twenty-five | a mysterious box and a lonely hair tie

NEVAEH STOLLY

Nick Dolivo was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

When the Dolivo family heard the verdict, they were the happiest I've ever seen them. They were laughing and hugging, and crying and relieved that everything was over.

Mrs. Dolivo, soon to be Herrera, was hugging her boys so tight to her chest that I believed left them breathless for a few seconds.

And looking at this image felt like I was watching the ending of a movie where everyone got their happy ending. And if anyone deserved a happy ending, the Dolivo family was first on the list.

"Look how happy they are," Tamara whispers in my ear and I take my eyes off them, moving my gaze towards my best friend.

Zaiah and Carl wanted us here. To make sure we will be with them in the happiest moment of their life. So of course we said yes. "Yes, they are very happy."

"Tam, my only love. How much I love you!" Carl comes hugging his girlfriend just like his mother did earlier. Tamara giggles while answering his hug.

"Neve." He said with a soft voice and I almost didn't hear him. But somehow, I always do. I hear him even if he doesn't talk.

"Love." I decided this will be his nickname. Because I love him and I can't think of anything else.

He hugs me. Not tight but close enough. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and lay my head on his shoulder. I have to tip-toe so I could do that but I know Zaiah would not let me fall.

"I love you!" he says. After three months of dating, these words felt like a new beginning. Like our relationship starts over and a new something waits for us. And I'm so ready to start that something new with him. I'm ready to do everything with him.

"I love you!" I say back. I love him. I knew about it a long time ago. But I kept it hidden within myself. I was scared that my feelings for him would scare him away but I should have known that if Zaiah would be scared of me, it would be about how many pancakes I can eat.

"My beautiful babies," Daisy says and we turn to look at her. She has her hands together under her chin and looks at us with watery eyes. Full of love. "Let's get something to eat! We're rich!" Every single business that wasn't illegal was put under her name. They weren't a lot of legal businesses, maybe three or four but Daisy is a smart woman. She knows how to handle them and make millions out of it.

"Pancakeeeees!" I say with lust. I haven't eaten pancakes in like two days. That's like torture for me.

"Pancakes noted. Anything else?"

"French fries." Carl and Tamara said at the same time.

"Zaiah, baby, what do you want to eat?"

"Hamburgers. Totally." Zaiah says. "We should go to that fast food we went to a few months ago." He turns his head towards me.

His hair was messy so my hand was trying to make it seem less tangled. "Sure. Let's go there."

━━

"It's such a nice feeling knowing that once we get home, we don't have to see him ever again. Finally free." Daisy says as she takes a French fries and a bite of the burger.

"Absolutely right, Mom," Carl said. He was busy admiring his girlfriend but he still listened to his mom.

"Here, take a bite." Zaiah puts his burger in front of me and a feeling of deja-vu takes over me.

"I have the same burger."

"Come on, I'm trying to recreate our first date. Now, take a bite." He pushes his food again.

I don't taste the burger. "That was a date?"

Zaiah gasps and puts his hamburger down. "You didn't think that was a date? Wow, Neve, you surprise me every day."

He folded his hands across his chest. And I didn't know if he was mad or just joking. I truly hope it's the last one. I didn't want to ruin his happiest day.

"Wait, no. Of course, I thought that was a date." I lied. "I was just joking. Please don't be mad."

"Then take a bite of the hamburger." He fed me and at this point, I was ready to eat all of this just to make him feel better.

"Now do you want one of my pancakes?" If he wants to recreate our first date, then we should do it right.

He takes a bite and gives me looks just like he did then. And I laugh just like I did then. It feels just like yesterday when we went to the same fast food, eating the same thing. And now we already said I love you to each other, slept at each other's houses, kissed and just been happy together.

I always wanted to have my first kiss with my first love. And now that I think about it, I did. At that time I didn't know that but I did have my dream come true. Zaiah is my first love. And I intend to be my last. Because I don't wanna love someone else. Just him.

"If I'm thankful for something about Nick, I'm thankful he brought the two of us together," Zaiah whispered in my ear and placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Love, even if was a good dad we would have still been together. The Universe would make us meet one way or another. I would have still wanted to be your friend that day, I would have still taught you how to make paper rings and you would still think I'm beautiful. We would have found a way to each other."

