Tainted Heart

Feeling the weird stares of strangers, combined with the worried looks from her coworkers, made Kelley uncomfortable to no end. And feel so much anger towards the girl in front of her. She wasn't an angry person, she was far from one, but having Sarah try to walk into her life yet again after all she had done to her was enough to send her over the edge.

"You need to leave me alone Sarah," Kelley said trying to control herself from shouting again. "I cant do this right now, and I won't. I dont want to ever see you again, understand? I've moved on and you need to understand that. Stay the fuck away from me, I won't let you hurt me again. I've been done with you for a while and I deserve better then what you gave me, which was nothing but heartbreak."

"Fine! Whatever! The only reason I stopped by was because I was in the city and Kyle told me you were living here now," Sarah said smirking at Kelley, knowing the mention of Kyle would get to her. "Oh yeah Kyle and I, we're pretty good friends, and maybe a bit more now and the-"

"Get out!" Kelley shouted, gaining the attention of everyone again.

"Is everything okay?" Tim asked making his way over as soon as he heard Kelley shout for the second time. He could sense that whoever this girl was, she was trouble. When Kelley didn't look up, Tim gave Sarah a glare and stepped in between the women.

"You need to leave, now. Don't force me to call the police, or throw you out myself," he said still glaring at Sarah.

"Oh please, dont worry I was just leaving," she said throwing her hands up in defense. "I'll tell Kyle you said hi."

Kelley wanted to cry at Sarah's last words but she wasn't gonna let her see how bad she had affected Kelley at the mention of her once best friend. As soon Kelley heard the door close slow tears started falling until she was full out sobbing. Tim turned around hearing the sobs and brought her in for a tight hug.

"Come on babe, lets get you out of here," Tim pulled away from the hug and grabbed her hand leading her to his office.

She was sitting on a really comfortable couch in Tim's office wondering why the guy had not fired her already after all the drama the last few days. Tim came back with a bottle of water and a few pills for Kelley to take.

"I'm really sorry for bringing all this drama here, it wasn't my intention," her voice sounded defeated, "if you want to fire me I understand. "

"Oh babe no that's not why I brought you back here. I just wanted to make sure you're okay, if you need to talk I'm here for you ok?" Tim took a seat next to Kelley putting his hand on her shoulder. Kelley sniffled and nodded her head, not saying anything yet.

"Now, tell me who is that bitch that came in here and made you so angry and cry? I was about this close to dragging her out of the café myself if she didnt leave soon." That made Kelley let out a small chuckle, Tim felt proud of himself for making the younger woman laugh a little after she had been crying. Kelley clearness her throat before explaining.

"Well long story short; that bitch is my ex girlfriend who cheated on me so many times. The last was with my best friend, which is why she got to me today, she mentioned him and I hate her for that. I hate that they're still friends. I hate that she's the reason I lost one of the most important people in my life. And now she was trying to come into my life again, and for what? To ruin it again," Kelley let out a sigh and brought her hands up to her face, "she almost did but I wont let her, not anymore"

"Oh babe I'm sorry. You're too good of a person to have to deal with that shit. Tell you what, here. Take some pills, here's the water " Tim said handing over the pills and a water bottle to Kelley.

"But I'm okay, my head doesn't hurt or anything," Kelley said a little confused then she grinned at him. "Are you trying to drug me or something because I mean thanks bu-"

She was cut off by Tim slapping her arm.

"Ouch! Easy I'm hurting bad enough right now!" Kelley said pretending to be hurt, holding her arm.

"Oh shut up, and I'm not drugging you, you idiot. I'm sure all that crying is gonna give you a headache soon. This way you're prepared for it," he winked at Kelley.

"Thank you, I know I've been a pain these last few days or so but I promise I'll be better," she smiled at him. Tim got up stretching his hand to Kelley.

"Come on drama queen, take those pills and let's get back to work. I saw how happy you were before you walked in and I want to know why, details and all babe! Let's go! Come on!" Kelley smiled and reached to grab his hand to get up.

"Uh no I'm not giving you details about my sex life," Kelley said walking behind Tim.

"Oh so you finally got laid huh!? How does it feel to lose your virginity loser?" Tim asked playfully, and Kelley pushed him softly.

"Hey!" Kelley was now smiling thinking about last night. "At least I'm not a virgin anymore unlike some other losers I know," she eyed Tim waiting for his reaction.

"Get to work you idiot," he laughed and walked away leaving Kelley to start her work day.

She was feeling so much better now.

What Sarah had told her had hurt to no end. The thought of them being good friends hurt the most. She needed to let go of her best friend too. Sarah she had let go of and gotten over her, but her best friend had hurt her more than all the pain Sarah had put her through.

She made a mental note to talk to Hope about it. She knew Hope wouldn't just feel sorry for her. She would help her in any way she could because that's how Hope was. She had shown Kelley how caring, and understanding, she was. Kelley loved that about her the most, besides her cute pouting face that is.

Kelley then came to a realization in that moment. She loved everything about Hope. She loved how her kisses felt like home, and how easy it was to just be with her. She didn't think she was in love with her per say but she was falling quickly. And as much as it should scare her, it didn't, because she could feel Hope falling for her too. The way Hope said her name, or when she had caught her staring at her sometimes with the most lovable eyes, and way they made love the night before.

Kelley then took out her phone, took a picture with her face pouting at the bottom, and she typed 'I miss you already stud' and then sent it to Hope.

