His Woman, her Toms - TommyinnitxOc

3

Sometimes it felt like the roles were reversed, that I was the mother. I didn't like it and it made me feel older than I was. I was 16 and looking after a child and an adult, this wasn't normal. At least back home Toby and his parents helped out enough for me to have somewhat of a nice life.

Though I wasn't very social, Toby was the exception, we did everything together. Moving away was hard on the both of us but we knew it was only for a few years. The main problem of discussion is if I wanted to take Ava with me. Mum and I had talked about it on her good days, and she was aware of her bad days. We had agreed that once I turned 18 I would get legal guardianship over her. Though we would visit often to see Mum. I didn't like the fact of leaving her alone. There was also the problem of breaking it to Toby that she would live with us.

I guess we could just stay with our parents but that didn't seem like much of a choice to either of us. As much as we loved them we wanted to do somethings on our own.

I mulled over these thoughts as I prepared a tuna casserole. An hour later I had finished it and was taking it out of the oven when I heard them coming down the stairs. Mum seemed to be beaming and I grinned when I saw her face. Playing with Ava usually did this to her, her motherly instincts kicking in for a little bit and bringing her back.

She took in a deep inhale before helping Ava onto her chair. "I'll get the table ready." She said before setting the plates and utensils. I waited in the kitchen for the food to cool off before bringing it to the table.

We all sat down and started eating, it felt a bit like we were a functional family.

"You should talk to Toby about your anxiety, he always helps out," Mum said in between bites. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to get most of what she wanted to say now before her thoughts pulled her back under. Most of her energy went into her job, being a real estate agent was taxing on using up all of her energy to stay out of her head during the day.

"I will," I replied swiftly.

"And make sure Ava s well packed for tomorrow." She added. She paused, thinking about what to say next. "Thank you for unpacking Bree. You've been very helpful."

I nodded.

"Mama, are you going to be able to play again?" Ava asked before pushing her finished plate towards me. Mum shook her head.

"I'm going to help Bree with the dishes and then I'll be getting to bed." She told her. In other words, she was going to help me out a bit before she was too far away to help. I was glad that she was doing this and ended up joining her so she would have enough energy to fall asleep instead of sitting on her bed and staring at the ceiling all night.

Ava sat finishing Lilo and Stitch while I helped mum with the dishes. It didn't take long with the both of us and the kitchen looked clean and new. I wished her goodnight before she headed upstairs in a sleepy state.

I walked down the hall and poked my head into the living room. Ava was just finishing the movie and she looked up at me with a smile on her face. I waited for the end credits to roll around before turning it off and walking over to her.

"It's bedtime A bear, come on," I said as she nodded tiredly.

I brought Ava upstairs, her sitting on my hip and being supported by my right arm. Once we got to her room we did her bedtime routine. I helped her brush her teeth and then brushed her hair as well. I ran a bath for her and washed her up before helping her into her blue onesie.

She ran back into her room before me and hid in the blankets of her bed. I smile and sat down on the edge of t. She quickly pulled the blankets away from her face and whispered.

"BOO!" I feigned shock and she giggled uncontrollably. I eventually calmed her down and she adjusted herself in her bed. I yawned.

"Goodnight A bear," I told her, placing a kiss on the top of her head. She closed her eyes before whispering. Her breathing even out and I brushed her hair out of her face thinking about how good o a little sister she was and how lucky I was to have her.

"Nighty Bee."

I smiled and walked towards the door, shutting it slowly. I walked towards the other side of the hall and into my room. I showered and brushed my teeth before coming out and putting on a pair of plaid PJ bottoms and a white t-shirt. I looked at the time to see it was 8:29 pm. There was no way I was going to fall asleep. I bit my lip and looked through the books on my shelves. I picked out The Selection and walked towards my bed. I plopped down on it and adjust my pillows so that I was in a comfortable sleeping position. I made sure my phone was next to me before starting to read.

I got a hundred pages done before I fell asleep reading a page. Unconsciousness bringing me into a comforting embrace. My worries about School and Socializing were far off. What I didn't know was that they would catch up to me when I woke up.