"I guess we were bound to happen, huh?" Zaiah looked at me and smiled. I love to see him smile.

"Yes, we were," I say and kiss his lips. They still had Nutella on them. It was a sweet kiss, just like every kiss he gave me.

━━

Zaiah never fails to surprise me with his love.

I always thought that I was the one who fell in love first, who loved more. But to my surprise, I'm not.

Zaiah was more in love with me than I was with him. He liked me for years. I was his comfort place since he was a kid. I was his peace every time he needed it. He was mine before I even knew it.

I vaguely remember when I went through his drawer and found his paper rings. But there were two more things that I didn't know what they were.

A mysterious box and a lonely hair tie.

But I know now. And I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

"Zaiah, you have to stop being this sweet cause I might just cry for the rest of our relationship," I say as I open one of the letters.

"I didn't write them to be sweet," he said and his cheeks turned red. He buries his face in his bed. "Be thankful I let you read that." Every single time he made a paper ring he also wrote a letter. To me. He said it helped him with his anger since he couldn't do much against Nick. But just because he wrote to me, doesn't mean he was sweet or in love. He said, and I quote: "Well, I made the paper rings thinking about you so my mind thought 'Why not write the letters to you?' it's systematic, neve."

I started reading one of the letters.

07/20/2012

Dear Neve,

Dad is being an asshole again. He doesn't let me eat because I, apparently, in his stupid world inside his head, told him to buy himself a gun and put a bullet right between his ugly face. Which I told him very often, but in my own head. So, if he isn't an alien or some witch who can read minds, then he was absolutely wrong. Of course, I learned my lesson so I won't starve. I hide food in my room. Mostly snacks but it's better than nothing. Your mom wanted to give me food when he wasn't home. Which was sweet of her but I know my father. And he would have found out somehow and she would have been fired. Anyway, I got an A+ in history and English class so this is good. My mom was very happy about it so she bought me a shirt with 'the best son in the world'. Well, she also bought one for Carl but it was nice of her. I hope your life is great, full of love and happiness.

With sincerity,
      Zaiah

I noticed that the last sentence was in every letter I read until now.

I opened another.

12/25/2019

Dear Neve,

It's Christmas today. It doesn't feel that way. If the whole city wasn't decorated with light and fake Santa Claus and snow wasn't on the ground, I wouldn't know Christmas has arrived. My father is home, unfortunately. He is usually on his business trip but this year he decided to stay home. So the first Christmas day is almost over and my mom is in her room crying, my brother is in his own room, probably breaking a mirror or smashing something and I am in my room, writing to you.
Dad decided to yell at my mom because the food was a little bit cold. Oh, yes, you stupid piece of shit! Mrs. Stolly came here earlier, on Christmas, to cook this and didn't even want extra money. So I'm sorry that your food is a little bit cold. Grow up and shut up. I know it's gonna be like that for the rest of the holidays. Maybe I'll just sit in my room and just ignore him.
I hope you have a happy Christmas, Neve. I hope your life is great, full of love and happiness.

With sincerity,
      Zaiah

"Okay, you've read enough," Zaiah says as he takes the letter from my hand. I try to take it back but his grip is too strong and I give up.

"Can I have my hair tie back at least?"

"No, you gave it to me. It's not nice to take it back." Apparently, I gave him my hair tie the second time we met. And it's probably true but I have a goldfish memory so I forgot about it. My mom used to tell me that I would always lose my hair ties when I was little. But now I think I just gave them away.

"Bitch." After I finish my compliment, I jump on him and bite his arm. I recently have the urge to bite him every time I see him.

He groaned in pain and put his hand on my mouth. He pushed so hard and I couldn't even move my lips. "Neve, I told you not to bite me anymore."

I tried to say something but he couldn't understand a thing because of the hand that pressed my mouth. He takes it off. "I said, me biting you is me showing you love. It's a love bite."

"Sure it is, Neve. You just look for an excuse to touch me." he raises his eyebrows and a playful grin makes home on his lips.

"I can kiss anytime I want. I don't need to look for an excuse." I counterattack.

