Every Little Thing

Chapter Sixteen

            We arrived back at the house as clouds were starting to overcast the sky. I hop out of the car and jog over to the shed and I can’t believe what I see. 

            All my stuff that I had in Eric’s house is in boxes and garbage bags out the front of the house. My whole life has been put into boxes and left out in the rain. 

            I burst into the house and I walk in to find Eric and Jake in the kitchen; Jake was eating at the table while Eric awkwardly struggled to stand by the sink doing dishes. I looked back and forth between the two until my eyes landed on Eric. He looked up to see who had entered but quickly looked away when he saw that it was me and continued his actions at a more vigorous pace. 

            “What did you do to him?!" I yell at Jake, who has him mouth full of food. 

            “Nothing, he’s just seen normalcy," he mumbles out, food flying out with every word. I stare in disbelief until he speaks again. “Get out of here you freak. He doesn’t want you anymore," he spits and it feels like a bullet ripping through my chest. I look over at Eric and he’s obviously very uncomfortable. I walk over to him and stop his cleaning with my hands. 

            “Eric, look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t love me anymore," I say, trying to get her to look at me. 

            “Did you not hear me?! Get the hell out!" Jake bellows and stands up from the table. I flinch, but don’t back down. 

            “Jake, this is none of your business!" I scream back. He takes an intimidating step forward. 

            “I swear to God, if you don’t get out of here in the next thirty seconds, I will hurt you worse than I hurt him," he says through gritted teeth. I want to cry. I look back to Eric and he’s got his eyes trained on his feet, completely unresponsive. 

            “Fine; but I want Eric to know that I haven’t stopped loving him and I never will; and I won’t stop fighting for him, either," I say. With that, I turn and spin on my heels, walking out the door to find Claire and Shane waiting for me. 

            “Jake’s such an asshole," I screech through sobs while Claire hugs me. Silently, Shane picks up all my things from outside the shed and we walk into the house. 

            Shane and I climb the stairs as Claire goes into the living room with Oliver. Shane leads me to the guest bedroom and opens the door, letting me go in first. He sits my belongings down on the bed and I plop myself down beside them in a complete daze of numbness. I blankly stare at the white wall opposite to me and when I expect Shane to leave my room, he speaks. 

            “Bree, I’ve got to tell you something. I need to get it out now, so you listen up, okay?" he says softly. I lift my head to see him pacing back and forth. “I know I’ve only known you a little over a year, and I’ve only seen you and Eric together for two or three months; but I swear to God that I’ve never seen any two people more right for each other. When we moved him to your school, I knew that there was no happiness in that boy. He was tired of life and I knew this was his last hope. But that day, he came home with the damn biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face and told us about you: this pretty little lady that he met in his math class, who had sparkly eyes and a smile that could light up a whole town. I saw how damn happy you made him even when you two weren’t together. Then you two started seeing each other and I thought he was high half of the time. He started singing again and he was giggling and laughing with Claire. He was smiling for no reason at all. He was planning and scheming ways just to make you smile and I knew that you were the one that he was going to grow old with the second I saw you two side by side. The way you read each other’s body language-- you both know just how the others feeling by the way they blink; that’s true love right there. I know because I have it with Claire. I know that a love like that doesn’t normally last, but you’ve got a whole 14 months still with that glint in your eye when someone says his name, and I would bet on my own son’s life that you two were made for each other in heaven. He needs you, Bree. I don’t know what’s going on in that mind of his right now, but I know he’s scared. You’ve got to fight for him. You’ve got to show him how much you can love him and he’ll remember every last emotion he feels for you. You both will be happy again if I’ve got a damn say in it. Just promise me that you’ll fight for him the way he did for you," he finishes and turns to face me. 

            “I promise," I whisper in disbelief. He turns and starts to walk out the door. “Wait, Shane… Thank you, a lot," I say. He gives me a small smile and closes the door behind him. 

            I flop back into the bed and stare at the ceiling as my mind whirls with thoughts; but one thought was standing out from the rest: I had to fight for him.