God she missed Hope. She had only seen her this morning, a few hours if anything, but she found herself missing her as soon as she wasn't with her.

Kelley couldn't wait to see her tonight, she was looking forward to Hope meeting some of the most important people in her life. Her family.

...

Across town at the Seattle times, Carli sat across from Hope staring intently at her. Hope was daydreaming, smiling like an idiot.

"Is that a hickey on your neck?" Carli asked with the most serious face she could muster. Hope's hand went flying to her neck.

"Are you kidding me? How did I not notice it? Where is it? Which side?" she asked frantically reaching for her purse to get a mirror out of it. Then she heard the biggest, most annoying laugh come out of Carli's mouth.

"I hate you, you know." Hope said glaring at her friend, putting the mirror away in her purse.

Hope just sat there glaring at her friend. Carli was a horrible person sometimes, especially when it came to giving people shit. She would stop at nothing when it came to bullying Hope. She wanted to murder her right there but she would just have to wait until there was less witnesses.

"Oh my god! You should have seen your face," Carli was still laughing. Hope was still glaring. Then it was silent and Carli had a serious face on her again.

"Wait so you finally got laid? Is that why you're daydreaming like an idiot?" Hope finally looked away, trying to hide her smile from her friend. The thought of waking up right next to Kelley this morning, being able to wake her up with a kiss made Hope smile. She couldn't help it, Kelley made her smile.

"Yes, not that it's any of your business at all, but yes I did." Hope said finding herself smiling at the thought of Kelley again in her arms.

"About damn time, you could have kicked me out early, all you had to say was the secret code word," Carli stated very seriously. Hope laughed at her ridiculous dork of a friend.

"We don't have a secret code word Carli," Hope said still laughing.

"Well we should, you know have one, just in case," she took a sip out of her drink and looked curiously at Hope. "When you say the word Huskies more than 2 times in a sentence, I'll know to leave you guys alone to do the dirty."

"What are we in college or something? Should I leave a sock on my door handle too? To let you know I'm getting laid?" Carli just shrugged. Hope wasn't surprised at how big of an idiot her friend could be. She was her idiot though.

"In other more important news, I'm meeting Kelley's brother and nephews today." Hope said it like it was nothing but inside she was a nervous wreck.

"What already? Like are you planing on being married next month or what?" As soon as she said it she saw Hope's eyes grow as big as she'd ever seen them.

She could see herself in the future with Kelley honestly. It was scary, sure. But the thought of marriage to Hope was stupid. Her parents had gotten married more that once and every single time it ended in divorce. In her world, marriage was stupid, and made absolutely no sense. You didn't need any papers to tell you you loved someone, and you certainly didn't need papers to promise to love them forever. You could do that without them.

"What! No! Carli I just....no, I just asked her to be my girlfriend like yesterday, plus you know how I feel about that." Hope looked at her phone when it vibrated signaling she had a text from Kelley. "She asked and I said yes because I'm done with taking things too slow, I really like her and I want to be with her. I um I think I might be falling for Kelley."

Then it was Carli's eyes that grew bigger than Hope's. She knew Hope really liked Kelley but to already be falling in love with her. Actually, hearing her say it with such a vulnerability to her voice left her speechless for a second.

"What, fuck....oh my god you're serious about this. You're like falling for the kid?" Carli asked incredibly curious and surprised.

"She's not a kid Carli, and yes I think so," she paused and opened Kelley's text only to smile at the picture Kelley had sent her. It was a picture of her pouting and at the bottom it read 'I miss you already stud'. She looked up to meet Carli's raised eyebrow.

"I know so," Hope said smiling at her friend.

"Well whatever makes you happy, makes me happy. I think you deserve it. After everything you've been through, you deserve to be happy." Carli said feeling herself get a little emotional.

"Are going to cry? Oh my god can I record you please?" Carli glared at Hope and threw a napkin at her, which she easily slapped way before it hit her. "But honestly thank you for being there for me always, I wouldn't have made it this far without you by my side."

"Alright alright enough about this, let's not get all emotional. I hate that crap," Carli said trying to change the subject. "Let's go back to you meeting Kelley's brother and nephews, that's a big step Hope, are you sure you're ready for that?"

Hope thought about it for a second.

"You know I'm more than ready, everything feels like it's falling into place for me. And having Kelley by my side has been a blessing. She's someone I didn't think I deserved, she's too good for me, but because of that, I'm not gonna take this for granted. I want to go all in with her, she's the best thing that's happened to me in a while and I'm holding onto that for as long as she'll let me."

"Wow! Look at you being all nasty in love, gross!" Carli laughed and Hope joined her. "We need to head to work unless we want to start this week with Abby pissed at us, come on love bird, let's go."

Usually work was always busy, especially for the last few weeks. Yet by some miracle that day Hope was leaving the office at a very early hour. She was pretty happy. She thought about surprising Kelley at her work, maybe see her for a few minutes before she had to go home get ready for their dinner with Kelley's brother and family. But then she decided to text her before she went over to make sure she was still there.

To Kelley: Hey :) got off work early. Maybe I can come by and see my beautiful girlfriend ;) ;)

She walked to her car and unlocked it, by the time she got in she had a reply from Kelley.

From Kelley: Thats a first :) drop by maybe your beautiful girlfriend will be off work by the time you get here ;)

Hope didn't reply back she started her car and headed to the café. She couldn't wait to see Kelley.