"Show me," he whispers and God damn that was the hottest whisper I've ever heard. And he whispers a lot. But this time his voice was low and raspy. His gaze was so strong that I would do anything he would have told me to do at that moment.

So I do it. I kissed him.

It was a rushed kiss. Everything was fast. Our lips collapsed together, his hands on my neck, the shiver on my back.

He kissed me soft yet hard, gentle but rushed, with love but it felt like an angry kiss. Like the ones I've read about.

Zaiah puts a hand on my waist and twists me under him in a matter of a few seconds. "Neve, you're the most beautiful girl in the world, you know that?" he whispers against my neck, and like a reflex, I lift my head to give him more space.

I just hum in response. I couldn't speak.

He starts kissing my neck, and sucking my skin in a few places. And I realise where this is gonna go.

"Zaiah," I whisper his name. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I don't want him to think I'm forcing him or anything. I'd rather not have sex for the rest of my life and die a virgin than have him think he's being forced into this.

He caresses my cheek with his thumb. "Of course, Neve. I want to do everything with you. If that's alright with you, of course!"

"Of course I want it. I do. But I just want to make sure it's okay with you. I know you…" shame takes over me. And maybe a little bit of jealousy. "did it with other girls but maybe you're not as comfortable with me."

He smiles. "Who said I did it with other girls?" He arches his eyebrows.

I remain in shock. "Well, a lot of people said that they spend the night with you so I just assumed…" Did I imagine all of these people gossiping about that? Do I need to go to see a doctor?

"Just because they've said it, doesn't mean it's true. They spread rumours and I honestly didn't care so I ignored them. I'm actually a virgin, Neve."

Oh.

Oh.

"Well, that's cool. At least I won't be the only one here."

He laughs softly. "Now, if you feel like it, go back to kissing me." Zaiah doesn't waste a another minute and starts kissing me again.

━━

I buried my face in his chest. This couldn't get more embarrassing.

After we were… done, we took a shower together and watched Tangled and fell asleep at the half of the movie.

And when Tamara and Carl woke up, I wanted to die of embarrassment.

The couple somehow found out that I and Zaiah made love last night and bought us a cake with the word 'virgin' cut with a red line and surrounded by a circle. They brought confetti, champagne, and candles.

"My little girl finally grew up. I feel like a proud mom." I lift my head and see my best friend. Tam looks at Carl that struggles with opening the confetti. That makes me laugh.

"Yeah," Carl talks while he's still struggling. His face is red. "I also feel like a proud dad."

Boom.

The confetti was spreading all over the room.

"You're going to clean all that up," Zaiah tells his brother.

"Sure thing, brother. Now," he said with a mysterious voice and I knew something was about to happen.

He runs his hand over the cake full of whipped cream and starts putting all of that cake on our faces. But we don't give up. We rose from the bed and did the same as him. Me and Tamara teamed up and so did the brothers. And we started a cake fight. Until all of the cake was on our faces and clothes and hair.

"What in the world happened here?" I see Daisy and my mom sitting in front of Zaiah's door wanting to be mad. But she saw how happy her kids looked so she couldn't even be mad.

We all started laughing. And for the first time, we were all truly happy. Happiness was like a butterfly. Hard to catch but so beautiful to have. And everyone had their own butterfly. I had Zaiah, Tamara had Carl, Mom had me and Daisy had her kids. We all have each other.

🦋 — THE END — 🦋

this is the end, isn't it? after so many years, i finally finished it. words can't describe how empty i feel right now. i feel like everything it's done. everything i've worked for the last two years (?) it's done. but i'm so glad i could give my beautiful babies the ending they deserved.

this book has been through so much. i abandoned it so many times, i even unpublished it twice, i really hated everything about it at some point. but it holds such a special space in mu heart. zaiah and neve have been my safe place for such a long time and i felt like a fucking villain for not finishing their story. but i did and i feel so empty yet happy.

i wanna thank to every one who read this crusty book. for being patient and understanding with me. i love you and i'm thankfully for everyone but i need to mention some special people.

elle_partridge — you're new here (thankfully) but i am truly thankful that you read my book and understand me when i can't read yours ( i will!!!) and please make nate nicer. pretty please. i love you and good luck!

BUT I'M THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU!! ❤️