Growing [COMPLETE - ROUGH DRAFT]

Chapter 8

“Too much?” He whispered in my ear, rubbing my back soothingly.

“Yeah.” I admitted, trying to calm my racing heart. He squeezed me tightly against his chest, and lowered his head, lightly kissing the spot right underneath my ear. That did absolutely nothing to help my pulse.

“Alright Biscuit. I won’t push you.” He whispered, and I nodded gratefully.

We sat like that for a few more minutes, and I secretly loved holding him so close to me. I would never admit that in a million years, but it felt so good to be in his arms. When my eyes started getting dry, and I felt the tiredness seeping in, I reluctantly got off of him.

“Ready for bed?” He asked, standing up as well.

“Yeah, I’ve had a rough day.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he grinned.

“Don’t provoke me Biscuit, I didn’t promise not to push you.” He stretched, grunting as he did so.

“You’re a jerk.” I told him, walking into the bedroom with the open door. I saw Abby sleeping soundly on the bed, with Ricky curled around her. The dog’s head popped up when I sat on the bed, and I hurried over to pet him so he didn’t wake up my sister. He made a low sound of content, and put his head back down. I kissed my sister on the nose, and walked around the room looking for my clothes. I found my suitcase in the corner, and sat down on the carpeted floor. I crossed my legs in front of me as I laid it on the floor, unzipping the bag.

I’m going to kill Josh.

I know I say that a lot, but this time I mean it.

I didn’t recognize anything in this suitcase. Alright, I recognized a lot of the stuff in here, but it’s nothing I’d usually wear. Lets just say I would rather sleep in a t-shirt than the nighties Josh packed for me. I threw half the contents out until I found an old Beatles t-shirt, and I changed into it. I was looking for pants, but nothing I found seemed modest besides my jeans. I gave up and climbed into bed with my sister, tucking myself under the blanket and curling up to my family. She was all I had left.

☾

“Anna.” I felt someone shaking my shoulder, and I peered an eye open to see big brown eyes extremely close to my own.

“Hey Abby.” I muttered, and rolled over, stretching. My limbs felt super sore for some reason, but it was probably from all the walking I did yesterday.

“Guess what?” Abby asked excitedly, throwing herself on top of me.

“What?” I grumbled, sitting up and pulling her with me. She threw her arms around my neck and laughed.

“Josh made pancakes!” She jumped off the bed, grabbing the blankets and dragging them with her.

“Get up Anna!” She laughed as I lunged for the blankets to cover my bare legs.

“I’m not ready yet!” I told her, grabbing the blankets and pulling them back on. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow, trying to go back to sleep.

“I need backup!” Abby cried, and I heard her little feet start running from my room. Good.

I wrapped an arm over my eyes, trying to block out the light from the sun.

“Hey there beautiful.” Someone whispered in my ear, trying to impersonate Batman. I knocked my elbow to the side, effectively hitting his face.

“Ow! That hurt!” Josh complained, and then my covers were thrown off again.

“Can’t you people come up with anything else?” I snapped, reaching across the bed for the blankets, but Josh threw them to the floor.