Abused {ACM}

Chapter 31

Austin didn't say anything, he just moved closer and brushed hair back from my face, his eyes glancing to my lips. He stopped right in front of them, waiting for me. I felt his breath fan over my lips, I could hear him swallowing.

"I love you," I whispered.

He just shook his head and closed the space, and moved his lips against mine. Through his eyelashes brushing my forehead, his hands on my waist, his scent all around me, I felt it.

I felt him saying it back.

And in that moment, I've never felt more infinite.

Abby's POV

It all came back in flashes. The rain. Zach and I screaming. Being tugged away from each other. The car ride with his hoodie. Rain rain and more rain, constant and horrible and loud. Thoughts of him, thoughts of him constantly, he was a memory that wouldn't leave my mind alone. Meeting my aunt and her boyfriend. Fear, fear of my father, fear for my father. Love, feeling love again with Parker and Dustin and Clary and Vanessa and her Dustin and Zoe. Fear again, for my Aunt Amy and Joe. Numbness, riding back to the house. Nervousness. And finally, acceptance. Love. Overwhelming excitement and relief and more love, more more more happy feelings and thoughts, being home.

I told everybody what happened in the past couple of months I was gone, Zach tracing circles on the back of my hand. Zoey had left, saying she had somebody she wanted me to meet. I was confused, but decided that I would see whoever it was soon enough, so I didn't question it and let her go.

"Damn, how did he get the ribbons everywhere? What a sneaky little bastard," Grant growled.

"You must have been so scared," Zach kissed the side of my jaw, tightening his grip on me.

I shrugged and thought about telling him about the panic attack, but decided that it wasn't important, figuring it wasn't going to happen again. No need to worry him anymore.

"So what's the plan? How are we getting your aunt and her boyfriend back?" Macey asked.

"It's going to involve a lot of convincing," I admitted, playing with my fingers.

"Convincing who? The police?"

"Well...yes, them too. But mostly...convincing you guys."

They blinked at me.
"I'm not sure I'm following," Jonas muttered. His fingers were doing that twitchy jump they do when he's thinking or nervous, and it made me smile.

It was really, really nice to be back.

Everything was so familiar - like I've been living in the desert all this time and was shipped away to England, and suddenly I've moved back to the familiar sunshine.

"I really did miss you guys, you know. You have no idea how much I missed you," I confessed.

Zach kissed my cheek this time. "I'm sure we do, actually," he breathed.

Bex rolled her eyes. "Zach became a total nutcase."

Zach scowled, but didn't deny it.

I wrapped my hand around his wrist, fingers not touching but almost. "Have you been eating? You seem skinnier."

He continued scowling, his lips set into a stubborn pout. "Have you seen yourself?" He wrapped his hand around my arm, and his fingers overlapped.

"No fair! You've got bigger hands than me!" I teased. The truth was, I hadn't been eating very much, and I knew for a fact that he hadn't been, either.

"So?"

"So that's cheating."

"I didn't realize we were playing a game," Zach stuck his tongue out at me.

I stuck mine right back out. "Real mature, Zach."

"Guys, shut up! Zoey is back!"

I straightened up a bit, suddenly nervous for some reason. Zoey's blonde head popped into the living room, and she stepped in. Her arm was pulling someone along, and the first thing I saw was blonde curls.

Blonde curls.

Blonde curls.

Blue, blue, blue eyes. Blue, electric blue, ocean blue, midnight blue, every blue there could be mixed into one blue that could only be described as...blue.

I gasped and shot out of Zach's lap, barely hearing his surprised question.

Blonde curls. Blue eyes. Tall. Tan.

"Abby, I want you to meet-"

"Parker?" I choked out. My heart leapt to my throat and wanted out, wanting to fly over to Parker and wrap him up in its thrumming love.

I looked up at his face, and he looked just as surprised as me. The room was silent.

"I - I don't...I don't understand what's..."

"Coonie?"

And with that, his old nickname for me he'd invented in the dark hallway that first night we'd met, I stifled a choking noise that was between a laugh and a sob and lunged for him, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly.

He pulled me into him, laughing and twirling me around.

"Why are you here?!" I exclaimed, laughing and crying and it felt as if everything in the world was good, as if all of the tiny little lines on a map connected and only lead to a good, nice place. "How are you here?"

I looked at Zoey, and then the rest of the room.

"How do you know each other?" Zach cocked his head to the side, slightly suspicious.

"We were in the same orphanage house, I met him the first night I was there," I explained. "Did you get out? How are Dustin and Clary and Zoe?"

"They're still there," Parker confessed, rubbing the back of his head. "But they'll get out. If they can't do it by themselves, then we'll get them out," he said, determined.

"And Little Zoey here," Parker stepped away from me and wrapped an arm around Zoey's shoulders. I giggled a little at their height differences - the tallest person in the room slinging an arm around the shortest person in the room. "Is actually my new little sister."

His new little sister.

Little sister.

Sister.

"You adopted him?" I shouted.

Zoey widened her eyes. "I - well, my parents did, because they saw how beat-up and guilty I was about that whole thing I did to you, which I'm still so, so sorry about, I really did think it was for the best, I swear, and they figured, if we can't help Abby, we can help another kid, you know? So we just went to the house and Parker was so nice and my parents fell in love with him and -"

I cut her off with a hug. "Thank you," I whispered in her ear. "You couldn't have picked a better person to adopt. You're forgiven. A hundred thousand percent forgiven. This is perfect. You are perfect." I pulled back and grinned at everybody in the room, squeezing Parker's hand one last time before slipping back to Zach. "You all are completely perfect. And I love you. I love you all." I rambled on, giggling and giddy off the high of being back, being loved, being happy.