Reality Check

Sweet Sixteen

A/N- WOOO SECOND EPILOGUE CHAPTER IS FINALLY UP!!!!!! cannot believe I haven't updated this since summer, ive genuinely just had the craziest semester at school and had way less time to write. Hopefully I'll have a little more time since it's winter break hahaha

anyway, i love you all so much, ty forever to those who are still reading my silly little fic! This chapter has been one ive had planned out for a while now so I hope y'all enjoy!!! :)

ALSO. PROBABLY 1 CHAPTER LEFT AAA

Higher (by Blanks)

"You make me feel a little higher. The things you do, they make me smile. It make me feel so wow, woah . . ."

___

Flashback

Long after her friends had gone home and her parents had reunited, Bethany couldn't sleep.

She'd just hung up on a phone call with Owen— despite only seeing each other hours before, they'd had a lot to catch up on. He shot question after question at her, like, How did your parents react when they saw each other? Did they cry? Are you grounded? I'm grounded, by the way. And then he'd laughed, and she'd joined in, because she was grounded, too. Even if it annoyed Bethany a little, and meant she'd be soon doing a lot more chores and after school activities, neither of them actually cared.

Her family was together. That's what she cared about. Life was all she'd ever wanted it to be.

Still, she couldn't sleep.

After finding that even jumping into Goodnight Moon or The Little Prince couldn't get her to sleep like it usually could, Bethany jumped back into the nonfictional world, frustrated. But something about the place was different. Looking at the crack beneath her door, she could tell there was a light on in the hallway. Frowning, Bethany moved silently over to the door of her bedroom, twisting the knob and pulling it open. What she didn't expect was to find a small light coming from downstairs, or for her mother to be sitting alone on the couch.

"Mom?" Bethany whispered, furrowing her brows. "What are you doing up?"

Her mom looked at her in surprise, like she hadn't expected Bethany to be awake. She shrugged. "Just couldn't sleep." Her mouth twisted into a grin. "Maybe I'm not used to your father's snoring. I forgot how loud it is."

Bethany couldn't stop herself from laughing. "That makes sense. It'll probably take you weeks to get used to that."

"Better than the alternative," her mom said, still smiling, and Bethany had to agree with her.

There was something bugging her, though, something that had remained unspoken. One more hurdle she had to cross. Coming home had meant a lot of things. It'd meant watching her parents look thirty years younger once they saw each other, engulfing each other into a tearful hug. It meant having her mother ask where she'd been, ask where she and her dad had both been, leaving Bethany to explain the story from finish to start.

But what they hadn't addressed was the events that'd played out for years— Bethany jumping into books against her mother's knowledge. All the hiding, the lies, the secrecy, just to search for her father. Last time she'd seen her mom, it hadn't been on the best of terms. She'd been deeply unhappy with Bethany after finding out she'd been jumping into books all this time against her wishes. Although she'd already apologized, she felt the urge to say it. Needed to say it, if things were going to be fixed.

"So, uh, there's something I want to talk to you about," Bethany said quietly, and didn't miss the way her hands began to shake. She took a deep breath. Here it goes. "I wasn't sure how you'd react after . . . after I brought Dad home. I mean, I knew you'd be happy but I know you weren't happy with me. Because I'd been jumping into books without telling you, and that— that was wrong. Then I just ran away, so . . ." She didn't really know what to say next, so she started with the next best thing. "I'm sorry."