Gracious

Chapter 37

"Me too", I agreed, giving him a weak smile, "he will be okay".

"And are we?", his hands moved slower, apprehension written all over his face.

"We are", I confirmed, "no more going silent on me?". He breathed out a small laugh, adjusting his glasses.

"Not if I can help it", he gestured to his ear and I rolled my eyes with a smile, glad to finally have him back.

~~

"We need to start eating healthier", I muttered, shaking my head at the greasy half-full pizza box in between Caleb and Alexander on the sofa.

"You can start, I'm fine like this", the fourteen year old snorted, shovelling half a pepperoni slice into his mouth, "so good".

"You're gross", Caleb shoved our brother's head but he just grinned in reply, the relief filling me at the sight of the two of them smiling was overwhelming. I'd picked up Alexander about half an hour ago, and Caleb had been home for an hour or so; it was due to just be the three of us for a few hours now.

"Zane, I have a question", Alexander announced after a few minutes, "uh, do you have any stories about Izzy? You don't talk about her a lot".

I stayed silent for a moment, lowering myself onto the sofa in between them, placing their pizza box on my lap and raking a hand through my hair. Guilt filled me, I knew I was the only source of stories regarding our sister for our brothers, especially the younger ones who didn't remember her as well.

"What kind of stories?", I asked, gazing between them, "and that's my fault, I'll try to speak about her more".

"You don't have to if it's hard", Caleb took a pizza slice from the box, "I know it's not the same, but uh, I still can't talk about August really".

"And you'll do so whenever you're ready", I squeezed his shoulder, "no rush whatsoever".

"I wanna hear about when you guys used to ditch school", Alexander grinned, a small chuckle escaping Caleb while I rolled my eyes, "and when you used to get into trouble".

"As soon as I can, yeah?", Caleb smiled sadly, our fourteen year old brother nodding understandingly, "uh, were you gonna tell us a story?".

"There was her second Halloween, we may or may not have dressed her up as a pumpkin", my lips twitched up in amusement at the memory, "this round orange costume, her hat was the stalk- we sat her out front with the real pumpkins with the bowl of candy next to her".

"You made her blend in with the pumpkins?", Alexander chuckled, "why?".

"We were bored", I shrugged, "the public loved it, everyone thought it was cute- and then you and Xavier came out dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2".

"No fucking way", it was Caleb's turn to laugh, he dropped the crust of his pizza back into the box and dusted his hands on his trousers, "I need to see a picture of that".

"You're joking", Alexander shook his head, "Mum wouldn't have dressed us up like that".

"Well she did- blue wigs and everything", I chuckled at his frown, "the three of you sat on the porch until all the candy was gone".

"Where were the others? Why weren't they with us?", Alexander asked, "where was he?".

"Caleb went trick or treating with Theo, Chase tagged along too", I recalled, watching Caleb's lips twitch up in amusement, "Prescott was in and out of the house, and if I remember correctly..he wasn't home that day".

"Always for the better", Caleb grumbled, picking up one of the pizza crusts and taking a bite, "he ruined everything".

"Yeah", Alexander nodded in agreement, "do you hate him Zane?".