to me, and was so nice and pretty and I kinda fancy her."

"Kinda?"

"Okay, I fancy her a lot."

"How well do you know her...?"

"...The thing is, I don't, really. But she offered to be there for me, and I took it too far and just kinda pounced. I feel bad, Nyla."

"Why?"

"I'm married! I mean, one of my problems with Tate is infidelity, and then I go do the same thing?"

"He did it first! And anyway, it's different when there's abuse involved... It's not cheating if there's no relationship in the first place."

"Still...It's such a mess."

"Roxxi. Nobody can blame you for wanting some actual affection after putting up with shit for so long. You deserve a bit of happiness."

"I'd like to see her again. Going slowly, of course. I can't just rush into a new relationship while I'm still married to that asshole. I... I'm going to make plans to leave him. I've had enough. Now that I've gone and done this, I need to free myself of this sham marriage. Free the kids..."

"You're not alone. I've managed to escape a terrible relationship too."

"Yeah?"

"...Feli's dad. When I got pregnant with her, I took that as my incentive to leave. I didn't want to inflict him on her. I ran the fuck away. So you need to go. Otherwise Julius is gonna grow up thinking it's normal for dads to act that way. That it's an acceptable way to treat a partner. It'll warp their perception of normality. Yours, too. Even now I still second-guess myself after years of Austin telling me it was my fault he hurt me."

"Oh God, Nyla... I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I haven't seen him in years."

"Good. But you're right... the poor triplets. I mean, Tristan wanted to be just like Tate... but his faith in him has finally been destroyed, I can tell. Even he can't deny it any more."

"You're doing the right thing."

"Thanks."

"Y'know, this is weird. Someone as awful as Tate being Edward's brother."

"Yeah, Edward's really nice. I married the wrong one."

"I'm glad you're not saying that to the me of twenty years, ago, I'd have been so jealous."

"You fancied him?"

"Yeah. He'd never have gone out with a student though. That didn't stop me from making a tit of myself..."

"What did you do?"

"Erm. I sent him a picture of me in my underwear instead of my essay..."

"Nyla Bane! You hussy!"

"It was an accident! I clicked the wrong file. He must think I'm awful."

"God, it's a good job that wasn't Tate... he'd have sent a worse picture back."

"Urgh. Roxxi, please. I can't cope with that mental image."

"No, thought not. Sorry."

"How the hell do you manage it?"

"You tell me, Nyla. You tell me."