Hey, Celia? | ✔️

Chapter Twenty One

"Hey, May."

"Hey, little sis. You okay?" May asked, her voice laced with concern

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. It's just..." Cecelia started, not entirely sure of how to articulate her thoughts.

"Just what, Cece?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Of course I do, silly. How could you not love me in all of my cotton candy glory?"

"You know I look up to you, too, right?"

"Where is this coming from, Cecelia? Are you okay?"

"I'm better than I've been in the past few weeks, actually. A friend of mine, a very good friend of mine just reminded me that sometimes you need to tell the people you love that you love them, without just believing it's implied. Life is fragile, as are feelings, and I don't want you to ever doubt the fact that you're my hero, May. My cotton-candy haired hero."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"May?"

"WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE ME SOB LIKE THIS, CECE?"

For the rest of the night, Cecelia wasn't exchanging banter with James and neglecting to thank her sister for everything she'd done for her. Instead, she took that night to do nothing but thank her. For every soft look of pride she provided when their mother failed to do so, every smile reserved solely for Cecelia, and every time she was a rock for her. The rest of the night was spent with Cecelia and May talking about everything. Small things, large things, dumb things, important things. Everything. But the main thing was reinforcing the fact that their love for each other wasn't just implied, but felt and appreciated.

Cecelia didn't know it, but May had been dealing with her own stresses and was a hair's breadth away from crumbling entirely when her phone rang at midnight, her little sister's face showing up on the screen of her phone, reminding her of all of the good things in life. All the things she appreciated. The main one being Cecelia, the young girl, thoughtful enough to call her just to tell May she loved her.

What May didn't know, though, was that she could thank a boy for inclining Cece to call her.

It was the boy who'd stolen her little sister's heart.

**

A/N: this chapter had virtually nothing to do with James and Cecelia, but I wanted to add it, because I feel like it's important to remember to tell the people you love that you love them, rather than just leaving it at an implication, oop.