Chapter 22

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The next morning I got to the house an hour earlier. However, instead of going straight to the guest house I entered the main house.

Luckily Lili was in the kitchen making breakfast, so I didn't have to search the house for her.

"Good morning!" She gave me a cheerful smile before she continued scrambling her eggs. "So did you figure out a way to convince Rose yet?"

I paused for a bit trying to figure out how to word my response. I couldn't tell her that the reason I can't help her is because two years ago I had almost slept with her brother and now he's mad at me for dating his bestfriend.

"Yeah, about that. I don't really think it's my place to ask your brother, my boss, to third wheel with his little sister and bestfriend."

She pouted her lips as she thought over what I had just said. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she let out a small squeal.

"What if you came with us?" She said turning around and frantically shaking me my the shoulders.

"What? Are you kidding me? That's the craziest idea I've ever heard." I told her while holding her shoulders trying to stop her from jumping up and down.

There's definitely no way Rosati would agree if I was going.

"It actually makes perfect sense for you to come along since he'll need you to take care of him." She stated matter of factly before returning to her omelette.

I had no argument there.

"Well would Chloe be okay with me going?" If this is going to be an overnight job I need to make sure she tells me what I would need to be doing.

As far as I know he doesn't get any other help once I leave. I did read in his profile that at night he needs to be repositioned, I figured he did that on his own but I'm not sure.

"Oh Chloe doesn't really know about any of this." She said with a dismissal wave of her hand.

"Wait, so you're planning on leaving California, going to Hawaii, staying for a week, and you're not going to tell your mom? Is she just never going to find out?" I asked astonished at how she thinks she will pull this off without telling her mother.

She rolled her green eyes and let out a huge sigh.

"I'm sure Chloe and Dave would find out once they get the monthly credit card statement, but for now, no, I don't plan on telling them."

I could tell she was getting a bit upset so I dropped it.

"Okay well I have to get your brother his meds." I said excusing myself out of the kitchen.

"Let me know what he says! We leave on Friday by the way." She yelled over her shoulder as she took her plate of food to the living room.

Friday? Its tuesday, that means I only have three days to convince him. I let out a loud groan before begrudgingly stalking to the house.

I set my bag on the island and opened the medicine cabinet getting his pills ready.

As I popped the small pills into the bowl I realized there was music floating out from his bedroom. I stopped for a second, listening to the melody. After deciding I didn't recognize the song I moved on to get his bottled breakfast before walking down the hall.

Right as I was going to knock the first verse started and the lyrics made me stop in my tracks.

'I swear that I'ma die in this basement
Isolation is the high that I'm chasing
Overdose on lonely nights, how I waste it
I can hear the reaper close, I hear him pacing
The days roll by, nothing changes
Sunset, sunrise, losing patience
I'm too far gone, don't try to save me
I hate myself more than any man could ever hate me'

The dark depressing words this guy sang sent a chill down my spine. I wanted to listen to more but my arm raised on its accord and knocked on the door.

As soon as my knuckles hit the wood the music came to an abrupt end. I heard Rosati clearing his throat before I heard his 'come in'.

I entered to find him sitting in the middle of his bed with a black guitar in his lap and a note pad laid out in front of him. Walking through I noticed little balls of crumpled up paper flung around the room.

Was he the one singing?

I handed him the bowl and twisted open the bottle. As he chugged the green fluid I studied the drawings covering his body. For some reason, whenever he was without a shirt, I found myself drawn to the small ALIVE. scripted in neat block lettering.

I find it odd that that was the first one I noticed, considering it's small, faded, and surrounded by many other intricate pieces.

The fact that it was faint meant it was older than the others. It made me wonder if he got it because of the accident. I still have no idea what had happened but taking into account that he's wheelchair bound, it couldn't have been good at all. He maybe grateful for the fact that he's alive and still has some mobility in his legs.

Thinking back to junior year he was like a blank canvas. Not a single mark on his body. It's incredible to think he got all these tattoos in the matter of 2 years.

"Earth to Aaliyah?" I was startled out of my thoughts by Rosati waving his arm in front of me.

"Sorry what?"

"What were you thinking about? My good looks or my good looks?" He said with a smug smirk.

"Actually I was thinking of the conversation I just had with Lili. She wanted me to ask you if you would like to go to Maui this weekend. She and N-"

"Fuck no, I'm not going." He said cutting me off.

"Why not? It would be fun, you know, a change of scenery." As I spoke those words the lyrics from earlier popped into my head. The days roll by, nothing changes.

When he gave me a blank face without a reply I kept going.

"Come on Lili Nathan and I are going, do you really want to stay here alone all weekend?" I mentioned Nathan to see how he would react to his sisters boyfriend joining.

"I would actually love to be alone thank you very much."

I huffed and crossed my arms at his stubbornness.

"Fine if you're not going then I'm not going." As soon as I said that his head whipped to look at me.

"No you're going 'cause there's no way Lili and Nathan are going alone." Now that's the reaction I was waiting for.

"Well there's no point in me going because I'll have to be here to care for you."

He rolled his eyes before falling back into his bed. "Fiine I'll go but you're going to have to help me keep those two off each other. There is no way I'm gonna spend the whole weekend seeing Nathan groping at my baby sister."

"Yes sir."

I smiled in satisfaction, that was way easier than I thought.

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Song mentioned: Houdini by Nothing Nowhere

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