First Bad Habit

Yes, this story is titled after a song off of Vanessa's sophomore album because I started writing this when that first came out and the song has been my inspiration every day since. Enjoy!

A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him.
-Brendan Francis

Chapter 1

Isabella Montez sighed as she wiped down the kitchen counter one final time. She had been cleaning up the leftover messes from the mutual parties that had occurred at the Montez household that night honoring both of her children, who were now safely tucked into bed.

She glanced at the clock, seeing that it was already well past midnight and her husband still wasn't home. She had been hoping that he would show up since she reminded him when he left for work that morning about what events were supposed to happen that day, but she knew she should have never gotten her hopes up.

After putting away the last of the dishes, throwing away the empty pizza boxes and wiping down all of the sticky surfaces, Isabella found herself leaning against the counter, hair falling out of the tight bun she tried to fit it all up into as the exhaustion showed clearly on her Hispanic features. She could hear the sound of the front door opening and closing minutes later along with footsteps heading in her direction.

She stood tall and turned around, coming face to face with her husband, Joseph Montez. His suit jacket was hanging on his arm, his briefcase in one hand while the other worked to loosen the tie from around his neck as he unbuttoned his work shirt as if that was where he had previously came from. But Isabella knew better.

"God, was work crazy today. How was your day baby," he asked, stepping over to kiss her, but when her head turned he knew this was not going to be a peaceful night. "What's wrong now Isabella? What have I done wrong now?"

"If you don't already know, then what's the point in telling you?"

"Damn it! What the hell do you want from me, huh?"

"I want you to want to be here! Spend time with your kids, act like you love them , and act like you love me! I know the last thing you want to do is be here with me, but at least be there for your children!"

Joe rolled his eyes, setting his briefcase down. "What are you going on about?"

"Do you know what happened today? Do you know what Andrew did or what Gabriella accomplished? No you don't, because you're too busy fucking your little whore of a secretary behind my back!" Isabella screamed at her husband. Little did either of them know, they had an audience a few feet away, sitting behind the wall on the stairs.

"Excuse me?" An 11 year old Gabriella heard the voice of her father as she sat silently, not moving, witnessing another of the many arguments her parents had.

"You heard me Joseph! I'm not stupid. You come home every night way past midnight when the office closes at 5. You take that little slut to dinner and then you go back to her apartment and then you have sex with her! And then you have to nerve to come back home and kiss me and climb into bed with me, smelling like her and acting like nothing ever fucking happened!"

"I don't know what you're…"

"Don't bullshit me Joseph! Gabriella had a dance recital today that you missed. She kept asking me when you would show up and I had nothing to tell her, nothing to say to make it better. And Andrew, he had a football game today and he made his first touchdown and when he asked me if you had seen it I had to tell him that you didn't come. You didn't even bother."

Gabriella felt a tear slip from where she was trying to hold it back as a hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up to see her 14 year old brother's solemn face as he sat next to her on the stairs.

"Isabella, work has been hard okay. I am trying to support this family."

"By sleeping with your secretary? Is she paying you? Are you getting a raise? Because I'm not understanding. Joseph you don't even have to stay for me. You don't have to love me, you don't even have to stay with me. But I would hope that you would want to be there for your kids."

"Well maybe I'm just not into this life anymore."

"This life!?" Isabella exclaimed. "This is your life! Whether you like it or not. You should have thought about that 14 years ago before you got me pregnant!"

"I was 20 years old Isabella! You were 16! I wasn't even supposed to be seeing you at the time, what was I supposed to do, leave you alone to raise a baby by yourself?"

"If that's the only reason you asked me to marry you, then you can just take it back! 14 years and this is just coming out now?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, 14 fucking years of my life that I wasted with you and this family!"

Gabriella sat, her head buried into Andrew's shoulder as her tears came silently at full force now.

Isabella took a step back, tears pricking her eyes. "You don't mean that."

Joseph slammed his fist down on the counter, frustrated. "That's the problem, Isabella, I do! I regret that year so much. It was one year of my life that I wish night after night I could have taken back. I wish I would have never gone to that bar, I wish I would have never met you, never tricked myself into thinking I loved you, because all I did was make a huge mistake that I became stuck with. I never wanted this life and I regret all those decisions each and every day."

Isabella turned, hiding her face as she wiped her tears. "Are you happy now," he asked her. "Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm not happy, I don't want this life. I never wanted you or the kids, but once they happened, what was I supposed to do?"

"So why'd you stay? Why didn't you just say all this shit when I first got pregnant? Why didn't you leave after I had Andrew? Why the fuck did you get me pregnant again!?"

He shrugged, not being able to look her in her eyes. "I felt like it was an obligation. It was either stay with you or pay child support. I didn't have the money at the time."

She nodded, swallowing her tears as Gabriella and Andrew sat praying for a better ending than where this was headed. "So I was a last resort?"

