Staying with the Parkers

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The whole room was dead silent. Even the little ones seemed to understand what was going on. Soon enough, tears and sobbing could be heard throughout the room. I had no idea what to do. I just sat there, staring into space. How could something like this happen to suck a sweet, innocent boy? It wasn’t fair. I trailed my eyes up from the ground and looked around at the heartbroken family in front of me. Their expressions varied from staring at nothing, tears slipping out of their eyes, to uncontrollably sobbing. I looked over at Colten to find his head buried in his hands and soft sobs raking through his body.

The silence continued for another good 20 minutes. After that, everyone slowly dispersed and went to their own corners of the house. I told Alison that I would clean everything up. She thanked me and took Sabrina and Andrew with her out of the room. Now the only ones left were me and the twins. They helped me dry the dishes and then we went up to their room. One by one I got them in their pj’s and got them ready for bed. I read them a story and soon enough they were asleep. These kids are too cute for their own good. Quietly, I closed the door and went to find Allison.

          She was just coming out of Sabrina’s room. She had red puffy eyes and looked like a mess. “Hey Allison, I got the boys to bed. Do you need help with Sabrina?” I asked.

          Alison smiled and wrapped her arms around me. I was surprised, but quickly hugged her back. “Thank you so much for putting them to bed. And no, she’s already sound asleep. Go do whatever you want sweetie.”

          “No problem at all. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Now go get some sleep.” I said and gave her one last smile.

          I walked down the hall to my room and I was just about to open my door when I heard muffled crying from the room over. Looking up I noticed that the noise was coming from Colten’s room. He must be devastated.

          I walked up to his door and lightly knocked on it. After a soft “come in” I opened the door to see shirtless Colten lying on his bed, head buried in a pillow. I went up to his bed and sat down right beside him. He finally looked up at me when I laid my head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” I whispered.

          Colten shifted around a little and snaked his arm around my body. “You have nothing to be sorry for, unless you gave Andrew leukemia.” He whispered back. I shook my head and looked up at the broken boy. “It just doesn’t make any sense. Why did this happen to Andrew? He did nothing wrong. Now he had to go through all that pain for nothing. What if this kills him?” Colten said as another tear slipped down his cheek.

          I took my thumb and swiped it over his cheek to remove the tear. “Hey, don’t talk like that. Of course Andrew didn’t deserve this, nobody deserves cancer. Andrew is a fighter, remember that. Everything will be alright.”

          “You can’t promise me that.” Colten stated.

          “No, I can’t promise you that, but you can’t keep thinking like that. You are going to drive yourself insane. All we can do is hope and pray for the best.”

          “I guess so. Thanks Hailey.” Colten whispered.

          “Anytime”

          We sat there for I don’t know how long, my head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around me. Colten’s breathing became more steady and quieter. I looked up at him to see that he was asleep. As gently as I could, I attempted to slip out of his arms and go to my own room. That plan failed. His arms only became tighter around my body. “Don’t go, Hails. Please just stay with me tonight.” The sleepy boy asked. How could I say no to him?

          “Okay” I replied. Colten let me go and we both got up off the bed. He pulled back his covers and motioned for me to get in. I didn’t think this was such a good idea, but who cares. I snuggled into his covers and rested my head on his pillow. It smelled just like him. I made sure that I was closer to the wall so I didn’t hog all the space. It probably sounds really weird, but to me he smelled like clean laundry and nature mixed together into one amazing sent. The bed dipped under Colten’s weight as he came under the covers. He wasn’t “Goodnight Colten.” I whispered. Colten replied with a quiet “night Hails” and we both just laid there waiting to fall asleep.

          Just as I was drifting off to sleep I heard a quiet “Screw this” from Colten. Next thing I knew two arms snaked around my waist and pulled me right to Colten’s chest. His arms were tight around my waist, not letting me get out. Now I was wide awake. What just happened?

Colten’s arms felt tense around me and he was not moving a muscle. I cleared my mind of all the thoughts telling me to get out of here now, that this was a bad idea. I wrapped my arms around Colten’s waist and snuggled my head into his bare chest.

Colten let out a big sigh and his body finally relaxed. He buried his head into my hair. “Sleep tight Hails.” He whispered. I soon feel asleep wrapped in Colten’s arms listening to the steady beat of his heart.

*

The next morning I woke to the feeling of someone drawing patterns into my hips. Sleepily, I opened my eyes to meet a smiling Colten. I groaned and snuggled closer to his warm body. He laughed at me and whispered in my ear, “Looks like someone isn’t a morning person.”

“And who would that be?” I mumbled angrily into his chest. That got another laugh out of him. Colten’s hands moved up my back and continued drawing little things into my back. I couldn’t tell what most of them were, just little squiggles and meaningless letters. But I could tell what one of them was, a heart. Every once and a while his hand would slip down to my hip bone and he would trace a little heart into my skin.

I lifted my head off his warm, toned chest to look at his face. His eyes were closed and he had a small smile playing on his lips. I couldn’t help but smile. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, thanks to you Hails.” He said. “Thanks for spending the night with me.”

“Anytime.” I replied.

We sat there for a while longer until we realized that it was a school day and we were already running late. Great. Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of Colten’s warm arms and started walking to the door. Just as I was about to open it the intercom buzzed and soon followed Allison’s voice.

“No school today for anyone. Just take a day to relax and take in the news. Don’t worry, I already called the schools.” Alison’s voice said through the speaker on the wall.

Yeah! No school! “Okay, I’ll see ya later Colten.” I said and opened the door. An arm came from above me and shut it. I turned around and gave him a puzzled look. A smile bloomed across his face.

“You heard my mom, no school. It’s a day to relax, and we are going to do just that. Movie day! Please Hailey?” He said and pulled me over to his bed.

I laughed at his eagerness. “Fine, I’ll watch movies with you. As long as I get to pick them out.”

 Colten muttered a fine and got comfy on his bed. I went over to his movie rack and searched through all of them. Finally, I picked She’s the man because I can’t resist a shirtless Channing Tatum. I put it in the DVD player and plopped down next to Colten. His arms soon found their way around my waist and he pulled me to him. I smiled and cuddled closer to him.

 *************

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