"Honestly, yes. I've been cheating on you with Alyssa for 7 months now," he admitted, making a strangled cry come from his wife's throat. "I don't love you and I'm not sure I ever fully did and I don't want to live this life anymore."

As more tears fell from the 30 year old mother's eyes, she looked up at him with a hard look on her face. "Then leave."

"Excuse me, this is my home!"

"I SAID LEAVE! FUCKING GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE JOE!"

"Isabella…"

"FUCK YOU! I don't ever want to see your face again. Go live with your fucking whore. Pack all your shit and go!"

The two children hiding on the stairs could feel the hurt and anger radiating off of their mother as she screamed at the man they had once known as Dad to leave. They heard the silence that followed in which the 34 year old man turned and walked away from his wife, walking to the stairs. He stopped, seeing the two faces sitting on the staircase, not bearing to actually look at them.

Isabella came behind him with a tear-streaked face, just as her children moved out the way for their father to go up the stairs. Gabriella immediately ran into her mother's arms, squeezing tightly, while Andrew stood tall by her side, as if he needed to protect her. Isabella could only stroke the head of her daughter and wrap her arm around the shoulders of her son as they listened to the sounds of Joseph packing a bag upstairs. When he came back down, he stopped at the entrance to the house, turning back and walking over to his children. He bent down to Gabriella's level, pressing a kiss to her forehead and then turned to press his hand to Andrew's cheek.

Isabella kept her stone face as her husband stood up, looking at her once more before he turned and walked out the door. Never to come back again.

As the door closed, Isabella felt her legs fall from under her as she tumbled to the ground in tears. With her kids immediately by her side, they all cried together. "It'll all be okay," she murmured to them through her tears. But they all knew it was far from it. This would never be okay.

~FBH~

A now 17 year old Gabriella Montez walked through the door of her home, dropping her bag near the hall table and hooking her keys back on the right key ring on the rack. "Mom! I'm home!" She called absent mindedly flicked through the stack of mail on the table. "Mom, you here?"

"In the kitchen," she heard the faint reply and she walked in catching her mom at the counter with a client. The woman was signing papers as her mother finished up her explaining of plans. "So I'll get this paperwork processed and I should have one of my decorators out by Tuesday. And I will call you with further information when I know."

Gabriella watched silently as the woman thanked her mother and acknowledged her before she disappeared out the front door and it became just her and her mom. "Hi, another deal closed?"

Isabella nodded, cleaning the papers off the counter and into a manila folder. "She's redecorating because her son officially moved out last week. Done with college and into his own apartment. Her husband passed a few years back so it's just her now and she's looking to make it her own, you know, be a bit selfish in her designs. But anyway, how was your day?"

Gabriella shrugged, setting the mail down on the counter for her mom to look at. "Just like yesterday. School, practice, and then home."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "There's got to be more than that sweetheart. Nine hours a day that you're out of this house most days and that's all there is to say? I don't believe that."

Gabriella sighed, knowing the routine and moving to the fridge. "Believe it."

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" came the sudden question from her mother.

She turned to look at her confused. "What? Why would you ask that? Of course I'm okay Mom. Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged, looking her daughter up and down. "I just…feel like there are a lot of things that could be better. I know with your dad and the…"

"Mom, trust me when I say, my life is fine."

Isabella looked at her daughter, seeing parts of herself in her. "Okay, I just know we've been through so much these last couple of years…"

"And the only reason we got through it is because of our amazing mother," Gabriella supplied. "I'm happy Mom, there's nothing more that I could want."

Gabriella kept eye contact with her, promising with her eyes that was okay and that everything was fine.

Her mother nodded, giving her a quick squeeze on the arm before disappearing upstairs to her room, leaving Gabriella in the kitchen alone. The younger woman then glanced at the wall, tears behind her eyes threatening to fall.

She didn't have the heart to tell her mother that she was right, although she knew she should, how could she after everything? After all they'd been through so much, Gabriella was surprised they were still together standing strong and she was grateful for that. She didn't want to test it; she wasn't about to ruin what they'd worked so hard to make better. She should have been happy right where she was but Gabriella couldn't shake the feeling of wanting, needing more.

She wanted to test her limits, she wanted to get her chance to be who she wasn't. She was ready to accept the changes, take some risks and see where it would land her but she feared it was too soon. Too soon to let go of herself and way too soon to jump into something she could possibly not be ready for.

Gabriella's life wasn't slowing down, it was moving ahead fast, speeding into a vortex of things she couldn't handle and the coming months ahead would be the ones that would matter the most.

Gabriella's outfit link is in profile under new story title! Don't forget to leave a REVIEW! A lot of people add me to favorites and alerts, but please understand that reviews mean a lot to me and I'll be looking for a certain amount of them before I post again, so please please please, if you're taking the time to add me to your lists, just review as well even if it is just "Good" or "Nice" or something that let's me know you like it. THANKS!